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Aside from the incarnation, was God ever a man? I'm a non-Mormon, and I just read an interview with Hinckley in which he says he doesn't know anything about God once being like us. This confused the hell out of me. For years, Mormons themselves had told me that God's progression from man to divinity is supposed to serve as our own model for the same kind of progression. Moreover, I was told by Mormons that God had parents, which suggested that at one point he was a spirit baby, meaning that he had to have undergone, one way or another, a form of spiritual progression.

So which one is it?

mcamillus wrote:Aside from the incarnation, was God ever a man? I'm a non-Mormon, and I just read an interview with Hinckley in which he says he doesn't know anything about God once being like us. This confused the hell out of me. For years, Mormons themselves had told me that God's progression from man to divinity is supposed to serve as our own model for the same kind of progression. Moreover, I was told by Mormons that God had parents, which suggested that at one point he was a spirit baby, meaning that he had to have undergone, one way or another, a form of spiritual progression.

So which one is it?

First, God is distinct individuals in Mormonism. So - yes, Jesus Christ was a man. God the Father on the other hand, in my view, is unlikely to have been of our species since he evolved on a different planet entirely. And the Holy Ghost are spirits (whatever spirits are?!?) so they are of no species at all.

And yes, Mormons believe in progression. We learn and technically progress as does God. You never stop (unless you choose to).

You said that God is "unlikely to have been of our species..." But the Mormon Encyclopedia says this under the heading, "God the Father: Overview": "Gods and humans represent a single divine lineage, the same species of being, although they and he are at different stages of progress."

Again, I'm confused.

welcome mcamillus!

Of course God is an Exalted man from the creation of his mortal probation (second estate).

GBH was infamous in that talk which seemed to mark a line in the sand from where the church would work on mainstreaming. This mainstreaming along with even stricter correlation has continued, with the likes of the multi-million dollar "I'm a Mormon" campaign of the last few years.

Many of us were shocked by what appeared to be an abandonment of all those years/dollars spent towards mainstreaming and the recent re-entrenchment, to at least the important aspects of the good-old-days with the Kate Kelly excommunication.

Thanks. This corresponds to what I've always been told about Elohim. Problem is, I've got you and the Mormon Encyclopedia telling me one thing and Tobin and Hinckley telling me something else. So do this mean I can't expect any consistency of belief on this point from Mormons?

mcamillus wrote:You said that God is "unlikely to have been of our species..." But the Mormon Encyclopedia says this under the heading, "God the Father: Overview": "Gods and humans represent a single divine lineage, the same species of being, although they and he are at different stages of progress."

Again, I'm confused.

First thing to learn here mcamillus is about tobin. To him god is an alien that introduced himself to tobin by interrupting him from having intercourse with a girlfriend (yes right in the act). This god affirms to him Mormonism is true. However few of his proposed believes follow actual Mormon Doctrine. Most here consider him nothing more than a spammer ... ymmv.

mcamillus wrote:You said that God is "unlikely to have been of our species..." But the Mormon Encyclopedia says this under the heading, "God the Father: Overview": "Gods and humans represent a single divine lineage, the same species of being, although they and he are at different stages of progress."

Again, I'm confused.

The Mormon Encyclopedia doesn't have the best understanding of Mormonism. God the Father is believed by Mormons to have evolved on a planet separate from our own. Since evolution on another world is unlikely to have been exactly the same as ours, God the Father is unlikely to be human. Does that help?

Also, God the Father's father is unlikely to be the same species as him having likely evolved on a world separate from God the Father's and so on. The idea behind Mormonism is more advanced or evolved species guide less advanced species like our own. They send a emissary to be an example for us. In our case, his name was Jesus Christ and he was fully a human-being.

President Hinckley was a liar.

Joseph Smith taught: “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God. … He was once a man like us; … God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 345–46).

https://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-princ ... n?lang=eng

As he later confessed at the pulpit during General Conference, he did know that we teach that. We still do.

mcamillus,

Also note that the concept of "milk before meat" is crucial to Mormonism. God being an exalted man falls squarely into the meat category.

Meat is never presented publicly or to new converts as they would choke on it. You must get
them totally sucked in and indoctrinated before they will be able to shelf the really batshit crazy stuff (ummm I mean meat)

RockSlider wrote:mcamillus,

Also note that the concept of "milk before meat" is crucial to Mormonism. God being an exalted man falls squarely into the meat category.

Meat is never presented publicly or to new converts as they would choke on it. You must get
them totally sucked in and indoctrinated before they will be able to shelf the really bat**** crazy stuff (ummm I mean meat)

The quote I provided comes from the Gospel Principles manual which is specifically used to teach new converts.