I can trace my roots all the way back to the founding of the church, and my ancestors were pioneers that came to Utah.

Every time I hear someone talking about getting their own planet, I think "That's not what I learned"

This is what I was taught and believed:

God the father lives on a planet near a star called Kolob and he created and owns all of space. He created the known universe, all galaxies etc. There are countless worlds in the universe and god the father presides over all of them. (As a side note, we were sent to the world that was most wicked and the best at the same time because we got to be on the world that had the one savior but also, our world was bad enough to kill him)

So, we as children of god the father, would one day get to live on our own Kolob style planet and preside over our own universe with countless planets.

I was never taught that we would get our own planet. I was taught that I'd get my own universe, just like daddy.

I had many discussions about this with fellow missionaries, and members when I was a TBM. I honestly have never heard of just getting a planet.

Was I in a crazy part of Utah, or was anyone else taught this too?

Universes come with planets. So you are getting millions of them instead of one. A universe, a planet, whatever! What difference does it make that you weren't taught "a planet" specifically? To me exactly none.

You will become God of your domain! (under upper priesthood direction and authority of course).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2014 09:40AM by AmIDarkNow?.

The difference is that the only thing I read about on this board about it is that we will get our own planet. Mormons deny that they teach that we will get our own planet and the exmormons on this board say that it was taught.

I was never taught this, and I want to know if anyone else was taught the same as me.

I think "get your own planet" is just the common verbiage used by former mormons to describe what you just described being taught, which was the same as I was taught......that you eternally progress to be a god, creating worlds and doing all the godly things the incumbent god is doing now.

This presumably includes having a planet that you send your best behaved and most obedient son to, so he can be killed, in order to save the rest of your kids that are living on the planet you created for them to live on.

I think its being taught that the god cycle ultimately repeats with you as a god now sending your number one son to a planet to repeat the atonement for your spirit/ mortal offspring.

That's where "get your own planet" comes from IMO.

Sperco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> would one day get to live on our own Kolob style planet and
> preside over our own universe with countless
> planets.

I was taught that I would live on my own planet, but I never stopped to think about what universe that would be in. No one said anything to me about it being a separate universe though. I just assumed that it would be somewhere in this one, too far away for our telescopes to see.

I did realize that I'd technically have to have a second planet in order to send my spirit children to it.

I know that the size of this Universe is difficult for us to imagine, but I never stopped to think about what would happen if millions of Mormons went on to have their own planets and then also had a planet to send their spirit children to, which was too far away from the parent planet for them to see it.

Same here--
I was TBM in Utah for 30+ years, and was always taught we would become Gods and receive "worlds without end". I don't recall it ever being limited to just one planet.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about the "worlds without end" thing. I don't think they could have fit us all in one Universe, although the thing expands, so it's not impossible.

I just never thought about that being in another universe though. No one ever mentioned that idea when they were teaching us.

'course that would make it a multiverse, rather than a universe.

Yeah, I think the idea of getting your own planet (or universe) is something you will find was commonly taught pre-1990 and so maybe it's an age thing. The whole POINT of Mormonism is to become like God and achieve Godhood and what's the point of being a God if you don't get a world to populate with spirit children and perpetuate there the same sort of work God has done on this planet. I think universe v. planet is just a matter of semantics and the point is that Mormons think they are going to become Gods someday. If you believe in the bible, the whole reason Satan fell from heaven and became the adversary is because he tried to become like God. So whatever you think being a God would entail or entitle you to, the real deal-breaker point for other Christians is that Mormons try to become Gods like Satan did.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2014 10:08AM by CA girl.

CA girl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think universe v. planet is just a matter of
> semantics

Yeah, I agree that the distinction is really not important. It just made me go, "Hey, yeah. I never thought of that before."

"get your own planet" just fits into youtube comments much better than:

"God the father lives on a planet near a star called Kolob and he created and owns all of space. He created the known universe, all galaxies etc. There are countless worlds in the universe and god the father presides over all of them... So, we as children of god the father, would one day get to live on our own Kolob style planet and preside over our own universe with countless planets."

only Mopologists care about the distinctions between those two ways of saying basically the same thing

I don't think it's basically the same thing, which is why I made the post.

