Yes, Joseph Smith was a great deceiver. He promised his followers that they would eventually become gods, now that's a pretty clever sales pitch.
No, he didn't. He taught them about their God-given potential.
There is
considerable evidence that the doctrine of deification was taught for quite some time after the Savior’s death, and accepted as orthodox. Some of the most well-known and respected of the early Christian Fathers made statements that were remarkably close to the statements LDS leaders have made. For example:
In the second century,
Saint Irenaeus said,
“If the Word became a man, it was so men may become gods.” He also posed this question:
“Do we cast blame on Him (God) because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as Gods?” At about the same period of time,
Saint Clement made this statement:
“The Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god.” And
Saint Justin Martyr agreed, saying that men are
“deemed worthy of becoming gods and of having power to become sons of the highest.” Some two centuries later,
Athanasius explained that
“the Word was made flesh in order that we might be enabled to be made gods. He became man that we might be made divine.” And, finally,
Augustine, said,
“But He that justifies also deifies, for by justifying he makes sons of God. For he has given them power to become the sons of God. If then we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods.”
Even the noted Christian theologian,
C.S. Lewis, said much the same thing in his book "Mere Christianity."
“The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him – for we can prevent Him, if we choose – He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said."
Finally, according to The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology,
“Deification (Greek theosis) is for Orthodoxy the goal of every Christian. Man, according to the Bible, is made in the image and likeness of God…. It is possible for man to become like God, to become deified, to become god by grace.”
Joseph Smith didn't come up with this doctrine. He only restored that which had been lost for many, many years. And he never promised anybody that becoming a god was any kind of an automatic thing that would happen to his followers.
Now, if you can tell me what on earth any of this has to do with the OP, I would appreciate it very much. If not, perhaps we can get back to what we were discussing at the outset of this thread.
