MORMONISM'S LAW OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION
This article explains the LDS's law of eternal progression, examines
its origins, implications and flaws, and compares it with what the
Bible teaches.
WHAT IS ETERNAL PROGRESSION?
Eternal progression is a law, or a fixed principle, that defines the God that Mormons worship. It declares that:
THE INTRODUCTION OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION
In its earliest days Mormonism was similar to protestant Christianity. They believed that God had always been God eternally, that He was the only God, the creator and sustainer of all that exists, and that He was a spirit being. This is borne out by their 1835 printing of Doctrine and Covenants:
The following verses also appear in the LDS's 1981 printing of Doctrine & Covenants, which clearly indicate that at the time they were written (in 1830), Joseph Smith taught that God had always, eternally, been God, and that he had created mankind:
In order to conform with their doctrine of eternal progression, all their previous doctrines and teachings, including those on God, Christ, mankind, the fall, salvation, the atonement and the gospel, had to be changed radically.
This is why their earlier, pre-eternal progression scriptures in the Book of Mormon (some of which have been quoted above) so often contradict their later scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants and so on. (See the link at the end of this page to the article entitled "Contradictions in Mormon Scriptures.")
Not only does eternal progression embrace a totally different belief system to that taught by the Bible; it opposes all the major tenets of the Bible. Consequently, when it was adopted as the foundational doctrine of the LDS church, Mormonism became an exclusive religion that bore little resemblance to biblical Christianity.
The following are explanations of Mormon terms connected to eternal progression:
LDS TEACHING ON INTELLIGENCE
LDS TEACHING ON OUR FIRST ESTATE
Our first step upwards in eternal progression from a form of mere intelligence, is the taking on of a spirit form. This happens when we are born as spirit babies as a consequence of normal, physical procreation between a God and one of his wives, who have themselves already progressed ahead of us from intelligent matter, and who have bodies of flesh and bone. The family life we live in heaven at this stage is called pre-existence or our first estate.
The Lord Jesus was God's firstborn spirit child, and his birth was followed by the births of Satan and the demons, the angels, all of mankind. This means that we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ; and that Christ had the same origins as the devil, the demons, the angels, you and me.
Reason tells us that the first God could not have progressed from intelligent matter all the way up to godhood via the steps laid down by the law of eternal progression. He would have had to have done it some other way, because he couldn't have been born as a spirit baby through an act of reproduction into an earlier God's family as he was the first one to progress further than intelligent matter and there was no earlier God. Nor was there anybody greater than he was to teach him or guide him, And there was nobody with a body who could reproduce him in an earthly form with a mortal body of flesh and bones either, so that he could serve a probationary period on earth. But somehow he obtained a physical body and attained godhood. And if he did it, why can't the rest of us just follow in his footsteps?
LDS TEACHING ON THE GRAND COUNCIL
After we had achieved our full potential in our first estate, the Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to formulate a plan for us to progress the next step further by taking on bodies of flesh and bone and serving a mortal probation on earth. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 348, 349, 365).
Included in that plan was the fall of mankind, which the LDS maintains was vital for our progress. (There is a link to an article entitled "Sin and the Fall, Mormon and Biblical Teachings Contrasted" at the bottom of this page.)
LDS TEACHING ON WAR IN HEAVEN
Because of the planned fall, a saviour would be required, and God asked for a volunteer (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:27). Both Christ and Lucifer came forward, each with a different plan.
Christ wanted us to have our free agency so that we could choose whether or not to obey God, in order to prove ourselves worthy of exaltation. He also wanted the glory to go to God. However, Lucifer's plan was to deny us our free agency so that not a single soul would be lost. And he wanted the honour for himself. God chose Jesus to be the Saviour. (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:27 and Moses 4:1, 2)
As a consequence Lucifer rebelled, declaring war on God and Christ. A third of God's children sided with Lucifer. They were defeated, cast out of heaven and denied the opportunity of taking on bodies of flesh and bone or progressing any further than they had at that stage. It was then that Lucifer became the devil.
OUR MORTAL PROBATION ON EARTH
Once we have taken on bodies of flesh and bone in our earthly existence, our Father in heaven becomes our God, just as his Father had become his God. This means that each God has a God who has a God who has a God and so on.
