Mrs. God
- "I had learned to call thee Father,
Through thy Spirit from on high;
But until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single?
No; the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason, truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.
- "When I
leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you."
- (Eliza R. Snow, Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother).
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God commands us to honor our mother:
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving
you." (Exodus 20:12).
But He seems distinctly unhappy about honoring the "Queen of Heaven":
"'Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal,
murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk
after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me
in this house which is called by My name, and say, "We are delivered
to do all these abominations"? Has this house, which is called by
My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have
seen it,' says the LORD....Do you not see what they do in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood,
the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for
the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that
they may provoke Me to anger. Do they provoke Me to anger?' says
the LORD. 'Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?'
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, My anger and My fury will be
poured out on this place - on man and on beast, on the trees of the field
and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.'"
(Jeremiah 7:8-20).
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: 'You and
your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands,
saying, "We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense
to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." You will
surely keep your vows and perform your vows!'...Behold, I will watch over
them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in
the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there
is an end to them." (Jeremiah 44:25-27).
Why is the Bible unaware of the existence of any such party? Even God doesn't know anything about Her:
"'Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My
witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.'" (Isaiah 44:8).
Is He an inattentive husband, grown used to seeing His Wife as part of the wall-paper pattern;
or does She not exist?
How Many Gods?
"And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods,
organized and formed the heavens and the earth." (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham, 4:1).
The Gods? How many gods are known to the Bible, anyway? Only One:
Travelling down a road paved with good intentions, the unlettered prophet
resolved to acquire a real education in the Hebrew language. He hired tutors,
including Joshua Seixas: "He [Joseph Smith] enlarged the School of
the Prophets to include classes in Greek and Hebrew, hiring as instructor
a Jewish rabbi, Joshua Seixas, originally from Andover Academy." (Fawn
M. Brodie, 'No Man Knows My History,' p. 169). Mormon convert Alexander
Neibaur added his input: "In the fall of 1843 had the honor of instructing
the Prophet Joseph Smith until he went to Carthage, in German and Hebrew.
. ." (Alexander Neibaur, 'A Family History'). These instructors taught
their student that the Hebrew 'elohim' ['God'] is plural in form. That there is thus a plurality of gods was
a conclusion already drawn by interpreters whose inversion of the grammar
of Genesis 1:1 Joseph also adopted:
"Elohim ('God') is thus not the subject but the object of the sentence. This daring
interpretation is common to almost all 13th century kabbalists." (Gershom
Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 110.).
Thus fate brought Joseph's wandering life to intersection with some of
the worst tendencies in Jewish theology, which he however took as 'inside
information:'
"The motif of the golem as it appears in medieval legends originates in the talmudic legend (Sanh.
65b). . .These legends are brought as evidence that 'If the righteous wished,
they could create a world.'" (Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 351).
What had been up to that time a recognizably Christian movement ceased
to be such.
Ye are Gods
"As man is, God once was; and as God is, man may become." (Lorenzo Snow).
Does Psalm 82 confirm that believers are gods-in-the-making? Why does Jesus quote this passage?
The Book of Mormon agrees with the Bible that God does not change: "For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles;
and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. . ." (2 Nephi 27:23, 2 Nephi 29:9, 1
Nephi 10:18). The Bible teaches the same: "For I am the LORD, I change not. . ." (Malachi 3:6, 3 Nephi 24:6):
- “For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being;
but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity.”
- (Book of Mormon, Moroni 8:18).
- "By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite
and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God,
the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them;
And that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, created he them;
And gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the
only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they
should worship."
- (Doctrine and Covenants, 20:17-19)
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But Joseph would later forget what he taught in the Book of Mormon, teaching instead, "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." (King Follett Discourse). Bible-believers have not forgotten:
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
(Psalm 90:2).
Who is Jehovah?
The Book of Mormon teaches that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
God of Israel, was crucified:
- “And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage,
and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham,
and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the
words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted
up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to
the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words
of Zenos, which he spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should
be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of
the sea, more especially given unto those who are of the house of Israel...And
as for those who are at Jerusalem, saith the prophet, they shall be scourged
by all people, because they crucify the God of Israel, and turn their hearts
aside, rejecting signs and wonders, and the power and glory of the God
of Israel.”
- (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 19:10-13).
- "And he also has shown unto me that the Lord God, the Holy One of
Israel, should manifest himself unto them in the flesh; and after he should
manifest himself they should scourge him and crucify him, according to
the words of the angel who spake it unto me."
