Supposedly God said to his children that you will be tested and some of you will not make it–  Then we were sent to Earth (we were graced by God to have human form because we chose God’s truth rather than Lucifer).  Now Earth / Mortal existence is considered a learning ground and a way for us to fully show our dedication to God.

Talking with the missionaries, they never really gave me a clear answer as to how someone would go to Hell.  They did acknowledge that there is a Hell– but they believed that after this death we would go to one of the three heavens: Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial, depending on how good we were in keeping God’s commandments. Jesus’ death, if I perceived it correctly, is an option (should you so believe it) to get to the highest level of heaven where God resides: Celestial.

However, I suppose there is the spirit world is our next stop after this death. And if you do not accept Jesus in this life, you have an option to do so in the Spirit world.

This spirit existence, where living things are composed of organized, refined spirit matter, extends beyond the human family and includes animals and plants. Little is revealed about plant spirits beyond the fact that all living things, including plants, were created as spirits before they were created with physical bodies (Moses 3:5, 9).

And in the event of death, whether good or evil, you will return to the Father…  A comment from Joseph Smith:

The spirits of all men, as soon as they depart from this mortal body, whether they are good or evil,…are taken home to that God who gave them life, where there is a separation, a partial judgment, and the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they expand in wisdom, where they have respite from all their troubles, and where care and sorrow do not annoy. The wicked, on the contrary, have no part nor portion in the Spirit of the Lord, and they are cast into outer darkness, being led captive, because of their own iniquity, by the evil one. And in this space between death and the resurrection of the body, the two classes of souls remain, in happiness or in misery, until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth and be reunited both spirit and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works. This is the final judgment [p. 448].

And in that life it is exactally the same as this life:

The postmortal spirit world is an actual place where spirits reside and “where they converse together the same as we do on the earth” (TPJS, p. 353). “Life and work and activity all continue in the spirit world. Men have the same talents and intelligence there which they had in this life. They possess the same attitudes, inclinations, and feelings there which they had in this life” (MD, p. 762).

The postmortal spirit world is a place of continued preparation and learning. In this sense, it is an extension of mortality. Those who have died without an opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ will have opportunity to hear and accept it in the spirit world. “The great work in the world of spirits is the preaching of the gospel to those who are imprisoned by sin and false traditions” (MD, p. 762). The faithful elders and sisters who depart this life “continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption…Among those who are in darkness” (D&C 138:57; Smith, p. 461; see also Salvation of the Dead).

In doing some more research, I found a list of several key components in the Mormon belief of what they call Salvation of the Dead.  This relates to accepting Jesus in the postmortal spirit life.

1. Life is eternal. Birth does not begin life nor does death end it. In each stage of existence there are ever-higher levels of divine enlightenment and blessedness.
2. Repentance is possible in the next life as well as this one. “There is never a time when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within the reach of pardoning mercy, who have not committed the unpardonable sin” (TPJS, p. 191).
3. The family bonds extend beyond death. The family bonds that are formed on this earth and consecrated to God by sacred covenants and ordinances are indissoluble and extend into the spirit world. “They without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (D&C 128:15; Heb. 11:39-40).
4. Ordinances may be performed for the dead. Through the holy priesthood, held by the prophets in the Church, Jesus Christ has authorized mortals to receive ordinances “of salvation substitutional” [that is, by proxy] and become “instrumental in bringing multitudes of their kindred into the kingdom of God” (TPJS, p. 191).
5. Temple ordinances are not “mere signs.” They are channels of the Spirit of God that enable one to be born of God in the fullest sense and to receive all the covenants and blessings of Jesus Christ. The performing of earthly ordinances by proxy for those who have died is as efficacious and vitalizing as if the deceased person had done them. That person, in turn, is free to accept or reject the ordinances in the spirit world.

I find those extremely hard to believe with what I know to be true of the Gospel.  That all sins are equal in the eyes of God.  And I come to believe that yes, we are bonded till death due us part, because after that we will be forever married to the Bridegroom known as Christ and the church.  We will be one with God.