As the steps we need to take to ensure that we progress to the highest degree of glory during our probation on earth are fully described in the article, "The Three degrees of Glory," a link to which is provided at the end of this page, this subject will not be addressed further here.
THE REASON FOR DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOUR
Mormon teaching is that we can be sure that every single member of the human race was on God's/Christ's side in the war in heaven, otherwise we would not have been permitted to come to earth to take on human bodies. And the colour of our skin depends on how worthy we were in our pre-existence and how valiant we were in the war against Lucifer. The least worthy are given dark or coloured skins, and those who were the most worthy receive white skins. The more worthy you were, the lighter your skin will be. And the most worthy of all are permitted to be born into Mormon families. (Mormon women who do not have large families are made to feel guilty "because of all those spirit beings in heaven waiting for the opportunity to progress by taking on a body on earth.")
LDS President Kimball held a meeting of the Council of the Twelve, where they sought God's will concerning the rescinding of the doctrine prohibiting men of colour from receiving the priesthood. The ban was subsequently lifted (c/f President Spencer W. Kimball, Deseret News, Church Section, January 6, 1979, page 19). Mormon doctrines were amended accordingly. Existing editions of books containing racist doctrines were scrapped, and new, amended editions were published.
It is difficult to put your hands on Mormon doctrine, because one minute it is there and the next it has gone.
The following "excuse" was given by Mormon doctrinal writer and Apostle McConkie for the LDS's prior discrimination against people of colour:
Mormon doctrine has too many errors, contradictions and changes for it to ever have been truth. Truth is eternal, and it cannot change. That's what makes it reliable. In the midst of change and decay, truth always stands firm. But LDS doctrines and teachings are forever changing. (For instance, a great many years ago when the editor was a member of the LDS, we were regularly instructed never, ever to call ourselves Christians. But now the LDS is engaged in a massive publicity campaign that portrays them as being Christian. See the article, Mormonism's Claim to be a Christian Denomination .)
ETERNAL PROGRESSION AFTER DEATH
Faithful Mormons go to paradise, and the remainder are assigned to hell, but only temporarily. Those in hell who did not have the opportunity of becoming Mormons during their lifetime are evangelized by Mormon missionaries so that they can be worthy of a higher degree of glory after judgment.
After judgment, everyone in both hell and paradise will be assigned to the degree of glory that they merit, some of them being exalted to godhood. Very few will end up in outer darkness, and the lowest degree of glory is more magnificent than anything we could ever imagine. This teaching is absolutely unbiblical.
The Bible classifies the worship of Joseph Smith's God, made in the image of man, and with a body of flesh and bone, as being idolatry:
CONCLUSION
In order to sort out in their minds exactly what the Bible does teach, Mormons need to begin prayerfully reading the Bible, without using LDS scriptures to guide them; instead asking the Lord Himself to do so by His Spirit. If you are a Mormon and need any help in this regard, the editor will assist you in every way possible. All you need do is to write in to response@bibtruth.com
The following links lead to articles on this website, that were mentioned above:
The Mormon Gods, Past and Present
Contradictions in Mormon Scriptures
Sin and the Fall, Mormon and Biblical Teachings Contrasted
The Three Degrees of Glory
These are off-site links to scholarly articles that are related to Eternal Progression, and as such do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor:
Philosophical Problems with the Mormon Concept of God, by Francis J. Beckwith
An Examination of the Mormon Doctrine of Eternal Progression Within the Context of Big-bang Cosmology, by Kirk D. Hagan
This last link leads to an off-site chart that illustrates Eternal Progression:
http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/mormonism/mormon-plan-eternal-progression
Copyright 2009, Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.
WHAT IS ETERNAL PROGRESSION?
Eternal progression is a law, or a fixed principle, that defines the God that Mormons worship. It declares that:
a. Intelligence cannot be created.The path upwards in eternal progression, occurs in the following sequence:
b. Every living being, including God, originally existed in the form of intelligent matter, and then progressed in stages or degrees.
c. At its fullest potential, eternal progression results in man's exaltation to godhood.
d. There are a great many Gods in the universe.
e. The universe and the matter it contains has always existed, eternally. Consequently the Gods of eternal progression do not "create" anything in the true sense of the word. They merely "reorganize" already existing matter.