- (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 6:9).
- "Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ–for
in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name–should
come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world;
and they shall crucify him–for thus it behooveth our God, and there is
none other nation on earth that would crucify their God."
- (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 10:2).
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The Book of Mormon is emphatic in identifying Jesus Christ as the God of Israel:
- "Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into
my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands
and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God
of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world."
- (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:14).
- "For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power,
the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to
all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and
shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay. . ."
- (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:5)
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The Book of Mormon teaches that it was Jesus Christ who covenanted with
His people Israel:
- “And it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he perceived
that there were some among them who marveled, and wondered what he would
concerning the law of Moses. . .Behold, I am he that gave the law, and
I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me
is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfill the law; therefore it hath an
end.”
- (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 15:2-5).
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That is to say, the Book of Mormon wants it understood that the Eternal
Father covenanted with the house of Israel:
- “And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful
garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy
borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants
of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel,
may be fulfilled.”
- (Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:31).
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Though subsequent Mormon apologists would stretch themselves into
pretzel shape trying to squeeze Joseph's later tritheism into these passages,
at the time he wrote the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith taught that Jesus
Christ is both "the Father and the Son":
- "Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world
to redeem my people. Behold I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father
and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life...and they shall become
my sons and my daughters.”
- (Book of Mormon, Ether 3:14).
- ". . .saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh. . .For behold,
I am the Father, I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world."
- (Book of Mormon, Ether 4:8-12).
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Though he would later veer in quite a different direction, at the time
he wrote the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith was a modalist:
The modalism of this early work would give way in time to polytheism. Joseph Smith
veered from one extreme to the other without stopping to check in at the way-station
of orthodoxy, which teaches that there is only one God, and that the Father
is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. How can a player run
from left field to far right field without crossing through center field?
The closest approach Joseph made to orthodox trinitarianism was in his
'Lectures on Faith,' which were originally part of the Doctrine and Covenants
but have since been removed. In this work he describes Father and Son as
two "personages." He still
clings to an incarnational sonship: ". . .and is
called the Son because of the flesh. . ." He does not count the Holy
Spirit as a "personage." It does seem, though, that he is trying
to incorporate the helpful advice he was undoubtedly given by trinitarians,
a helpful people, after the Book of Mormon. Though he has by this point
abandoned modalism, he continues to concede that "these three are
one:" ". . .these three are one; or, in other words, these three
constitute the great, matchless, governing and supreme power over all things;
by whom all things were created and made that were created and made, and
these three constitute the Godhead, and are one. . ." He defines the
oneness of God in terms of the Holy Spirit, not mere agreement: ".
. .possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit.
. ." This treatment was no longer felt to be satisfactory after he
and the Mormons following him took up mockery of the Trinity.
The God of the Old Testament is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are
many valid New Testament proofs that Jesus Christ is Jehovah God. . .just
as there are that God the Father is Jehovah God, and that the Holy Spirit
is Jehovah God. The Gnostics of old ejected 'God the Father' from the Old
Testament, portraying Him as a strange god newly entered onto the scene
in the New Testament. Contemporary Latter-Day Saints, though they have
abandoned Joseph Smith's early modalism, follow him in identifying the
God of Israel with Jesus Christ, the Son. Identifying the God of the Old
Testament with one person of the trinity is a distinctly unpromising route to go down, because God does not
change (Malachi 3:6); He is ever what He was and what He will be. Unlike the Gnostics Mormons find the Father in the Old Testament,
but in unaccustomed places; Brigham Young found Him in Adam at the Garden of Eden!
But it is just as easy to prove the God of the Old Testament is the Father as it is to prove He is
the Son -- a manifest proof the God of the Old Testament is triune!:
The Father is Jehovah God.
For that matter the Book of Mormon itself concedes the Father is Jehovah
God, for instance, here quoting "the Father" as "the Lord
of Hosts:"
- “And it came to pass that he commanded them that they should write the
words which the Father had given unto Malachi, which he should tell unto
them. And it came to pass after they were written he expounded them. And
these are the words which he did tell unto them, saying: Thus said the
Father unto Malachi -- Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his
temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold,
he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
- (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 24:1).
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The Book of Mormon here identifies the "Lord of Hosts" of Malachi
3:1, Jehovah Sabaoth, as "the Father." What a tangled skein Joseph,
in his wanderings from modalism to tritheism, left for his followers to unravel!
O Little Town of...Jerusalem?
- “And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of
our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who
shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of Holy Ghost, and bring
forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.”
