What's This Stuff About Getting My Own Planet?

[thesometimesaint]

Only one planet? I heard it was at least a galaxy or maybe even a universe.

 

Entirely possible as at least theoretically there are an infinite number of universes that would work.

[Garden Girl]

Yes exaltation is still the most important part of our theology (after all, it is God's work and glory and our end goal).

Yes, it falls into the milk before milk category.

But if you have received your endowment, have read D&C 76, 130, and 132, and the books of Moses and Abraham you have read the basic theology as to how we get to that point.

Everything else would require researching the sermons and writings of the earlier prophets as this is not emphasized very often today, but more detailed teachings on the subject are readily available.

 

 

 

Hello  Mormonewb and JLHPROF... 

Exaltation is indeed very much a part of our theology... and I don't understand JLHPROF's comment that exaltation is not emphasized very often today... or am I misunderstanding you? 

In our current Gospel Principles manual that was recently used in Priesthood and Relief Society, Chapter 47 (pages 275 - 280) is titled "Exaltation" and goes on to address the topic IMO quite completely, and gives numerous scriptural references... additionally there are subheadings describing the "Blessings of Exaltation," and, "Requirements for Exaltation."

 

And in the current P/RS lesson taught yesterday from Teachings of the Presidents... Lorenzo Snow... Chap 24 pages 280 and 28l, we read Snow's counsel: "We are dependent upon Jesus Christ, upon his coming into the world to open the way whereby we might secure peace , happiness, and exaltation."

And... "We understand fully that as Jesus Christ dwelt here in a body and that He received that body and now dwells in it glorified, that we are entitled to the same blessing, the same exaltation, and the same glory."

Additionally, pages 84 - 89, and 130-131 discuss the potential for exaltation... "because we have divinity within us, we can become like our Father in Heaven."  These may be quotes from Pres Snow, but they are being emphasized today.

 

Many times teachings and references to exaltation are included in various conference talks as part of the Plan of Salvation (Happiness) etc...  example: Elder Bednar's talk on Sat. afternoon speaks of the Plan of Happiness during May 2013 gen. conference... "The Father's plan enables His spirit sons and daughters to obtain physical bodies, to gain mortal experience, and to progress toward exaltation."

 

IMO we are talking/writing about our theology on exaltation quite often... 

 

GG

[altersteve]

I think we should be more focused on improving our lives and helping others while we're here on Earth than on speculating about the afterlife. Improving our lives and helping others is why we're here.

[thesometimesaint]

I think we should be more focused on improving our lives and helping others while we're here on Earth than on speculating about the afterlife. Improving our lives and helping others is why we're here.

 

I believe we can and should do both.

[Stone holm]

I think we should be more focused on improving our lives and helping others while we're here on Earth than on speculating about the afterlife. Improving our lives and helping others is why we're here.

 

Well that's fine, so why are you participating in this thread?  I hear this all the time by people who merely want to shut down conversations, its part of the reason we are only taught milk.

[altersteve]

I wasn't trying to shut down the conversation. I was only saying what I would say if someone asked me about the whole "getting your own planet" nonsense.

[Stone holm]

I wasn't trying to shut down the conversation. I was only saying what I would say if someone asked me about the whole "getting your own planet" nonsense.

 

Which would be an attempt to shut down the conversation.

[Scott Lloyd]

Well that's fine, so why are you participating in this thread?  I hear this all the time by people who merely want to shut down conversations, its part of the reason we are only taught milk.

Wholesome milk is better than tainted meat -- which is what unauthoritative or ignorant conjecture amounts to.

 

It leads to folk doctrine getting entrenched over time and the Church as an institution getting blamed for what it never did embrace or promulgate in the first place.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[Stone holm]

Wholesome milk is better than tainted meat -- which is what unauthoritative or ignorant conjecture amounts to.

 

It leads to folk doctrine getting entrenched over time and the Church as an institution getting blamed for what it never did embrace or promulgate in the first place.

True, though tainted milk which provides only superficial knowledge also has its disadvantages like raising a generation of Saints ignorant of our doctrine and history.

[Scott Lloyd]

True, though tainted milk which provides only superficial knowledge also has its disadvantages like raising a generation of Saints ignorant of our doctrine and history.

I'm not yet convinced such ignorance prevails among entire generations -- although I do wonder when I see, for example, Internet posts from individuals who appear never to have read D&C 132, or if they did, have never put it together that if Joseph Smith received the revelation on plurality of wives, he had to have taught it to others, if not lived it himself.

