Exaltation vs. Godhood

[Mark Beesley]

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. But He was not exalted until after His resurrection per Joseph Smith in The King Follett discourse. Is “God” a title or office bestowed on those who attain a defined level of faith/power? The question came to mind as I read a post in another thread.  Other questions I had:

Is a Kingdom of Glory a place or state of being?

If Father in Heaven moves to a “higher exaltation,” what does that mean? Does His Work and Glory change, or . . . and this could be intriguing . . . Does His work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men shift to guiding all of His children through the eternities until they all achieve Celestial glory?

What is the relationship between this concept of a “higher exaltation” and Abraham 3?

I don’t know about everyone else but, I think I am going now. These kinds of questions have answers, but God is the teacher.

 

 

[JLHPROF]

Just now, Mark Beesley said:

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. But He was not exalted until after His resurrection per Joseph Smith in The King Follett discourse. Is “God” a title or office bestowed on those who attain a defined level of faith/power? The question came to mind as I read a post in another thread.  Other questions I had:

Is a Kingdom of Glory a place or state of being?

If Father in Heaven moves to a “higher exaltation,” what does that mean? Does His Work and Glory change, or . . . and this could be intriguing . . . Does His work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men shift to guiding all of His children through the eternities until they all achieve Celestial glory?

What is the relationship between this concept of a “higher exaltation” and Abraham 3?

I don’t know about everyone else but, I think I am going now. These kinds of questions have answers, but God is the teacher.

 

 

Great topic!

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. But He was not exalted until after His resurrection per Joseph Smith in The King Follett discourse. Is “God” a title or office bestowed on those who attain a defined level of faith/power? 

The word "God" has a lot of different meanings in the gospel.
It's our species, it's an office, it's a level of perfection.  We use the term to cover many different things.

Is a Kingdom of Glory a place or state of being?
Both.  That's why the scriptures say that kingdoms have space AND that we receive a resurrection contingent with our progression.
IE - the Celestial Kingdom is the place where God(s) dwells AND those who receive a Celestial resurrection to live there.

If Father in Heaven moves to a “higher exaltation,” what does that mean? Does His Work and Glory change, or . . . and this could be intriguing . . . Does His work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men shift to guiding all of His children through the eternities until they all achieve Celestial glory?

We don't know what higher callings there are for our Heavenly Father to move towards (and that really would be pure speculation), however, from the Temple Endowment and the King Follett we can see the potential for continuing the work and glory of his current position.  IE, the Eloheim and Jehovah pairing.  In my opinion the Eloheim (council of Gods) send Michaels overseen by Jehovahs to create worlds in a manner that is done on every world.  That work continues, regardless of which individual fills each of those roles.

What is the relationship between this concept of a “higher exaltation” and Abraham 3?
An absolute relationship.  But a verse by verse discussion would be tricky on a message board.  Just recognizing where Kolob fits is a topic all on its own.  As is the topic of Intelligences.  Or the fact that the one "like unto God" said "WE will go down" plural.

These kinds of questions have answers, but God is the teacher.
And he has said much already.  You know what Joseph taught about expecting new revelation when there is already God's word on the subject.

[Kenngo1969]

16 minutes ago, Mark Beesley said:

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. ...

Hmmmm ... yes and no.   Cf. Matthew 5:48 and 3 Nephi 12:48.

[TheTanakas]

2 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. But He was not exalted until after His resurrection per Joseph Smith in The King Follett discourse.

According to Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-20, resurrection then exaltation then godhood.

Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, 
in the next resurrection; and ... they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are 
set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things ... Then shall they be gods, because 
they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting,

[CV75]

2 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. But He was not exalted until after His resurrection per Joseph Smith in The King Follett discourse. Is “God” a title or office bestowed on those who attain a defined level of faith/power? The question came to mind as I read a post in another thread.  Other questions I had:

Is a Kingdom of Glory a place or state of being?

