Simon Critchley, a professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, writes in The New York Times about how heretical Mormon beliefs really are in relationship to Christianity and why he is so fascinated by them. Speaking of a trip to Utah, he relates:
“The great secret is that, through heroic effort and striving, God was a man who became exalted and now sits enthroned in the heavens. You see, God was not God from all eternity, but became God. Now, the flip side of this claim is that if God is an exalted man, then we, too, can become exalted. The prophet says to the company of the saints something like, ‘You have to learn how to be gods. You have to inherit the same power and glory as God and become exalted like him.’ Namely you can arrive at the station of God. One of our early leaders summarized the King Follett sermon with the words, ‘As man now is, God once was. As God now is, man may be.’ ” “So, dear Simon,” my new friend concluded, “we, too, can become Gods, American Gods, no less.”…
God, in other words, is not infinite and unitary but multiple and finite. Read the full article here.
Patricia Cohen 