MORMONISM:

A brief introduction to the Church of Latter-day Saints

This article is meant as a beginning look into the world of the Latter-day Saints for those who perhaps have yet to be introduced to their history and beliefs. Obviously this article will not go into a great deal of detail but I feel it will give the reader a good exposition into Mormonism. If you are already acquainted with Mormonism than perhaps this article may serve as a refresher as to their teachings.

Where Did Mormonism originate?

If we are to speak about the origins of Mormonism we must, in effect, speak of Joseph Smith Jr., the Church of latter-day saints’ first prophet. Joseph Smith is the foundation of Mormonism hence there is much weight to the truthfulness of his story and his teachings. Joseph Fielding Smith, the 6^th President of the LDS Church once wrote:

Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground[1]

 Joseph Smith was born in 1805 in Sharon Vermont. In the year 1820, at the age of fourteen, Smith was searching for spirituality during a revival that was being held in Palmyra NY where he had moved with his family. Smith was confused about which church to “join” since the revival consisted of several denominations. Smith writes:

“In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right, or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?”[2]

The First Vision[3]

 While still in his bewilderment, Smith was reading the bible and came across James 1:5

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (James 1:5 KJV)

Smith was smitten by this passage and the story goes that he decided to ask God for wisdom in which church he should join and went out into the woods to pray. While in the woods, Smith prayed out loud and pleaded with God for an answer. Smith recalls:

“It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
“My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.”
“I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’”
“He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time.[4]

The story goes that Smith didn’t join any church and went his own way.[5]

The appearance of the angel Moroni

In 1823, after going to bed, Smith claims God sent a messenger named Moroni to him and spoke to him of a book written on golden plates. Smith writes:

He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;[6]

In 1827, Smith was allowed to recover the plates and translated them from reformed Egyptian with a device called Urim and Thummin which was basically two seer stones. Once the translation was finished, the angel Moroni took the golden plates away and hence no one today or even at that time was able to see and examine the golden plates. From these plates came the Book of Mormon.

The Beginning & the End

Three years later, Smith officially formed the “one true church”. After Smith had established the church of Christ on April 6, 1830, it seems he and his followers (I believe around 300) moved around within Missouri due to hostilities between them and local settlers. The LDS eventually moved to a place called Commerce, IL and pratically built the city from scratch. It soon after took on the name Nauvoo and, like the other settlement Smith and his followers set foot in, they found more trouble. It seems Smith was elected mayor of Nauvoo. Some people, even former close associates to Smith, began distrusting the Mormon leader and tensions began to flare. His opposers printed a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor which exposed Smith as a false prophet and a polygamist. Smith and his city council ordered the Nauvoo expositor destroyed which really angered his opponents and due to threats towards him, rallied the Nauvoo army and put the whole city under martial law.

Seeing things were getting out of hand, the Illinois Governor ordered Smith to back down and asked Smith to turn himself in to the authorities in a nearby town called Carthage. Smith did go to Carthage but didn't turn himself in. He and his brother Hyrum and two others were arrested and put in jail. The IL Governor visited Smith and then went to Nauvoo to settle things over there. The next day, a mob attacked the jail to get Smith. When Smith seen them coming up the stairs to get him, he pulled out a gun (six-shooter) and shot 3 times hitting his target. Of course, the mob was too big and they over-powered the men. Hyrum was shot in the face and his last words were "I am a dead man" and then Smith, while trying to get to the window, was shot three times and fell two stories to his death.

After Smith’s death, Brigham Young took over the as President of the Church and the church has seen continued growth since.

The Mormon Scriptures

The scriptures in which edifies the people of Mormonism differs from those of Christianity. The Evangelical Christian holds to what is called the doctrine of “Sola Scriptura” or Scripture Alone. What is meant by this is that the Bible (Christian Scriptures) are the infallible rule of faith for the teaching of God’s people and a Christian is only bound to these writings. No other authority has equal or greater say in the Christians life since we hold that the Bible is God’s precious and holy Word.

In Mormonism, on the other hand, there are in essence four “books” that are considered as “scripture” and are equally in nature Divine[7]. Their four books are:

The King James Bible

The Book of Mormon

Doctrine & Covenant

The Pearl of Great Price

The King James Bible

Mormons do not call any other translation but the King James Version as the Bible since they believe other translations to be corrupt.