If Father in Heaven moves to a “higher exaltation,” what does that mean? Does His Work and Glory change, or . . . and this could be intriguing . . . Does His work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men shift to guiding all of His children through the eternities until they all achieve Celestial glory?

What is the relationship between this concept of a “higher exaltation” and Abraham 3?

I don’t know about everyone else but, I think I am going now. These kinds of questions have answers, but God is the teacher.

My opinions:

Q1: It depends, but let's go with Joseph Smith, for now anyway. If "angels" can refer to the Lord's servants, I suppose "gods" can, too.

Q2: Both.

Q3: If refers to life experience, the continuation of the seeds and what gods do with that given the states, estates, conditions and activities described in Abraham 3. (Q4)

 

[Ahab]

4 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

What is the difference between being exalted and achieving godhood. Christ had attained godhood prior to His mortal journey. But He was not exalted until after His resurrection per Joseph Smith in The King Follett discourse. Is “God” a title or office bestowed on those who attain a defined level of faith/power? The question came to mind as I read a post in another thread.  

We don't ever achieve godhood.  We always have been the same kind of being we are now and we are now the same kind of being as our Father in heaven.  To become exalted with God is to become as perfect and perfectly good as he is.

4 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

Other questions I had:

Is a Kingdom of Glory a place or state of being?

It is and can often be referred to as both.   The glory of God is intelligence and wherever you are and wherever you go, and however intelligent/glorious you are, there you will be.

 

4 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

If Father in Heaven moves to a “higher exaltation,” what does that mean? Does His Work and Glory change, or . . . and this could be intriguing . . . Does His work and glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men shift to guiding all of His children through the eternities until they all achieve Celestial glory?

His condition and state of perfection is not determined by how perfect we (his children) are or how perfect we can become.  Even if we all decided to go to Hell and become as evil as Satan is, our Father would still be perfect and perfectly good.

 

4 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

What is the relationship between this concept of a “higher exaltation” and Abraham 3?

God is the most supreme kind of being in all of existence and the best we can hope for is to someday become as perfect and as perfectly good as he is.

4 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

I don’t know about everyone else but, I think I am going now. These kinds of questions have answers, but God is the teacher.

.You could choose to stay here and try to share with us what God has taught you and will continue to try to teach you.  You don't need to leave us to be able to learn from God.

[Damien the Leper]

Let's start from the point that not only is Jesus the Son of God but He is God incarnate. Now that that is established...

[JLHPROF]

21 minutes ago, Damien the Leper said:

Let's start from the point that not only is Jesus the Son of God but He is God incarnate. Now that that is established...

Ah, but WHY is he God incarnate?  How did he gain such a title?

[Mark Beesley]

3 hours ago, Ahab said:

You don't need to leave us to be able to learn from God.

🙂 I kind do.

 

Seek Charity.

[Maidservant]

9 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

 “God”

Don't get stuck on the English word 'God'. For as much good as it can hold, it can also lead astray. Hebrew is better for understanding the depths of the history of this reality we now say in English as 'God'.

The main point is, is that as Beings we have the capacity for unlimited potential and we are on a journey to reach that, in time and eternity. It's really not that mysterious. But it is wonderful.

[Freedom]

On 12/29/2020 at 12:54 PM, Ahab said:

We don't ever achieve godhood.  We always have been the same kind of being we are now and we are now the same kind of being as our Father in heaven.  To become exalted with God is to become as perfect and perfectly good as he is.

It is and can often be referred to as both.   The glory of God is intelligence and wherever you are and wherever you go, and however intelligent/glorious you are, there you will be.

 

This is the key isn't it. God is a term as any others with no absolute definition. We are all gods, as Jesus taught. We are all gods just as all children are humans. I am a master of my domain, not the master of the universe. We become as God, we are on a journey that began eons ago; progression is eternal in that it is a godlike progression. We will continue to learn and grow if we live true to the precepts upon which the blessings of exultation are predicated.