Its amazing how much one can add on to the Bible.  They would recite this information to me in a manner that used the Bible to justify the Book of Mormon and each of these doctrines.  But the truth behind it is the misuse of exegesis.  Jesus’ word is full, complete, and absolute.  No additional supplement is needed.  The Mormon’s refer to their book as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” or something like that.  But why is it “another”?  They say it is part of the Bible, but the word “another” is a word I use for “supplemental flavour.”

Be weary.  Things are dangerous.  I am in prayer that I might understand their faith more. That I might learn their faith and be able to share my faith.  As Paul put it, we need to know the enemies faith more than they do.  So that we might become like them to save at least one.

Father I pray for the diligence, boldness, and open heart of love to share with these brothers.  Please keep me open, that I might understand, and they might see You in me.

Coincidentally, yesterday, the Mormon missionaries showed up at our door.  I had thought it was the kids from down the way wanting me to give them a toy again, but to my surprise it was my prayers being answered.

I readily invited them in and gave them some water as it was flippin scorching hot (even in our apartment), and they had to wear those suites haha.  And for the next 1-1.5 hours we were talking about the most interesting subject matter.  Between my coworker buddy and the missionary conversation, we discussed several key components around the perception of faith… To name a few:

• The disappearance of the church between Jesus’ death and Joseph Smith
• The multiple levels of heaven and the general application of each level in relation to that of our soul (Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial)
• The magnitude of sin
• The history, life, and death of Joseph Smith– along with his visions, anointment, etc.
• The will and purpose of God and how that relates to the dark ages of the church (my favorite)
• Authority of the church and how it came to the LDS church. (also a favorite)
• Other religions and the single thread of justice, aka golden rule, that joins all religions
• The inspiration, validity, and history of the Book of Mormon
• Gold plates (book of Mormon) and the symbolism of Gold in the Bible.
• The definition of “Good” and how that relates to the Mormon faith

It was clearly a full-featured discussion.  And I excitedly welcome this kind of talk, because if there is a question that I know not the answer, I can look it up– and from there I am strengthened.  These gentleman were very kind, and were somewhat surprised at our welcoming into our home.  It is not often that missionaries get the hospitality that Jesus’ requires of us, and I too am guilty of it.  But I am trying to change my life to love others the way Jesus loved us and eventually died for me.

These questions are not easy to discuss, and I have become more aware at how careful I must speak, because I am no longer representing just myself.  I am now representing a God most Holy, and he must speak through me.  I don’t know what I am talking about, but God has the big picture.  I am not about to change their faith, but God can live in their hearts, and they can begin to ask questions.  I am nothing, He is everything.

Its interesting, because every time I talk with them– they begin by mentioning that we believe in the same basic foundation, love, and faith– But by the end of each conversation I am utterly convinced that the only thing that we can agree on is that there is a God.  Everything else is interpreted differently… Everything.

There is hope, there is Love- there is a dying hunger for me to share and listen with these individuals and with other faiths.  I want to be doing this type of evangelism.  I want to be strong in God’s word so that I might perform great services for God.   With that said, I told them that they should come back soon and we will do a BBQ and talk some more.  But this time, we will all be wearing shorts.

I have had such an amazing life so far.  Friends, family, co-workers, everyone I have met has made an impact on my life.  My childhood couldn’t have been any better with such amazing parents guiding me every step of the way, my high school years were merited with challenges, successes, and failures–  college was a huge growth period for my faith, and I currently have a comfortable life in Orange County / LA (The capital of business and “dreams” and sunny weather ).  My job is one of a kind and I am so very thankful that God has given me the opportunity to work for 2Advanced.

But now there are hundreds of thousands of empty pages in front of me.  My prayers have been adding more and more empty pages as I await my next step.  The anticipation for direction had been killing me, and sometimes it became unbearable– even asking if He really does have a purpose for me…  But after some time of waiting…  I finally have an answer in progress.

