| MORMON CHURCH (LDS) | THE GOD OF THE BIBLE IS NOT THE SAME AS THE GOD OF THE BOOK OR MORMON |
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The Mormon church claims that the Bible is one of the four sources of its scripture: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepts four books as scripture; the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. These books are called the standard works of the Church. The words of our living prophets are also accepted as scripture. (LDS) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gospel Principles, p. 51 - 52, 1978. It would seem logical that if the Mormon church accepts the Bible as scripture, that the God of the Bible would be the same God that the Mormon church claims should be worshipped. If that assumption is made, then a great mistake will be made, because the God of the Bible is not the God that is taught and believed by the Mormon church. The Mormon church is radically anti-trinitarian, and, as such, places itself against traditional Christian doctrine and the teaching found in the Bible. Just how the Mormon church approaches the nature of the Godhead has varied greatly since the founding of the church in 1830. THE ASSORTED TEACHINGS OF JOSEPH SMITH [ See: First Vision Accounts ] In an 1832 handwritten version of his "first vision", Joseph Smith noted that he saw "the Lord", meaning Jesus Christ. In his later version of the same "first vision", published by the Mormon church in 1842, but written by Joseph Smith in 1838, he saw "the Father" and "the Son" appearing before him as two separate persons. Apparently, Joseph Smith wrote two versions of his "first vision", each contradicting the other. This was not a problem for the Mormon church, because the first version of Joseph Smith's "vision", 1832, did not come to light until over 100 years after it was written. During that time, the Mormon church taught the second version of Joseph Smith's "first vision" in which two separate persons appeared to him. This altered second version led Mormon apologists to formulate their doctrines based on that second version, even though it was altered and not true. Mormon doctrine is noted as follows: From the early days of Christianity, the erroneous doctrine of the nature of God had led to... the conception that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Godhead, were One, a unity... This false doctrine was laid low by the First Vision. Two personages, the Father and the Son, stood before Joseph. The Father asked the Son to deliver the message to the boy. There was no mingling of personalities in the vision. Each of the personages was an individual member of the Godhead. Each one separately took part in the vision. (LDS), Joseph Smith: Seeker After Truth, Prophet Of God, Apostle JOHN A. WIDTSOE, 1951 If apostle Widtsoe had been true to the versions of the visions, he would have been forced to accept the account of "first vision" instead of the second, but that would have destroyed the doctrine that he conveniently extracted from the "second vision" account. If he had accepted the account of the "first vision", then Jesus Christ would have been the only God, because he was the only personage seen and noted, but that would not square with Mormon doctrine which views Jesus Christ as one of the sons of God. Joseph Smith also proceeded through other changes to his doctrine of God and Jesus Christ. Later, in 1844, Smith said, "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage -- Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and or spirit, and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods'-- Mormon history does not support Smith's claim about what he taught earlier. Documents from early Mormonism reflect that Smith went from belief in one god to belief in two and later three gods forming one godhead. (LDS), New Approaches To The Book Of Mormon, MELODIE MOENCH CHARLES, 1993. The Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith claimed to have translated, also refers to the godhead in terms of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. At first reading, the terminology seems to be trinitarian in nature, but that is not so. It is more likely to be modalistic, in that there is one God who manifests himself in three manners. The three natures of the godhead are only three different names for functions of the one God. They are not three separate persons in one godhead as is taught in traditional Christian trinitarian belief. Mormon teaching progressed as follows:
We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea. ...God himself the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did... God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. (LDS) Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3, 1844. The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also... (LDS) Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 130, p. 22, 1843. The humanization of God and the deification of man provides the convenient comfort zone that allows the Mormon church to teach a doctrine that minimizes the responsibility of man to God, minimizes the status and capacity of God and elevates human beings to a level of godhood. The doctrines taught by Joseph Smith have no foundation in the Bible, are refuted by the Bible, and those refutations which are found in the Old Testament of the Bible, preclude the Mormon church from making the claim that those verses refuting their doctrines have been inserted or perverted by corrupt priests of the Catholic church. The Old Testament and New Testament of the Holy Bible both provide substantial refutation of Mormon doctrine. The Bible states the following about God, and refutes Joseph Smith's heretical teachings as follows:
Current Mormon theology is structured so that it MUST view The Book of Mormon not as modalistic, but as tritheisitc, meaning three separate gods; or polytheistic. Current Mormon theology is radically polytheistic. ALL Mormon men have the potential, by following the teachings of the Mormon church, to attain to exaltation; and at that point, THEY COULD ALL ATTAIN TO GODHOOD. Since this process has been going on from the infinity of eternity past and will continue through the infinity of eternity in the future, there are, and will be, an infinite number of gods in the universe. This is polytheism taken to the maximum. There are now, and will be an infinite number of gods. Since man can become a God, Mormon doctrine states that God was also once a man. He was exalted from his position as a human to that of a God by following the beliefs of the Mormon church on another planet. In that exaltation, the God of the Mormon church, has a body of flesh and bone, however he and his wife propagate spirits in that state which are spirits and do not have bodies. God is simply a glorified man. ...what kind of a being do the Latter-day Saints worship? Let me reply according to my understanding. ... God the father is a material personal being; that he has a body and a spirit united together; that his spirit with his body is material; that he is a personage just as much as every man in this congregation is a personage; and let me go still further and say that he is a personage of flesh and of bones. ...god is a being, then, who has a tabernacle of flesh and bones in which his spirit dwells; and this flesh, bones and spirit are material. (LDS) apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 19, p. 314 He [Christ] was the Son of that Being, and was the express image of His person, like Him, having a head, having senses that men have, having all the bodily features that we have, and His Father was precisely like Him, or He, in other words, was precisely like His Father. There is nothing more plainly conveyed and taught than this in the Scriptures... (LDS) president George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 25, p. 155. Our God and Father in heaven, is a being of tabernacle, or, in other words, he has a body, with parts the same as you and I have... (LDS) prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 50 In Mormon doctrine, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are seen as only three of an infinite number of gods. They hold no special place in the universe, but only as they relate to this earth. As a result, the God of Christianity is less than what is taught in the Bible, because all Mormon men have the ability to become a God, the same as, and equal with the God of the Bible. The Mormon doctrine destroys the idea of the singular existence of the Godhead, the Holiness of the Father, the unique character of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. It brings all three down to the level of humanity, because all three, according to Mormon doctrine, were once men just like humanity. This belief and teaching is heresy taken to the highest degree and is completely rejected and repudiated by Biblical doctrine. Current Mormon doctrine (that God has a body of flesh and bones) is even repudiated by the Book of Mormon, the scripture that the Mormon church claims to believe: And the king said: Is god that Great Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem? And Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit, and he created all things both in heaven and in earth. Believest thou this? The Book of Mormon, Alma 22:9-10 Even Joseph Smith, the first prophet, president and seer of the Mormon church could not maintain continuity in his doctrinal position. In 1843 he stated that God the Father and the Son both had bodies of flesh and bones. However, in 1835, he taught the following: There are two personages who constitute the great, matchless, governing and supreme power over all things - by whom all things were created and made, ...they are the Father and the Son: the Father being a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fullness. (LDS) prophet Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants, lectures of Faith, pp. 52-53, 1835 It is evident that the Mormon church does not follow a doctrine, in relation to God, that is the same as that in the Bible. In fact, the Mormon church does not even believe the doctrine about God taught in its own scripture, the Book of Mormon. |
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