Skip to main content
Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links. We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

Do Mormons Get Their Own Planet?

Image
By Mason


One of the most common criticisms about Mormonism is that faithful members believe they will “get their own planet” in the next life. Whenever this idea appears, the Church and its defenders move quickly to deny it. FAIR, the main apologetic group, calls the phrase a caricature: “Reducing [exaltation] to ruling a planet caricatures a profound and complex belief. Claims that Mormons hope for ‘their own planets’ almost always aim to disrespect and marginalize” (FAIR, “Gods of Their Own Planets”). 


The Church’s official Newsroom FAQ also weighs in:

 



On the surface these answers look straightforward. God does not hand out planets. Yet the very same sources go on to describe exaltation as receiving all that the Father has, which includes creative power. FAIR acknowledges that exalted beings “will share in all that the Father has including his creative powers” (FAIR) and even goes on the share a quote from church leadership which explicitly states that we can one day govern over worlds 


FAIR, “Gods of Their Own Planets”


In other words, they deny the phrasing while simultaneously affirming the concept.

Joseph Smith taught in the King Follett sermon that “the mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself” (Smith 1844). God organized these intelligences into spirit children, gave them mortal bodies, and through resurrection offers perfected bodies. Those who remain faithful may achieve exaltation. 

A church manual describes exaltation this way: exalted beings “will become gods. They will have their families forever and will have all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge” (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1976, 29). 

If exalted beings are to become like God, then scripture’s description of God’s work reveals what they will do. In the Pearl of Great Price God declares: “And worlds without number have I created” (Moses 1:33). Doctrine and Covenants 76:24 teaches that “the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” Creation of inhabited worlds is presented as central to God’s nature. By the logic of eternal progression, it becomes the destiny of those who are exalted.


Church leaders have been explicit about this point. Lorenzo Snow summarized the doctrine in his well-known couplet: “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.” Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “For them new earths are created, and thus the on-rolling purposes of the Gods of Heaven go forward from eternity to eternity” (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, 257). The 2001 Gospel Fundamentals manual is even more direct: exalted beings “will be able to have spirit children and make new worlds for them to live on, and do all the things our Father in Heaven has done” (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 2001, 201).

The issue is not whether the doctrine exists. It clearly does. The issue is in the language. Saying “get your own planet” makes the teaching sound cartoonish, which is the issue FAIR seems to have. Saying “create worlds without number” makes it sound scriptural and noble. Yet both describe the same belief: exalted beings continue God’s work by creating new worlds and populating them with His children.

The official Newsroom answer tries to sidestep this tension by insisting the “planet” idea is not in scripture. That is technically true, but it ignores the scriptures and teachings that describe exalted humans inheriting God’s creative role. FAIR follows the same pattern: deny the caricature, then affirm the concept under different wording.

So... do Mormons get their own planet? According to the Church’s public-facing language, no. According to scripture, prophetic teaching, and instructional manuals, yes, exalted beings create worlds, populate them, and preside as gods. The difference is only in phrasing. In reality Latter-day Saints are not promised one planet. They are promised the capacity to create “worlds without number.”

__________

References

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1976. Principles of the Gospel. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. http://www.thearmouryministries.org/pdfdoc/gospelprinciples.pdf

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2001. Gospel Fundamentals. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Church Newsroom. “Frequently Asked Questions About Latter-day Saints.”  https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/frequently-asked-questions

FAIR. “Mormonism and the Nature of God/Deification of Man/Gods of Their Own Planets.” FAIR Latter-day Saints.  https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Mormonism_and_the_nature_of_God/Deification_of_man/Gods_of_their_own_planets

McConkie, Bruce R. 1966. Mormon Doctrine. 2nd ed. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft. https://amzn.to/3HFYsdn (affiliate link)

Smith, Joseph. 1844. The King Follett Sermon. https://josephsmithfoundation.org/docs/the-king-follett-sermon/

Moses 1:33, 35. Pearl of Great Price. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Doctrine and Covenants 76:24. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Check Your Understanding: “Do Mormons Get Their Own Planet?”

Test how well you understand the gap between LDS public messaging and internal teachings on exaltation.

1. What common criticism of Mormonism does this article address?




2. How does FAIR initially respond to the “own planet” idea?




3. What key point does FAIR still affirm about exalted beings?




4. According to Joseph Smith’s King Follett sermon, what is said about human intelligence?




5. How does the 1976 Principles of the Gospel manual describe exalted beings?




6. What do Moses 1:33 and Doctrine and Covenants 76:24 say about God’s work?




7. What does the 2001 Gospel Fundamentals manual explicitly teach about exalted beings?




8. What is the article’s main conclusion about the “own planet” question?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mormon Blood and the Esther Cohen-Tizer-Epstein Letter

By Mason
With the recent release of nearly 3.5 million pages of the Epstein files, there have been several connections made regarding Jeffery Epstein paying tuition for several students at BYU. The most notable of which is presented in what is known as the Esther Cohen-Tizer-Epstien Letter.    Some are questioning the authenticity of the letter, but some clues seem to point us to a woman named   Esther Cohen .  Lets look at a few connections. Note that these connections are not an attempt at making any accusations and are simply connections made through publicly available information. I will be updating this page as I find more information. EFTA00129111  Reference to the Seven Bowls School of Nutrition From Esther's website: alchemyofnourishment.com She began studying nutrition as a teenager: Which also seems to align with her site. Alchemy of Nourishment Along with the claim of residing in Colorado Alchemy of Nourishment The final piece of the puzzle is a 2017 revi...
2 comments
Read

The "Mormon" Trademark is About to Expire

By Mason
 The request for Mormon Stories to rebrand has spread quickly through Mormon spaces. Followers learned that om November 14th 2025, the LDS Church had reached out with claims that the podcast was infringing on the “Mormon” trademark. The demand leaned on the legal idea that the Church owns the word.  The request was shared on social media by @mormstories, but those posts seem to have been removed. Fortunately, copies of the email were  shared on reddit. But there is a significant detail sitting behind this entire dispute. The Church will have to renew the "Mormon" trademark in the 2026 to 2027 window.  Source: USPTO database When that time comes, they must prove that they still use the word “Mormon” in active commerce. USPTO rules are clear on this point. A trademark only survives if the owner can show that it is still printed on actual goods or services that are still being sold or distributed. The official guidelines spell it out at uspto.gov under “ Keeping your r...
3 comments
Read

The Peacemaker Summit and an Attempt to Silence Mormonism's Critics

By Mason
 An upcoming event called the Peacemaker Summit , organized by The Holy Rebellion , is being promoted as a gathering for faithful LDS creators. The organizing vision for this event is explicitly about displacing critics of the faith by flooding social media platforms with coordinated, high-volume pro-Mormon content. That goal deserves scrutiny. My initial reaction to the original video The Stated Aim: Outnumber the Critics Travis Lish and Christian Williams from The Holy Rebellion have been clear about their motivation. They believe critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dominate online spaces and that faithful voices need to overwhelm that presence. The solution being proposed is to create enough volume to hide criticisms from search results.  ... our goal is 1 billion views per month  collectively  as Latter Day Saint creators. Imagine a world where when you search Mormon or LDS or Joseph Smith  across any platform, what you would see...
1 comment
Read

Where Did Joseph Smith Dig for Treasure?

By Mason
Before Joseph Smith was known as a prophet, he was known locally for treasure digging. An article written by Dan Vogel   mapped out the physical locations connected to that earlier phase of Smith’s life. Drawing from court records, affidavits, neighbor testimony, and later reminiscences, Vogel was able to place Smith on specific hillsides, farms, and riverbanks across western New York and northern Pennsylvania. Show Dan Vogel's Full Article (If you have issues on mobile, you can read the full document  here ) The article itself is a valuable asset to anybody who wants to understand the treasure digging activities of Joseph Smith. However, due to the design of the maps provided it may be difficult to immediate tell where the digs took place. Which in my opinion, may limit the sharing of his research. As such, I took it upon myself to update the map in Google Earth using Dan Vogel's research as my guide. This gives us a bit of clearer idea of w...
Post a Comment
Read

Encouraging Marriage: Lowering the Age for Female Missionaries

By Mason
 In October 2012, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially lowered the minimum age for missionary service. Before that change, men could begin at age 19 and women at age 21. The update allowed men to start at 18 and women at 19, a major shift in how young Latter-day Saints approached their early adult years. That change dramatically increased missionary numbers, with applications skyrocketing in the weeks after the announcement and women making up a much larger share of those who served.   For more than a decade after that update, the rule stayed the same. Women could serve at 19 and men at 18, with women serving 18-month missions and men serving two years. In November 2025 the Church again changed the rule: the minimum age for women to serve was lowered to 18, equalizing it with men.  What made this new policy notable wasn’t just equality in age; it was the statements that came with it.   In a January 2026 interview with the Church’s own Deseret News, Presid...
Post a Comment
Read

