HANK HANEGRAAF:
Dr. Richard Abanes and his new book “One Nation Under Gods” and of course Mormons believe in a pantheon of gods, so to speak, and they believe that we ourselves can become gods. That we can if we follow the proper prescriptions eventually attain to the Celestial Kingdom and become gods of our own planets and have endless celestial sex with our many goddess wives.
The Truth about the LDS Perspective of Exaltation and Deification:
- Deification of man—Critics claim that the doctrine of human deification is unbiblical, false, and arrogant. Related claims include: 1) Mormons believe they will ‘supplant God’, 2) Belief in theosis, or human deification, implies more than one “god,” which means Mormons are “polytheists,” 3) The Mormon concept of “human deification” is a pagan belief derived from Greek philosophy. (Link)
- “Celestial sex”—Critics claim that Latter-day Saints believe in a practice called “Celestial sex,” and that this is the manner in which “spirit children” are formed. (Link)
- Gods of their own planets—Critics claim that Mormons believe that they can push themselves higher in a type of ‘celestial pecking order.’ This is often expressed by the claim that Latter-day Saint men wish to become “gods of their own planets.” (Link)
A FAIR Analysis of One Nation Under Gods:
- Overview (Link)
- Index of claims—Responses to specific critical or unsupported claims made in One Nation Under Gods indexed by page number. (Link)
- Source analysis—An examination and response to how the author of One Nation Under Gods interprets the sources used to support this work, indexed by page number. (Link)
- Loaded and prejudicial language—An examination of how the author employs loaded and prejudicial language in this work in order to discredit Mormonism. (Link)
- Absurd claims—Some of the claims made in this work are simply absurd. We list and respond to those claims here. (Link)
- Presentism—“Presentism” is an analytical fallacy in which past behavior is evaluated by modern standards or mores. We examine some of our favorite examples of this fallacy in One Nation Under Gods. (Link)
- Mind reading—The author often attempts to interpret what Joseph was thinking as a way to lead the reader to a predetermined conclusion regarding Joseph Smith. (Link)
- Rewording secondary sources—A list of paragraphs which echo the prose of Fawn Brodie’s No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith. (Link)
- Sarcasm—The author of One Nation Under Gods uses sarcasm to belittle what he claims to be LDS beliefs and doctrine. (Link)
