Introduction The purpose of this paper is to analyze the doctrine of God as revealed in official documents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and compare it to the Biblical teaching about God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (referred to hereafter as the LDSChurch) recognizes three works, in addition to the Bible, as authoritative. They are, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. In reality, these books are held to be superior to the Bible, as they believe the Bible has become corrupted through the centuries.[1] The LDSChurch claims “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God.”[2] The Book of Mormon claims to be “a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.”[3] The LDSChurch claims that ancient prophets recorded the record of their people on golden plates and that these plates remained hidden until September 21, 1823, when they were delivered by the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith, “who translated them by the gift and power of God.”[4] According to the LDSChurch, “The Doctrines 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.”[5] Most of the doctrines peculiar to Mormonism come from this collection of so-called prophecies. The Pearl of Great Price is “a selection from the revelations, translations, and narrations of Joseph Smith.”[6] In addition, since the LDSChurch believes in the perpetuity of spiritual gifts, such as prophecy, and the continuation of the Apostolic office, new “revelations” are commonly accepted as authoritative by the LDSChurch. Much of the LDSChurch’s cosmology is derived from a form of Jewish Gnosticism called Kabbalah which has also influenced Freemasonry and Rosecrucian philosophy[7], in which man is constantly progressing toward Divinity, a doctrine of man referred to as Hermeticism.[8] While some of these ideas may seem strange to us today, they have persisted among the superstitious from ancient times.

God Has a Body of Flesh and Bones The New Testament Scriptures indicate that Jesus himself taught, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”[9] According to Mormon theology, God has a body of flesh and bones, just as we do. “That which is without body, parts and passions is nothing. There is no other God in heaven but that God has flesh and bones.”[10] “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.”[11]

In Mormon cosmology, “the great principle of happiness consists in having a body.”[12] God would be lacking, incomplete without flesh and bones. Mormons are quick to point out that they agree that “God is spirit”[13] but add that like our spirit, his is clothed in a body.[14] Anthropomorphic descriptions of God are taken literally[15] and biblical passages which state that no one has seen God are generally dismissed as being textual corruptions. For example, the biblical text, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”[16] has become corrupted, according to Joseph Smith. According to the “Inspired Version of the Bible” Joseph Smith has translated this verse, “No man hath seen God at any time, except them who believe. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”[17] According to Mormon doctrine, God must first act upon a person before they can see him, “For no man has seen God at any time in the flesh, except quickened by the Spirit of God.”[18]

God Is an Exalted Man According to Mormon doctrine, God was once a man, an ordinary human being, who lived on a world much like our own. Some have claimed that this took place on the planet Kolob[19], although this view is not accepted as official by the LDSChurch. Officially, Kolob is the planet nearest to where God resides. One wonders how God could become exalted all by himself if he indeed was once human as we are. Why would we now need a savior to ascend to divinity, when God the Father needed no such savior?

God and Man are Self-Existent Beings If God was once a man, as Mormonism proclaims, then it must also follow that if God is self-existent, man must be also. Christian thought views the human soul to be immortal, created by God at some point in time, but continuing on eternally. In contrast to this, the Mormon view of the human spirit (they refer to this as spirit, rather than soul), is that the spirit of man is both without beginning and without end. Joseph Smith wrote this regarding the eternal spirit, “Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so.”[20] Having made reference to God as a self-existent being, Smith continues, “Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles.”[21] “The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end.”[22]

God Is One of Many gods One of the most glaring differences between the Mormonism and Christianity is that Mormonism is blatantly polytheistic and Christianity is clearly monotheistic. On June 16, 1884, Joseph Smith proclaimed, “I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods.”[23] Smith ridicules the idea of Trinitarianism, “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!”[24] While the Trinity is usually explained as three persons, yet one God, Smith sees three persons and three gods.[25] Yet, even The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants contend that Jesus and the Father are One God.[26] As strange as the God of Christianity may have seemed to Joseph Smith, the god of Mormonism is even more strange. In Mormon theology, Jesus is seen as both the Father and the Son.[27] Joseph Fielding Smith attempts to point out that since Jesus performs fatherly acts, he is rightly to be called Father but fails to point out the distinction between a father and the Father.[28] Joseph Smith’s interpretation of Revelation 1:6 is that God the Father himself has a Father![29] Here, Smith shows his complete ignorance of the Greek language. The Greek, kai; ejpoivhsen hJma'ß basileivan, iJerei'ß tw'/ qew'/ kai; patri; aujtou', which ought to be translated, “And (Jesus) has made us kings, priests to God, even his Father (meaning the Father of Jesus).” Here, Smith accepts the King James translation, but interprets it to mean something the translators surely never intended. His understanding of the text is “And (who?) hath made us kings and priests unto God and His (God’s) Father.”

