Will glorified believers become God?

Some on this forum are claiming that believers will become just like God.

This is the belief of two different groups, along with other odd individuals. These two groups are Mormons and Armstrongites.

Mormons believe that God (Elohim) has a wife, commonly called Heavenly Mother. Elohim and Heavenly Mother have celestial sex, and this results in spirit babies. Spirit babies must be born in physical human bodies, and live a perfectly obedient life, in order to become full-fledged gods. In their worldview, a spirit baby cannot become a full-fledged god until he has a physical body, and this is why spirit babies need to come to earth as humans. He becomes God in the exact same sense as God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Armstrongites believe that God created man as his offspring. He is made of matter, though, so God can destroy him if he doesn't live a righteous life. In their worldview, when a person becomes a Christian, he is spiritually impregnated by God. He is basically a God in fetus form until the resurrection, and then he is "born again" as a god. If he lives a disobedient life, he is aborted before the resurrection and is annihilated. Otherwise, he becomes God in the exact same sense as God the Father and Jesus Christ.

There are other similar groups besides these two, though. Some are associated with Mormon or Armstrongite splinter groups. Some are freelancers who learned their false teachings from these groups.

Now, these teachings have a grain of truth, but in essence, their teaching is false and blasphemous.

Why?

God is uncreated, unique, and alone worthy of worship. He is in a class by himself.

Claiming one can become God, in an ontological sense, is blasphemous.

What is the grain of truth?

The grain of truth is that man is created to reflect the image of God in the material realm. He is to behave in a manner that reflects God's nature toward his fellow man.

And, the glorified man will exercise dominion over the material creation in the New Heavens and New Earth. This is how he will rule.

BUT he will not be God. This is a blasphemous claim.

These guys use a number of twisted Scriptures to "prove their point".

Let me give you one example.

1 John 3:2 says that the believer will be like God, according to them.

However, the reality is that they will be like Jesus, not God, and the sense that they will be like him is in his glorified humanity, not his deity. Jesus has two natures: glorified humanity, and deity. The resurrected man is like Jesus in his glorified humanity but not in his deity. Again, this is pure blasphemy to make such a claim.

Another example.

They will point to Scriptures that say believers are God's children. They are God's children in the sense of adopted children, and they participate in the fellowship of the Trinity through being joined with Christ. But, they are not literally offspring of God in the sense that these guys claim. Jesus is the unique, begotten Son of God in this sense.

Another example.

Peter says that believers partake of the divine nature. The claim is this means believers become God...however this is not what the verse means. It is discussing partaking of God's nature in terms of "energies" and not essence. Due to union with Christ, the believer fellowships with the Holy Spirit, and is being transformed into the image of Christ..in this manner he is partaking of the divine nature.

Anyways, these are just a few ways Scripture is twisted to make this claim. Additionally, there is often a denial of biblical regeneration and the bodily resurrection that is part of their teachings, as well as the Trinity doctrine.

I hope this is helpful to those who may be exposed to the teachings of individuals that claim man can become God.

Feel free to discuss any points that you have heard from individuals like this, and I will be glad to address them from my perspective.

I said this:

Due to union with Christ, the believer fellowships with the Holy Spirit, and is being transformed into the image of Christ..in this manner he is partaking of the divine nature.

I should have said this:

Due to union with Christ, the believer fellowships with the Triune God, and is being transformed into the image of Christ..in this manner he is partaking of the divine nature.

Additionally, realize that when I say "God" above, I meant the "Father" in some cases. In other cases, I mean the Triune God. In other cases, I mean "God" in a qualitative sense.

For an example of qualitative sense, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God in a qualitative sense.

And, the claim of the individuals I am discussing is that they will be God in a qualitative sense. In other words, they will join the Godhead as Persons within the Godhead, alongside the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (although some of them may deny the Personhood of the Holy Spirit).

1 John 2:28 - 3:3 28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
(ESV)

These guys will often quote I John 3:2, but this is talking about Jesus at his appearing, and the believer possessing a glorified body like his, as the context clearly demonstrates.

Your option #2 is not consistent with Scripture. "glorified man like Jesus" would be incorrect, since Jesus is the God-Man, and no one can be a God-Man like Christ. But simply "glorified human being" would be correct.

Man can never become God (contrary to Mormon theology). But the saints can RESEMBLE the Lord Jesus Christ ("we shall be like Him) in that they will be perfect and glorified, and free from sin, death, and decay while they have eternal life with God and Christ.

Well nuts Are you sure about that (that the Mormons got it wrong) I was sooooo looking forward to being like, well, you know, omnipotent and such

We will be just like Jesus but not Jesus. To think we will be God or some kind of equal with Him is just how Satan thinks. Get this notion out of your head and heart now.

I cannot even begin to realize just how it will be in eternity glorified to be just like our Savior, Yeshua. This is a reward too immense to fathom.

Do you think there’s someone out there who really and truly thinks that they are going to become a “God”

Yes...

All Mormons and Armstrongites believe this.

That is part of why they reject the Trinity.

Mormons are polytheists and believe that there is an infinite regression of Gods.

