Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Distorted account of three degrees of glory

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Those Power-Hungry Mormons

A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods A work by author: Richard Abanes Use of sources, Distorted account of three degrees of glory

Haranguing non-Mormons

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Distorted account of three degrees of glory

The Quotes

One Nation under Gods, page 103, Endnote 2, page 523 (hardback); page 521 (paperback)

The author provides this description of the three degrees of glory:

"The first degree of glory, which provides a very limited amount of glory/reward, is reserved for non-Mormons whose lives are marked primarily by immorality. The second degree, which offers a slightly greater glory/reward, is granted to non-Mormons and Mormons alike who live good lives marked primarily by kindness, goodness, and trying to live the best life possible. Finally, the third degree, which is basically the highest heaven attainable, is reserved for faithful Mormons who lived an exemplary life as "priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizadeck (sic)."

The References

Endnote 2, page 523 (hardback); page 521 (hardback)

DC 76:70-98

The Problem

• The lowest degree of glory is not "a very limited amount of glory/reward"—the scripture quoted by the author says that "thus we saw, in the heavenly vision, the glory of the telestial, which surpasses all understanding" (verse 89, emphasis added).
• The lowest degree is not just for "non-Mormons," but for anyone who is guilty of such sins as: not receiving the gospel, not receiving the testimony of Jesus, liars, sorcerers, adulterers, whoremongers, and whoever loves and makes a lie. Mormons are as susceptible to such sins as others.
• The next degree does not offer "slightly greater glory/reward," but as the "glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament" (verse 81). The key characteristic of the terrestrial is that it is those who "were not valiant in the testimony of Jesus" (verse 79).
• The celestial is available to those are "just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood" (verse 69).

Summary conclusion

Here ONUG betrays a superficial grasp of LDS theology and scripture. Especially significant is the omission of verse 69 from the citation, which describes the source of the exaltation granted the celestial—the grace of Christ making men perfect, through His own blood.

Further reading

A FAIR Analysis of Critical Works

• American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows— (Index of claims)
• An Insider's View of Mormon Origins — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
• Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
• Ashamed of Joseph: Mormon Foundations Crumble
• Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism/Inside Today's Mormonism — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
• Behind the Mask of Mormonism
• Specific works/Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
• Specific works/By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus
• Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism
• Covering Up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon
  • Answering Mormon Scholars, Vol. 1
  • Answering Mormon Scholars, Vol. 2
• Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism
• Early Mormonism and the Magic World View — (Index of claims—Use of sources)
• Specific works/Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism
• Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History
• From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism
• In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith — (Index of Claims)
• Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon
• Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record
• Is the Mormon My Brother?
• Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet
• Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon (2nd edition)—(Index of claims)
• Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined
• The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) — (Index of claims)
• Leaving the Saints
• Letters to a Mormon Elder
• Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church — (Index of claims)
• Mormon America: The Power and the Promise — (Index of claims)
• The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power — (Index of claims)
• The Mormon Mirage: Seeing Through the Illusion of Mainstream Mormonism
• Mormonism 101—Index of claims
• Mormonism (Kurt Van Gorden)
• Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? — (Index of claims)
• The Mysteries of Godliness—A History of Mormon Temple Worship
• Nauvoo Polygamy — (Index of claims—Use of sources—Prejudicial language—Presentism—Mind reading—Censorship—Romance—Assumptions—Magick)
• New Approaches to the Book of Mormon
• New Mormon Challenge
• No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith — (Index of claims)
• One Nation Under Gods — (Index of claims—Use of Sources—Prejudicial language—Absurd claims—Presentism—Mind reading—Rewording—Omissions—Sarcasm)
• The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844
• Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example — (Index of claims)
• Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess
• The Changing World of Mormonism — (Index of claims)
• Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon
• Under the Banner of Heaven — (Index of claims)
• Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture