Letter 4 — The Doctrine of God
Letters To A Mormon Elder
by James R. White
Friday, June 15
Dear Elder Hahn,
The August 15, 1844 edition of the Times and Seasons contained the remarks made by the president of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, at the April conference of the Church the preceding spring. Since delivering that sermon, Joseph Smith had been murdered in the jail in Carthage, Illinois.
The sermon printed in those pages, and which is also to be found in various other LDS publications such as the Journal of Discourses, Volume 6, pages 1-11, and in Joseph Fielding Smith’s Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 342-62, has come to be absolutely foundational to LDS doctrine and thought, for in it Joseph Smith laid out what was to be his final doctrine of God and man before his death. I mentioned to you in our original meeting, Elder Hahn, my belief that Joseph Smith’s doctrines “evolved” over the period of time between the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830 and his death in 1844. The doctrines set forth in this sermon by Smith, known as the “King Follett Funeral Discourse” (as it was given at the funeral of Elder King Follett) are not only not to be found in the Book of Mormon, but are completely contradictory to the teachings of the Bible as well. Below I will review some of Smith’s comments in this sermon, for I feel it is vital that we both know exactly what he stated and believed about God. I know you are probably familiar with most of this material, but I have met many LDS who were not, so I feel thoroughness would be advisable at this point.
I have been requested to speak by [King Follet’s] friends and relatives, but inasmuch as there are a great many in this congregation who live in this city as well as elsewhere, who have lost friends, I feel disposed to speak on the subject in general, and offer you my ideas, so far as I have ability, and so far as I shall be inspired by the Holy Spirit to dwell on this subject.
My first object is to find out the character of the only wise and true God, and what kind of being he is; and if I am so fortunate as to be the man to comprehend God, and explain or convey the principles to your hearts, so that the Spirit seals them upon you, then let every man and woman henceforth sit in silence, put their hands on their mouths, and never lift their hands or voices, or say anything against the man of God or the servants of God again.
If I show, verily, that I have the truth of God, and show that ninety-nine out of every hundred professing religious ministers are false teachers, having no authority, while they pretend to hold the keys of God’s kingdom on earth, and was to kill them because they are false teachers, it would deluge the whole world with blood.
I will prove that the world is wrong, by showing what God is. I am going to enquire after God; for I want you all to know him, and to be familiar with him.
God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible – I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form – like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another.
In order to understand the subject of the dead, for consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.
These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did; and I will show it from the Bible.
Here, then, is eternal life-to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.
What is it? To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God, and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before. What did Jesus do Why; I do the things I saw my Father do when the worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself.
Yes, I know, Elder Hahn, that the above sermon is not a part of “Mormon Scripture.” However, I believe that it is (1) foundational to the theology of the LDS Church, (2) fully supported by not only the early prophets and apostles of the Mormon Church but by modern-day leaders as well, and (3) fully in line with the teachings of such passages as D&C 130:22, and all of Section 132. It is not in line with the teachings of the Book of Mormon, mainly because Joseph Smith’s beliefs evolved so during the period between the writing of the Book of Mormon and his final beliefs in 1844. When Smith wrote the Book of Mormon, he was still monotheistic in his beliefs, and had not yet developed the concept of multiple gods (yes, I know about the First Vision, but, as we shall see, Smith did not claim to have seen God the Father until well after the writing of the Book of Mormon).
The first LDS belief that we can derive from these comments by Smith, that of an open and direct polytheism, a belief in multiple gods, was reiterated just a matter of weeks later by Smith himself:
I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the New Testament, lo and behold! we have three Gods anyhow, and they are plural; and who can contradict it?