- (Book of Mormon, Alma 7:10).
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False Prophecy
There are several instances when Joseph Smith, speaking in the character of a prophet, said things would happen which did
not happen. This is not good:
- “A REVELATION of Jesus Christ unto his servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and six elders, as
they united their hearts and lifted their voices on high. Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days
for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount
Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger
of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom
the Lord was well pleased. Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints,
beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. For verily this generation shall
not all pass away until an house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the
Lord, which shall fill the house.”
- (The Doctrine and Covenants, Section 84, 1-5)).
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But that generation has passed away, and there is still no such temple in Independence, Missouri.
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The Book of Mormon teaches, in conformity with Bible doctrine, that God spoke the worlds into being: "For behold, by the
power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to
speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon
the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?" (Book of Mormon, Jacob 4:9). This creative word, or 'logos,' became incarnate in
Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon describes Jesus Christ as creator of "all things:" "And he shall be called Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary." (Mosiah 3:8).
This doctrine of Christ as Creator erodes in Joseph's later teaching, along with all other Bible doctrine. The ground of creation
shrinks; instead of speaking the worlds into being ex nihilo, God arranged pre-existing matter. If Jesus Christ truly created "all things" that were created,
then He also pre-existed all created things. But God's eternity also erodes,
replaced by gods procreating in time like a tribe of squirrels. What is
left in contemporary Mormon doctrine is a Jesus Christ who did not create
"all things" as stated in the Book of Mormon, but who Himself
came into being.
Traditional theism recognizes that, if the material things we see around us came into being at some time, as they all did, then there
must behind them be an uncaused cause, an eternally existent being who calls all these ephemeral things into the light of existence. Yet all
this dissolves in Joseph's later teaching, into eternal matter and a tribe of gods who inhabit
the cosmos as tenants, the way people do.
Hobgoblin of Little Minds
Not only are the various scriptures produced by Joseph Smith not in accord with the Bible, they are not even in accord with one
another. Joseph Smith began his career as prophet celebrating monogamy:
- “Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord:
For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines
he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women.
And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.”
- (Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:27-28).
- "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing
was abominable before me, saith the Lord. . .Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not
any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women.
And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts."
- (Book of Mormon, Jacob 2:24-28).
- "And it came to pass that Riplakish did not do that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, for he did have many wives and concubines, and
did lay that upon men's shoulders which was grievous to be borne; yea,
he did tax them with heavy taxes; and with the taxes he did build many
spacious buildings."
- (Book of Mormon, Ether 10:5).
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...and ended quite differently: "In 1887 the Utah Church historian,
Andrew Jenson, drawing upon the enormous file of secret manuscript material
in the church library in Salt Lake City, compiled a list of twenty-seven
wives of Joseph Smith." (Fawn M. Brodie, 'No Man Knows my History,'
Appendix C, The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith). Just as Mohammed ibn Abdallah's
wives came in for divine chiding in the Koran, Joseph's wife Emma is likewise
instructed to stuff a sock in it:
In 1831, Joseph Smith is still reminding the Shakers that God made the
two one: "Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. . ." (Revelation to the Shakers)
So what happened? The careers of Mohammed ibn Abdallah and Joseph Smith
followed the same trajectory: these prophets found a following. Fleeing
mockery, ridicule and vandalism, they formed communities around themselves.
To the faithful, the prophet's word was law. What would a man do with that kind of power?
Surrounded by a little band that hung on their every word as the very word
of God, these men saw opportunities open up which most men never face.
If a man could get away with anything, would he? Or would he fear the God
he claimed to serve? Both Mohammed ibn Abdallah and Joseph Smith decided,
at a certain point in their prophetic career, that what they really wanted
was their neighbor's wife. The 'God' for whom they spoke wholeheartedly
seconded the move. In neither case did it escape the senior wife's notice
that the 'God' who spoke sounded suspiciously like a ventriloquist's dummy.
As already noted, Joseph Smith covered a wide swath of theological territory
in his wanderings, from modalism in the Book of Mormon to polytheism in
his later writings. The god census in the Book of Mormon is one only:
- “...for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth.”
- (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 13:41).
- "Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No."
- (Alma 11:28-29).
- "For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God
we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God,
and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fullness of his own time."
- (2 Nephi 11:7).
- ". . . whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth
and forever, should serve him, the true and only God. . ."
- (Book of Mormon, Ether 2:8).