All things, even the earth itself, had a spirit existence before the physical creation. (Premortal Life, Gayle Oblad Brown, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992.)
..... Elements had an existence from the time that he (God) had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning and had no end. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, pages 351-2, Deseret Book Company, June, 1989.
The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself .... I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man Ibid, page 353.
1. Existence as a form of intelligence.
2. Taking on a spirit form by being born as a spirit baby through procreation between a man who has already progressed to godhood, and his wife, both of whom have bodies of flesh and bone.
3. Living a pre-existence in heaven as part of our Heavenly Father's family, until we have progressed as far as we can in our first estate.
4. Taking on a body of flesh and bones and living a mortal probation on earth.
5. After death we are assigned either to paradise or hell, where we await resurrection (which in Mormonism is another name for salvation by grace or general salvation, but it does not cover forgiveness of our personal sins).
6. Next is judgment, after which we are assigned to one of three kingdoms (or outer darkness) depending on what we merit. (See the link at the end of the page to an article on the Three Degrees of Glory.)
7. At this stage those who have fulfilled all the requirements of the Mormon gospel and have gained sufficient knowledge, are "translated" to godhood.
8. Those who have become Gods will spend eternity breeding spirit children with their goddess wives, through the normal reproductive process, in order to populate worlds of their own.
9. Folk who do not qualify for godhood will spend eternity as unmarried ministering angelic beings.
"For these angels did not abide my law; therefore they can not be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever" (Doctrine & Covenants 132:17).
"Gods, angels and men are all of one species, one race, one great family." (LDS Apostle Parley P. Pratt, in The Mormon Faith: A New Look at Christianity, page 39, Robert L. Millet, (Deseret Books, 1998).
"God and man are of the same race, differing only in their degree of advancement." (Mormon Apostle, Dr. John Widtsoe (1872-1952), Gospel Through the Ages, page 107).
THE INTRODUCTION OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION
In its earliest days Mormonism was similar to protestant Christianity. They believed that God had always been God eternally, that He was the only God, the creator and sustainer of all that exists, and that He was a spirit being. This is borne out by their 1835 printing of Doctrine and Covenants:
"..... We shall, in this lecture speak of the Godhead: we mean the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are two personages..... They are the Father and the Son: The Father being a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fullness: the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle..... And he being the only begotten of the Father ..... possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit.." (1835 Doctrine and Covenants, Lecture Fifth of Faith, 5:1-2, pages 52-53, First edition.) (Writer's italics)Note: The original Doctrine and Covenants was split into two sections, i.e. the first section comprised their canon of LDS Doctrines and the second section contained the LDS Covenants [Revelations]. The above quote from the fifth lecture of faith was recorded in the first section, and included in their canon of scripture, indicating that it was their official doctrine.
The following verses also appear in the LDS's 1981 printing of Doctrine & Covenants, which clearly indicate that at the time they were written (in 1830), Joseph Smith taught that God had always, eternally, been God, and that he had created mankind:
By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them; And he created them male and female .... (Doctrine & Covenants Section 20:17, 18 (revelation through Joseph Smith, the Prophet, April, 1830.)Because the Book of Mormon was the LDS's earliest book of scripture, and was written before Joseph Smith changed his ideas on deity, it backs up the biblical trinitarian teaching, and also teaches that God is spirit:
And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said, Yea. And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things ......? (Alma 18:26-28)However, a study of the LDS's Doctrine and Covenants reveals that shortly after the inception of the church, Joseph began claiming to have had revelations that changed his ideas about both God and man. Then at a general conference of the church on 7th April, 1844 (fourteen years after the formation of the LDS church), he introduced his new doctrine of eternal progression in a declaration that lasted two and a quarter hours. As this was included in a commemorative oration for a recently deceased church member named King Follett, it became known as the King Follett Discourse (History of the Church, Volume 6, pages 302-317, c/f The Encyclopedia of Mormonism). The wording of this discourse clearly indicates that they had previously had a different idea of God:
And the king said: Is God that Great Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem? And Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit, and he created all things both in heaven and in earth ..... (Alma 22:9-11)
Now Zeerom said: Is there more than one God? And he (Amulek) answered, No. Now Zeerom said unto him again: How knowest thou these things? And he said: An angel hath made them known unto me ..... Now Zeerum said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God (Alma 11:28-31, 35)
..... and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. (2 Nephi 31:21)
..... to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God ..... Mormon 7:7)
..... I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one ..... (3 Nephi 11:27)
..... But every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God ..... (Alma 11:44)
And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God ..... (Ether 2:8)
"We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil that you may see. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God ..… that he was once a man like us ..... 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" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, 1976, pages 345-346 c/f "Times and Seasons," Volume 5, pages 613-614).According to eternal progression, in the beginning man came first, not God. However, the Bible teaches from cover to cover, in both Old Testament and New, that God existed before any man ever came into being, and that He always has been God.
In order to conform with their doctrine of eternal progression, all their previous doctrines and teachings, including those on God, Christ, mankind, the fall, salvation, the atonement and the gospel, had to be changed radically.
This is why their earlier, pre-eternal progression scriptures in the Book of Mormon (some of which have been quoted above) so often contradict their later scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants and so on. (See the link at the end of this page to the article entitled "Contradictions in Mormon Scriptures.")
Not only does eternal progression embrace a totally different belief system to that taught by the Bible; it opposes all the major tenets of the Bible. Consequently, when it was adopted as the foundational doctrine of the LDS church, Mormonism became an exclusive religion that bore little resemblance to biblical Christianity.
The following are explanations of Mormon terms connected to eternal progression:
LDS TEACHING ON INTELLIGENCE
"Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle." (King Follett Sermon, Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Volume 6, pages 302-317)We note that in the above LDS quotes, the soul, mind and spirit are equated with intelligent matter. Contrarily, the they also teach that the first stage of eternal progression is from intelligent matter to that of a spirit form. But Mormonism is filled with contradictions. This indicates that it is a religion that was invented by a fallible man.
"Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be." (Doctrine and Covenants 93:29.)
The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth (Doctrine and Covenants 93:36).
"...the soul, the mind, the immortal spirit. All men say God created it in the beginning. The very idea lessens man in my estimation...The mind of man is as immortal as God himself ... their spirits existed co-equal with God... I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man, the immortal spirit, because it has no beginning... God never did have power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself: intelligence exists upon a self existent principle, it is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it ... The first principles of man are self existent with God..." (Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, page 615). (Italics inserted by editor.)
LDS TEACHING ON OUR FIRST ESTATE
Our first step upwards in eternal progression from a form of mere intelligence, is the taking on of a spirit form. This happens when we are born as spirit babies as a consequence of normal, physical procreation between a God and one of his wives, who have themselves already progressed ahead of us from intelligent matter, and who have bodies of flesh and bone. The family life we live in heaven at this stage is called pre-existence or our first estate.
"We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father; and so on, from generation to generation ..." (Orson Pratt, "The Seer," page 132).But how could a Mormon God and his wife, i.e. two physical beings with bodies of flesh and bone, mate; and then end up reproducing a different species, i.e. spirit baby? This doesn't make sense. And it contradicts what the Bible says about like reproducing like, after its own kind (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25, 6:20, 7:14.)
The Lord Jesus was God's firstborn spirit child, and his birth was followed by the births of Satan and the demons, the angels, all of mankind. This means that we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ; and that Christ had the same origins as the devil, the demons, the angels, you and me.
Among the spirit children of Elohim [the LDS God] the firstborn was and is Jehovah or Jesus Christ to whom all others are juniors .... There is no impropriety, therefore, in speaking of Jesus Christ as the elder brother of the rest of humankind.... (LDS President Joseph F. Smith, "Improvement Era," volume 19, pages 941-942, June 30, 1916)Conversely, the Bible teaches that Christ created all the heavenly principalities and powers, including the devil and the angels, and that He was God from the very beginning (Colossians 1:16-17, John 1:1). (A fair amount of LDS misunderstanding on this particular subject has come about because of their lack of knowledge regarding colloquial terms used in biblical times, that are foreign to our way of speech today. You'll be able to access an interesting and easy to understand article on these terms by clicking on this link: Mormon Doctrines On Christ Misconstrue Hebrew Terms of Speech .)
