HANK HANEGRAAF:
Now this is material that reads like a fast-paced novel but someone’s going to say, perhaps a Mormon listening, look maybe that is true and maybe you can substantiate and document that but that’s not what we believe today. Speak to the issue of what happened officially in Mormon history. What officials in the Mormon Church and the hierarchy of the Church actually believe and what the garden variety Mormon believes.
RICHARD ABANES:
Well that’s really hard because when you talk to the average Mormon you never know how much doctrine they’re going to know. Certainly all the leaders, the General Authorities of the Mormon Church know about all of these things. In fact there was a doctrine for example called the Adam-God doctrine where Brigham Young actually taught that Adam was our Father and our God. That is considered heresy now. So that most Mormons would not find this out, the Mormon leadership actually covered the fact up that Brigham Young actually taught this at one point and Bruce McConkie who was a very well-known Apostle of the Mormon Church actually in a letter told somebody that yes indeed Brigham taught this but to not let anybody know because they may lose their testimony.
The Truth about the Adam-God Theory:
- Adam-God theory—Brigham Young taught that Adam, the first man, was God the Father. Since this teaching runs counter to the story told in Genesis and commonly accepted by Christians, critics accuse Brigham of being a false prophet. Also, because modern Latter-day Saints do not believe Brigham’s “Adam-God” teachings, critics accuse Mormons of either changing their teachings or rejecting teachings of prophets they find uncomfortable or unsupportable. (Link)