[mormonnewb]

I'm not yet convinced such ignorance prevails among entire generations -- although I do wonder when I see, for example, Internet posts from individuals who appear never to have read D&C 132, or if they did, have never put it together that if Joseph Smith received the revelation on plurality of wives, he had to have taught it to others, if not lived it himself.

That is something that I wouldn't blame on the members. In one of the THOUSANDS of hours that kids spend in primary/mutual/seminar, someone should have EXPLICITLY told them about Joseph's polygamy and not just hinted at it. No one hints about the First Vision or the martyrdom.

I see the same thing in this thread. Some say that getting our own planet is evident from the scriptures and church teachings. Yet, on its site, the Church says that it is all a matter of conjecture. And then the ignorant (people like me) are left to read between the lines, which seems to be, "Yes, we get our own planet but don't tell anybody, they might laugh at you."

Now don't get me wrong. Most other Christian churches don't even go this far in its teachings. For instance, 100 Baptists will have 100 different views of Heaven (we'll only have about 6). But, on the other hand, they get to watch football on Sundays.

[mormonnewb]

DUPLICATE POST

Edited December 17, 2013 by mormonnewb

[Stone holm]

I'm not yet convinced such ignorance prevails among entire generations -- although I do wonder when I see, for example, Internet posts from individuals who appear never to have read D&C 132, or if they did, have never put it together that if Joseph Smith received the revelation on plurality of wives, he had to have taught it to others, if not lived it himself.

Lol...Scott, I agree with you...no wonder its so cold out here heck just froze over again.

[JAHS]

Yeah my wife and I got in a debate yesterday after Church about whether Our Heavenly Father created the universe, or whether His Creations "worlds without end" are contained within this universe.  That appears to depend upon where Kolob is.  So "only one planet", maybe a universe.  I tend to believe that Kolob is within this Universe and therefore Heavenly Father's worlds without end are in the same universe as His siblings and His parents, ad infinitum.  Oh how I love angels dancing on pinheads!

 

Here's a few quotes from the prophets:

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said:

"If we will look with the eye of faith and in the spirit of humility, we will see, beyond the power of the microscope, the Master craftsman of the universe at work, just as he has said, giving to each particle of matter, each compound great and small, the law by which it is governed." (Seek Ye Earnestly)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:

"Though crucified briefly between two thieves, Jesus now sits eternally on the right hand of God! (Luke 22:69; 1 Pet. 3:22.) He is the Lord of the constructed universe, yet He was known merely as "the carpenter's son." (Matt. 13:55.) (Ensign, November 1988, p. 33.)

President Gordon B Hinckley testified:

"I know that God lives and that he is the Ruler of the universe, our Father in Heaven;" (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley)

President Marion G. Romney said,

"Jesus Christ, is the Lord of the whole universe. Except for his mortal ministry accomplished on this earth, his service and relationship to other worlds and their inhabitants are the same as his service and relationship to this earth and its inhabitants." ("Jesus Christ, Lord of the Universe," Improvement Era, November 1968, p.46)

 

So at least they tend to believe that God created our universe (meaning all stars, planets, and galaxies). So if we are to become as God and have eternal increase, it will be over our own universe which we have created.

 

President Spencer W Kimball:

"The real life we’re preparing for is eternal life. Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance. Our conviction is that God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to live the life that He does. We learn both the spiritual things and the secular things 'so we may one day create worlds [and] people and govern them' (Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball)

 

President Brigham Young:

"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." (Journal of Discourses 17:143)

 

Patriarch Eldred G. Smith:

“And so through the power of the priesthood the man has the opportunity of obtaining that degree of perfection by which he may create worlds and populate them with his own offspring” (Patriarch Eldred G. Smith, BYU Speeches of the Year, March 10, 1964, p.7).

 

Joseph Smith said that men may go "...from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation ... until (they) arrive at the station of a God." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith)

 

The question is are comments like the above personal speculation or a hope of what may be or should they be considered official church doctrine? It appears that the current opinion of church leadership today is that they are speculation. 

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

If it involves getting to play in God's workshop, count me in.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1312/p1769716276metsavainio.jpg

"Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undeveloped offspring of celestial parentage is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God."

Joseph F. Smith

John R. Winder

Anthon H. Lund

First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

November 1909

I believe that God as any parent is trying to create those who will become the same. We are promised to be "joint heirs with Christ" and they we will have all that the Father has; why would we need more? What worries me is some think that one day they will be Elohiem's equal.