..... the Devil, the mighty Lucifer, the great prince of the angels, and the brother of Jesus. (Apostle Joseph Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 6, pages 207-208, October 11, 1857) (Italics inserted by editor.)
All of us, Christ included, are the spirit children of the Father; all of us, Christ included, seek to become like the Father. In this sense the Firstborn, our Elder Brother, goes forward as we do..... Our Relationship with the Lord, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in his address at Brigham Young University on 2nd March, 1982.
Reason tells us that the first God could not have progressed from intelligent matter all the way up to godhood via the steps laid down by the law of eternal progression. He would have had to have done it some other way, because he couldn't have been born as a spirit baby through an act of reproduction into an earlier God's family as he was the first one to progress further than intelligent matter and there was no earlier God. Nor was there anybody greater than he was to teach him or guide him, And there was nobody with a body who could reproduce him in an earthly form with a mortal body of flesh and bones either, so that he could serve a probationary period on earth. But somehow he obtained a physical body and attained godhood. And if he did it, why can't the rest of us just follow in his footsteps?
LDS TEACHING ON THE GRAND COUNCIL
After we had achieved our full potential in our first estate, the Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to formulate a plan for us to progress the next step further by taking on bodies of flesh and bone and serving a mortal probation on earth. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 348, 349, 365).
Included in that plan was the fall of mankind, which the LDS maintains was vital for our progress. (There is a link to an article entitled "Sin and the Fall, Mormon and Biblical Teachings Contrasted" at the bottom of this page.)
LDS TEACHING ON WAR IN HEAVEN
Because of the planned fall, a saviour would be required, and God asked for a volunteer (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:27). Both Christ and Lucifer came forward, each with a different plan.
Christ wanted us to have our free agency so that we could choose whether or not to obey God, in order to prove ourselves worthy of exaltation. He also wanted the glory to go to God. However, Lucifer's plan was to deny us our free agency so that not a single soul would be lost. And he wanted the honour for himself. God chose Jesus to be the Saviour. (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:27 and Moses 4:1, 2)
As a consequence Lucifer rebelled, declaring war on God and Christ. A third of God's children sided with Lucifer. They were defeated, cast out of heaven and denied the opportunity of taking on bodies of flesh and bone or progressing any further than they had at that stage. It was then that Lucifer became the devil.
OUR MORTAL PROBATION ON EARTH
Once we have taken on bodies of flesh and bone in our earthly existence, our Father in heaven becomes our God, just as his Father had become his God. This means that each God has a God who has a God who has a God and so on.
As the steps we need to take to ensure that we progress to the highest degree of glory during our probation on earth are fully described in the article, "The Three degrees of Glory," a link to which is provided at the end of this page, this subject will not be addressed further here.
THE REASON FOR DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOUR
Mormon teaching is that we can be sure that every single member of the human race was on God's/Christ's side in the war in heaven, otherwise we would not have been permitted to come to earth to take on human bodies. And the colour of our skin depends on how worthy we were in our pre-existence and how valiant we were in the war against Lucifer. The least worthy are given dark or coloured skins, and those who were the most worthy receive white skins. The more worthy you were, the lighter your skin will be. And the most worthy of all are permitted to be born into Mormon families. (Mormon women who do not have large families are made to feel guilty "because of all those spirit beings in heaven waiting for the opportunity to progress by taking on a body on earth.")
"There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less." (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, page 61)However, the LDS church had a change of heart. They had faced increasing criticism about their racist doctrines and eventually things became very difficult for them. Games against Brigham Young University were boycotted, and the LDS was in danger of losing their tax exempt status under President Jimmy Carter. Then too, they were about to open a temple in Brazil, but there was so much negro blood in the Brazilian population that it was extremely difficult to get white leadership. (The population had so intermarried that it was difficult to ascertain their ancestry.) This meant that under their doctrinal system that was in operation at that stage, they would not be able to make use of that temple. This problem was holding up their evangelism and church growth not only in Brazil, but also in other regions of the world where coloured people were predominant. (In order to obtain a temple recommend, which is a document that has to be produced before a Mormon can be admitted into the temple, one has to be a tithe payer. And so the church's income goes up once folk start using their temple — see the article, Mormonism and "Being Worthy" .)
