To Become Like God: Witnesses of Our Divine Potential

Although LDS doctrine has sometimes been criticized for maintaining that human beings can, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ultimately share in the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4) and become like God, scripture and historical theology affirm this Latter-day Saint belief. In fact, passages in the Old and New Testaments as well as certain ancient, medieval, and modern theologians witness that the ultimate purpose of creation is to bring men and women back into the presence of God and be united with Him even enjoy the kind of life God enjoys. As the fourth-century church father Athanasius declared, God became man so that man could become God. For Latter-day Saints, the doctrine of deification (or theosis as it is called in classical Christian theology) is a profound manifestation of our belief in and gratitude for the infinite saving power of Jesus Christ.