To explain how Mormons view the bible, let me quote from apostle Orson Pratt in the book “the bible an insufficient guide”:

Add all this imperfection to the uncertainty of the translation, and who, in his right mind, could, for one moment, suppose the Bible in its present form to be a perfect guide? Who knows that even one verse of the whole Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it did in the original?[8]

The eight article of faith in Mormonism states that “We believe the Bible is the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly”[9] Interestingly it is fascinating how the bible can be considered Mormon scripture if it’s full of errors yet, much like the Roman Catholic Church[10], they believe that their leaders through the church have “restored” those great truths that were present in the original copies. What is fascinating is that the Book of Mormon quotes the bible quite frequently[11]. When we do a little study of the Manuscript traditions, we discover that the claims of Mormonism fall short since There are about 5300 manuscripts, 75% of these the readings in the manuscripts that we have that are completely accurate one to another.  98% of the 25% left have been deciphered through textual criticism and the other 2% have nothing to do with main Doctrines. The reason for these variants is just because it is human to err and the circumstances behind the transmission of the text of scripture weren’t an easy task.

The Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is probably the most important book to the LDS people since, as Joseph Smith said “Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none”[12]. The bar is set very high as to the legitimacy of the Book of Mormon and to the dependence on its accuracy[13]. The book of Mormon consists of the following books:

First Nephi                                                                 Alma

Second Nephi                                                             Helaman

Jacob                                                                          Third Nephi

Enos                                                                            Fourth Nephi

Jarom                                                                         Mormon

Omni                                                                           Ether

Words of Mormon                                                    Mormoni

Mosiah

Doctrines & Covenant

The third revelation in Mormon theology is the book Doctrine & Covenant. This book was initially a book of commandments but in 1833 was reconsidered as a book of revelation. Joseph Smith wrote a much of this book during his lifetime.[14]  The book contains 138 sections and two declarations:

• Dec.1: The Manifesto (which officially abolished polygamy)
• Dec.2: The declaration of all those worthy to become priests.

According to the explanatory notes to the D&C, we read its purpose:

The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of divine revelations and inspired declarations given for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days. Although most of the sections are directed to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the messages, warnings, and exhortations are for the benefit of all mankind, and contain an invitation to all people everywhere to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to them for their temporal well-being and their everlasting salvation…the Doctrine and Covenants is unique because it is not a translation of an ancient document, but is of modern origin and was given of God through his chosen prophets for the restoration of his holy work and the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth in these days. In the revelations one hears the tender but firm voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking anew in the dispensation of the fulness of times; and the work that is initiated herein is preparatory to his second coming, in fulfillment of and in concert with the words of all the holy prophets since the world began.[15]

The Pearl of Great Price

The final claimed scriptural authority given to the LDS believer is what is called the Pearl of Great Price. The book contains five sections[16] which includes the History of Joseph Smith and the infamous Book of Abraham. The story of the book of Abraham in Mormon scripture began in 1835 when a traveling showman displayed some Egyptian mummies along with two Egyptian Papyri that contained hieroglyphics. Joseph Smith was one of the attendees of this exhibit and persuaded this man to sell him the Papyri. Smith proclaimed these to have been written by Abraham & Joseph. Smith translated the manuscripts into English[17]. The original papyri were believed to have been lost in a fire in Chicago hence, like the book of Mormon, they couldn’t be examined but in 1967, these manuscripts were found in New York and returned to the LDS Church. The papyri had actually nothing to do with Abraham but with a pagan funeral. Some LDS scholars have argued that these were not the same manuscripts that Smith used yet, on the other side of the paper, there was an architectural drawing of a temple and a map of Kirkland Ohio.[18]

The LDS Gospel

The Mormon idea of salvation is very much more intricate than Salvation in Christianity. When discussing this issue with a Mormon you will notice that they use parallel terminology yet we need to recognize that there definition of these terms are in contrast to the Christian Gospel. I will go into some greater detail in this segment due to the importance of understanding the concept of the Mormon gospel so that we might be able to shed some light to the Mormon on the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike other areas in this expose, I will actually address the biblical evidence that disagrees with the Mormon gospel since it is vitally important to be able to refute their gospel and present the Lord’s (Galatians 1:6-8). I would invite the reader to take the time needed to come to a good understanding of this segment.