The head God organized the heavens and the earth. I defy all the world to refute me. In the beginning the heads of the Gods organized the heavens and the earth. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 370,372)
In fact, Smith went so far as to ridicule the doctrine of the Trinity, which, if Mosiah 15:1-4 in the Book of Mormon means anything, he once at least attempted to teach by saying,
Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God anyhow — three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization. “Father, I pray not for the world, but I pray for them which thou hast given me. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou has given me, that they may be one as we are. All are to be crammed into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all the world. He would be a wonderfully big God-he would be a giant or a monster. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 372)
While many modern Mormons like to say that they believe in “one God,” they mean this solely in the sense of one God in purpose, not one God in being as Smith makes clear above. Elder Hahn, there is no more basic element of a religious teaching than whether it is monotheistic and teaches that there is but one God, or if it is polytheistic and teaches that there is more than one god, or that there are many gods. Christianity is monotheistic to the core, despite what many of its enemies say. Christians believe that there is only one God who has eternally been God. Over against this, listen to what early Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt said,
This explains the mystery. If we should take a million worlds like this and number their particles, we should find that there are more Gods than there are particles of matter in those worlds. (Journal of Discourses, 2:345)
The same apostle also said,
We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten by a still more ancient Father and so on, from generation to generation, from one heavenly world to another still more ancient, until our minds are wearied and lost in the multiplicity of generations and successive worlds, and as a last resort, we wonder in our minds, how far back the genealogy extends, and how the first world was formed, and the first father was begotten. (The Seer, p. 132)
Some modern LDS writers seem to blush at the openness of the early Mormons. They would much rather say that they believe there is only one God, but, in reality, what they mean is that there is one “Godhead“ in purpose, made up of three gods. Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote,
Three separate personages-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost- comprise the Godhead. As each of these persons is a God, it is evident, from this standpoint alone, that a plurality of Gods exists. To us, speaking in the proper finite sense, these three are the only Gods we worship. But in addition there is an infinite number of holy personages, drawn from worlds without number, who have passed on to exaltation and are thus gods. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 576-77)
But, at the same time, and in the same book, he can say,
Monotheism is the doctrine or belief that there is but one God. If this is properly interpreted to mean that the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost-each of whom is a separate and distinct godly personage-are one God, meaning one Godhead, then true saints are monotheists.
I think it is very clear that Apostle McConkie is playing word games with us here, for he clearly believes in a multitude of gods, yet, wishes to be called a monotheist. Such simply will not work. Christians are monotheists in that they believe that there is one God, eternal and unchangeable. There were no gods before Him, none will be gods after Him. He is the only God there is. So we see the first major difference between Mormonism and Christianity-monotheism versus polytheism.
Next, we note Smith’s teaching that God was once a man who lived on another planet:1Mormonism teaches: God started as human, like us
In Mormon theology, God was originally a human on another planet, with his own God (like us). He turned into God later. “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!” Mormon Prophet Lorenzo Snow, it is said, developed the one-line description of this LDS belief which runs, “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.” God is an exalted man, who at some point in the past was a limited, finite being such as you and I. In fact, early Mormon teachers, following Smith’s concepts as found in this sermon, even went so far as to directly say that God the Father, (or, you might specifically identify him as “Elohim”) was in a fallen state during his “mortal existence” just as you and I, and that Elohim needed to be redeemed before he could become an exalted being, a “god.” Orson Pratt said,
The Gods who dwell in the Heaven from which our spirits came, are beings who have been redeemed from the grave in a world which existed before the foundations of this earth were laid. They and the Heavenly body which they now inhabit were once in a fallen state. Their terrestrial world was redeemed, and glorified, and made a Heaven: their terrestrial bodies, after suffering death, were redeemed, and glorified, and made Gods. And thus, as their world was exalted from a temporal to an eternal state, they were exalted also, from fallen man to Celestial Gods to inhabit their Heaven forever and ever. (The Seer, p. 23)
This teaching gives rise to what is known as the “Eternal Law of Progression” with which I would imagine you are familiar, and to which I will turn in just a moment. For now, I wish to emphasize that in Mormonism, God the Father is an “exalted man,” an anthropomorphic god, or, as one LDS acquaintance of mine put it, a theomorphic man. Whatever the case, God the Father was once a man and has “progressed,” or, to use a term that might today carry with it some negative connotations, “evolved” to his present position. Apostle George Q. Canon did not seem to object to that description:
Men talk about evolution. This is the true evolution-being such as we are and developing and advancing and progressing in that upward and onward career until we shall become like Him, in truth, until we shall possess the powers that He possesses and exercise the dominion that He now exercises. This is the promise that is held out to us. (Gospel Truth, 1:131)
He also noted,
TRUE EVOLUTION. We hear considerable about evolution. Who is there that believes more in true evolution than the Latter-day Saints-the evolution of man until he shall become a god. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believed in by the Latter-day Saints. That is the kind of evolution we believe in, but not the evolution of man from some low type of animal life. (Gospel Truth, 1:9)
So we are taught by Mormonism that God the Father was once a man, just like you or me, who lived on another planet. He was in a fallen state. He walked and talked like you and me. We should think that he worshiped the “god” of that world as well, who himself, it would seem, was a man as well. And so it goes back into time. Not only was God once a man, but, as Smith said, He continues in that form, for “if the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit . . . was to make himself visible,- I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form-like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man.” This is echoed in the Mormon Scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants 130:22:
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.