Thursday, March 6th at 1:30PM I was sitting in a park overlooking the entire valley.  I was praying once again for direction and for God to reveal where my heart resides.  He answered me with something that I knew I was born to do.  He is calling me to Tanzania.

I have been being prepped with the CHE program, I have been to South Africa and left my heart there,  I even met someone who lives in Tanzania that would be able to be a foundation for me, I have started taking Swahili (their primary language), I have also been immersed in learning more about faith, and reading the Bible, for a reason.  All of the arrows are pointing toward a mission in Tanzania.

In Tanzania I will be around all of my desired missions: Child Soldiers, Human & Child Trafficking, Poverty and Community Development, and Church Plants.  I believe that this is my calling, and maybe a single entity that combines all of these passions.  And now my prayer is that it is indeed Him telling me to go, rather than my own ambition– and that it would still remain free form to his plan rather than mine.

Now, I am SOOO stoked to say that I am extremely passionate about this calling.  I know its dangerous, I know its a major risk from my chill pad here in Orange County– but let me put it this way…

I have been given so many gifts: such a great family, so much knowledge, so much “stuff.”  And this is exactly what the disciples had– they had families, they had a life, they had jobs– and Jesus asked them to drop everything and pick up their cross.  I believe that this is what he is calling me to do.  He desires for me to pick up my cross.  He is wanting me to display my faith, and trust in Him, by considering this life (OC lifestyle) as rubbish compared to his purpose for me in Africa.

Like always, the passage this Sunday seemed like it was geared directly at me.  On this great Mother’s day, I was sitting there with my amazing mom listening to the pastor talk about Philippians 3.  In this chapter Paul is writing a letter to the Philippian church talking about this life and their desires.

He mentions that if they have reason to think that they have merited God’s love because of their good deeds, then they are wrong– because Paul could easily think that as well:

 

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). Php 3:4–6.

 

Meaning, that Paul could easily think that he was indeed meriting God’s love because he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a pure blood, and a follower of the law (to precision — aka Pharisee).  Meaning that if you gave him a law, he would keep the law– and therefore was right with God.  But then he goes on to say:

 

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). Php 3:7–11.

 

So he finds this life rubbish.  The life that we would consider perfection, complete, and meriting God’s love is completely false.  He (and I) want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

In hearing this call to Tanzania, I must pick up my cross, consider this life rubbish, and go to serve with God in Tanzania.

Wow, what kind of love?

Today is the first day that I can answer it truthfully…  This is the kind of love that never fails, never waits, is unconditional, all powerful, unbreakable, worth dying for, and worth living for.

I did some research on the Qur’an on Sunday because it just fascinated me.  I have had some great conversations with some of my friends that study Islam and its super crazy how similar they are to Christianity.  They have the same stories, Adam Eve, Abraham, Jesus, Crucifixion, etc.

Just a few things that stood out in these stories:

1. In Adam and Eve (Surah 20:120), eve was only introduced as Adam’s wife.  Adam was in fact the one who was seduced, fell, and Allah decided to give him grace.  Eve isn’t mentioned outside of that context, and I am interested to see if that is in fact a cultural effect on the holy writing? Or vice versa.

2. I am trying to find some information on what they refer to as the “People of the Book”… They refer to it in several places in the Qur’an and I don’t know what it means, maybe Book of Life? Maybe the Qur’an itself? Maybe a different one?

3. This is still vague to me, but the Qur’an states that Jesus wasn’t crucified, and he didn’t die.  That he might still be in human form and will reveal himself once again.

4. Surah 3:67. Abraham was not a Jew / nor yet a Christian; / but he was true in Faith, / and bowed (Which is Islam), / and he joined not gods with Allah. (Cf 2:135)

This is something that I admire, they have a full sense of “True Faith” rather than the half sense of “acquiring religion” as their faith.  They are fully devoted as that is their definition of faith.

5. One thing that caught me off guard was the commentator’s note stating that it is believed Christians invented / adopted the structure of Trinity from paganism… I am curious as to where he got that idea, and its worth looking into.

