Spiritual ascension tools10/11/2023 These passages can be interpreted in different ways. When Jesus was accused of blasphemy on the grounds that “thou, being a man, makest thyself God,” He responded, echoing Psalms, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” 6 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commanded His disciples to become “perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” 7 In turn, the Apostle Peter referred to the Savior’s “exceeding great and precious promises” that we might become “partakers of the divine nature.” 8 The Apostle Paul taught that we are “the offspring of God” and emphasized that as such “we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” 9 The book of Revelation contains a promise from Jesus Christ that “to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” 10 New Testament passages also point to this doctrine. Later in the Old Testament, a passage in the book of Psalms declares, “I have said, Ye are gods and all of you are children of the most High.” 5 … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him male and female created he them.” 3 After Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” God said they had “become as one of us,” 4 suggesting that a process of approaching godliness was already underway. The likeness of humans to God is emphasized in the first chapter of Genesis: “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Several biblical passages intimate that humans can become like God. What does the Bible say about humans’ divine potential? The teaching that men and women have the potential to be exalted to a state of godliness clearly expands beyond what is understood by most contemporary Christian churches and expresses for the Latter-day Saints a yearning rooted in the Bible to live as God lives, to love as He loves, and to prepare for all that our loving Father in Heaven wishes for His children. This knowledge transforms the way Latter-day Saints see their fellow human beings. God’s loving parentage and guidance can help each willing, obedient child of God receive of His fulness and of His glory. The desire to nurture the divinity in His children is one of God’s attributes that most inspires, motivates, and humbles members of the Church. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all people may “progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny.” 2 Just as a child can develop the attributes of his or her parents over time, the divine nature that humans inherit can be developed to become like their Heavenly Father’s. Each has an eternal core and is “a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents.” 1 Each possesses seeds of divinity and must choose whether to live in harmony or tension with that divinity. Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense they consider every person divine in origin, nature, and potential. Many see parent-child descriptions of God’s relationship to humanity as metaphors to express His love for His creations and their dependence on His sustenance and protection. Some understand the phrase “child of God” as an honorary title reserved only for those who believe in God and accept His guidance as they might accept a father’s. Billions pray to God as their parent, invoke the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people to promote peace, and reach out to the weary and troubled out of deep conviction that each of God’s children has great worth.īut people of different faiths understand the parent-child relationship between God and humans in significantly different ways. One of the most common images in Western and Eastern religions alike is of God as a parent and of human beings as God’s children.
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