And so we see the first two elements of Smith’s teaching: (1) the concept of polytheism, and (2) the concept that God was once a man who lived on another planet, and who continues to exist in a physical form.
The third concept to be derived from Smith’s sermon given above is the doctrine of Eternal Progression. Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie described it as follows:
Endowed with agency and subject to eternal laws, man began his progression and advancement in pre-existence, his ultimate goal being to attain to a state of glory, honor, and exaltation like the Father of spirits. During his earth life he gains a mortal body, receives experience in earthly things, and prepares for a future eternity after the resurrection when he will continue to gain knowledge and intelligence (D&C 130:18-19). This gradually unfolding course of advancement and experience-a course that began in a past eternity and will continue in ages future-is frequently referred to as a course of eternal progression.
In the full sense, eternal progression is enjoyed only by those who receive the fulness of the Father; they have all power, all knowledge, and all wisdom; they gain a fulness of truth, becoming one with the Father. All other persons are assigned lesser places in the mansions that are prepared, and their progression is not eternal and unlimited but in a specified sphere.
Those who gain exaltation, having thus enjoyed the fulness of eternal progression, become like God. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 238-39)
Basically, the doctrine teaches that man begins the “cycle” when he is born as a spiritual son or daughter of celestial parents. This “preexistence” is something that all of us — you and I — experienced. We had celestial parents — in our case, Elohim (God the Father) and one of his celestial wives. Elohim and his wives have physical bodies (as we saw above in D&C 130:22), but have spiritual offspring. From the point of this pre-existence, these spirits are placed into physical bodies on a planet, to be “tested” during their “mortal probation.” Somehow, in the process of entering into physical existence, the memory of the preexistence is lost.
During the mortal probation, man is faced with the choice to do right and return back to God the Father, or go his own way and reject what is good and proper. If man is faithful, and follows all the commandments of God, he will be resurrected and exalted to the position of a god himself, then to begin the “cycle” all over again, becoming celestial parents of further spiritual offspring. So, the process seems to be:
Spiritual Children (to) — Mortal Probation (if faithful) (to) — Exaltation
Obviously, that is a simplified version, for as McConkie pointed out, many, if not most, of mankind will not attain to full exaltation, but will end up receiving a “lesser” position after death.
