Eliza R. Snow on Theosis

Eliza R. Snow

eternal progression theosis mormon authorities human potential

We have been instructed that each one of us in our organizations is endowed with the germs of every faculty requisite to constitute a god or a goddess. These little ones in their mothers’ arms have the germs of all the capabilities which we exhibit, and what constitutes the difference between them and ourselves? Merely a lack of development in them, and this development requires cultivation, energy, and perseverance. The organization of the Female Relief Society places the sisters in positions to bring into exercise and thus develop all of our faculties: thus in doing good to others, we benefit ourselves… Let us try to realize our responsibilities and honor our position.

“Let Us Cultivate Ourselves,” Salt Lake City Seventeenth Ward Relief Society Minutes, page 148, Salt Lake City: Church History Library, 1869.02.18

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Origen

. . . from Him there began the union of the divine with the human nature. This was so that the human – by communion with the divine – might rise to be divine. This not only happened in Jesus, but also in all those who not only believe, but enter upon the life that Jesus taught.

John Taylor

. . . The world have no idea of God, and they do not acknowledge him. He may develop, through one person, the principle of electricity, but the world will say it is some wise man that did it. He may, through another, develop the power of steam, but they say, Some wise man did it.

Joseph Smith

God was once as we are now, and is an exalted person, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret.

More from Eliza R. Snow

The time was when we thought that our husbands would save us, independent of our own exertions. Now we understand that instead of depending entirely on our husbands for salvation and position, we have to work them out ourselves. The responsibility and labor that devolve upon women are becoming more important. If society is reformed, it is to a great extent because women are refined.

I had learned to call thee Father, Thru thy Spirit from on high, But, until the key of knowledge Was restored, I knew not why. In the heav’ns are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason; truth eternal Tells me I’ve a mother there.

For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth; Yet ofttimes a secret something Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,” And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere.