One of the accusations made against Latter-day Saints and our understanding of the doctrine of deification is that we believe we will someday become "independent" of God the Father and become divine in the same exact sense He is and will receive worship, to His exclusion. While one could list off verses from uniquely LDS texts that speak of our always being under the authority of God (e.g., D&C 76:21, 119; 113:56), the following quote from the late Boyd K. Packer puts the lie to this common accusation (emphasis added):
The Father is the one true God. This thing is certain: no one will ever ascend above Him; no one will ever replace Him. Nor will anything ever change the relationship that we, His literal offspring, have with Him. He is Elohim, the Father. He is God. Of Him there is only one. We revere our Father and our God; we worship Him. (Boyd K. Packer, "The Pattern of our Parentage," Ensign Nov. 1984 pg. 69)
Compare Packer’s comments with those of
Brigham Young who also taught this rather explicitly:
Shall we ever see the
time we shall be perfectly independent of every other being in all the eternities? No; we shall
never see that time. (JOD 1:338 | 5 December 1853)
If men are faithful,
the time will come when they will possess the power and the knowledge to
obtain, organize, bring into existence, and own. ‘What, of themselves,
independent of their Creator?’ No. But they and their Creator will always be
one, they will always be of one heart and of one mind, working and operating
together; for whatsoever the Father doeth so doeth the son, and so they
continue throughout all their operations to all eternity. (JOD 2:304 | 3 June
1855)