In the end, its really interesting to see the level of similarities in beliefs of Allah and God.  Sure there are the obvious differences, but looking deeper you can see the cultural effects on boundaries and motives between Christian and Islam.

The perspective of Allah, I believe, is more of an impersonal God who punishes, but also gives grace–not necessarily out of love? but more because he can?

I download this I Phone application today, but let me first say that Spiritual Warfare has definitely reached a new level.  We are creating technology that advances the spread and accessibility of the gospel, but it is also rapidly increasing the accessibility of lust, temptation and persuasive arguments against Christianity.

This application is a base application for arguments to be used against Christians.  Its a scary app, because if you are not prepared, these arguments can be very daunting and legitimately realistic.  I will look to tackle them not for the blog’s sake, but that I would have prepared an answer in advance should someone need to ask me tough questions.

One of the questions that basically revolved around the disproof of God’s existence:  Since God is omnipotent, he should be able to create a boulder that He would not be able to move– But if he could create something that he cannot move, then he is not omnipotent because he wouldn’t be able to move it.

I was puzzled by this riddle for a while, but I came to a conclusion after much thinking…

Observing that riddle is truth if you look at it as one entity.  But splitting it into separate entities we can make some sense: (1) Can God create a boulder that he cannot move? and (2) then he wouldn’t be omnipotent cause he can’t move it.

First, let me setup the story of the fall.  Compare ourselves, fallen man, as the boulder.  God is still God in this story.  When we fell from Heaven, we were something that God could not touch, could not see, because we were of Evil and God despises Evil.  But God then made a connection through Jesus that would indeed bring us back to him.  In this case, regardless of the impossible gap between Evil and God (us and God), he established a bridge.

Now going back to the riddle, I believe that God could indeed create a boulder that he would not be able to move (as the first part of the riddle)– This would be exactly as we fell from Him and became sinful–  And then he would be able to create the power, or establish the power, to move that boulder, as he created the bridge from man to Heaven.

So in my mind, I think he can do both.  He could indeed create a boulder that would be impossible for Him to move, and then he would be able to establish that power to move it.

I took a little mental trip to the Soviet today.  I am currently fascinated with foreign cultures and how they perceive certain events and topics.  So I spent some time observing Russia’s prominent religion: Православие, or Orthodox (announced: Pravoslavije).

I was surprised to see how much pride they take in their church.  Both believers and non-believers hold the church as a symbol for their heritage and development of their country.  Inside of this church you will find several denominations such as Roman Catholics, Armenian Gregorian and various Protestant.

Doing some research on the religions, I found that Christianity is not even a percentage of their population, 70% is orthodox and the others are very minimal ( <6%).  Jehovah’s witnesses appear to be more prominent than Christians.

There was actually an anti-religion movement from 1917 to 1928 where they followed Marxist beliefs and were radical against believers.

The tenth CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) congress met in 1921 and it passed a resolution calling for ‘widescale organization, leadership, and cooperation in the task of anti-religious agitation and propaganda among the broad masses of the workers, using the mass media, films, books, lectures, and other devices.

David E. Powell, Antireligious Propaganda in the Soviet Union: A Study of Mass Persuasion (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1975) p. 34;

The supression of religion was so great, they even had concentration caps strictly for believers.  They executed 95k individuals including clergy and bishops, etc within an individual camp by  a firing squad.

In the period between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to less than 500.

…

There was a massive closure of churches (reducing the number from 22,000 to 7,000 by 1965

…

[and so many more]

BUT in all of this repression, there is so much hope!

Riga priest Nikolai Trubetskoi (1907-1978) lived under the Nazi occupation of Latvia, and when the Germans retreated out of Latvia in 1944, he escaped out of a German evacuation boat and hid behind to await the Red Army, but he was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to ten years of hard labour for collaboration with the enemy. This was because under the occupation he had been a zealous pastor and a had done very successful missionary work. In reference to missionary work in the occupied territory near Leningrad he wrote ‘We opened and re-consecrated closed churches, carried out mass baptisms. It’s hard to imagine how, after years of Soviet domination, people hungered after the Word of God. We married and buried people; we had literally no time for sleep. I think that if such a mission were sent today [1978] to the Urals, Siberia or even the Ukrained, we’d see the same result.’

Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet Antireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin’s Press, New York (1988) pg 92-93

Maybe the time is now.  A reformation started in the 80′s that openly accepted the Catholic Orthodox Church as an icon for their country.  But there are still levels of the bourgeois that will not be able to understand the “mumbo jumbo”.  Something similar to the Martin Luther reformation.  It could be a large movement that will shape these 100 million individuals into knowing a relationship…

What a picture…   What kind of love.

“The best we can do therefore is to show believers who may think that they have rational grounds for their belief that they are wrong. We can force them to choose, in other words, between taking the risk of faith and restricting their use of reason to apologetics, or giving up theirfaith all together. I think relatively few will take the second path. But as more do so, and religious convictions become less and less likely to be passed on by parents, educators, and the Church, so the force of reason may generally hold more sway. Religion will recede not by athiests shoiting condemnation, but by the quite voice of reason slowly making itself heard.”

The first thing I want to note– I have this quote from Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis,

Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one- the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. — Screwtape

Doesn’t it seem to run parallel with the final sentences of that statement?  The Devil’s greatest weapon is making himself unknown and nullifying his existence.  So to make Christians renounce our faith is dangerous, but even more subtle, and (I would argue) even more deadly, is allowing them to convince themselves that God is an illusion.

It is an interesting book based on factual evidence and educated thoughtful responses to Atheism and their view of faith–  It talks about the misconception of our understanding of Atheism.  He basically states that Atheists can be moral, theological, and ethical– but the only difference is that they cannot logically come to the conclusion of God’s existence without sufficient evidence that there is in fact a God.

A major argument that is presented is the idea of blind-global-wording… For instance, “No Child Left Behind”, “If you are not with us, you are against us” etc.  These concepts present a call to action to each and every person that hears the statements.  IF you are not with us, presenting that you are neutral or against us, then you are the enemy.  Thats scary right?  Bandwagon propaganda.  But the Atheists believe that Christians use this methodology in their belief system.

Going back to the quote above, you might notice that they are very logical thinkers.  They think in tangible terms, and if something becomes too abstract, then it must not be true in real life but a figure of abstract imagination which explains why it is so difficult to believe in God.

Basically, the entire book is looking at scientific disproof of God with hard, factual evidence.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that they believe in evolution either– but logically, makes more sense.

Atheism is a search on this earth for self-betterment and a journey for yourself…  And often it is perceived as a scary world,  ”[Atheists] have no divine parents who always protect us and who are unquestionably good. The world is instead a big and scary place, but also one where there are opportunities to go out and create lives for ourselves. (Baggini)”

In short, “Unfortunately, you are alone– do the best you can.”  I say this with the utmost respect for Atheists because I understand how difficult it is to believe in something we cannot feel, touch, hear, see, etc.  This is why I say “unfortunately” because they certainly didn’t want it to be this way…

I have some trouble with that statement though, because the only proof I can think of (and it is more than sufficient for me) is how relational human beings are– and Biblically speaking, we were made in the Image of Christ– physically, emotionally and mentally we have similar attributes.  With that said, we were meant to be connected with people, with things, with life.  We were not meant to be alone, and we are not alone.  Christi s also relational, with his Church, with hearts, with people.

There is also a statement I have heard from Atheists that goes, “Life is a bitch, then you die.”  How depressing–  First of all, who would want to believe that?!  I can write a whole separate article on what I think of that statement…  Of course, I am sure some ethical / moral Atheists would not associate themselves with that statement, and it would be incorrect for me to associate every atheist with it–

Something I found interesting, and this is what it comes down to:  Atheists will argue that it takes more belief (blind belief) to believe in a God that has not presented himself in a tangible way?  And Christians would argue that it takes more evidence and effort to disprove the existence of God than it is to believe and receive grace.

