AbuSamuel

T-Bone, I for one absolutly believe that the potential for us to become like our Father in Heaven is a doctrinal truth. I really believe that Christ is the Son of God, begotten of God the Father and Mary. In this way Jesus is different than us. But we have every ability and potential to humble ourselves, cast off sin and be like Jesus. We will die one day. We will be resurected one day. We will be judged one day. When that time comes some will recieve a little glory, some will recieve more, and still some will be found to be like Jesus and will stand by Him that stands on the right hand of God. Its like we teach our children, there is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it and work hard. Really very simple.

The story of the mustard seed would seem sufficient to explain this. Just as the tiniest seed becomes a large plant with weight and mass so too do we come from the smallest of cells and grow to full size adults. The mass and weight of the plant does not reduce the mass of the earths nutrients available to it proportionaly. Simply put, we grow. All things grow. The earth gets heavier.

Thanks Tom, I know that there are many scriptures that show Christ and God as seperate. My concerne is those that show them as one and the same being, entity, person, etc., such as the ones in Mosiah. Is it apples or oranges? Maybe both?

That is pretty close to what I told my wife. In the context of the quote from Mosiah, he was instructing them (the Priests) in a way that they would understand and in accordance with the light and knowledge which they had at the time. The God of the Old Testiment was Jesus himself. New Testiment writtings reveal that the Father and the Son are two distinct beings. Modern revelation confirms this. It is just a bit confusing when it is clearly written that way (Mosiah) to try to expound on the nature of God and Jesus.

I was prompted to seek other opinions on the subject of God our Father by my wife. She is taking a world religion class and is having a hard time with some of these questions. This is leading her to question her own beliefs. I didn't have a good explination for her about the Trinity in light of the Mosiah quote. I know how I believe, but I need something with substance to figure this out. I am here in Iraq right now and she is back in Kansas with the kids. One of her girlfriends is a pretty enthusiastic fundamentalist (albeit Non-Denominational) Christian that enjoys asking her tough questions. It is hard for me to help her what with the time difference and the delays in communication.

Just as two cells are joined (organized) to create a baby, a seed sprouts to grow a tree, elements bond to form compounds. The earth weighs more now than it ever has, well so do I, much to the chagrin of my wife.

OK, if God and Jesus are two seperate beings as taught in Mormon doctrine then how should I understand Mosiah 15:1-9 ?

I have been reading your posts and decided to chime in. I concure with the spiritual progression and glorified bodies. Christ gave us a commandment "Follow Me." and if He told us to then it must be possible. The earthly examples are many; Christ in spirit prior to his birth, Christ is born and grows in this mortality and dies, Christ with a resurected and glorified body. If I try to be more "Christ Like" I can have hope and faith that my existance will follow a similar path. Now here is my dilema: If God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three seperate beings as taught by Joseph Smith in his vision how do I reconcile scriptures such as Mosiah 15:1-9 "1)...God himself shall come down..." and "2)...because he dwelleth in the flesh he shall be called the Son of God..." and so on? I like to think that I am a pretty smart guy. I have a testimony and firmly believe that I am in the right place, but this makes it somewhat difficult to explain to a non-member about the nature of God and Jesus when the Book of Mormon tells us this. So I will cast this out into the current and see what my net brings in.