Lorenzo Snow made a provocative statement once that has come to be known the Lorenzo Snow couplet.  The statements is:

As man now is, God once was;

As God now is, Man may be.

This statement is sometimes seen as controversial.  President Hinckley declined to address it once in a public interview.  Critics will point to this couplet as an example of highly unorthodox teachings within Mormonism.  They will also claim that the church no longer teaches this – perhaps implying that the church may be ashamed of the teaching.

I think there is some significance to this statement being prominently quoted in the current Priesthood and Relief Society manuals.  There was no hiding from this quote – in fact, it was set off from the rest of the text as its’ own paragraph.

The lesson speaks of the background behind this statement.  It seems that President Snow felt that it was revelation, and that it was consistent with what Joseph Smith taught.

I have always like this statement.  It rings true to me.  And I am glad that the powers that be included it so prominently in the current lesson manual.  Hardly the act of a church that is embarrassed by or hiding from the idea.  The lesson can be read here.