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When asked to reconcile the god count of the Book of Mormon with the "gods"
who would later appear, Mormons fail to see the problem, explaining that
'one' means just the same as 'many.' Joseph Smith himself was aware, however,
of a disjunction: either there is one god or there are many: "A time to come in the which
nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest." (28, Doctrine and Covenants Section
121, Prayers and prophecies from the Liberty, Missouri jail).
If Joseph Smith spoke as a prophet when he wrote in the Book of Mormon
that there is only one God, then how is he speaking in the same spirit
when he prophesies about the "gods"? It is not God who is the
author of confusion. Man himself, whatever the size of his mind, too often
finds consistency an elusive hobgoblin, impossible to catch.
Joseph Smith began by teaching, in the Book of Mormon, that Father, Son
and Holy Ghost are "one God:"
- “And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true
doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is
one God, without end. Amen.”
- (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 31:21).
- "And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily
I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one.
. ."
- (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:27).
- "And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one."
- (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:36).
- ". . .to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father,
and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God, in a state
of happiness which hath no end."
- (Book of Mormon, Mormon 7:7)
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Joseph's understanding of that fact was defective, but the fact remains just as he stated it, and just as he
himself had heard it preached: that Father, Son and Holy Ghost = one God. He ends by ridiculing. . .the very same idea he began by teaching:
- “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!”
- (Joseph Smith, Sermon on the Plurality of Gods).
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It should be apparent that a prophet who contradicts himself is no prophet.
Spell Check
- “...and their skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax.”
- (Book of Mormon, Enos 1:20).
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Pssst...'cimeter'...scimitar? Not a novel weapon, 'cimeter' sounds like
phonetic spelling for 'scimitar,' pronounced "sim'i-ter," from
Old French "cimeterre." (Webster's International, 1965).
The God Kind of Faith
- "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear."
"By this we understand that the principle of power which existed in
the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was faith; and that
it is by reason of this principle of power existing in the Deity, that
all created things exist; so that all things in heaven, on earth, or under
the earth exist by reason of faith as it existed in Him.
"Had it not been for the principle of faith the worlds would never
have been framed neither would man have been formed of the dust. It is
the principle by which Jehovah works, and through which he exercises power
over all temporal as well as eternal things. Take this principle or attribute
— for it is an attribute — from the Deity, and he would cease to exist.”
- (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, First Lecture, 14-16).
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Joseph Smith's influence turns up in surprising places. His distinctive
teaching on faith, generations after his death, would take the world by
storm as the Word of Faith movement:
This language sounds distinctly 'off' to traditional theists. Why would
an omniscient, omnipotent being need faith? Faith is for the blind, not
the seeing: "For we walk by faith, not by sight..." (2 Corinthians 5:7).
The Doctrine of the Trinity
What is the doctrine?
Biblical Proof:
The four propositions proven above: that
a.) There is only One God;
b.) The Father is God;
c.) The Son is God;
d.) The Holy Spirit is God.
-- are at the heart of the fifth-century Athanasian Creed: "So the
Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet
they are not three gods: but one God." Mormons concur with b.), c.)
and even d.); it's point a.) which needs remedial work!
Hold on to Your Wallet
Joseph Smith's colorful career included the founding of the 'Kirtland Safety
Society Bank Company,' organized in 1836. Those who left the movement told
interesting stories about this short-lived bank and its assets:
- “Lining the shelves of the bank vault, they said, were many boxes, each marked $1,000.
Actually these boxes were filled with 'sand, lead, old iron, stone, and combustibles,' but each had a top layer of bright fifty-cent
silver coins. Anyone suspicious of the bank's stability was allowed to lift and count the boxes. 'The effect of those boxes was
like magic;' said C.G. Webb...Joseph's secretary, Warren Parrish, who was cashier for a short time, wrote in 1838: 'I have been
astonished to hear him declare that we had $60,000 in specie in our vaults and $600,000 at our command, when we had not to
exceed $6,000 and could not command any more; also that we had but about ten thousand dollars of our bills in circulation when
he, as cashier of that institution, knew that there was at least $150,000.'”
- (Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows my History, Disaster in Kirtland, pp. 196-197).
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Not surprisingly, "On January 27, less than a month after the bank's opening, the Painesville Telegraph reported that he
had 'shut up shop...saying he would not redeem another
dollar except with land.' Everyone possessing Kirtland bank bills now tried
desperately to get rid of them. By February 1 they were selling for twelve
and one half cents on the dollar." (Ibid., pp. 197-198).