You, then, Elder Hahn, believe that if you were to be “faithful” during this life, including receiving your endowments in the temple, being sealed to your wife, etc., you could gain “exaltation” and become, as D&C; 132:20 puts it, a god. So, we see the third concept from Smith, the doctrine of eternal progression; man and God are of the same kind of being; God is simply further “advanced” than man in his present state. Indeed, Apostle McConkie stated that “man is of the same race as Deity” (The Promised Messiah, p. 305). And if Elder McConkie’s words are not sufficient to establish the point, please note the words of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992:
Latter-day Saints perceive the Father as an exalted Man in the most literal, anthropomorphic terms. They do not view the language of Genesis as allegorical; human beings are created in the form and image of a God who has a physical form and image. Latter-day Saints deny the abstract nature of God the Father and affirm that he is a concrete being, that he possesses a physical body, and that he is in space and time. They further reject any idea that God the Father is “totally other,” unknowable, or incomprehensible. Gods and humans represent a single divine lineage, the same species of being, although they and he are at different stages of progress. The important points of the doctrine for Latter-day Saints are that Gods and humans are the same species of being, but at different stages of development in a divine continuum, and that the heavenly Father and Mother are the heavenly pattern, model, and example of what mortals can become through obedience to the gospel. (Stephen Robinson, “God the Father,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pp. 548-49)
There is one more concept that comes from Smith’s teachings that is disputed by LDS people themselves. It is the concept of the continuing progression of God. Early Mormon writers spoke much of God’s continuing development and advancement. Smith directly said as much above, and he was followed by many of the prophets and apostles of Mormonism after him. But, in our century, this concept has changed. Today it is more fashionable to say that God’s “progression” is now limited solely to the expansion of his “dominions and kingdoms.” Note the following two quotations that show how clearly LDS teaching in this point has changed:
If there was a point where man in his progression could not proceed any further, the very idea would throw a gloom over every intelligent and reflecting mind. God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end. (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, December 6, 1857, 6:120)
It should be realized that God is not progressing in knowledge, truth, virtue, wisdom, or any of the attributes of godliness. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p. 239)
Is God progressing in knowledge or not? Wilford Woodruff said he was, Bruce McConkie said he wasn’t, and Joseph Fielding Smith said the same thing. Some Mormons today say he is, more say he isn’t. It is not consistent, I believe, to accept Smith’s teachings and say that God is not progressing, but many LDS today, realizing the problems attendant with the concept of a changing God, prefer to hold to a different belief.
So the Mormon view of God, as seen above, includes (1) polytheism, the belief in more than one God; (2) the concept that God was once a man who lived on another planet, and who progressed to the status of God; (3) the eternal law of progression, whereby, it is said, men can become gods.
While the number of quotations in support of the above concepts could be multiplied indefinitely, I see no reason to do so, as you obviously hold to these concepts, given your comments in your last letter. But, is the above teaching true? Please continue on and read carefully.
Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord! (Deuteronomy 6:4)
So wrote Moses long, long ago. Deuteronomy 6:4 is called the Shema. It is the beginning of the central “confession of faith” of the Jewish people. Every Jewish prophet believed what Deuteronomy 6:4 says. Every morning the pious Jew would pray a prayer that began with those words, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord!” Surely the Lord Jesus, and His apostles, also prayed the Shema. It underlies all that the Bible teaches.
The most basic revelation that God has made about himself, Elder Hahn, is that He is unique. Something that is unique is “one of a kind.” Something that is unique is an “only” thing. There are not multiple copies of something that is unique. God has revealed himself to be utterly unique, the only God in all of heaven and earth.
One of the most basic sins of man is idolatry. Man seems to have buried deep within his heart a bent toward worshiping that which is not God. Though God had revealed himself to the people of Israel, they still engaged in idolatry, the worship of other gods. They would bow down before Baal and offer sacrifices to statues in his image. The peoples around them believed in many gods, and they seemed to so quickly abandon the one true God for the false gods of their neighbors. Though God warned them over and over again of the tragic consequences of this kind of action, they often went their own way, and ended up in bondage and defeat.
During the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, God deemed it fitting to reveal through Isaiah more about himself than He ever had before. He did this in the form of challenges to the false gods, the idols to which the people of Israel were in danger of turning. For example, in Isaiah 41:4 we read, Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The question has only one answer: God is the one who has called forth the generations, not any idols or false gods. And he continues in Isaiah 41:22-24, Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is he who chooseth you.
Here God challenges the idols to tell us the future. Can they do it? No, only the true God of the universe can tell us the future, since He is the one who “calls forth the generations from the beginning.” Idols cannot say what is going to happen in the future because they have no control over it! God also challenges the idols to tell us what has happened in the past (the “former things”). Why Because God can not only tell us what happened, but, because He is the sovereign God of the universe, He can say just why those things took place! Idols cannot do that. God mocks the idols, and says, “Well, do something so that we may be frightened of you!” They can’t do anything, because they are nothing more than blocks of stone or wood. Throughout Isaiah chapters 40 through 48 God “throws down the gauntlet” so to speak, challenging man’s idols to do what only God can do. In Isaiah 45:2 (and in many other places in this section) God identifies himself as the one who “created the heavens, and stretched them out; he who spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he who giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk in it” (see also 44:24). Did the idols create the heavens? No, they themselves are created things, not the Creator. The true God created all that exists and is the Author of all life as well. Similarly, Jeremiah wrote,
But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting king; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. (Jeremiah 10:10-11)
It is in the midst of this “trial of the false gods” in Isaiah that the clearest, most unambiguous statements of absolute monotheism are to be found. But, before reviewing these passages (and I choose them as being representative of a teaching that is to be found throughout the Bible), allow me to address the immediate objection that is made by LDS apologists. “But, these passages are simply teaching that, for this world, there is only one God. God is just telling the Israelites that they are to worship only Him, not any others. This does not mean that there are not other Gods in the universe.” I hope you do not mind my anticipating your answer, but when the same reply has been given to you by a hundred different missionaries, you become accustomed to it.
