Section 20: Eternal Progression — The Path to Godhood

Eternal progression is one of the most distinctive and defining LDS doctrines. It holds that God himself progressed from a mortal existence to divine status, and that humans can follow the same path. The highest salvation — called exaltation — involves becoming "gods," ruling over spirit-children on other worlds, with one's spouse sealed for eternity. D&C 132:20 states that those who receive the new and everlasting covenant of marriage "then shall they be gods, because they have no end."

LDS leadership has not always taught this doctrine with equal emphasis. In the 20th century, particularly as the church sought mainstream Christian acceptance, the eternal progression doctrine was sometimes minimized in public-facing contexts. The church's Gospel Topics Essay on "God the Father" acknowledges the Lorenzo Snow couplet but notes that the details of what it means are not fully known. Nevertheless, D&C 132:20 is canonical, the Snow couplet remains in wide circulation, and the doctrine of theosis-as-apotheosis (becoming gods) is the stated endpoint of the LDS plan of salvation.

ERROR IDENTIFIED: This is not theosis. The patristic doctrine of theosis — deification — is the participation of human beings in the divine life while remaining human. Athanasius: "For He was made man that we might be made God." The Greek theopoiethomen does not mean "become God by nature." It means "be made godlike by participation" — the communicable attributes shared through the Spirit, while the Creator-creature distinction remains eternally intact. The LDS doctrine is apotheosis: actual promotion to divine status, with the ability to create worlds and have spirit-children. The distinction is the difference between a child who grows up to resemble their father and a created being that achieves the same ontological status as its creator. The first is the Christian gospel. The second is the oldest temptation: "You will be like God." (Genesis 3:5)