Three-in-One
A common form of proof of God's triunity -- His 'Three-in-One'ness -- are
the many instances where scripture ascribes one divine work indifferently
to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Creation, one case in point, is covered
above in "The First Page". The principle: "With regard to
the divine nature, on the other hand, it is otherwise. We do not learn
that the Father does something on his own, in which the Son does not co-operate.
Or again, that the Son acts on his own without the Spirit. Rather
does every operation which extends from God to creation and is designated
according to our differing conceptions of it have its origin in the Father,
proceed through the Son, and reach its completion by the Holy
Spirit." (Gregory of Nyssa, On Not Three Gods). More cases in point:
Family Ties
In the Wentworth Letter, Joseph Smith explains that the Book of Mormon
reveals the racial history of contemporary Native Americans, who are a
"remnant" of Israelites descended from Joseph:
"The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ.
They were principally Israelites, of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Israelites
came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the second race fell in battle towards
the close of the fourth century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country." (Joseph Smith, The Wentworth Letter)
When population groups are closely related, the link can be detected through
medical means. But these methods do not confirm Middle Eastern descent
of the Native Americans:
"In the 1990s, DNA studies gave Mormon detractors further ammunition
and new allies such as Simon G. Southerton, a molecular biologist and former
bishop in the church. Southerton, a senior research scientist with the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia,
said genetic research allowed him to test his religious views against his
scientific training. Genetic testing of Jews throughout the world had already
shown that they shared common strains of DNA from the Middle East. Southerton
examined studies of DNA lineages among Polynesians and indigenous peoples
in North, Central and South America. One mapped maternal DNA lines from
7,300 Native Americans from 175 tribes. Southerton found no trace of Middle
Eastern DNA in the genetic strands of today's American Indians and Pacific
Islanders." (Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2006, 'Bedrock of a Faith
is Jolted,' William Lobdell, latimes.com)
Some Mormon apologists are now calling the Book of Mormon an inspired work
of fiction. Inspired or otherwise, fact it's not.
You Who Hear Prayer
Mormons are encouraged to pray to the heavenly Father:
- “Prayer is the way we communicate with our Heavenly Father. He wants to
hear our deepest feelings and concerns. Prayer isn’t complicated or rigid.
It is simply communicating what’s in your heart to your Father in Heaven.”
- (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, web-site).
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They are not encouraged to pray to Jesus Christ, even though saints like
Paul and Stephen did so:
"Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it
might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you,
for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will
rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me." (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).
"And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.'" (Acts 7:59)
Mormons, who do not believe in the trinity, are prone to identify Jehovah,
the God of the Old Testament, with Jesus Christ. This makes all the stranger
their reluctance to pray to Jesus, because everyone who is godly prays
to the living God:
"For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him." (Psalm 32:6)
"O You who hear prayer, to You all flesh will come." (Psalm 65:2).
"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them." (Psalm 145:18-19).
The disciples in the Book of Mormon pray to Jesus: "And behold, they
began to pray; and they did pray unto Jesus, calling him their Lord and
their God." (3 Nephi 19:18).
So what is the embarrassment? Having described Jesus Christ and God the
Father as separate beings, the Mormons wander lost in a maze of unwelcome
alternatives: either pray to both Jesus and the Father as the Bible directs,
but which by their logic takes them out of henotheism and into open polytheism,
or deprive Jesus Christ of the honor the Bible demands for Him: "But
when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let all the
angels of God worship Him.'" (Hebrews 1:6). If your theology does
not allow you to obey God's commands, your theology is wrong!
Not only the Bible, but also the Book of Mormon, commands men everywhere
to worship the God of Israel. His people must worship Him: "And now
behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and
deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow
down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength,
and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out."
(2 Nephi 25:29). This command is for all: ". . .and all are alike
unto God, both Jew and Gentile." (2 Nephi 26:33). "All men"
in America are to worship Him: ". . .for it is a choice land, saith
God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that
dwell thereon that they shall worship me, saith God." (Book of Mormon,
2 Nephi 10:19). With so much exhortation ringing in their ears, why do
Mormons hang back?
Baptismal Regeneration
- “For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water;
and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.”
- (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 31:17).
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During the years leading up to publication of the Book of Mormon, Alexander
Campbell was preaching his gospel of baptismal regeneration. The affection,
however, was not mutual.
Where do the striking features of Joseph Smith's late teaching come from?
The reader of late works like the King Follett Discourse perceives, we're
not in Kansas anymore:
"If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world its in 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." (Joseph Smith, King Follett Discourse).
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