"From the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel." (Statement of The First Presidency on the Negro Question, July 17 1947, quoted in Mormonism and the Negro, pages 46-7)
"Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. The gospel message of salvation is not carried affirmatively to them ..... Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned ....." (LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page 343).
"The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the priesthood at the present time." (The First Presidency on the Negro Question, 17 August 1949)
LDS President Kimball held a meeting of the Council of the Twelve, where they sought God's will concerning the rescinding of the doctrine prohibiting men of colour from receiving the priesthood. The ban was subsequently lifted (c/f President Spencer W. Kimball, Deseret News, Church Section, January 6, 1979, page 19). Mormon doctrines were amended accordingly. Existing editions of books containing racist doctrines were scrapped, and new, amended editions were published.
It is difficult to put your hands on Mormon doctrine, because one minute it is there and the next it has gone.
The following "excuse" was given by Mormon doctrinal writer and Apostle McConkie for the LDS's prior discrimination against people of colour:
"We get our truth and light line upon line and precept upon precept (2 Ne. 28:30; Isa. 28:9-10; D&C 98:11-12; 128:21). We have now added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don't matter anymore." (Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, All Are Alike Unto God, pages 1-2)McConkie's statement makes us wonder what difference the LDS's claim to having a modern day prophet makes. Biblical prophets were the mouthpiece of God. They informed the people about the will of God and also warned them when they were in error. If the LDS truly does have a prophet why did it take them longer than it took the rest of the non-Mormon world, who never had a modern-day prophet, to realize that racial discrimination was wrong? And why did God only give them a "revelation" when their racial discrimination became inconvenient to the extent that their backs were up against the wall? This doesn't sound like a people who were guided by a God whom they claim would never allow their leadership to teach them error.
Mormon doctrine has too many errors, contradictions and changes for it to ever have been truth. Truth is eternal, and it cannot change. That's what makes it reliable. In the midst of change and decay, truth always stands firm. But LDS doctrines and teachings are forever changing. (For instance, a great many years ago when the editor was a member of the LDS, we were regularly instructed never, ever to call ourselves Christians. But now the LDS is engaged in a massive publicity campaign that portrays them as being Christian. See the article, Mormonism's Claim to be a Christian Denomination .)
ETERNAL PROGRESSION AFTER DEATH
Faithful Mormons go to paradise, and the remainder are assigned to hell, but only temporarily. Those in hell who did not have the opportunity of becoming Mormons during their lifetime are evangelized by Mormon missionaries so that they can be worthy of a higher degree of glory after judgment.
After judgment, everyone in both hell and paradise will be assigned to the degree of glory that they merit, some of them being exalted to godhood. Very few will end up in outer darkness, and the lowest degree of glory is more magnificent than anything we could ever imagine. This teaching is absolutely unbiblical.
The Bible classifies the worship of Joseph Smith's God, made in the image of man, and with a body of flesh and bone, as being idolatry:
..... when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man ..... (Romans 1:21-23 KJV)If our ideas about God are wrong then we'll be wrong about our other doctrines too, because ultimately all our beliefs stem from our perception of God.
CONCLUSION
In order to sort out in their minds exactly what the Bible does teach, Mormons need to begin prayerfully reading the Bible, without using LDS scriptures to guide them; instead asking the Lord Himself to do so by His Spirit. If you are a Mormon and need any help in this regard, the editor will assist you in every way possible. All you need do is to write in to response@bibtruth.com
The following links lead to articles on this website, that were mentioned above:
The Mormon Gods, Past and Present
Contradictions in Mormon Scriptures
Sin and the Fall, Mormon and Biblical Teachings Contrasted
The Three Degrees of Glory
These are off-site links to scholarly articles that are related to Eternal Progression, and as such do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor:
Philosophical Problems with the Mormon Concept of God, by Francis J. Beckwith
An Examination of the Mormon Doctrine of Eternal Progression Within the Context of Big-bang Cosmology, by Kirk D. Hagan
This last link leads to an off-site chart that illustrates Eternal Progression:
http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/mormonism/mormon-plan-eternal-progression
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