The caricature: Mormons wishing to "get their own planet"?

[theplains]

From FairLDS

Mormons, along with many other Christian denominations, believe in deification or theosis, based 
on the teaching that we can become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Little 
is known, though much might be speculated, about the specific details of our potential under this 
doctrine. Reducing it to ruling a planet caricatures a profound and complex belief. The use of 
the word “planet” makes Mormons seem more like sci-fi enthusiasts than devout Christians.

This isn’t just a quibble about semantics. Claims that Mormons hope for “their own planets” almost 
always aim to disrespect and marginalize, not to understand or clarify. The reality is that we 
seek eternal life, which we consider to be a life like that of our Father in Heaven. We consider 
our immediate task on Earth to learn to understand and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rather 
than speculate on what life might be like if we achieve exaltation. Specifics about the creation 
of worlds and the ability to govern them upon achieving eternal life are not clarified in 
Latter-day Saint scripture. Attempts to portray these concepts as simply wanting to “get our own 
planet” are a mockery of Latter-day Saint beliefs.

It doesn't sound like a caricature when it comes from LDS sources however. Here are the noticeable 
ones.  Maybe it should be reworded as "Mormons wishing to create their own worlds" so as to 
eliminate the need for that classification.

1] 

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 17, discourse 22. The sermon's title is:

"Nothing Strange or New to Live and Die—Must Die in Order to Be Quickened—The World of Mankind 
Ignorant of Immortality—The Righteous Should Live to Enjoy the Light of the Spirit—All People 
Are the Children of God—They Learn By Contrast—Worlds to Be Organized and Peopled in Future 
Existence."

The relevant passage reads:

"As for their labor and pursuits in eternity I have not time to talk upon that subject; but we 
shall have plenty to do. We shall not be idle. We shall go on from one step to another, reaching 
forth into the eternities until we become like the Gods, and shall be able to frame for ourselves, 
by the behest and command of the Almighty. All those who are counted worthy to be exalted and to 
become Gods, even the sons of God, will go forth and have earths and worlds like those who framed 
this and millions on millions of others."

2] 

"After men have got their exaltations and their crowns—have become Gods, even the sons of 
God—are made Kings of kings and Lords of lords, they have the power then of propagating their 
species in spirit; and that is the first of their operations with regard to organizing a world. 
Power is then given to them to organize the elements, and then commence the organization of
tabernacles. How can they do it? Have they to go to that earth? Yes, an Adam will have to go 
there, and he cannot do without Eve; he must have Eve to commence the work of generation, and 
they will go into the garden, and continue to eat and drink of the fruits of the corporeal 
world, until this greater matter is diffused sufficiently through their celestial bodies to 
enable them, according to the established laws, to produce mortal tabernacles for their spiritual 
children" (Journal of Discourses, 6:275)

Sermon: Necessity of the Servants of God Being Pure in Heart and in Deed—Dependence on the Holy 
Spirit—Celestial Exaltations, Etc.

3]

"Again it follows, that in the use of this power, by consent and authority of the head, any one 
of these Gods may create, organize, people, govern, control, exalt, glorify and enjoy worlds on 
worlds, and the inhabitants thereof; or, in other words, each of them can find room in the 
infinitude of space, and unoccupied chaotic elements in the boundless storehouse of eternal riches, 
with which to erect for himself thrones, principalities, and powers, over which to reign in still 
increasing might, majesty and dominion, for ever and ever" (Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology)

4] 

"Then will they become gods, even the sons of God; then will they become eternal fathers, eternal 
mothers, eternal sons and eternal daughters; being eternal in their organization, they go from 
glory to glory, from power to power; they will never cease to increase and to multiply worlds 
without end. When they receive their crowns, their dominions, they then will be prepared to
frame earth’s like unto ours and to people them in the same manner as we have been brought forth 
by our parents, by our Father and God".
 
"When we shall possess the power and knowledge to cause heavenly planets to take their position, 
giving them their laws and boundaries which they must obey, and which they cannot pass, then we 
may begin to feel that we possess a little wisdom and power".

"The great and grand secret of salvation, which we should continually seek to understand through 
our faithfulness, is the continuation of the lives. Those of the Latterday Saints who will continue 
to follow after the revelations and commandments of God to do them, who are found to be obedient 
in all things, continually advancing little by little towards perfection and the knowledge of God, 
they, when they enter the spirit world and receive their bodies, will be able to advance faster in 
the things pertaining to the knowledge of the Gods, and will continue onward and upward until they 
become Gods, even the sons of God" (Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, 18:259 and 260).

5] 

"That great blessing of celestial glory could never have come to us without a period of time in 
mortality, and so we came here in this mortal world. We are in school, the mortal school, to gain 
the experiences, the training, the joys, and the sufferings that we partake of, that we might be 
educated in all these things and be prepared, if we are faithful and true to the commandments of 
the Lord, to become sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ; and in His presence 
to go on to a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever, and perhaps through our faithfulness 
to have the opportunity of building worlds and peopling them" (Adam’s Role in Bringing Us Mortality, 
President Joseph Fielding Smith, from an October 1967 General Conference address).