There are a number of reasons why this objection does not hold up to scrutiny. First, as I noted above, in these passages God describes himself in ways that are utterly inconsistent with the concept that He is simply claiming to be the God of this planet only. He describes himself as the Creator of all things, not just this planet but all the heavens as well. If God actually once lived on a planet as a man, just like you and me, then there must have been a “Creator” of that planet as well, right That would mean that there are worlds that God did not create, prior to his own “rise to godship.” But such is not what these passages say. Secondly, God describes himself as the very Creator of time itself, both past, present, and future. How could God be the Creator of time if, in fact, He had “progressed” through time to attain the status of God Finally, we shall see that God directly asserts that there are no gods like Him to which people can turn –– in fact, He will assert that He himself knows of no other gods.
We begin by looking at what is probably the most “popular” verse that Christians use in sharing with Mormons relevant to the doctrine of God-Isaiah 43:10. We hear God speaking,
Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Here God calls Israel as His “witnesses.” They are to testify to the truth of what He has said. And what are they to give testimony to “Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. No gods before, none after. None preceded Him, none shall take up where He leaves off. Many have said, “Well, He is just talking about false gods,” but can we really accept this reasoning? There were no false gods before Him, and there shall be no false gods after Him. No, certainly not. The meaning is clear and unambiguous. He is the Self-Existent One, the Eternal One. There was no one to “create” Him, and there will be no one who will “take His place” in eternity to come. He is the only God there is. He does not follow after any others (over against Joseph Smith’s direct teachings, as we shall see later), and none will follow after Him. One God, one Creator. No others.
Please note as well, Elder Hahn, how this passage cuts the “eternal law of progression” right down the middle. God denies that He is in reality but one god in a long line of gods stretching back into eternity by denying that there has ever been any other God but Him. And, He denies that any “god” could ever arise in the future, denying that men can indeed become gods as He is God. But this is certainly not all God has to say about this subject. In fact, the claim that He is the only God becomes downright repetitious as one reads through these passages. It certainly seems God wanted to make His point clear! In Isaiah 44:6-8 we read,
Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me yea, there is no God; I know not any.
The God of Israel is the “first and the last.” Can the god described by Joseph Smith in King Follet’s funeral sermon make that claim, Elder Hahn? Can he say, “Beside me there is no God?” When the true God of the Bible asks, “Is there a God beside me?” He can answer without hesitation: “Yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Please remember that God’s understanding is infinite (Psalm 147:5), and His knowledge knows no limits (Romans 11:33). Surely, if God was once a man who lived on another planet, and if, as Joseph Smith taught, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are separate and distinct personages, and separate and distinct gods, would God not have knowledge of these other gods? How could God the Father have become exalted without knowledge of the god of the planet upon which He lived Surely, if there are indeed many gods in the heavens who have progressed to their status of godhood over ages and ages of time, Elohim, the God of this world, would know of them, would He not If Joseph Smith knew they existed, how could God not know they existed Yet, here God says plainly, “I know not any other God.” How can this be, except that there are no other Gods Surely this is His point. In fact, God makes this point clear over and over again in the following verses:
I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:5-6)
For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18)
And there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:21b-22)
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. (Isaiah 46:9-10)
It seems inarguable, then, that God made the fact of His utter uniqueness as the only God painfully clear through the prophet Isaiah. But, of course, that is not the only way in which God has revealed this truth. It is all through the Bible, underlying every statement about God to be found. Everyone who believes the testimony of the Bible can say with the Psalmist, “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens” (Psalm 96:5).