Early Mormon Criticisms - 4: Fanaticism

By Mason
 This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a historical excerpt and some brief context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding.  -The full series can be found  here - The article titled “Fanaticism” was published on February 11, 1831, in the United States Gazette , a Philadelphia paper with national circulation. It reprints material from the Painesville Gazette , reflecting local reports from northeastern Ohio rather than direct investigation by the Gazette itself. The author is unnamed, consistent with early-19th-century newspaper practice, and the tone reflects mainstream Protestant skepticism toward emerging religious movements. The piece focuses on Kirtland and nearby areas in Geauga and Cuyahoga counties at a very early stage in Mormon development, less than a year after the Book of Mormon’s publica...
Post a Comment
Read

The LDS Church Flip-Flopped on the KJV

By
Recently , the LDS church announced updated guidance on the "approved" list of Bible translation for use in local congregations, spanning both English and international language versions. You can find the specifics of this guidance in the LDS General Handbook . The Updated Narrative On January 6, 2026, an interview was hosted by BYU to highlight the updated LDS Bible recommendations: Josh Sears, Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture [L]anguage just keeps evolving. That's a natural thing. And that's nothing to be afraid of. That's just how language works. And we see out throughout history that as language gets of the scriptures gets too far removed from what people are speaking, there's always a need to update and modernize ... So, when the announcement came about the handbook updates that were going to be more flexible and allow for a variety of translations to work alongside the King James, it didn't really surprise me because to me this was aligned ...
Post a Comment
Read

Full Text - Mormons Taking Oaths of the Temple House (1904)

By Mason
  This article appeared in 1904, during the height of national scrutiny surrounding the LDS Church and the U.S. Senate investigation into whether Apostle Reed Smoot should be seated as a senator. At the center of that inquiry were questions the public had debated for decades but rarely heard addressed in sworn testimony.  What actually happened inside the Endowment House ?  What oaths were required?  Do the oaths conflict with civic loyalty, democratic norms, and basic transparency? The reporting below relies on testimony given under oath to the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections and presents the claims exactly as they were reported to a national audience. This was not written as theology or internal instruction. It was written as political journalism, aimed at informing a non-Mormon public that largely had no access to temple ceremonies and relied on secondhand descriptions. THE WASHINGTON TIMES DECEMBER 14, 1904 MORMONS TAKING OATHS OF ENDOWMENT HOUS...
Post a Comment
Read

There Is No Curse, Part 5: Then What Is It?

By
We need to talk about the current apologetics attempting to downplay the Lamanite curse. Nephi Sees Our Day In preparation for my next topic, I was reading 1 Nephi 13:15 , where Nephi sees a vision of the future for his own civilization and the European conquest of America. This passage stuck out to me: And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people before they were slain. This is in direct contrast to 1 Nephi 12:23 : And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations. You might notice that there is ample ambiguity in both passages, but in juxtaposing these two peoples, we see a contrast that I just can’t reconcile if the curse is only “symbolic” or “spiritual.” In comparing Gentiles to Lam...
Post a Comment
Read

LDS Apologists Try to Beat a Dead Horse

By
It looks like the topic of horses and the Book of Mormon is going to crop up every few months like a nasty case of eczema, so I feel it’s worthwhile to summarize the debate as it currently stands. There's another post on this blog  about more recent research, but it always goes back to the (in)famous analysis done by Matthew Roper and his colleagues at BYU, John Clark and Wade Ardern, all the way back to 2005. But first, let's look even further back.  What the Book of Mormon Said The word “horse” appears 14 total times in the Book of Mormon in the context of domesticated livestock, with half of those references being connected with pulling chariots of war. Both Lamanite and Nephite peoples equated these horses with those described in Isaiah 2:7 and 5:28, which Nephi expressly quotes in his own record (compare 2 Nephi 12:7 and 15:28), with no distinction made between them. The horses of the Americas, per the Book of Mormon, are intended to be the same in form and function to ...
Post a Comment
Read
e
Link copied!