In Christian theology, the term “salvation” is used to describe a deliverance from one’s sins. W.E. Vines puts it boldly:

…of the spiritual and eternal deliverance granted immediately by God to those who accept His conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, in whom alone it is to be obtained, Acts 4:12, and upon confession of Him as Lord, Rom. 10:10; for this purpose the gospel is the saving instrument, Rom. 1:16; Eph. 1:13 (Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words)

Within Mormonism, salvation is divided into two parts, one being a general salvation, which is the act of being resurrected[19], and the other individual Salvation, which is man’s merit. Mormonism, like many other groups, believes in a Grace plus Works relationship in order for a final & full salvation.Works become a vital role within the redemption of the soul,

There are three states of man in LDS theology with respects to their works: Pre-mortality

Mortality & Post-mortality.

Pre-Mortality

The LDS Church affirms the concept that man was pre-existent before his earthly life and that we, as men, were born of Godly Parents. They also teach that we are here on earth due to our loyalty to Elohim[20] in the past life. The book Gospel principles tells us:

Because we are here on earth and have mortal bodies we know that we chose to follow Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father…In our pre-earth life, we chose the right[21]

The Mormons often like to site Jeremiah 1:5 as a “proof text” to back up their claim[22]. This passage reads:

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

The fact is this passage is not referring to Jeremiah being pre-existent but that he was set apart. The Hebrew word  “Yada” is used in the same context here in Jeremiah as it is in Amos 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. We can see that the context shows that the Israelites were “chosen” of all the families of the earth. There is no biblical warrant to assume that humans existed before their creation of earth (see 1 Corinthians 15:46)

Mortality

The LDS church teaches that when we enter into this realm, it is once again, our responsibility to continue (from pre-existence) our goal of becoming “a god” by doing good works. The Book of Mormon tells us:

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do^•. (2 Nephi 25:23)

Mormon president Brigham Young furthers this attestation:

“Will everybody be damned except the Latter-day Saints? “Yes,’ said Joseph, “and many of them, unless they take a different course from what they are now taking.” Who will be saved in the celestial kingdom, and go into the presence of the Father and Son?” Those only who observe the whole law, who keep the commandments of God—those who walk in newness of life, observe all his precepts and do his will”[23]

There are seven requirements to accomplish in order to attain the celestial Kingdom which are: Baptism, Membership in the Church, Good Works, Word of Wisdom, Marriage, Temple Works & Keeping the 10 commandments.

Baptism:

Probably one of the most important works to attain salvation is baptism by a LDS authority. Joseph Smith writes:

Many talk of baptism not being essential to salvation; but this kind of teaching would lay the foundation of their damnation. I have the truth, and am at the defiance of the world to contradict me, if they can.[24]

The Mormons plead their case of baptism as a requirement for salvation with biblical passages such as Mark 16:16 & Acts 2:38. Not only is baptism a requirement but baptism must be done by a LDS authority. Apostle Orson Pratt wrote:

But who in this generation have authority to baptize? None but those who have received authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: All other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who receives baptism or the Lord's Supper from their hands will highly offend God; for He looks upon them as the most corrupt of all people. Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness.[25]

The argument that baptism has to do with salvation is a common one among professed Christian gatherings yet this is not a biblical teaching. Mark 16:16 says He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Notice it doesn’t say “ he that believeth not and is not baptized shall be damned”. It was the unbelief that damned the person not the lack of a baptism.

Acts 2:38 is an interesting evidence text also but there are two points as to why the passage in Acts doesn’t teach baptism as salvistic:

1.      The whole book of acts when referring to baptism for remission of sin is only given to Jews since it is a public showing of their faith for the nation that crucified the Lord

2.      The word “for” in many cases means “because of” hence they were to repent and be baptized because of the remission of sin.

Notice also that the thief on the cross never was baptized and the Lord assured him entrance into the Kingdom. Secondly when the Jailer in Acts 16:30-31 asked “what must I do to be saved?’ notice Paul didn’t answer him “believe and be baptized” but ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!”  An interesting answer if baptism is a condition for salvation.

