Albion wrote:As good a time as any I suppose to ask why, if Jesus was A God before he came to earth he was able to circumvent the principle of progression required for all people, to which the Father was also subject, if he was already a God before going through a mortal life with all the necessary requirements for godhood. I have yet to hear a good explanation of this from any Mormon and would appreciate kn owing the current reasoning.
That's a good and interesting question, and one that can be answered to at least some extent by extrapolating from the body of restoration doctrine we now have and with a working knowledge of LDS teachings relative to the nature of God's children and the eternal consciousness or intelligent essence that is at the core of their beingness itself.
The short answer is simply that Jesus did not, in any sense circumvent his mortal experience. Indeed, the Book of Hebrews articulates a clear conception of Jesus as a being that, although literally God himself, was, during his mortal experience, undergoing a process of learning and experience that was necessary to his ultimate mission and calling as the Savior of the world.
The fundamental difference, I would think, between Jesus and ourselves is that Jesus' mortal experience was not fundamentally a
probationary state, but a state of increased awareness and understanding relative to the conditions mortals face in that probationary state.
Secondly, its clear from numerous teachings from the early years of the church to the present, from the scriptures, and from a number of non-canonical sources, that the concept "god" is not limited to its ultimate expression as a perfected, glorified being in the highest level of the celestial kingdom who has received a fullness of celestial glory and development.
Jesus himself was God incarnate, but also, as he himself made clear, did not receive
all power in heaven and earth until after the completion of his passion, his crucifixion, and resurrection. It does appear that there were other preexistent children of God who attained the status of "god" in the prexistent world, although not approximating the godhood of the premortal Jesus Christ, who was "more intelligent than they all," as the Book of Abraham phrases it.
One can, in other words, in a prexistent realm, attain a god-like state of development but still be required to undergo a mortal probationary state to test one's faith and metal while connected to mortal element. Another being, such as Jesus, may approach the very apex of godhood while still a preexsitent spirit, and hence, have a different purpose in undergoing mortality, or a special mission (such as savior, redeemer etc.) needed to perfect that godhood to its ultimate degree.
Note the even Christ, in his most painful and agonizing moment, cried out "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" when, as LDS doctrine teaches, the spirit of the Father was withdrawn from him completely for a few moments so that his utter victory over Satan and the world could truly be
his victory, as an individual. He was free, he had agency, and
could have, due to these core aspects of consciousness and the fundamental nature of the plan of salvation, made other choices. It is
possible (less plausible), as a matter of the fundamental nature of consciousness and individual intelligence itself, that Jesus could have failed in some aspect of his mortal mission, or declined it. Even he asked that the cup, if it were possible, could be removed from his lips, that he might not drink. But, of course, he said "Thy will be done."
So I don't think Jesus in any way circumvented the requirements of a mortal experience (this seems, in fact, to be exactly what Lucifer had in mind for himself - to avoid the risk of losing all his prior intelligence, power, authority, and status by coming into mortality with the veil of forgetfulness fully in operation and blowing it in mortality). They were different, in his case, because of the level of development he attained in the preexistence, but the requirement remained.