Came across this fun video that explains what the Mormon church teaches about how God, aka Elohim, came to be transformed from human to god and how Joseph Smith, a descendant of Jesus, came to be our new and bestest savior evah.
I was only familiar with the very rough outlines. This cartoon fills in the blanks and is pretty interesting story telling. I can see the appeal.
See below for the transcript, which I might add had to be typed out.
Part One:The Beliefs of Mormonism
www.jeremiahfilms.com
Narrator
Regardless of its Christian veneer, the basic tenents of Mormonism are in direct condlict with biblical Christianity The following piece of animation, based directly on actual Mormon publications, hilights these major doctrinal differences.
Animation begins, New Narrator speaks
Mormonism teaches that trillions of planets scattered throughout the cosmos are ruled by countless gods who once were human like us.
They say that long ago on one of these planets, to an unidentified god and one of his godess wives, a spirit child named Elohim was conceived. This spirit child was later born to human parents who gave him a physical body
Through obedience to Mormon teaching in death and resurrection he proved himself worthy and was elevated to godhood, as his father before him. Mormons believe that Elohim is their heavenly father and that he lives with his many godess wives on a planet near a mysterious star called Kolob.
Here, the god of Mormonism and his wives, through endless celestial sex, produced billions of spirit children. To decide their destiny, the head of the Mormon gods called a great heavenly council meeting. Both of Elohim's eldest sons were there, Lucifer, and his borther, Jesus.
A plan was presented to build planet earth, where the spirit children would be sent to take on mortal bodies and learn good from evil.
Lucifer stood and made his bid for becoming savior of this new world. Wanting the glory for himself, he planned to force everyone to become gods. Opposing the idea, the Mormon Jesus suggested giving man his freedom of choice as on other planets. The vote that followed approved the proposal of the Mormon Jesus, who would become savior of the planet earth.
Enraged, Lucifer cunningly convinced one third of the spirits destined for earth to fight with him in revolt.
Thus Lucifer became the Devil and his followers the Demons. Sent to this world, they would forever be denied bodies of flesh and bone.
Those who remained neutral in the battle were cursed to be born with black skin. This is the Mormon explanaition for the Negro race.
The spirit's that fought most valiantly against Lucifer would be born into Mormon families on planet earth. These would be the lighter skinned people, or white and delightsome, as the Book of Mormon describes them.
Early Mormon prophets taught that Elohim and one of his goddess wives came to earth as Adan and Eve to start the human race.Thousands of years later, Elohim, in human form once again, journeyed to earth from the star base Kolob, this time to have sex with the Virgin Mary in order to provide Jesus with a physical body..
Mormon apostle, Orson Pratt taught that after Jesus Christ grew to manhood, he took at least three wives, Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdaline. Through these wives, the Mormon Jesus, for whom Joseph Smith claimed direct descent, supposedly fathered a number of children before he was crucified.
According to the Book of Mormon, after his resurrection, Jesus came to the Americas to preach to the Indians, who the Mormon believe are really Israelites. Thus, the Jesus of Mormonism established his church in the Americas as he had in Palestine.
[Long pause in text where these Romanish looking guys, eventually referred to as Nephites appear, but no explanaition as to who/what Nephites are or how/why they are suddenly dropped into the story. Within the context of the Book of Mormon, the Nephites descended from the prophet Lehi who left Jerusalem and traveled to the Western Hemisphere. The Book of Mormon describes the Nephites as an initially righteous people, who eventually "had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness".]
By the year 421 AD, the dark skinned Indian Israelites, known as Lamanites, had destroyed all of the white Nephites in a number of great battles.
The Nephites' records were supposedly written on golden plates and buried by Moroni, the last living Nephite in the hill Cumorah.
Fourteen hundred years later, a young treasure seeker named Joseph Smith who was known for his tall tales, claimed to have uncovered these same gold plates near his home in upstate New York.
He is now honored by Mormons as a prophet becasue he claimed to have had visions from the spirit world in which he was commanded to organize the Mormon Church becasue all Christian creeds were an abomination. It was Joseph Smith who originated most of these peculiar doctrines which millions today believe to be true.
By maintaining a rigid code of financial and moral requirements and through performing sacred temple rituals for themselves and the dead, the Latter Day Saints hope to prove their worthiness and thus become gods.
The Mormons teach that everyone must stand at the final judgement before Joseph Smith, the Mormon Jesus, and Elohim.
Those Mormons who were sealed in the Eternal Marriage Ceremony expect to become polygamist gods in the Celestial Kingdon, rule over other planets, and spawn new families throughout eternity.
The Mormons thank God for Joseph Smith who claimed that he has done more for us than any other man, including Jesus Christ. The Mormons believe that he died as a martyr, shed his blood for us, so that we too may become gods.
End of Amination
Original Narrator resumes
Although there are thousand of Mormon churches throughout the world, there are only a few dozen Mormon Temples. These massive structures play a vital role in the Mormons' quest for godhood. Mormons must engage in a series of occultic rituals inside the temple in order to become a candidate for godhood. Only an elite selection of devout Mormons are allowed to enter. To do so the potential Mormon Gof must adhere to a strict code of ethics, including abstenance from tobacco or caffien-based products, paying a full tithe to the Mormon Church, and wearing of the Magic Mormon Underwear 24 hours a day.
Dr Harold Goldman, BYU Professor, Mormon LDS Mission President
He has to recieve a satisfactory interview from his Bishop [Mitt is a Bishop] and from his state president where he is asked, or she is asked certain rather penetrating questions about their worthiness, their morality, if he's a full tithe payer. That is the only way we can be with our heavenly father Otherwise we couldn't be in his presence.
Narrator resumes
The motivation for the Mormon male to commit to such requirements is the promise of endless celestial sex with thousands of goddess wives along with a personal planet to rule and reign over. However, Mormon males who fail to meet all of the necessary requirements risk being castrated upon their entrance to heaven.
Again, Dr Harold Goldman
So you can see why the Temple is so important to the Latter Day Saints, because if he is worthy to go on to the temple and there recieve the sacred ordinances and covenants and keep them he can eventually grow into becoming a god himself
Reporter to man at Seattle Temple Dedication:Tell me who God the father is to you.
Man's response: He is like you and I, every human being on the face of the earth.
Reporter: So is he a man?
Man: Yes, he is
Reporter: How did he get to be God?
Man: [long pause] He, uh, I don't know, [pause], yeah, He's perfect in every way.
Reporter: So if we are perfect can we become like God?
Man: Yes, Maam.
End transcript
These are teachings that are apparantly considered "deep theology" and are relatively unfamiliar to the lower ranks of Mormon followers. Many Mormons, aware of these teachings or not, and/or personally accepting of these teachings or not, will either vehemently deny that these are real teachings or will contend that most Mormons don't believe these teachings anymore than most progressive Christians belivieve in 6 day creationism, a global flood, or that a man ever lived three days in the belly of a big fish.
But we aren't really concerned with what any Mormon really believes except for the one who wants to be president. Whether or not the man who would sit in one of the most powerful seats on the planet is working intentionally toward becoming a god seems to be a matter which might well be of concern to some of us.