So we see that the first of Smith’s concepts is directly contrary to the Word of God. There is only one God. The second concept I listed was the idea that God was once a man who lived on another planet, and, I might add to that, the concept that God is a man, that He shares the very same kind of being as mankind, that He is of the “same species.” Let’s now examine this in the light of the Scriptures.
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. (Hosea 11:9)
In this passage, God indicates that He will not come upon the people in wrath. Why? Because He is God and not man. There is a basic, foundational difference between man, who is the creation of God, and God, who is the Creator of all things. God is not man, but the Creator of man. He is utterly different.
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good. (Numbers 23:19)
God is different than man. He is not changeable, as man is. He is not liable to sin, as man is. In fact, in reproaching the wicked in the fiftieth psalm, God said,
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. (Psalm 50:21)
Man likes to attempt to make God in man’s image. It is much more comfortable to “cut God down to size” so to speak, and think of Him as just a “super-man,” and this is nowhere as clearly seen as it is in the doctrines and teachings of the LDS Church. Bruce R. McConkie wrote,
Man and God are of the same race, and it is within the power of righteous man to become like his Father, that is to become a holy Man, a Man of Holiness. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 465-66)
The same concept is to be found in the D&C;, where, in section 93 we read,
Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. (v. 29)
But the God of the Bible will not allow himself to be put into human categories. He directly denies the idea that He is like a man, and surely He is not a changeable being like man is. He will reprove those who would make the mistake of thinking that He is “altogether such an one as thyself.” Indeed, the LDS concept of God is well described, and refuted, by Scripture, as we see in Isaiah 29:16 (NIV):
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me” Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing?”
Rather than the changing, evolving God of Mormonism (even if one believes that He is not now evolving, He was, at some point in the past, a changing being), the Bible presents the eternal and unchanging God:
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. (Psalm 90:2)
The Jews would frequently refer to God simply as “the Eternal One.” They had good reason to do so. God has always been God, He has never been anything else. Elder Hahn, I have had many LDS people ask me, “Who created God?” I reply, “No one created God, as God is uncreated and eternal — He is the Creator of everything else, and that includes everything in the universe, including time itself! Pretty incredible, isn’t He?” Some laugh, some scoff, but the Bible teaches it. “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). That is the confession of God. He is not changing, He has always been what He is today, the Sovereign King of all the universe. While Joseph Smith might have desired to refute the concept that God has been God from all eternity, to do so he would have to remove just about every description of God from the Bible, and would have to close God’s own mouth when He says,
And I am God. Even from eternity I am He; And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it (Isaiah 43:12b-13, NASB)
Most LDS do not believe that God is omnipresent but rather believe that He is limited in time and space. Obviously, if God has a body of flesh and bone, it is easy to understand how this would be. But the Bible presents a very different teaching about God. Listen to what God said to Jeremiah:
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24)
The physical universe is the creation of God and therefore God cannot be limited by that which He created, can He? The God of Mormonism did not, in reality, create all things, for there obviously were “worlds without number” that existed long before Elohim became a god. And, in fact, Joseph Smith taught that matter itself is eternal, and therefore uncreated, and went on to say that “God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 354). But this is just another difference between the God of the Bible and the God of Joseph Smith. The true God is the Creator of all things, and He is not limited by His creation, for, as He himself said, “Do not I fill heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 23:24).
So we see that God is not, in His true and absolute nature, a man. He is the eternal God, the Creator of all things, including mankind. He is not limited by the physical universe, so He is not limited to one place at one time. We also see that the third concept taught by Smith, the idea that man can become a god, is false as well; if there is but one infinite and eternal God, it is impossible for a second infinite and eternal god to arise. Men were created to be men, Elder Hahn, not gods. The Bible says that God has always been God, so unless you have always been god, you cannot become a god. Not only this, but remember what Jeremiah recorded for us in Jeremiah 10:10 Any “god” who is not the Creator will perish, for they are all false gods who are not the Creator. There is only one Creator, the true God of the Bible. Before I close this letter, and allow you to reply, let me deal with a few passages that almost always come up when this particular doctrine is addressed. In fact, the one you mentioned when we first met at my home, Elder Hahn, was John 10:34.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods.