I just wanted to know if others were taught the same thing I was.

see my post below.....

And keep in mind....I could say "people on this board say mormons believe in a "sky daddy".....I'm BIC, RM, TM and I wasn't taught anything about a sky daddy. I was taught that I have a kind and loving heavanly father....blah, blah, blah. Get my drift??

"I just wanted to know if others were taught the same thing I was."

i was also taught that

but i prefer the shorthand of "i was taught that I would get my own planet" to the version you used above

- especially if i'm talking to nevermos

no big deal either way

I usually say, when I am talking to nevermos, that I was taught that I'd get my own universe :-)

fair enough

i prefer 'planet' because i know it rustles TBM jimmies

I am 50+ years old, and I was regularly taught throughout my youth that I would become a God and would have have my own universe (planets included) as well as eternal increase.

All I can say is you must be young. Us older people remember the teaching.

Joseph Fielding Smith taught, "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."

This is from JFS's Doctrines of Salvation. I have kept the books because the church is trying to jettison its teachings of many years, and having the books is proof enough for me that I received these teachings as doctrine even while I was an adult.

You just made my point with your quote from JFS:

"have the opportunity of building worlds and peopling them."

Worlds is plural. That's what I'm talking about.

If we're getting nit-picky, which it seems we are, JFS was using the pronoun "we" not "you" when he made the "worlds" reference. As in, "WE...through OUR faithfulness...have the opportunity of building worlds..." As a group we would have worlds, not necessarily just you individually.

What's amazing to me is how totally loony-tunes it all sounds now.

Your age can also be a big factor in what you were or weren't taught. And don't forget, mormonism is very regional...in that attending the same ward most or all of your life limits you to learning what the local nutjob EQ president or gospel doctric teaching is teaching.

Mormonism: individual results may vary by region, economic status, pioneer heritage, gulibility......etc.

Then you must not be very old. With the exception of my parents we're all BIC in my family. Even my youngest sister who's in her early 30's was taught she'd be popping out babbies with her sister wives in the CK for the planets her husband created. The women in my family would talk for hours about how we intended to 'decorate' the planets. It's not talked about very much anymore but it was taught.

I was taught that as gods we would CREATE our own planets/universes, not have it all handed to us.

LOL anonrit3n0w. I used to like to think about how I would decorate my planet too.

And Thank You Stray Mutt:

You nailed it. We were NOT taught that we would GET our own planet/world. We were taught that we would CREATE from raw elements, organize every particle, and beautify our personal world creation to be a "proving ground" for our own spiritual offspring.

Then, after that world/planet goes through its cycle being peopled and then turned into another Celestial Kingdom world (blah blah and more blah), being that we are Gods with these perfect bodies with rock hard abs, sculpted butts, and perfect flawless-tight-baby smooth skin --- we'd start all over and do it again and again for freaking FOREVER with no end to our increase.

If you are not being taught that now, then you are being lied to about what IS Mormonism's doctrine, brought to you by the 19th and 20th century veritable true apostles and prophets of the Mormon Church.

Sorry if some of you have not heard of it. But if you read and do a little homework you'll find the teachings. If you've been to BYU Campus Education Week in Provo, Utah during the 1970's and early 1980's you would have heard this stuff taught by authorized CES instructors. It was taught back then at the San Jose California LDS Institute next to San Jose State University by the director, Dale Moritsen.

Oh to have taken videos and recorded all those sermons and course instructors. Of course, today they'd just be guys speaking as men. BUT IT WAS SANCTIONED BY CHURCH HEADQUARTERS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

ETA: This doctrine was said to be what made us a chosen and "peculiar" people.

2nd ETA: Dale Moritsen, CES Institute Director (mentioned above) used to pass out hand-outs in his class on colored paper. He'd have listed all the crazy quotes for the class lecture that day. We were encouraged to put them in our binders that we brought to class. Over a period of a couple of years, you'd have a number of course handouts in your 4" thick binder. Back then in the early 1970s, we didn't have correlated student manuals -- so he passed out *his stuff* regularly. Now I wonder what box in the attic has my old institute handouts in it? Do I want to go up there and get it and start re-reading all that stuff to make another point on RFM? Nope.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2014 11:01AM by jiminycricket.

Yes, this exactly. "Getting your own planet" is simply the accepted shorthand. OP is being too literal with the jargon.

The only debates I ever heard was whether we would be creating within our own universes or galaxies.

In addition, I was taught by one seminary teacher that the worlds we created would be according to exacting standard blueprints -- no personal changes in specifications -- because all worlds needed to be uniform so that the eternally existing divine laws would apply exactly the same way everywhere.

Reminds me of an exmo lady I know who enjoyed the Mormon church because everyone was nice to her and she spent most of her time in primary with little kiddies. She never took a big interest in studying or searching out underlying beliefs because she always assumed they were the same or similar to the mainstream Christian church she went to as a girl.

Some members are cogs in the machinery. The Mormon "leaders" don't want them to know about the crazy side of the church or they might leave with take their tithes and their helping hands with them.

notice the use of "perhaps"... JFS, like other MoLeaders, often left a bit of ambiguity in their words as Plausible Denyability.

It's a problem all cults encounter, especially those who are started by a messianic figure who claims divine authority and authors his own sacred texts and doctrines. Eventually, the contradictions of and errors in his hodgepodge dogma become apparent, and he issues new doctrine to correct or explain them,, resulting in more problems.

This is now hitting his successors, who cannot outright disavow the sacred revelation. So they go through an awkward, and intellectually dishonest, process of abandoning the more bizarre of the teachings, resulting in a gap between the oldsters' knowledge and practice of "true" original and the gentler new teachings. This is exactly what happened with polygamy: oldsters held to the "true" teachings, separating off from the "apostate" modernists (SLC) who issued the Manifesto.

I doubt if the "lords of eternal increase" believers will separate themselves off. They'll just fritter away with semantic distinctions, like you've read above, and die off. And all this will be relegated to esoteric discussions within the newly evolved, evangelical-styled mainstream LDS church.

Oh yes--the same process is happening to the doctrine of TSCC as "the one true church."

"Meet the Mormons!" "Meet the new Mormon doctrine!" "See--we're not so weird after all!"

Exactly.

The same applies to the Temple 1990 changes. Back then you couldn't record an endowment session because of the shoe box size of hand held VHS recorders. So we don't have unauthorized videos of the chanting Pay Lay Ale and the death throat slitting rituals that had been practiced for decades. No documented videos of standing around the alter in the freeking TRUE ORDER OF PRAYER. (Yes I know there are re-enactment videos.) After a few more generations THAT CREEPY STUFF will be history relegated to the dust piles of either "anti-Mormon" stuff or "lies" while the Morg morphs into where ever its trying to run from.

ETA: I think this is why Jeffrey Holland had his PR guys object to the BBC interview by saying he had been "ambushed." Point is, Holland admitted on tape to the penalties in the temple and the frustrating part for him is he has zero control over the footage from that interview (meaning: he can't burn it). Too late JRH, you admitted as an apostle to the 'stuff you want forgotten for future generations' and can't whitewash your interview down your apostolic drain hole.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2014 11:15AM by jiminycricket.

sure you weren't.

Its just not past generations who were taught this.

I am in my very early 20's and everyone in my age group knew we would all be getting our own planet(s) one day.

It was taught, and Im not in Utah either or some back woods place, this is southern california.

As part of that, we all knew not to talk about it if someone new or not as indoctrinated was around, but yeah it was definitely talked about and taught here.

I'm not being bitter or "anti" just saying what happened.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2014 11:21AM by nonsequiter.

Is it just me, or did half of the people who responded to this post only read the heading?

Oh I read every post.

My question for you Sperco is:

Were you taught that you would CREATE your own WORLD?

Because you don't mention those two words. You repeatedly mention GET or GETTING something and PLANET.