[Scott Lloyd]

That is something that I wouldn't blame on the members. In one of the THOUSANDS of hours that kids spend in primary/mutual/seminar, someone should have EXPLICITLY told them about Joseph's polygamy and not just hinted at it. No one hints about the First Vision or the martyrdom.

 

I was born and reared in the Church and knew very early on about plural marriage. I don't remember when I first heard that it was Joseph who received the revelation and who first practiced it, but it only made sense. I would have been surprised to learn that it began with Brigham Young.

 

Perhaps the problem is we have been raising generations of youngsters who are disinclined to read and study on their own.

 

I see the same thing in this thread. Some say that getting our own planet is evident from the scriptures and church teachings. Yet, on its site, the Church says that it is all a matter of conjecture. And then the ignorant (people like me) are left to read between the lines, which seems to be, "Yes, we get our own planet but don't tell anybody, they might laugh at you."

 

 

Sounds like you're having trouble distinguishing between authoritative teaching and private conjecture.

 

Now don't get me wrong. Most other Christian churches don't even go this far in its teachings. For instance, 100 Baptists will have 100 different views of Heaven (we'll only have about 6). But, on the other hand, they get to watch football on Sundays.

 

Alas, a lot of Mormons do as well. Maybe that's their problem. They should be spending the Sabbath day studying the gospel.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

Lol...Scott, I agree with you...no wonder its so cold out here heck just froze over again.

This has been happening repeatedly lately. Are you feeling well?

[Calm]

 

Perhaps the problem is we have been raising generations of youngsters who are disinclined to read and study on their own.

I call it the Sesame Street problem....youth raised to believe education is pure visual entertainment (requiring imagination only in so far as to suspend belief, not in any creative sense) that is fed directly to one while one sits passively and not only that, but no topic should take longer than a few minutes to teach before we pop onto something else to ensure that we never, ever suffer boredom.

 

They had good....great intentions, just not enough balance, imo.  And the rest of the educational world seemed to simply follow along....

 

My husband has required his MBA students to give him two copies of their presentation to their business clients, one on some word processing program for easy reading/correcting, the other a "hard copy" so he can see how they are presenting to their clients.  His students are emailing him the "hard copy".  This isn't the first time it has happened.  He will in the future state "paper copy" but I suspect it will not do much good unless he adds "that you print off and walk into my office and hand into my mail box".

 

One of those head shaking, face palming moments in education.

Edited December 17, 2013 by calmoriah

[Scott Lloyd]

I call it the Sesame Street problem....youth raised to believe education is pure visual entertainment (requiring imagination only in so far as to suspend belief, not in any creative sense) that is fed directly to one while one sits passively and not only that, but no topic should take longer than a few minutes to teach before we pop onto something else to ensure that we never, ever suffer boredom.

 

They had good....great intentions, just not enough balance, imo.  And the rest of the educational world seemed to simply follow along....

 

My husband has required his MBA students to give him two copies of their presentation to their business clients, one on some word processing program for easy reading/correcting, the other a "hard copy" so he can see how they are presenting to their clients.  His students are emailing him the "hard copy".  This isn't the first time it has happened.  He will in the future state "paper copy" but I suspect it will not do much good unless he adds "that you print off and walk into my office and hand into my mail box".

 

One of those head shaking, face palming moments in education.

The Sesame Street Syndrome.

 

That's a very apt name for it.

[mormonnewb]

Sounds like you're having trouble distinguishing between authoritative teaching and private conjecture.

 

 

 

I confess that I'm simply not as smart or as earnest in my studies as you are, so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me: Do I get my own planet or not?

[thesometimesaint]

That is something that I wouldn't blame on the members. In one of the THOUSANDS of hours that kids spend in primary/mutual/seminar, someone should have EXPLICITLY told them about Joseph's polygamy and not just hinted at it. No one hints about the First Vision or the martyrdom.

I see the same thing in this thread. Some say that getting our own planet is evident from the scriptures and church teachings. Yet, on its site, the Church says that it is all a matter of conjecture. And then the ignorant (people like me) are left to read between the lines, which seems to be, "Yes, we get our own planet but don't tell anybody, they might laugh at you."

Now don't get me wrong. Most other Christian churches don't even go this far in its teachings. For instance, 100 Baptists will have 100 different views of Heaven (we'll only have about 6). But, on the other hand, they get to watch football on Sundays.

