# Do happy Mormon couples get to rule a planet in the afterlife? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274 "2011-07-25T15:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/1 "2011-07-25T15:56:10Z")
So said Bill Maher in his Cleveland standup appearance last night. According to him, a happy marriage between two Mormons means they get to rule their own world in the hereafter. Dunno how much, if at all, he lied/exaggerated/distorted Mormon religious doctrine for comedic purposes. Any truth to it? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/2 "2011-07-25T16:07:54Z")
There is some truth to that statement as far as doctrine goes. It has to do with the belief that there are different levels to heaven and, of course, the really good stuff is reserved for the highest level. So, the answer to your question is maybe. I’m sure someone else will explain it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/3 "2011-07-25T16:22:14Z")
I’ve heard similar stories in the past – that, in the highest levels of Mormon heaven, you become the ruler (deity?) of your own planet. I hadn’t heard that this was particularly reserved for couples, but my knowledge of Mormon theology is limited. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/4 "2011-07-25T16:27:11Z")
If it’s true, then whom do they rule? Unhappy Mormon couples? That can’t be fun. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/5 "2011-07-25T16:31:36Z")
From [wikipedia’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#Degrees_within) article on “Degrees of Glory”: Joseph Smith taught that the celestial kingdom itself is subdivided into three “heavens or degrees”.[[9]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#cite_note-8) Only those individuals who are [sealed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealing_%28Latter_Day_Saints%29) in [celestial marriage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_marriage) to a spouse in a [temple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_%28Latter_Day_Saints%29) while alive (or after death by proxy) will be permitted to enter into the highest degree of celestial kingdom.[[10]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#cite_note-9) These individuals will eventually become “[exalted](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaltation_%28Mormonism%29)”[[11]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#cite_note-10) and will be permitted to live “the kind of life God lives” as literal gods and goddesses, as Doctrine and Covenants 132 explains.[[12]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#cite_note-11) The nature of the other two degrees within the Celestial Kingdom have not been described, except to say that the people who go there will become “ministering angels”.[[13]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory#cite_note-12) ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/6 "2011-07-25T16:40:40Z")
If you follow link 12 in my previous post, you find this, from the LDS church: * * * \*\*Blessings of Exaltation \*\* Our Heavenly Father is perfect. However, he is not jealous of his wisdom and perfection. He glories in the fact that it is possible for his children to become like him. He has said, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” ([Moses 1:39](http://scriptures.lds.org/moses/1/39#39)). Those who receive exaltation in the celestial kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ will receive special blessings. The Lord has promised, “All things are theirs” ([D&C 76:59](http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/76/59#59)). These are some of the blessings given to exalted people: [ul] [li] 1. They will live eternally in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (see [D&C 76](http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/76)).[/li][li] 2. They will become gods.[/li][li] 3. They will have their righteous family members with them and will be able to have spirit children also. These spirit children will have the same relationship to them as we do to our Heavenly Father. They will be an eternal family.[/li][li] 4. They will receive a fulness of joy.[/li][li] 5. They will have everything that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have—all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge. President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “The Father has promised through the Son that all that he has shall be given to those who are obedient to his commandments. _They shall increase in knowledge, wisdom, and power, going from grace to grace, until the fulness of the perfect day shall burst upon them”_ (_Doctrines of Salvation,_ 2:36).[/li][/ul] * * * So I don’t see anything about a planet mentioned explicitly, but if you become a god with “all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge,” I guess you can make as many planets as you want. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/7 "2011-07-25T17:00:07Z")
Not just planets, but entire universes of their own. ## I am unsure if they will have to pay a franchise fee to the God of THIS universe however, for helping them get off the ground… One problem with LDS theology is that a lot of stuff like this is not actual “official doctrine” per se, but instead teachings that have been widely accepted, just not pronounced as Gospel. (even in an official LDS published book like Doctrines of Salvation, quoted above, the Mormon hierarchy can always claim that it’s just the authors opinion, and not the actual word of God. Unless the living prophet says something explicitly comes from God, the LDS Church can always back away from it when it becomes politically/culturally expedient to do so) ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/8 "2011-07-25T17:03:27Z")
Did you never see Battlestar Galactica? ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/9 "2011-07-25T17:04:50Z")
I suppose in a polygamous marriage, all the wives get the planet along with the one husband? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/10 "2011-07-25T17:07:58Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Did you never see Battlestar Galactica? Happy Mormon couples suffer the aftereffects of a genocidal attack and are forced to gather up a small band of survivors to flee a race of android-clone hybrids, occasionally getting the opportunity to enjoy the carnal pleasures of an outstandingly attractive one or one of her numerous identical duplicates? ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/11 "2011-07-25T20:13:00Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I suppose in a polygamous marriage, all the wives get the planet along with the one husband? Yes. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > So said Bill Maher in his Cleveland standup appearance last night. According to him, a happy marriage between two Mormons means they get to rule their own world in the hereafter. Dunno how much, if at all, he lied/exaggerated/distorted Mormon religious doctrine for comedic purposes. Any truth to it? I didn’t see the show, but what you describe here is unofficial LDS belief. By that, I mean that you won’t find it in a recent prophet’s sermon on [lds.org](http://lds.org), but it’s discussed among the believers as if it is a certain fact. When Mormons get together as friends, the conversation occasionally turns to “when I am the god of my own planet, …” Recent LDS prophet Gordon B Hinkley repeatedly stated that it’s not current doctrine, and he said he doesn’t know if it is true. It is impossible to identify what is “doctrine” in LDS beliefs. Mormon kids are taught that every word from every prophet and apostle is “scripture”. Then when the sermons (past and present) get criticized, the goalposts are moved such that it’s only “doctrine” if it’s in the official scripture canon. And then when official scripture becomes outdated, the goalposts are moved again such that it only counts if it agrees with what the prophets and apostles are saying today. So a concept that is in the LDS scripture canon and is in sermons by former LDS prophets and is widespread in the beliefs of Mormons today, can still be officially denied if it’s embarassing. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/12 "2011-07-25T20:43:39Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Not just planets, but entire universes of their own. > > I am unsure if they will have to pay a franchise fee to the God of THIS universe however, for helping them get off the ground… So…basically a cosmic ponzi scheme? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/13 "2011-07-25T20:53:19Z")
One of the things that helped bring about this idea was something called the King Follett discourse, which he gave as sort of a eulogy for King Follett, a Mormon elder who had recently died. [http://mldb.byu.edu/follett.htm](http://mldb.byu.edu/follett.htm) ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/14 "2011-07-26T02:12:51Z")
What happens if a Mormon marries a Scientologist? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/15 "2011-07-26T02:41:03Z")
> [@JillGat](#): > > What happens if a Mormon marries a Scientologist? I believe only marriages between two Mormons with temple-recommends can be eternally sealed. So, from the Mormon perspective, it wouldn’t really come up. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/16 "2011-07-26T03:02:45Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Did you never see Battlestar Galactica? Bingo. I’ve always thought Mormonism and Scientology are tied for the lead in the crackpot derby. And I’ve always felt that Scientology seems vaguely derivative of Mormonism. . ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/17 "2011-07-26T06:07:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Happy Mormon couples suffer the aftereffects of a genocidal attack and are forced to gather up a small band of survivors to flee a race of android-clone hybrids, occasionally getting the opportunity to enjoy the carnal pleasures of an outstandingly attractive one or one of her numerous identical duplicates? I meant the one with Dirk Benedict. No sexy cylons. But it’s well-known that it was created by Mormons and informed by the Mormon belief in a cyclical cosmos, and that God was once like us and we may, according to our level of mormonness, become like unto Gods ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/18 "2011-07-26T16:51:28Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > One of the things that helped bring about this idea was something called the King Follett discourse, which he gave as sort of a eulogy for King Follett, a Mormon elder who had recently died. > > [Mormon Literature Sampler: The King Follett Discourse](http://mldb.byu.edu/follett.htm) Boy, he sure could talk! Could you cut and paste here whichever sentence or paragraph(s) in that support the view that happy Mormon couples get their own planet to rule in the afterlife? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/19 "2011-07-26T18:55:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Boy, he sure could talk! Could you cut and paste here whichever sentence or paragraph(s) in that support the view that happy Mormon couples get their own planet to rule in the afterlife? Right here, or at least the doctrine grew out of it… > [@](#): > > I want you all to know God, to be familiar with him. And if I can bring you to him, all persecutions against me will cease; you will know that I am his servant, for I speak as one having authority. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear all ye ends of the earth; for I am going to prove it to you by the Bible, and I am going to tell you the designs of God for the human race and why he interferes with the affairs of man. > > First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a man like one of you. That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today and you were to see the great God who holds this world in its orbit and upholds all things by his power, you would see him in the image and very form of a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion and image of God. He received instruction from and walked, talked, and conversed with him as one man talks and communes with another. > > In order to understand the subject of the dead for the consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary they should understand the character and being of God; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. [That he was not is an idea] incomprehensible to some. But it is the simple and first principle of the gospel-to know for a certainty the character of God, that we may converse with him as one man with another. God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did, and I will show it from the Bible. > > I wish I had the trump of an archangel; I could tell the story in such a manner that persecution would cease forever. What did Jesus say? (Mark it, elder Rigdon!) Jesus said, “As the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power.” To do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious–in a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the Bible. The scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom, all the combined powers of earth and hell together, to refute it. > > Here, then, is eternal life–to know the only wise and true God. And you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves–to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done–by going from a small degree to another, from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you are able to sit in glory as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. > > And I want you to know that in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, God is not trifling with you or me; it is the first principle of consolation. How consoling to the mourner when he is called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative, to know that although the earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved that dear one shall rise in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more but shall be God’s heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What is it? It is to inherit the same glory, the same power, and the same exaltation until you ascend the throne of eternal power the same as those who are gone before. What did Jesus do? Why, I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. I saw my Father work out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom I shall present it to my Father so that he obtains kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt his glory. And so Jesus treads in his tracks to inherit what God did before. It is plain beyond disputation. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274/20 "2011-07-26T19:10:52Z")
So the afterlife is pretty much like playing Sim City? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-happy-mormon-couples-get-to-rule-a-planet-in-the-afterlife/590274.md?page=2)