****
We all know about Bill Clinton saying, "It depends on what the definition of 'IS' is."

We all know that LDS Inc. states on the PR Mormon Newsroom that TSCC DOES NOT teach that we will GET our own PLANET. Are they playing with words? Get? Or is it create? Planet? Or is it World?

Because if you ask the question: Do Mormon's believe that they will CREATE their own WORLD(s)? The doctrinal answer is yes, if you use that exact language with those words.

Crafty little bastards aren't they, having fun with semantics?

This thread brings back a hilarious memory. I was a zealous new convert back in 1980's Southern California. Because I'm so friendly to everydamnbody, the bish decided to use me as a recruiting tool in my singles ward. I was called as Gospel Essentials teacher just 4 months into my life as a Mormon.

Well, I'd been studying deep doctrine with my RM girlfriends for months before getting baptized. so I knew it *ALL* baby and I didn't hesitate to spout crazy in my class. I didn't understand that there was this whole "milk before meat" culture in the Mormon church. I just laid it all out there.

One Sunday, some nice family dropped off a single neighbor at our ward to visit. Apparently they had been fellowshipping her and hosting missionary discussion for several months. This was her first visit to an actual Mormon church. So they dropped her off at our singles ward (which is where she would be assigned after baptism) and went on to their family ward.

Things went smoothly during all of the meetings, until she reached my Gospel Essentials class. The lesson was on the Plan of Salvation, and I presented my own enhanced version complete with us becoming Gods and peopling our own planets and such. I presented intricate diagrams, personal theories, and wild speculations. (I was never big on being "correlated" as a teacher). I thought it was a spectacular and informative lesson.

Well, that poor investigator lady looked visibly upset throughout the whole lesson. As soon as class was over, she bolted out the door before I could even introduce my friendly self.

A few seconds later I saw her through the window, *running* toward her ride waiting to pick her up ... high heels clickety-clacking down the drive. She hopped in the car, slammed the door, and they quickly drove away. I can't imagine how her Mormon neighbors explained THAT whole doctrine away!

After that, my lessons were monitored by the ward missionaries and some Priesthood Poo-Bah. They were there to ensure I never chased away another potential convert again.

I always felt bad about scaring that woman to death. But, in retrospect, I think it turned out to be a good thing. I'm pretty sure she never got baptized.

Tee hee.

;o)

Love it.

If you go to the Gospel Principles Manual, Chapter 41, "Exaltation" it says under the heading "Blessings of Exaltation" that in the Celestial Kingdom "They will become Gods."

Note how this is the last lesson in the manual.

If you are an investigator and just happen to have had one lesson with the missionaries from Preach My Gospel, and just happen to go to the class for investigators where this manual is being used, and just happen to get the last lesson (no. 41) on your first in-house lesson in a Mormon building --- then watch out! You get the meat on day one (granted its not filet but it does require a lot of chewing and swallowing to digest it).

It has been documented that this and similar teachings have been taught in the church for decades:

http://mormonthink.com/essays-becoming-like-god.htm

You are correct, Sperco, the doctrine I taught in seminary, Sunday school, priesthood, and gospel doctrine classes for years is that "God" is the highest office within the Priesthood. As Gods, we have eternal increase, and will be getting/creating/populating/presiding over our own UNIVERSE, worlds without end.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2014 01:46PM by builderbob.

CREATE my own planet? Not just GET it? I thought it was supposed to be a reward, not an opportunity for more work.

Work, work, work. Always more work. Sounds too much like hell to me. Maybe we're already IN Mormon hell.

Yes, this is exactly what I was taught, as well.

The first time I heard the "get your own planet" phrase was on an "anti-Mormon" site. It sounded so strange to me haha!

I just assumed we'd have our own galaxy. There are hundreds of billions of stars just in the Milky Way, so I figured that would satisfy the "Worlds without end" requirement... and still there are 100s of billions of Galaxies in the known (and expanding) universe, which satisfies the "where are all these gods going to fit" requirement...

However, this poses a problem:
Assuming Elohim is the God of the Milky Way... we are currently on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy (will happen in a couple of billion years)... That's going to be one crazy turf war!