"As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be"
About this Quote
A grenade in a single sentence, Snow’s couplet collapses the usual gap between creature and Creator. Its power comes from the tight parallelism: two clauses, two timelines, one audacious implication. God is not an absolute other; God has a biography. Man is not a fixed, fallen type; man is a project with a destination. The line works because it turns theology into a ladder you can picture, then dares you to climb it.
Snow, a Latter-day Saint leader in the 19th century, was articulating what became a hallmark of LDS thought: exaltation, the idea that humans can become like God. The phrase “as man now is” roots the claim in the ordinary and embodied, not the monastery. It’s not about escaping humanity; it’s about upgrading it. The second half, “man may be,” is carefully modal. Snow doesn’t say “will be.” He leaves room for agency, covenant, and discipline, which is precisely how a religious community turns metaphysics into a program of life.
The subtext is as political as it is spiritual. In an America thick with revivalism, hierarchy, and suspicion of new sects, Snow offers a radical democratization of the divine while still maintaining order: progression is possible, but not automatic; it’s mediated through the church. It also reframes suffering and ambition. If God once stood where you stand, then struggle becomes less a punishment than a credential - evidence that the path is real because even God walked it.
Snow, a Latter-day Saint leader in the 19th century, was articulating what became a hallmark of LDS thought: exaltation, the idea that humans can become like God. The phrase “as man now is” roots the claim in the ordinary and embodied, not the monastery. It’s not about escaping humanity; it’s about upgrading it. The second half, “man may be,” is carefully modal. Snow doesn’t say “will be.” He leaves room for agency, covenant, and discipline, which is precisely how a religious community turns metaphysics into a program of life.
The subtext is as political as it is spiritual. In an America thick with revivalism, hierarchy, and suspicion of new sects, Snow offers a radical democratization of the divine while still maintaining order: progression is possible, but not automatic; it’s mediated through the church. It also reframes suffering and ambition. If God once stood where you stand, then struggle becomes less a punishment than a credential - evidence that the path is real because even God walked it.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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