As I said earlier, the first thing to do when approaching any passage of Scripture is to determine the context — what was being said, and to whom. John 10:1-18 presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. Verse 19 tells us that the Jews were divided over the issue of who Jesus was, some saying He had a demon, others pointing to His works and saying that demonized individuals don’t do things like that. In verses 22-25 the Jews surrounded Jesus in Solomon’s porch and asked Him directly if He was the Messiah. Jesus’ answer in verses 25-30 represents one of the greatest Christological passages in John. Christ finishes the brief discourse with the words, “I and my Father are one.” The Jews’ reaction to this statement was natural and quick — they picked up rocks to stone Him. Jesus asks them for a reason for their action in verse 32, and in verse 33 the Jews respond by saying, “For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” Again John points out the real problem of the Jews — they would not accept Jesus Christ for whom He revealed himself to be. Jesus had earlier addressed this problem in John 8:24 by saying, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
At this point we encounter Jesus’ words in John 10:34. A few brief comments need to be made on the passage itself. First, Jesus says, “Is it not written in your law?” This is found in Psalm 82:6. This is vital to the understanding of the passage. Jesus often quoted from the Old Testament to demonstrate a truth to the Jews. I will look at that passage in a moment.
Second, the word “are” is in the present tense — if someone claims that this passage teaches that men can become gods, why is it that Jesus said the Jews were right then “gods” However He meant it, it certainly cannot be taken in reference to eventually being exalted to the status of a true “god.”
Jesus went on from verse 34 to claim that He was sanctified and sent into the world by the Father, and that they should believe in Him if for no other reason than the works He had done before them.
And so we come back to the original question, this time in a better position to answer it. The key to understanding John 10:34 is found in Jesus’ use of the Old Testament quotation from Psalm 82. What is Psalm 82 about? The answer is found by reading this brief eight-verse Psalm. Verse 2, in reference to the “gods,” says, “How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?” Psalm 82 is about unrighteous judges of Israel. These judges were called “Elohim” (gods) because of their position of judging Israel in the place of God. Yet Psalm 82 indicates that many of these judges did not act righteously, causing the Psalmist to lament this condition. Notice what verses 6 and 7 say: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” The psalm itself contains the prophecy of the doom of these unrighteous judges. Obviously, therefore, the psalm is not about eternal, infinite gods (infinite, true gods don’t “die like men”) but rather applies the term gods to men in a figurative way due to their position as judges in Israel.
Realizing that the Jews would know this background, what was the significance of Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 82:6 As can be seen, Jesus was, in effect, calling His accusers false judges by applying this passage to them. He then goes on to point out the error of accusing Him of blasphemy despite the Father’s clear approval of the Son (John 10:36). Then in verse 38 He asserts the inter-penetration of the Father and the Son (“the Father is in me, and I in him”), which is followed again by the attack of the Jews (vs. 39), which causes Jesus to withdraw from Judea (vs. 40). Any kind of interpretation of John 10:34 that ignores the Old Testament background of the passage is bound for error. The interpretation you provided to me in my home, Elder Hahn, is certainly incorrect, is it not?
A favorite of many LDS is Matthew 5:48:
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Many LDS assume that this means that men can become gods, yet, is this what Jesus is saying? This text comes from the Sermon on the Mount. In this section, Jesus is laying out the “kingdom standards” for the people of God. This section is ethical in nature, and the standard of perfection to which He calls us is ethical and moral. The Lord is not addressing the vast chasm that separates the creature, man, from the Creator, God, but is instead calling us to the moral perfection that is God’s. Such is hardly a solid basis for teaching that creatures can cease being creatures and become gods!
Another passage that is very often presented as evidence of polytheism in the Bible is I Corinthians 8:5. However, to get the full context, let’s look at verses 4-6:
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
This passage opens a discussion by the Apostle Paul on the sensitive topic of behavior among believers, and the matter of each person’s conscience. He is answering a question that must have been included in a letter sent to him by the congregation at Corinth (“now concerning the eating of those things sacrificed to idols…”). Idols were a very common sight in Corinth, as in many ancient cities of the time (though Corinth was notorious for its idolatrous behavior). Some of the believers, having been involved in idol worship, could not with a clear conscience partake of meat that they knew had been sacrificed to idols. This was a serious problem, because nearly every bit of the meat in the city may have been involved in such practices.
