Exaltation
What is the Mormon belief about exaltation?
Ray Farmer
This is one of the "unique understandings" that LDSaints maintain and obtained solely from the imaginations of Joseph Smith, from carefully selected quotes from early apostate church fathers (most of whom otherwise are completely rejected), and from scriptures so twisted beyond recognition that one wonders how they can be so darkened as to rely thereon.
As you may surmise from other answers, the belief has the sandy foundation of belief that all are "literal children of God". Those who have read the Bible and Book of Mormon, and indeed, the Pearl of Great price and the Doctrine and Covenants, come to learn that we BECOME sons and daughters of God.
LDSaints often refer to Jesus as their "elder brother". Jesus rejected the idea that we are all his brothers and sisters.
Matthew 12
46. While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
47. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49. And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
50. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
This is confirmed by the Book of Mormon, Bible and all of the LDS scriptures.
Book of Mormon
Mosiah 27:25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
Moroni 7:48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.
Ether 3:14 Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.
Doctrine and Covenants
Doctrine and Covenants 25:1 HEARKEN unto the voice of the Lord your God, while I speak unto you, Emma Smith, my daughter; for verily I say unto you, all those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom.
Doctrine and Covenants 39:4 But to as many as received me, gave I power to become my sons; and even so will I give unto as many as will receive me, power to become my sons.
Doctrine and Covenants 45:8 I came unto mine own, and mine own received me not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many miracles, and to become the sons of God; and even unto them that believed on my name gave I power to obtain eternal life.
Pearl of Great Price
Moses 7:1 AND it came to pass that Enoch continued his speech, saying: Behold, our father Adam taught these things, and many have believed and become the sons of God, and many have believed not, and have perished in their sins, and are looking forth with fear, in torment, for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God to be poured out upon them.
Moses 8:13 And Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God.
Bible
John 1
11. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Galatians 4
4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Objection
LDSaints will point out that God is the Father of all. This is true in a very limited and defined sense. We are all children of God in the sense that He created us. But He is our Father in this sense as is the heavens and earth and everything found therein, such as rocks and trees and fish and raccoons are.
Ether 4:7 And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, ...saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are.
Alma 11:39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;
Mosiah 3:8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning;
Children of the Devil
Unfortunately, unless we are the sons and daughters of God in the above sense, we are the children of the evil one.
Alma 5:41 Therefore, if a man bringeth forth good works he hearkeneth unto the voice of the good shepherd, and he doth follow him; but whosoever bringeth forth evil works, the same becometh a child of the devil, for he hearkeneth unto his voice, and doth follow him.
Alma 30:60 And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
Matthew 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
The Brick Once Laid
Once the LDSaints, ignoring the consistent voice of their scriptures, lay the false foundation that all are children of God, they go on to lay brick upon brick upon brick until they have a structure that is unsupported by any concept in the Word of God. As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught, once your airplane is a few degrees off in the beginning of the flight, you wind up in the wrong place.
Bricks of Sand
The LDSaint will tell you that, since we are literal children of God we have the seeds of godhood within us. Therefore, we have the potential to become gods.
The LDSaint will tell you that since we are the literal children of God, we receive an inheritance from Our Father. We inherit all His stuff and powers and divinity.
Even worse, they will tell you since we are literally his children, than God must be a child of some god before him.
They will tell you, and increasingly teach you that, since we are literal children of God, we have a Mother in Heaven by implication.
O My Father
I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.
when I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Of course, if you learned we are all children of God in the sense that He is the father of Heaven and Earth and all things that in them are by creation, than our mother must be the earth from which we were created.
2 Nephi 9:7 Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement--save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
Mosiah 2:26 And I, even I, whom ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the dust. And ye behold that I am old, and am about to yield up this mortal frame to its mother earth.
Mormon 6:15 ...lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth.
As you can see, once one lays a sandy foundation, the house built upon it becomes increasingly unstable as each brick is laid on a mistaken concept.
No Greater Gift
Dalin Oaks, prophet, seer and revelator, has been preaching with greater emphasis that God saves all the works of His hands. That is, the good, believing saints and the rebellious and fornicators and corrupt. Is there anything greater than salvation such as exaltation?
Doctrine and Covenants 6:13 If [yikes, sounds conditional] thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation.
Apparently exaltation is a greater gift than regular ol’ salvation in the mind of the LDSaint. But there appears, from their scriptures, that there is no greater.
Just more corrupt bricks on a sandy foundation.
Additional Edit after the Fact - First Parents
Who are our first father and mother? Were they parents of our spirits in the Pre-mortal world? Apparently not. Adam and Eve were our first parents.
1 Nephi 5:11 ....Adam and Eve, who were our first parents;
2 Nephi 2:15 ....he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created...
2 Nephi 9:9 .... that being who beguiled our first parents...
Jacob 4:3 ....concerning their first parents.
Mosiah 16:3 ....that old serpent that did beguile our first parents...
Alma 12:21 What does the scripture mean, which saith that God placed cherubim and a flaming sword on the east of the garden of Eden, lest our first parents should enter and partake of the fruit....
Alma 12:26 And now behold, if it were possible that our first parents could have gone forth and partaken of the tree of life....
Alma 42:2 Now behold, my son, I will explain this thing unto thee. For behold, after the Lord God sent our first parents forth from the garden of Eden....
Alma 42:7 And now, ye see by this that our first parents were cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord; ....
Helaman 6:26 ....that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit--
Ether 8:25 ....the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents....
Preemption: "Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High"
Those who seek to be gods often quote Psalms 82
1. GOD standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
So what were these "gods" up to? They were judging unjustly, they were accepting the persons of the wicked, they weren't defending the poor and fatherless, they knew not, neither did they understand; they were walking on in darkness.
The above gods sound like those who will be glorified in the kingdom of God (Telestial) according to the LDSaints and not in the Celestial Kingdom where gods are found!
Certainly this Psalm is not saying what LDSaints wish it did. Sorry.
Let's look at the passage where Jesus Reference this Psalm in John 10
31. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33. The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
35. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36. Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
37. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
39. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand….
So Jesus was talking to people who had stones in their hands to kill him. These, you think, are people Jesus is calling “gods”? On completion of His teachings, they took up the stones again! Really? Do LDSaints think these guys were gods? Jesus escaped out of their hands. Can one expect to escape gods?
Jesus said they WERE gods as he spoke. He didn't say that in the future they have the potential to be gods. Nope. They WERE gods. Obviously this all meant something other than what the LDSaints wished it said.
I know we waste our time pointing out Book of Mormon verses to LDSaints, but here are some verses that teach in what manner, if any, people in mortality are AS GOD:
2 Nephi 2:18 ....he said: Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
Alma 12:31 Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as to things which were temporal, and becoming as Gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good--
Observation: They became as God. This is not some future state that one works toward (progression). fallen man became as God! How? they knew the difference between good and evil and had will, pleasures and agency.
Alma 42:3 Now, we see that the man had become as God, knowing good and evil;
Observation: They became as God. This is not some future state that one works toward (progression). Fallen man became as God! Knowing good and evil seems, by repetition,m the reason they were as God. See the following from the Bible.
Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Moses 4:11 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Let's just read the verses of scripture and not try to wrest them to fit a predetermined false doctrine.