Church Membership

In addition to baptism, in order to acquire salvation, a person must be a member of the LDS Church. Milton R. Hunter announced that "must become a member and live the gospel principles and ordinances of the true church of the Master -which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, restored to earth through divine revelations to the Prophet Joseph Smith"[26]. Although fellowship in a gathering is important, there is a lack of biblical evidence to assert that it is a condition for a soul’s eternal salvation.

The Good Works

Similar to many pseudo-Christian religions, Mormonism believe in the addition of Works to faith in order to reach final salvation. Mormons have even gone as far as using biblical proofs to demonstrate that this teaching is from God by quoting the ever popular James 2:20 & Philippians 2:12 Some LDS authorities have even gone further as to demand perfection from their people based on Matthew 5:48.

James is answering a question found in v. 14.What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? The passage is comparing a true faith that produces good works and a false faith that doesn’t. The scriptures are clear when they say “we shall know them by their fruits”. If we want to truly do the works of God, we must believe on His Son (John 6:28-29). The Philippians passage is often misunderstood and used to show a continuing effort for salvation when we are told to “work out you salvation”. You see Jordan, Paul is not saying that the Philippians needed to add worksto their final salvation to realize it in the end but if you read the 2nd chapter as a whole, you realize that the churches salvation is being spoken of since there was much rivalries, false teachings ect… Paul couldn’t be there hence he told them to work out their salvation. It had nothing to do with their works but God working in them (V.13). As for Matthew 5:48, the LDS authorities have misunderstood the essence of the verse completely. MacDonald writes:

The word Perfect must be understood in the light of the context. It does not mean sinless or flawless. The previous verses explain that to be perfect means to love those who hate us, to pray for those who persecute us, and to show kindness to both friend and foe. Perfection here is that spiritual maturity which enables a Christian to imitate God in dispensing blessing to everybody without partiality.[27]

The scriptures are so plain with the concept of the validity of works in salvation. Works are nothing but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), we are saved by the Grace of God (Romans 11:5), not works (Eph. 2:8-9). We are created unto good works not saved by them (Eph 2:10) but we are not redeemed by them. (Titus 3:5)

Word of Wisdom

There is a great emphasis in Mormonism to “stay clean”. Word of Wisdom is basically the Mormon revelation of abstaining from tea, coffee, tobacco, or alcohol. In the book “doctrine of salvation”, we read how severe these issues are:

If you drink coffee or tea or take tobacco, you are letting a cup of tea or a little tobacco stand in the road and bar you from the celestial Kingdom of God, where you might otherwise have received a fullness of glory…”[28]

Even though I would agree for health reasons to stay away from these four substances, It is wrong to place a burden on people based on little to no scriptural evidence. This is once again an interesting concept that actually contradicts scripture since it isn’t what enters into a man that defiles him but his heart (Mark 7:18-23) and Colossians 2:6 is quite frank when it says to let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink…

Marriage

The term marriage in LDS theology has a different significance than it would in our daily terminology. Marriage in Mormonism is a basis for salvation since they believe that we are to become gods like Elohim, we must like him procreate spiritual children. The marriage is an eternal marriage, sealed for all eternity. The importance of marriage in Mormonism can be acknowledged in this quote: “no man can be saved and exalted in the kingdom of God without the woman, and no woman can reach the perfection and exaltation in the kingdom of God alone”.[29] This is an interesting notion due to the clear biblical teaching that  “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven”. (Matthew 22:30)

Temple Works

The temple is of great importance to the LDS Church. The temple is very sacred and only available for the worthy Mormon. The temple work consists of ceremonies for the dead (baptism of the dead), the endowment rituals[30] and the eternal marriages. Once again a work promoted by the LDS Church in order to “earn” eternal life.