Armstrongites are also polytheists, but they believe there is only two Gods now...the Father and Jesus (they reject the Personhood of the Holy Spirit). They believe that they will be added to God's family and will be exactly the same as Jesus Christ, in terms of their deity.

Like I explained, believers will be like Jesus in terms of his glorified humanity, but not his deity.

This is part of why Armstrongites reject the Trinity. It is limited to three Persons, and doesn't have room to accept them as fully God.

I’m not a Mormon but I tried looking up this statement below could not find anything that says this part of the Mormon belief about having spiritual sex and babies and all where did you get that info below?
the mother thing is strange I agree but that’s about all I found about what’s below.


Mormons believe that God (Elohim) has a wife, commonly called Heavenly Mother. Elohim and Heavenly Mother have celestial sex, and this results in spirit babies. Spirit babies must be born in physical human bodies, and live a perfectly obedient life, in order to become full-fledged gods. In their worldview, a spirit baby cannot become a full-fledged god until he has a physical body, and this is why spirit babies need to come to earth as humans. He becomes God in the exact same sense as God the Father and Jesus Christ.

No

The term that they use is "pre-existence".

I am not going to link to their website, because the site wouldn't like it, but there are explanations on it there. Simply do this google search:

site:lds.org "pre-existence"

Their worldview is that those who obtain to the celestial inheritance have been joined to a Mormon wife in temple ceremonies, and the man and women will enjoy celestial sex for eternity. The result of this sex are "spirit babies" who have the potential of becoming spiritual breeders themselves. However, they must come to earth, live a worthy life, and be joined to a Mormon wife in the Temple ceremonies.

Then, when they die, they go back to the spiritual realm in a material body and have celestial sex for eternity, birthing more spirit-babies to continue the cycle.

Where did I get the information? Partly from ex-Mormons. Partly from books and materials concerning evangelizing to Mormons. Partly from talking to Mormons themselves.

I remember talking to one Mormon guy who was about 30 on a plane trip. He sat next to me because he couldn't get back to his seat after going to the restroom due to the flight attendant blocking the aisle with her cart. He talked to me for an hour on questions like this.

They do not talk about Heavenly Mother much because this raises the question about her inclusion in the Godhead. They can't answer that question.

Also, there is the problem of infinite regression. If Elohim became a god through this cycle, then he had a father and mother, and his father and mother had a father and mother, etcetera. So, in their view, there would have to be an infinite number of Gods.

But, this is Mormon theology.

So, in their worldview, all humans are spirit-babies of Elohim and Heavenly Mother. And, apparently, this includes angels, too, because Lucifer is a son of Elohim in their theology. He had a big fight with his brother Jesus over who would be the Savior of mankind, and Satan lost.

One weird thing is that they used to teach black people were cursed and could not hold the priesthood, because in the heavenly realm they were neutral in this battle between Jesus and Lucifer, therefore they bear black skin as a result of this curse. However, Mormon leaders had a "revelation" in the late 70's that reversed this teaching.

By the way, they likely would not use the same language that I use in this regard, but it is the essence of their teaching. Nor would they be so open about their teachings. There are some elements of Mormonism which are taught in the Temple, and are more secretive. However, you can find out about their teachings from ex-Mormons and some current Mormons. Obviously, some ex Mormons and current Mormons may not have the best understanding, but it becomes obvious that this is what they believe after you research it enough.

And, by the way, they believe God could have sinned and repented in his prior human life, just like we do. Or at least many Mormons believe that. In essence, they believe the way to become God is to live a perfectly righteous life, allowing for forgiveness of sins.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/...ow-about-mormons-when-they-knock-at-the-door/

Watch the video at the bottom...it is shocking how many Mormons believe God could have sinned in his human "probation".

This ^^^^^

Well I guess every person in any denomination has opnions, not sure I agree as it being a doctrine of all Mormonism.

you mentioned not posting a link because they wouldn’t like it, hmm if it’s a public site not much they can say about rather people copy and paste a link to their site.

I don't know if the site cares. I just don't want to advertise for a cult.

Mormonism is a cult, not a denomination.

ok, well I don’t think that’s advertising a cult but I looked for the (lds.org) that web site is the Latter Day Saints in India but what ever.

Lds = Mormons. Same thing.

I know about this polytheistic / God used to be a human / good mormons will grow up to be gods of their own personal planets doctrine too. It doesn't come from the book of mormon but from things their so-called prophets said. Later I can hunt down some links for you if you like. They have a lot of weird doctrines they aren't too up front about..

The Orthodox believe in Theosis* -- Christians will become "little gods". But Mormons believe that Mormons will become full-fledged Gods (with a capital "G").

*Also referred to as deification, divinization, or illumination.

However, when the Bible says that Christians are partakers of the divine nature, it means that we shall be perfected and glorified at the Resurrection/ Rapture. We shall resemble Christ but we will not become little gods. The New Birth is the beginning, but when we are perfected, the sin nature is eradicated and our bodies will no longer be subject to disease, decay, or death. They will be immortal glorified *spiritual bodies*.