LDS doctrine on "intelligences" having always existed vs God(s) whose "godship" had a beginning
score:4
There doesn't seem to be a need for a reconciliation with your question. There isn't much written on the eternities before earth (like details on intelligences and on God before he created us) because this doesn't really pertain to an individual's salvation.
First there doesn't seem to be any contradiction in the beliefs of intelligences always existing and one "earning" godhood. So if intelligences always existed and God went through the same process that we did then there is no contradiction; he was an intelligence (always existed), became a individual with a spirit, became a man, and then became exalted (will never die). This follows that both OPs statements are correct, intelligences are eternal and God "earning" godhood. Yes this may mean way in past there might've been a time with just intelligences (idk and there isn't any doctrine that I can find to support/refute this), but at the same time there isn't much doctrine on intelligences beyond what the OP stated (eternal and combined with spirit make makes an individual).
Summary:
- Intelligence is eternal and is part of our identity, so God is eternal because his intelligence is eternal
- God is our Eternal Father1. Quentin L Cook says:
Our Heavenly Father has chosen not to reveal many details of our premortal life with Him. Perhaps this is because we can learn many things simply by observing the pattern for righteous families He established on the earth.2
So comparing our Heavenly Father to our mortal father we can make some comparisons. You might say 'when my dad was a kid....', so that to you even when your father was a child he was your father in your eyes. If we become a father, this doesn't change the fact that our own father is still our father. We can make similar comparisons to our Heavenly Father. He has always been our Father and always will be.
The Father is the one true God. This thing is certain: no one will ever ascend above Him; no one will ever replace Him. Nor will anything ever change the relationship that we, His literal offspring, have with Him. He is Eloheim, the Father. He is God. Of Him there is only one.3
Upvote:1
(in the Prophet Joseph Smith’s language), ‘God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens,’ and that men ‘have got to learn how to be Gods … the same as all Gods have done before.’
This statement comes from what is known as the "King Follett Discourse" given by Joseph Smith at a general conference of the church just several months before his death in 1844. While not a part of the official LDS canon like the quotes given from the Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price given in the original question, it is well regarded and worth reading for more insight on this subject. It may be of note that the latest publication of this sermon was in 1971, the same year as the above quote by Pres. Joseph F. Smith referencing Pres. Snow.
(Part 1): https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1971/04/the-king-follett-sermon
(Part 2): https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1971/05/the-king-follett-sermon
(Original documents): https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-king-follett-sermon
Relevant quotations to the question:
Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.
The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits.
More post
- 📝 What is the very least a Catholic needs to believe about Genesis 2 and 3?
- 📝 What is the "gospel" in OT according to the Calvinist?
- 📝 What does St. Thomas Aquinas mean by 'alteration' of heavenly bodies in Summa Theologiae?
- 📝 Original Sin as described in The Poem of the Man-God
- 📝 Why is it rare to combine Reformed/Calvinist doctrine and Dispensationalism?
- 📝 What is the merit of praying for the souls of the faithful in purgatory compared to for the living?
- 📝 How do Sola Fide adherents interpret 1 Corinthians 13:2?
- 📝 How many Pentecostals and Charismatics are there in the U.S. today?
- 📝 Why are the same palms used on Palm Sunday used for Ash Wednesday services the next year?
- 📝 What is the LDS stance on John 14:9-10?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, what did Jesus mean by saying “Least of these commandments "?
- 📝 When people sin against us but don't repent, should we forgive and forget?
- 📝 Does the Bible give us any indication of why God created such a vast universe with so much stuff in it?
- 📝 Does the Bible provide an age of consent?
- 📝 From where did the Book of Abraham come and how did it become part of LDS Scripture?
- 📝 Children of Adam and Eve
- 📝 What is the "Hell's Best Kept Secret" teaching that's circulating in various Evangelical Churches?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for concluding 'Jesus is Yahweh (Jehovah or LORD)'?
- 📝 When was the idea of all humans worth equal incorporated into Lutheran Christianity?
- 📝 What is the Catholic teaching on the use of animals?
- 📝 Religious Blessing at a Non-religious Wedding
- 📝 Sons of Belial in 1 Kings 21-10
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, why is God called “Father” (and not, say, “Mother”)?
- 📝 How do those who believe the Son is not Almighty God interpret Revelation 2:23?
- 📝 Which denomination had the largest percent of members who now profess atheism?
- 📝 Why is denial of the primacy of the bishop of Rome considered a Schism, not a Heresy?
- 📝 Do Calvinists rejoice in the destruction of sinners?
- 📝 How can a Christian seek out the best Homilists/Preachers?
- 📝 How do Catholics describe "eternal generation"?
- 📝 Is the sermon on the mount intended for unbelievers?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 LDS doctrine on "intelligences" having always existed vs God(s) whose "godship" had a beginning
- 📝 How is the claim that the doctrine of Papal Infallibility has always existed within the Church substantiated?
- 📝 How is the claim that the doctrine of Papal Supremacy has not always existed within the Church substantiated?
- 📝 How does LDS doctrine reconcile monotheism with men becoming gods?
- 📝 Do Catholics subscribe to the "once saved, always saved" doctrine that many evangelical Christians believe in?
- 📝 Does LDS teaching hold to a multi-universe theory or an infinite universe theory in order to account for the doctrine of eternal progression?
- 📝 How does the LDS doctrine of assurance compare to the Methodist doctrine of assurance?
- 📝 According to the doctrine of Trinity, was Jesus always co-equal to the Father?
- 📝 What is the LDS position on changing doctrine
- 📝 What does the LDS Church teach about Jesus being married, having children, and His position on polygamy?
- 📝 How did the doctrine of the pope having "supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls" originate?
- 📝 In LDS teaching, do gods and goddesses produce spiritual offspring forever?
- 📝 According to the doctrine of the LDS Church what is man's relationship with God
- 📝 According to the LDS Doctrine of Exaltation, where did the Father live as a man?
- 📝 How does LDS handle doctrine changes?
- 📝 Are any of the LDS gods without beginning or end, or are they all created at a certain point in time?
- 📝 How does Catholic doctrine differ from LDS doctrine concerning God the Father?
- 📝 How can Paul having been alive apart from the Law reconcile with the doctrine of original sin?
- 📝 Does LDS doctrine explicitly emphasize the atonement in Gethsemane?
- 📝 How do those who hold Trinitarian doctrine existed from the earliest days of the church explain the lack of debate about it in the New Testament?
- 📝 When were the doctrine and covenants published and distributed to members of the LDS church?
- 📝 What LDS scriptures support the doctrine that Jesus is Jehovah of the Old Testament?
- 📝 LDS Prophet Joseph Smith said, "In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of Gods to create the world and people in it
- 📝 How does LDS creation doctrine explain so many different words for the creation process in Isaiah 45:18?
- 📝 The LDS consider God the Father the ultimate creator and they teach that Jesus Christ is the creator. Which of these two Gods is the creator?
- 📝 Statements about the doctrine or the future made by current LDS Prophet, and the church view on those
- 📝 How does the LDS Church reconcile their understanding of the "Godhead" which is three beings/three gods with the Bible stating there is only one God?
- 📝 What core LDS doctrine(s) contradict the Protestant doctrine of salvation by grace through faith?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 What is the doctrine of the Trinity?