Keeping the 10 commandments

Mormonism teaches that the keeping of the Ten Commandments is vital to eternal life. The law is to be considered of great significance and should be kept at all costs. Obviously this causes a problem to Mormons since, as James wrote: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10) and also that we are not justified by the law but by faith as the scriptures proclaim:

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:21-28)

 Post-Mortality

Mormons are not only to strive for perfection in this life but also in the next. This is called eternal progression[31]. Joseph Fielding Smith defined it in this way:

We have to pass through mortality and receive the resurrection and then gone to perfection just as our Father did before us.[32]

Mormons believe that when they enter into the spirit world after death, they must continue to evangelize those in the spiritual prison. Once again, does this teaching exist within the biblical language? Absolutely not! The opposite is declared by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2) and the Hebrews writer was clear And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment(Hebrews 9:27). Nowhere in scripture does it speak of post-mortem evangelization.

Sweating vs. Shedding

If you are a Christian reading this, you are probably wondering where the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary comes into the picture. Mormonism’s view of the atonement is also different from Christianity’s message in that the LDS do not believe that Christ paid for man’s sins at Calvary but in Gethsemane. You see Mormons believe that Christ’s sweating blood in the garden of Gethsemane is how Christ atoned for our sins. The Book of Mormon states:

And lo, he shall suffer temptation, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer^•, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish^• for the wickedness and the abominations of his people. (Mosiah 3:7)

 Apostle Bruce McConkie wrote:

And as he came out of the Garden, delivering himself voluntarily into the hands of wicked men, the victory had been won. There remained yet the shame and the apin of his arrest, his trials, and his cross. But all these were overshadowed by the agonies and sufferings in Gethsemane. It was on the cross that he “suffered death in the flesh”, even as many have suffered agonizing heaths, but it was in Gethsemane that “he suffered the apin of all men, that all might repent and come unto him”…Jesus took upon himself the sins of all men when he suffered and sweat great drops of blood from every pore in Gethsemane. It was then that his suffering causing himself, even God, to suffer both body and spirit in a way which is totally beyond mortal comprehension.[33]

Quite obviously, the Mormon’s idea of salvation is in its nature far more complicated than the Christian Gospel. The bible mentions nothing about the Lord “sweating” to atone for the sins of the people. The Old Testament is filled with examples of an animal being slain for the sins of the people yet no mention of the animal sweating. The Scriptures are clean in that And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (Ephesians 2:16) and And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (Romans 9:22). Notice he says “shedding of blood” not “sweating of blood”.

The LDS Doctrine of God

Mormons are polytheistic in their theology, this means that they believe in more than one god. This is opposite to Christian theology, which is monotheistic, meaning Christians believe in one God (Deut 6:4). This is an important difference for worshipping the right God is a fundamental truth that can’t be ignored.

The most fundamental truth of the Christian faith is this: There is one God. Everything else—who He is, what He has done in Christ, how we will spend eternity—flows from this fundamental statement of absolute monotheism. [34]

To understand the Mormon teaching of God, one must realize there are 3 aspects to their view.

1.      They believe that God was once a man as we are now and needed to earn His Godhood

2.      They believe that men can become gods themselves by completing Mormon rituals.

3.      The LDS also believe that Elohim is the God of this world and that there are other gods in the universe.

In Christian Theology, God is eternal and has always existed this way and will always exist this way and His nature is unlike humans but is a spirit being. Men are the creation of the One true God but are not gods themselves. Let us examine.

In order to represent fairly the doctrines of the LDS church, I will center on story of Joseph Smith Jr. the 1^st President of the LDS church since he is the founder and the King Follet Discourse, which was given by him. I believe that the King Follet Discourse gives a fair example of what the LDS church believes as well I will give certain biblical verses that are often cited to back up their beliefs and I will provide some scriptures to defend the Monotheistic Trinitarian position as well.

God was once a man

The following is a quotation from the King Follett Discourse, which was given by the 1^st LDS president, Joseph Smith Jr.

I will go back to the beginning before the world was, to show what kind of being God is. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear, all ye ends of the earth, for I am going to prove it to you by the Bible, and to tell you the designs of God in relation to the human race, and why He interferes with the affairs of man.

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.