Paul addresses the problem by first saying that idols “are nothing in the world.” An idol has no power over the Christian. It has no reality other than the demonic power that would cause someone to worship it. There was no real Diana, or Jupiter, or any of the other false gods of the age. He then puts forth the fact that though things or people may be called “gods,” to the Christian there is only one God, the Father, and one Lord , Jesus Christ (obviously connecting them in a supernatural way). In the process, Paul says that “there are gods many, and lords many.”2What about where the Bible says that there are many Lords and Gods?
Paul is not teaching us that there are actually many genuine gods. In fact, he is claiming just the opposite! He is teaching us that there are many things that are “called” gods but are not really gods. Obviously what he meant by this is that there are many false gods and false lords being worshiped by nonbelievers, but these are simply idols of man’s own making. One can make a god out of almost anything: As someone put it — some people get up in the morning and shave their god in the mirror, others get into their god and drive it to work, while others sit in front of their god for hours each night and simply watch it. Idolatry is alive and well today.
The fact that Paul is alluding to false gods is brought out more clearly in some modern translations:
For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords . . . (NASB)
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”. (NIV)
As we saw above, the Bible says that “all the gods of the peoples are idols.” (Psalm 96:5). In context, then, Paul is not saying that he believed in polytheism, but rather he was a monotheist-he believed in only one God.
Now in light of this, Elder Hahn, it is amazing to read the words of Joseph Smith regarding this verse. He said,
You know and I testify that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods. I have it from God, and get over it if you can. I have a witness of the Holy Ghost, and a testimony that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods in the text. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 371)
Given that it was the Spirit of God who inspired the writing of Paul’s admonitions in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, and we can see that the passage itself indicates that Paul is indeed speaking of idols — the “heathen gods” — how can we accept Joseph Smith’s testimony when it is flatly contradictory to the Bible
Another passage that is frequently presented is from Acts 7:55-56:
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Often I have heard LDS people say, “See, Stephen saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. God, then, must have a right hand at which Jesus can stand.” Even some LDS have gone so far as to make this a literal right hand, which, it seems, Jesus was standing upon. In reply, let me note a few items:
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Psalm 91:4)
If we take this passage in the way that many LDS take Acts 7:55- 56, we have to be consistent and say that God not only has a hand big enough for Jesus to stand on it (that’s a BIG hand!), but He also has wings and feathers. In Hebrews we are told that our God is a consuming fire, so should we need to somehow fit a blast furnace into the whole anthropomorphic picture we are making here No, of course not.
God is spirit, and a spirit does not have flesh and bones (John 4:24; Luke 24:39). So what does “right hand” mean? The “right hand” is a common idiomatic expression in Semitic thinking, Elder, and it refers to the position of power and authority. But, you don’t need to take my word for it, look these up for yourself: Exodus 15:6, 15:12; Deuteronomy 33:2; Job 40:14; Psalm 16:8, 16:11, 17:7, 18:35, 20:6, 21:8, 44:3, 45:4, 45:9, 48:10, 60:5, 63:8, 73:23, 77:10, 78:54, 80:15, 80:17, 89:13, 98:1, 108:6, 109:6, 109:31, 110:1, 118:15-16, 138:7; Proverbs 3:16; Ecclesiastes 10:2; Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 48:13; Habakkuk 2:16, and Matthew 26:64, where it is specifically the “right hand of power.”
The vast majority of the rest of the times it is used it refers simply to a direction or is used in the phrase “do not turn to the right hand or to the left” in following God’s law. There is much more that I would like to share with you about the God of the Bible, Elder Hahn, but I will allow you to respond to this material first. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Your continuing willingness to deal with these issues is very commendable, and I hope that we will again have an opportunity to meet and discuss some of these things in person. I want you to know that you are in my prayers. I am praying that you will listen to the words of the Spirit as He has spoken in the Scriptures.
Sincerely,
James White
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