My father sacrificed everything, including his personal integrity, to transform himself into a god.
He succeeded only with that part of godhood which creates atheism through neglect and abuse. His victory is pyrrhic, and he ain't no Phoenix, if you know what I mean.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2014 04:15PM by donbagley.
This is one teaching from the church where most TBMs will justify lieing because in their minds, people would get the wrong idea if they knew the truth. So mis-direction of one key principal gets lied about routinely, in the name of not wanting others to get the wrong impression. The mormon church and most long-term church members know that yes, god was once a mortal man who was imperfect and who committed sins like the rest of us do now. Eventually, he repented and attained goodhood as most of us have the opportunity to do now. But they'll never say it that way. So the church and a majority of its members think it's okay to lie and cause a person to accept only what they are prepared to know, so that people don't get the wrong idea. So what is the wrong idea? It's whatever they deem you as unprepared to know. In this case, that includes the fear that a person will lose respect for god or for the church. Everyone has the right to be told the truth and to come to that conclusion if they choose to. The alternative is that they only end up losing respect for the church later, when they realize they were mis-led. It's not the belief in exaltation that is weird. It's their shame in sharing that belief with the rest of the world that is weird and cultish. Even the church's prophet can't admit it on TV (Gordon B. Hinkley). Even today, the church has an anonymous author give clouded and duplicitous answers on the church's web-site to address the issue. That kind of thing is what makes the church weird and cultish. There's nothing wrong with the belief in exaltation if people want to believe that. But the mormon picture of exaltation is weird and cultish. So I imagine that people will always be lied to about that.