As can clearly be seen by reading this quote from the discourse, Smith makes a bold claim, a declaration that goes against the very nature of the biblical God. Notice what he says about God, God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. He goes on to 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;

From this assertion, Smith is saying that God is like one of us and always changing (exalted) hence he has not been eternally God. There is much to answer to refute this line of reasoning. We are talking about the very nature of God, one of His most precious attributes, His being eternal, His being Spirit (John 4:24) and always the same. This is a very hard thought for a Christian to accept since the Christian God is one whom brings comfort to His people simply because He doesn’t change. His nature and His promises are eternal and this is fundamental to the Christian Gospel. But is this what our inspired scriptures teach. The answer is quite simply, no.[35]

We must conclude that Mormon authorities have labeled God to be an exalted man and not the bible since there no mention of this doctrine. Unfortunately, to the LDS people, the bible is not the only source of authority but we must try to draw a conclusion through the showing of contradictory information and let the Mormon weight the evidence.

Men Becoming gods

Joseph Smith continued his discourse, addressing the crowd with his teachings and he makes the following statement:

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. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me.

Smith makes a bold claim in this section of the discourse. He states “you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves”. This is quite a revelation to say the least. Smith goes on to say that , 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; This LDS president is stating that we can learn to be gods and by this claim had issued a doctrine that is still believed in the LDS church today, the doctrine of eternal progression. Lorenzo Snow, the 5^th LDS president, states a similar quote when he said:

“As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be.”
( The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1984], 1.)

Can it be that we, as created beings, can progress to godhood? To become what our God is today? Could this be the hope that we rely on as Christians, is this the gospel in which we are to preach to other? I can say with confidence, NO!

Acts 14:8-15

And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

This passage proves to be difficult for the LDS people. Paul & Barnabas. J. Anderson explains this passage:

…Paul’s miracle was not done privately, so he commanded with a loud voice that the man should stand up…these heathen people wanted to attribute this miracle to their gods, for there were “gods many, and lords many” (1 Cor 8:5)…they considered that they were having a visit from the Greek gods Jupiter (or zeus) and Mercury (or Hermes)…Te priest of Jupiter was anxious to make a festive occasion of the incident, and was doubtless astonished when the preachers refused divine honours. [36]

Obviously the apostles would never have taken any sense of divinity since they were mere men and Paul pointed to the “living God’, the creator of all things. Ron Rhodes makes another good point in relation to this event.

Paul and Barnabas’s attitude is in clear contrast to the folly of Herod in Acts 12:21-23. After Herod had given a public address, the people shouted, “it is the voice of a god, and not of a man.’ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died/ Clearly, God does not look kindly on human pretenders to the throne of divinity[37]

There are many gods?

We continue with the King Follet Discourse with the section on the heart of the polytheistic view of Mormonism.

In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn this way, we begin to learn the only true God, and what kind of a being we have got to worship. Having a knowledge of God, we begin to know how to approach him, and how to ask so as to receive an answer. When we understand the character of God, and how to come to him, he begins to unfold the heavens to us, and to tell us all about it. When we are ready to come to him, he is ready to come to us.

Notice the words of Smith as he asserts his views on the pre-creation period of the earth insinuating that there was a “council of gods” that came together to conjure up a plan to created the world and the people in it. One must speculate if this principle can be affirmed by biblical knowledge? It is clear that scripture says differently.

Isaiah 43:10

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.

This passage, I believe, addresses quite well the notion that Smith had about men becoming gods. The passage in Isaiah is clear on it’s meaning. There are no gods “formed”. The word “Yatsar” is defined in by vines as followed:

To form, mold, fashion, Yatsar is a technical potter’s word…Yatsar is frequently used to describe God’s creative activity… [38]

Hence we can see that there are no gods “made” and since man is God’s creation, one must come to the conclusion that men are not gods since there were none formed after Him and in the same line of reasoning, God cannot have a “Father” before Him since none existed before Him.

Conclusion

This small article will at least give a foundation into the world of Mormonism. There are other issues that I could of addressed[39] but these are the foundation of what differentiates Christianity from Mormonism. I would recommend the following literature if there is an interest in pursuing the study of Mormonism particularly if you are in the midst of speaking to Mormon missionaries.

• Mormonism: Shadow or Reality: Gerald & Sandra Tanner
• The Changing World of Mormonism: Gerald & Sandra Tanner
• Letters to a Mormon Elder: James White
• Mormonism 101: Bill McKeever
• Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons: Ron Rhodes