With that said, it seems like we are looking at two nonparallel spectrums of observations… Belief and proof.  Atheists’ proof: biology, history, science, existence, etc.  Christians’ proof: experience, belief, testimony, revolving around faith.

So how would you go about having a discussion?

One thing I always come back to– If I am right, then we go to a Heaven where we will live life abundantly for eternity with the One who created us.  If you are right [Atheist], then we have spent a lifetime improving oneself and in the end nothing happens, we cease to exist, etc (um, some cases– some Atheists believe in ghosts and stuff).

But in the end I would like to close, why not give God a try?  Ask him to reveal himself to you in a sincere prayer.  See if he shows himself in a refreshing new light and in a tangible way  The best part is, I feel full confident in that statement because my God is amazing, and prayer works.  He is listening, he just wants you to acknowledge Him!

First of all, they believe that the Bible is just another history book, no supernatural inspiration.

One of the most interesting things is that they believe that this world, the people in the world, emotions, etc. are all illusions.  They believe that God is everything, God created everything, God is everywhere, and in Everything– Heaven, if it exists, is already within us.  Sin does not exist because it is only an element of imagination.  God is not love, God is not powerful, God is not of intelligence, but he is everything.

This religion takes on a more pantheistic point of view where God is in and of all things.  So technically speaking, we are already saved, but we must save ourselves through Metaphysical principals.  This is because we are already in possession of a divine mind (we don’t sin), and the only sin is to believe that there is sin.

I read that Love, Truth, and Life is the trinity of this religion… But I don’t readily understand and will need to do more research.

They believe that there isn’t a hell, but we posses a divine mind– so we can create a hell if we believed in it.  Some branches of this religion believe in reincarnation.

Very interesting.

This religion has a headquarters in Brooklyn, which districts, branches, circuits, congregations around the world.  They have a Kingdom Hall where the congregation would meet to discuss their newsletter.

They believe that Jesus is Michael the archangel.  When he came to earth he became Jesus, and then went back to being Michael when he was resurrected. The Holy spirit is actually a form of energy, kind of like electricity.

They do believe in the bible, but have interesting takes on the application of the Bible today.

Its heard that they don’t celebrate birthdays, holidays, etc.  This is because they believe it gives the individual too much credit.  For example: people celebrate birthdays, but that kind of praise is only reserved for Jehovah.

One of the scary beliefs that they practice is the fact that there will only be 144,000 people that get to enter heaven.  Only under 9,000 people that will enter heaven are alive today (out of the 6.69 billion people in the world!!!! Thats nearly 0.0000013 × 10^-6 % that will be saved!!!) which kind of puzzles me on why they are witnessing to people…  They believe that the other 135k people are dead right now, and will be resurrected when the time comes.  If you are not one of the 144,000 people– you will just perish, no life after death.

A few notes on Joseph Smith: He was an imaginative man who often found himself in acts of peep stone gazing (which was apparently illegal) which is how he found the Egyptian documents which would later become the Book of Mormon.  He translated the scrolls using a seer stone.  He believed in polygamy and in fact had over 30 wives.  He revolted against the newspapers in Illinois because of what they had said about Mormonism and got put in jail for robbery and treason– An angry mob broke into the jail and killed him.

The Mormon religion is the Largest and the largest growing religion.  They have 11 million believers and 300k people convert each year.  You can tell because you probably have a missionary next door riding his bike or whatnot.

It is believed that any Mormon believer can become a God by living a good life.  If they are married inside of the LDS church then they will get their own planet.  They also believe that God was a descendant of parent Gods.  God (who has a physical bodily appearance) had physical relations with the Mother God to create spiritual gods.

When a Mormon believer dies they go to either the celestial, terrestrial, or telestial heaven.  Celestial being for the perfect, terrestrial for the so-so, telestial for the worst.

It is believed that Matter is eternal, but god is not–

Something I don’t quite understand is the belief that Mary had physical relations with God which is how she became pregnant with Jesus.  Jesus, before he was born (in what they believe to be the pre-existance) is the brother of Lucifer and a polygamist.