Is the Father a separate god from the Son in Mormonism? It’s hard to tell because of the inconsistencies within Mormonism itself. But even beyond seeing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as three separate Gods, Mormon theology includes many other gods. Mormon Apostle, Orson Pratt made this statement, “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.”[30]

According to Mormon theology, man is as self-existent as God, “There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven.[31] Lorenzo Snow, fifth president of the LDSChurch, reportedly received this revelation: “As man now is, God once was; As God now is, man may be.”[32] However, current President of the LDSChurch, Gordon B. Hinkley seems to be distancing himself from this doctrine.[33]

Mormon apologists seem to be silent on interpreting the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4. Joseph Smith wrote, “The scriptures say that there are Gods many and Lords many, but to us there is but one living and true God.”[34] By this they mean that the other gods are for other worlds and other peoples; there is only one God for this world.[35]

Jesus is the Only Begotten of the Father According to the Flesh That Jesus is begotten of the Father has an entirely different meaning to Mormons than to the rest of those who call themselves Christians. Christians generally refer to Christ’s begotten-ness as being figurative of the relationship between the Father and the Son. Mormon’s take this expression quite literally. According to Mormon theology, God begat the spirit of Jesus with one of his celestial wives and later begat Jesus by coming to earth, and in the normal fashion (since the Mormon concept of God is that he has a body of flesh and bones) impregnated Mary,[36] thus denying the virgin birth. Free argues that if this is so, God contradicted one of his own laws of chastity.[37] God said, "If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.[38] Since Mary was betrothed to Joseph, and according to Mormon teaching, God had sexual relations with her while she was betrothed to another, then the God of Mormonism is truly evil.

Conclusion The Mormon doctrine of God can hardly be said to have any Biblical basis at all. It is derived primarily from Gnosticism and a vivid imagination. On so many grounds it contradicts the clear historical teachings of Christianity. The Bible says that God is spirit; the LDSChurch teaches that God has flesh and bones. The Bible says that God is self-existent; the LDSChurch teaches that God is an exalted man. The Bible says that there is one God; the LDSChurch teaches that there are many gods. The Bible says that Jesus was born of a virgin; the LDS church teaches that God personally impregnated Mary, according to the flesh. Just concerning the doctrine of God, Mormonism is completely in opposition to the clear teaching of the Bible. This paper has not even attempted to analyze the numerous other points of doctrinal differences.

Endnotes:
[1] Martin, The Maze of Mormonism, p. 45.
[2] The Pearl of Great Price, “Articles of Faith”, Article 8.
[3] The Book of Mormon, Introduction.
[4] The Book of Mormon, Introduction.
[5] The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Explanatory Inroduction.
[6] The Pearl of Great Price
[7] Lance S. Owens, "Joseph Smith and Kabbalah"
[8] Brooke, The Refiner's Fire p. 12
[9] John 4:24 (ESV)
[10] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p. 181
[11] The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Section 130:22
[12] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 181
[13] John 4:24 (ESV)
[14] Richards, A Marvelous Work and A Wonder p. 21-22
[15] Richards, A Marvelous Work and A Wonder pp. 15-17
[16] 1 John 4:12 (ESV)
[17] Richards, A Marvelous Work and A Wonder, p. 20
[18] The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 16:11
[19] The Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:2-18
[20] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 352
[21] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 352
[22] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 353
[23] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 370
[24] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 372
[25] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 370
[26] The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 15:5; II Nephi 31:21; Alma 11:44; Doctrine and Covenants, 20:28
[27] The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 15:2, 7:27; Ether 3:14
[28] Smith, Selections from Answers to Gospel Questions pp. 21-28
[29] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 369
[30] "The Mormon Doctrine of God" quotation from Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 345
[31] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 353
[32] "What Do Latter-Day Saints Mean When They Say That God was once a man?"
[33] "Mormon God Was Once Mortal Man Couplet"
[34] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p. 311
[35] Hoekema, Mormonism, p. 40
[36] Free, Mormonism and Inspiration, p. 250
[37] Free, Mormonism and Inspiration, pp. 250-251.
[38] The Holy Bible Deuteronomy 22:23-24.