Divinity
LDS belief in the divine potential of man
The teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints include the belief in the divine potential of mankind, who are considered spirit children of Heavenly Father and a heavenly mother during the pre-existence, or pre-mortal life in heaven. The belief is that God the Father is the Supreme Being and Supreme Ruler of the universe, and that progress through choices and growth in understanding by His spirit children occurred during pre-mortal life in varying degrees, based on each individual spirit's inclination toward truth, light, love, and faith. The pre-mortal spirits of mankind were not created from nothing, but were brought forth into a more progressed state of being from existing matter or energy, called "intelligence."
LDS teaching is that Jesus Christ was the Firstborn of Heavenly Father during the pre-mortal life, and that Christ's ability to obey truth, perceive light, and act in love and faith distinguished Him in that pre-mortal existence as being God-like. Therefore, because of Christ's love for Heavenly Father's other spirit children, He offered to accept the mission on earth of acting throughout His life in a sinless way and overcoming the eternal law of justice by suffering the punishment for the sins of all of mankind through the infinite atonement, which only He would be able to accomplish because He would be the physical offspring of God the Father, inheriting power over death and the power to suffer in a magnitude far greater than mortal man could suffer. Thus, Christ's mission became a foreordained part of the Plan of Salvation for all of mankind.
The LDS belief is that Christ's divinity and sinlessness qualified Him to return to the presence of Heavenly Father after His death, inheriting a resurrected and perfected body and joining with the Father in being omniscient, omnipotent, and omni-benevolent. Thus, although they love all of mankind unconditionally, only Christ had the qualities and attributes necessary to become a resurrected perfected being like Heavenly Father in and of Himself, yet He offers a way whereby others of God's spirit children may receive a sinless condition in the resurrection, because of the atonement, as men and women repent and rely wholly on the merits of Christ's grace. Repentance through faith in Jesus Christ is thus the only way mankind may progress to a perfected state of becoming like God, receiving omniscience, omnipotence, and omni-benevolence and always acting under the governing power of God the Father. One who loves on this level desires to share these qualities because of the joy they bring to an individual soul.