 

We don't EXPLICITLY know how JS practiced his polygamy. Such would be an argument from silence. For example many women were Sealed to JS AFTER his death. So just how did JS EXPLICITLY practice his polygamy with them?

 

JS was the only mortal witness to his First Vision, so by definition we're are dependent on his explanation(s) of the event. Charges were filed for those involved in the martyrdom of JS. But the purps  either escaped prosecution or were found not guilty.

 

I would never call you ignorant. Though there certainly nothing sinful in being ignorant. Ignorance isn't a sin, but get rid of it as fast as you can. We don't know a whole lot about what Heaven will be like other than we can be like God, and be with our families with our families. That sounds pretty good to me. It was the main draw to me to convert.

 

More than one LDS worships at the Church o the NFL.

[thesometimesaint]

I confess that I'm simply not as smart or as earnest in my studies as you are, so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me: Do I get my own planet or not?

 

We don't know. However IF such is the case we will still be but servants of God.

[Calm]

The Sesame Street Syndrome.

 

That's a very apt name for it.

And that is the real name too...I hadn't used it for awhile and couldn't remember exactly how I put it, but I knew it was much more clever than just "problem".  Thank you, I am always annoyingly obsessive about losing things, whether around the house or around my mind.

[Stone holm]

Here's a few quotes from the prophets:

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said:

"If we will look with the eye of faith and in the spirit of humility, we will see, beyond the power of the microscope, the Master craftsman of the universe at work, just as he has said, giving to each particle of matter, each compound great and small, the law by which it is governed." (Seek Ye Earnestly)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:

"Though crucified briefly between two thieves, Jesus now sits eternally on the right hand of God! (Luke 22:69; 1 Pet. 3:22.) He is the Lord of the constructed universe, yet He was known merely as "the carpenter's son." (Matt. 13:55.) (Ensign, November 1988, p. 33.)

President Gordon B Hinckley testified:

"I know that God lives and that he is the Ruler of the universe, our Father in Heaven;" (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley)

President Marion G. Romney said,

"Jesus Christ, is the Lord of the whole universe. Except for his mortal ministry accomplished on this earth, his service and relationship to other worlds and their inhabitants are the same as his service and relationship to this earth and its inhabitants." ("Jesus Christ, Lord of the Universe," Improvement Era, November 1968, p.46)

 

So at least they tend to believe that God created our universe (meaning all stars, planets, and galaxies). So if we are to become as God and have eternal increase, it will be over our own universe which we have created.

 

President Spencer W Kimball:

"The real life we’re preparing for is eternal life. Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance. Our conviction is that God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to live the life that He does. We learn both the spiritual things and the secular things 'so we may one day create worlds [and] people and govern them' (Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball)

 

President Brigham Young:

"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." (Journal of Discourses 17:143)

 

Patriarch Eldred G. Smith:

“And so through the power of the priesthood the man has the opportunity of obtaining that degree of perfection by which he may create worlds and populate them with his own offspring” (Patriarch Eldred G. Smith, BYU Speeches of the Year, March 10, 1964, p.7).

 

Joseph Smith said that men may go "...from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation ... until (they) arrive at the station of a God." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith)

 

The question is are comments like the above personal speculation or a hope of what may be or should they be considered official church doctrine? It appears that the current opinion of church leadership today is that they are speculation. 

 

And yet, we have the Snow couplet, and we have Hie Unto Kolob in the hymnbook, and the numerous comments suggesting that Joseph Smith pointed to some star up above...so if you are talking about "universe" in the scientific sense -- these quotes don't quite make sense.  On the other hand, if we are talking about the "whole universe" in the sense of worlds that we are ever likely to visit -- then yes.  We assume that the term "universe" is always used consistently.  What I was talking about was a "universe" in the scientific sense.  Course, if you put Kolob outside this universe, then the whole picture changes.

[JDave]

Much of the changes that the church has recently made to curricula is to bring things more in line with scripture and to rein in on conjecture.  The statement about "our own planet" seems to be in line with this general trend.

 

Has the church taught about having our own planet(s)?  Sure.

Can it be reasonably extrapolated from scripture?  I guess so.

 

I think the underlying issue is that to state that we "get our own planet" is demeaning when compared to reality.  It is intentionally used in a pejorative sense by critics and when employed by church members it is far short of the majestic reality of the gospel.  My take is that the church is trying to change the language used rather than "soften" the doctrine.  The doctrine is that we can become like God and be joint-heirs with Christ.  That is majestic -- much more so than getting my own planet.