The following is taken from a talk by BYU Professor, Dr. Rodney Turner, “The Doctrine of the Firstborn and Only Begotten,” in The Pearl of Great Price: Revelations from God, ed. H. Donl Peterson and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989), 91–118. All that follows are mere segments of that talk.

"Although I believe my remarks to be compatible with accepted Church doctrine, I speak for no one but myself. Nor would I have them written in granite. As time goes on they will undoubtedly be modified by the “line upon line” principle of revelation.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:

Men are born into mortality with the talents and abilities acquired by obedience to law in their first estate. Above all talents—greater than any other capacities, chief among all endowments—stands the talent for spirituality. Those so endowed find it easy to believe the truth in this life. . . . The word of truth is sent to some before it goes to others because they earned the right to such preferential treatment in preexistence” (Millennial Messiah 234–35).

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Mormonism is simultaneously monotheistic, tritheistic, and polytheistic. There is but one God, yet there is a Godhead of three, and beyond them, “gods many, and lords many” (1 Cor. 8:5).
But regardless of the multiplicity of personages bearing divine titles, they are ‘one’ in that priesthood which governs throughout the eternities.

Unlike the carnal gods of mythical Olympus, they are not competing against one another for status and dominion. To the contrary, true Gods are welded together by the universal Spirit of the Lord, as well as by shared attributes, ideals, and purposes (D&C 88:13, 41).

Hence, the passage: “Which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, infinite and eternal, without end” (D&C 20:28; emphasis added).

Just as there is ultimately but one God in principle, so is there but one Spirit, one priesthood, and one Savior…

However, it may be that virtually all names, titles, and epithets are shared by the Father and the Son. To the extent that this proves the case, they are indeed, one, for shared honors implies shared activities and attainments.

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Those divine attributes man acquires in the first estate are “added upon” in mortality, and perfected in the resurrection. The degree of success in this process is relative to each individual’s compliance with divine law.

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A plurality of gods and inhabited worlds is essential to the validity of the doctrine of exaltation wherein millions of men and women from this one earth will reign as kings and queens over their endless posterities—posterities that will inhabit the endless earths yet to be organized (D&C 132:19–20).

The process of begetting spirit offspring, preparing earths on which they may dwell, and perfecting all things, is an endless divine cycle—”one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10:19; Alma 7:20; 37:12; D&C 3:2; 35:1). Among other things, such a “round” may equal one eternity or one creative epoch of the gods.

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The spirit personage known as the Holy Ghost (D&C 130:22) was apparently begotten of the Father following the spirit birth of Jesus. Heber C. Kimball taught: “Well, let me tell you, the Holy Ghost is a man; he is one of the sons of our Father and our God; and he is that man that stood next to Jesus Christ, just as I stand by Brother Brigham” (JD 5:179). Franklin D. Richards quoted Joseph Smith as saying that “the Holy Ghost is now in a state of probation which, if he should perform in righteousness, he may pass through the same or a similar course of things that the Son has” (Ehat and Cook 245).

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Interestingly, whereas the literal fatherhood of God is accepted without any qualms by members of the Church, the same cannot be said of Jesus either before or after his resurrection. Many are not emotionally prepared to think of the Savior as being married or, worse, having children. However, a moment’s reflection makes it clear that it can be no other way. The Prophet Joseph Smith said:

If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the House of the Lord. . . . All men who become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ will have to receive the fulness of the ordinances of his kingdom” (TPJS 308–09; emphasis added).

A basic commandment is to “multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Then too, it was Christ who stated that the law of celestial marriage was “instituted for the fulness of my glory” (D&C 132:6; emphasis added).

The Lord would hardly require men to obey a celestial law that he, himself, did not obey.

Conclusion:

There is yet much to be revealed in this world of the things of God, and even more in the eternity to come. But what we do know—what we see eye to eye—is worth worlds. Salvation is a miracle.”