"I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three gods."
—Prophet Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 370

"The Godhead is a type of unity in the attributes, powers, and purposes of is members."
—Apostle James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1984, p.49

"Although the members of the Godhead are distinct beings with distinct roles, they are one in purpose and doctrine. They are perfectly united in bringing to pass Heavenly Father's divine plan of salvation."
—"Godhead - Additional Information," www.lds.org (Official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

"God himself; the Father of us all dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did."
—Prophet Joseph Smith, the King Follett Discourse, April 6, 1844, Times and Seasons, vol. 5, pp. 613-614

"Mormon prophets have continuously taught the sublime truth that god the Eternal Father was once a mortal man who passed through a school of earth life similar to that through which we are now passing. He became God—an exalted being—through obedience to the same eternal Gospel truths that we are given opportunity today to obey."
—First Council of the Seventy, Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, Salt Lake City, 1958, p. 104

"Explain that we all lived in heaven with Heavenly Father before we came to this earth. We are his children. That is why we call him Heavenly Father. We also lived with our heavenly mother and all the rest of Heavenly Father's children. Everyone who has been born on the earth is a child of Heavenly Father."
—Primary 2: Choose the Right A, Lesson 3, "I Am a Child of God," www.lds.org (Official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

"We have clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity, by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His first Born, and another being upon the earth by whom He begat the tabernacle of Jesus (Mary - ed.), as his only begotten in the world. We have also probed most clearly that the Son followed the example of his Father, and became the great Bridegroom to whom kings' daughters and many honorable wives were to be married. We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time . . . If you do not want your morals corrupted, and your delicate ears shocked and your pious modesty put to the blush by the society of polygamists and their wives, do not venture near the New Earth; for polygamists will be honored there, and will be among the chief rulers in that Kingdom."
—Apostle Orson Pratt, "The Seer," p. 172

"God lives in the family unit. He is our Father in heaven the literal and personal Father of the spirits of all men. He begat us; we are the offspring of Heavenly Parents: we have an Eternal Father and an Eternal Mother. We were born as spirits, and we dwelt in the presence of our Eternal Parents; we lived before our mortal birth. As spirits we were in all respects as we are now save only that we were not housed in mortal bodies as is the present circumstance. Christ was the Firstborn of all the heavenly host; Lucifer was a son of the morning: each of us came into being as conscious identities in our appointed order; and Christ is our Elder Brother."
—Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, vol. 1, p. 21

"The head God organized the heavens and the earth. I defy all the world to refute me. In the beginning the heads of the Gods organized the heavens and the earth."
—Prophet Joseph Smith, "Sermon On Plurality of Gods," June 16, 1844, History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 473-479

"The Gods organized the earth of materials at hand, over which they had control and power. . .
The Gods organized and gave life to man and placed him on the earth."
—President Spencer W. Kimball, Absolute Truth, Ensign, September 1978

"The Prophet Joseph Smith said: The word create came from the [Hebrew] word baurau which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos chaotic matter.
—Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 350 51, as quoted in Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher s Manual, 9, "Lesson 3: The Creation," - as posted at: www.lds.org - the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

"He was the Son of our Heavenly Father, as we are the sons of our earthly fathers. God is the Father of our spirits, which are clothed upon by fleshly bodies, begotten for us by our earthly fathers. Jesus is our elder brother spirit clothed upon with an earthly body begotten by the Father of our spirits."
—President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 10, p. 2, September 28, 1862

"We are here to be tested and tried. There is a war between Satan and God. We are brethren and sisters of Satan as well as of Jesus. It may be startling doctrine to many to say this; but Satan is our brother. Jesus is our brother. We are the children of God. God begot us in the spirit in the eternal worlds. This fight that I speak of arose, as we are told, over the question as to how man should work out his earthly probation in a tabernacle of flesh and bones and obtain redemption. Satan differed from God, and he rebelled. We are told in the scriptures that he drew after him one third of the family of God. They thought his plan better than that of the Savior Jesus Christ. From that time until the present he has been struggling to destroy the plans of Jehovah, and to seduce the children of men his brothers and sisters from their allegiance to God."
—Apostle George Q. Cannon, March 11th, 1894, Collected Discourses, compiled by Brian Stuy, vol. 4, p. 23

"Now remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost."
—President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p. 51

"They tell us the Book of Mormon states that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost. I challenge that statement. The Book of Mormon teaches no such thing! Neither does the Bible."
—President Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p. 19

"In my judgment, Mary is one of the greatest women who has ever lived on earth; the spirit daughter of God our Father. She was chosen to provide a body for his son, who was to be born after the manner of the flesh."
—Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve, "Our Sisters from the Beginning," Tambuli, June 1979 (An address delivered at the dedication of the Nauvoo Monument to Women, 29 June 1978)

"He was the Son of our Heavenly Father, as we are the sons of our earthly fathers. God is the Father of our spirits, which are clothed upon by fleshly bodies, begotten for us by our earthly fathers. Jesus is our elder brother spirit clothed upon with an earthly body begotten by the Father of our spirits."
—President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 10, p. 2, September 28, 1862

"The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood—was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers."
—President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 8, p. 115

"Christ was begotten of God, He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God!"
—President Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p. 18

"The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband."
—President Brigham Young, Deseret News, October 10, 1866

"It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him. The mortal mind fails to fathom, the tongue cannot express, the pen of man cannot describe the breadth, the depth, the height of the suffering of our Lord nor His infinite love for us."
—President Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988, p. 14

"Here, then, is eternal life to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power."
—Joseph Smith, "King Follett Discourse," April 6, 1844

"The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming Gods like Himself; when we have been proved in our present capacity, and been faithful with all things He puts into our possession. We are created, we are born for the express purpose of growing up from the low estate of manhood, to become Gods like unto our Father in heaven. That is the truth about it, just as it is. The Lord has organized mankind for the express purpose of increasing inthat intelligence and truth, which is with God, until he is capable of creating worlds on worlds, and becoming Gods, even the sons of God."
—Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 93

"For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."
—Prophet Joseph Smith, revelation on polygamy, Doctrine and Covenants 132.

"Therefore, whoever has imagined that he could obtain the fullness of the blessings pertaining to this celestial law, by complying with only a portion of its conditions, has deceived himself. He cannot do it."
—President Joseph F. Smith, "Journal of Discourses, vol. 20, p. 31

"How final! How frightening! Since we know well that mortal death does not terminate our existence, since we know that we live on and on, how devastating to realize that marriage and family life, so sweet and happy in so many homes, will end with death because we fail to follow God's instructions or because we reject his word when we understand it.

It is clear in the Lord's announcement that righteous men and women will receive the due rewards of their deeds. They will not be damned in the commonly accepted terminology but will suffer many limitations and deprivations and fail to reach the highest kingdom, if they do not comply. They become ministering servants to those who complied with all laws and lived all commandments.

He then continues concerning these excellent people who lived worthily but failed to make their contracts binding:

'For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.' (D&C 132:17.)

How conclusive! How bounded! How limiting! And we come to realize again as it bears heavily upon us that this time, this life, this mortality is the time to prepare to meet God. How lonely and barren will be the so-called single blessedness throughout eternity! How sad to be separate and single and apart through countless ages when one could, by meeting requirements, have happy marriage for eternity in the temple by proper authority and continue on in ever-increasing joy and happiness, growth and development toward godhood."
—President Spencer W. Kimball, "Temples and Eternal Marriage," Tambuli, October 1980; Liahona, October 1980
From the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org

70 These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical.
71 And again, we saw the terrestrial world, and behold and lo, these are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament.
72 Behold, these are they who died without law;
73 And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh;
74 Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it.
75 These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men.
76 These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness.
77 These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father.
78 Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun.
79 These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.
80 And now this is the end of the vision which we saw of the terrestrial, that the Lord commanded us to write while we were yet in the Spirit.
81 And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament.
82 These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus.
83 These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit.
84 These are they who are thrust down to hell.
85 These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work.
86 These are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial;
87 And the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial.
88 And also the telestial receive it of the ministering of angels who are appointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them; for they shall be heirs of salvation.
89 And thus we saw, in the heavenly vision, the glory of the telestial, which surpasses all understanding;
90 And no man knows it except him to whom God has revealed it.
91 And thus we saw the glory of the terrestrial which excels in all things the glory of the telestial, even in glory, and in power, and in might, and in dominion.
92 And thus we saw the glory of the celestial, which excels in all things where God, even the Father, reigns upon his throne forever and ever . . ."
—Prophet Joseph Smith, A vision given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at Hiram, Ohio, February 16, 1832, History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 245-252, from www.lds.org, the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

"If a man cannot enter the kingdom of God without baptism, then the dead must be baptized. But how can they be baptized in water for the remission of their sins? It is easy to understand how they in person could believe in Christ and even obtain the spirit of repentance; but water is an element of this world, and how could spirits be baptized in it, or receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost? The only way it can be done is vicariously, someone who is living acting as a substitute for the dead."
—President Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. II, p. 141

"I look upon this portion of our ministry as a mission of as much importance as preaching to the living; the dead will hear the voice of the servants of God in the spirit-world, and they cannot come forth in the morning of the resurrection, unless certain ordinances are performed for and in their behalf in temples built to the name of God. It takes just as much to save a dead man as a living man. For the last eighteen hundred years, the people that have lived and passed away never heard the voice of an inspired man, never heard a gospel sermon until they entered the spirit-world. Somebody has got to redeem them, by performing such ordinances for them in the flesh as they cannot attend to themselves in the spirit, and in order that this work may be done, we must have temples in which to do it; and what I wish to say to you, my brethren and sisters, is that the God of heaven requires us to rise up and build them, that the work of redemption may be hastened."
—President Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, vol. XIX, pp. 228-229

"A man may be saved, after the judgment, in the terrestrial kingdom, or in the telestial kingdom, but he can never see the celestial kingdom of God, without being born of water and the Spirit."
—Prophet Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 283

"All others who are not classed as sons of perdition, will be 'redeemed in the due time of the Lord'; that is, they will all be saved. The meanest sinner will find some place in the heavenly realm. . . . In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is no hell. All will find a measure of salvation. . . . The gospel of Jesus Christ has no hell in the old proverbial sense."
—Apostle John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith—Seeker After Truth, pp. 177-178

"What is the priesthood? President John Taylor said:

'. . .it is the government of God, whether on earth or in the heavens, for it is by that power, agency, or principle that all things are governed on earth or in the heavens, and by that power that all things are upheld and sustained. It governs all things it directs all things it sustains all things and has to do with all things that God and truth are associated with. It is the power of God delegated to intelligences in the heavens and to men on the earth. ' (The Gospel Kingdom [Bookcraft, 1943], p. 129.)

In order to gain exaltation a man must obtain, then magnify, the holy priesthood.

'For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.

'They become the elect of God.

'And therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.

'And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. (D&C 84:33 34, 38 39.)
—President of the First Council of the Seventy, A. Theodore Tuttle, Priesthood Its Power and Vitality, Ensign, July 1972, 119 - from the offficial website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org

"37 And again, verily I say unto you, how shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name?
38 For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was.
39 Therefore, verily I say unto you, that your anointings, and your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn assemblies, and your memorials for your sacrifices by the sons of Levi, and for your oracles in your most holy places wherein you receive conversations, and your statutes and judgments, for the beginning of the revelations and foundation of Zion, and for the glory, honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name.
40 And verily I say unto you, let this ahouse be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people;
41 For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times.
42 And I will show unto my servant Joseph all things pertaining to this house, and the priesthood thereof, and the place whereon it shall be built.
43 And ye shall build it on the place where you have contemplated building it, for that is the spot which I have chosen for you to build it.
44 If ye labor with all your might, I will consecrate that spot that it shall be made holy.
45 And if my people will hearken unto my voice, and unto the voice of my servants whom I have appointed to lead my people, behold, verily I say unto you, they shall not be moved out of their place.
46 But if they will not hearken to my voice, nor unto the voice of these men whom I have appointed, they shall not be blest, because they pollute mine holy grounds, and mine holy ordinances, and charters, and my holy words which I give unto them.
47 And it shall come to pass that if you build a house unto my name, and do not do the things that I say, I will not perform the oath which I make unto you, neither fulfil the promises which ye expect at my hands, saith the Lord.
48 For instead of blessings, ye, by your own works, bring cursings, wrath, indignation, and judgments upon your own heads, by your follies, and by all your abominations, which you practise before me, saith the Lord."
— Doctrine and Covenants 124:37-48 from the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org