6]

"The training you get in the universities, while excellent, is limited. It is but a very tiny 
percentage of the total knowledge. We encourage knowledge and its proper use, but we know there 
will be a thousand years to study about things, and compared to the years spent in universities, 
that great learning period is relatively limitless. When we’re ready to create our own worlds and 
give leadership thereto, we will have great knowledge. Since knowledge is power, we will have 
power. Since knowledge can make us creative, we can be creators. Since knowledge can lead to 
judgment and wisdom, we can be just and worthy and wise. But we cannot wait for marriage until we 
have accumulated the knowledge we finally will need and want to have in order to create. We need 
the power of the priesthood to effect the creation, and it will have to be there; you hold the 
priesthood and can use it as you accumulate the secular knowledge".

...

"I feel certain that all the knowledge that is available will not be enough to give the power to 
create worlds without the priesthood and the power thereof. When we shall have learned all about 
medicine, mineralogy, zoology, forestry, biology, and all the other “-ologies” and all about the 
heavens and the earth in all of its moods, then, if we also know theology and know it well and 
abide by its precepts, perhaps then we can exercise our accumulated power to create an earth for 
our exalted family" (Spencer W. Kimball, "Marriage Is Honorable," BYU address on September 30, 
1973).

7]

Chapter 4: Teaching Children: from Four to Eleven Years,” A Parent’s Guide, page 29, second column.

"Each one of you has it within the realm of his possibility to develop a kingdom over which you 
will preside as its king and god. You will need to develop yourself and grow in ability and power 
and worthiness, to govern such a world with all of its people. You are sent to this earth not 
merely to have a good time or to satisfy urges or passions or desires. You are sent to this earth, 
not to ride merry-go-rounds, airplanes, automobiles, and have what the world calls 'fun.

"You are sent to this world with a very serious purpose. You are sent to school, for that matter, 
to begin as a human infant and grow to unbelievable proportions in wisdom, judgment, knowledge, 
and power" (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed, Edward L. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 
1982], p. 31).

8]

"Peter and John had little secular learning, being termed ignorant. But they knew the vital things 
of life, that God lives and that the crucified, resurrected Lord is the Son of God. They knew the 
path to eternal life. This they learned in a few decades of their mortal life. Their righteous 
lives opened the door to godhood for them and creation of worlds with eternal increase. For this 
they would probably need, eventually, a total knowledge of the sciences. But whereas Peter and 
John had only decades to learn and do the spiritual, they have already had nineteen centuries in 
which to learn the secular or the geology of the earth, the zoology and physiology and psychology 
of the creatures of the earth. Mortality is the time to learn first of God and the gospel and to 
perform the ordinances. After our feet are set firmly on the path to eternal life we can amass 
more knowledge of the secular things" (President Kimball Speaks Out, Deseret Book, 1981).

It was later quoted verbatim by L. Tom Perry in his October 1997 General Conference address, 
"Receive Truth," giving it additional visibility in official LDS teaching.

“Peter and John had little secular learning, being termed ignorant. But they knew the vital things 
of life, that God lives and that the crucified, resurrected Lord is the Son of God. They knew the 
path to eternal life. This they learned in a few decades of their mortal life. Their righteous 
lives opened the door to godhood for them and creation of worlds with eternal increase. For this 
they would probably need, eventually, a total knowledge of the sciences. But whereas Peter and 
John had only decades to learn and do the spiritual, they have already had nineteen centuries in 
which to learn the secular or the geology of the earth, the zoology and physiology and psychology 
of the creatures of the earth. Mortality is the time to learn first of God and the gospel and to 
perform the ordinances. After our feet are set firmly on the path to eternal life we can amass 
more knowledge of the secular things” (President Kimball Speaks Out [1981], 91).

9]

"Desirable as is secular knowledge, one is not truly educated unless he has the spiritual with
the secular. The secular knowledge is to be desired; the spiritual knowledge is an absolute 
necessity. We shall need all of the accumulated secular knowledge in order to create worlds and 
to furnish them, but only through the "mysteries of God" and these hidden treasures of knowledge 
may we arrive at the place and condition where we may use that knowledge in creation and 
exaltation" (Spencer W. Kimball, October 1968 Conference Report, also in Church News).

10]

"To live in the highest part of the celestial kingdom is called exaltation or eternal life. To 
be able to live in this part of the celestial kingdom, people must have been married in the temple 
and must have kept the sacred promises they made in the temple. They will receive everything our
Father in Heaven has and will become like Him. They will even be able to have spirit children and 
make new worlds for them to live on, and do all the things our Father in Heaven has done. People 
who are not married in the temple may live in other parts of the celestial kingdom, but they will
not be exalted" (Gospel Fundamentals, Chapter 36).

11]

We remember the numerous scriptures which, concentrated in a single line, were said by a former 
prophet, Lorenzo Snow: “As man is, God once was; and as God is, man may become.” This is a power 
available to us as we reach perfection and receive the experience and power to create, to organize, 
to control native elements".

In the resurrection, men who have been faithful and diligent in all things in the flesh, [who] 
have kept their first and second estate, and [are] worthy to be crowned Gods, even the sons of 
God, will be ordained to organize matter. How much matter do you suppose there is between here 
and some of the fixed stars which we can see? Enough to frame many, very many millions of such 
earths as this, yet it is now so diffused, clear and pure, that we look through it and behold 
the stars" (Our Great Potential, President Spencer W. Kimball, April 1977 General Conference).

[webbles]

I'm confused on what you are trying to say.