View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormonism Unmasked/Chapter 4

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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormonism Unmasked/Chapter 4
|H=Response to claims made in "Chapter 4: Polytheism Reborn"
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|T=[[../../|Mormonism Unmasked]]
|A=R. Philip Roberts
|<=[[../Chapter 3|Chapter 3: The Making of a Religion]]
|>=[[../Chapter 5|Chapter 5: Confronting the Mormon Jesus]]
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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormonism Unmasked/Chapter 4
|H=Response to claims made in Mormonism Unmasked,  "Chapter 4: Polytheism Reborn"
|S=
|L1=Response to claim: 46 - The author states that "not only does the LDS church teach that there are three gods in the Godhead, but that there are other gods as well"
|L2=Response to claim: 46 - The author claims that the LDS church teaches that "God has not always been God"
|L3=Response to claim: 46 - The author states that the Old and New Testaments say that there is "only one absolute, holy God"
|L4=Response to claim: 47 - The author states that Joseph Smith taught that God was once a "finite man on another world"
|L5=Response to claim: 49 - The author states that the Bible cannot be used to attribute human characteristics (body parts) to God, and that John declared that "God is a spirit"
|L6=Response to claim: 49 - That author states that Mormons believe in an "infinite regress" of gods, and that if this is true, then "no gods could have ever come to exist"
|L7=Response to claim: 53 - The author states that nothing in the scriptures indicates that God has a wife
|L8=Response to claim: 54 - The author discusses the Mormon concept that "Jesus and Lucifer are our older brothers"
|L9=Response to claim: 55 - The author asks, "Do Men become Gods?"
|L10=Response to claim: 56 - The author notes that Mormons do not believe that the world was created "out of nothing"
|L11=Response to claim: 57 - The author claims that the Book of Mormon does not support a plurality of gods
}}
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==Response to claim: 46 - The author states that "not only does the LDS church teach that there are three gods in the Godhead, but that there are other gods as well"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author states that "not only does the LDS church teach that there are three gods in the Godhead, but that there are other gods as well."
|authorsources=<br>
#Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'' (1979) 576-77.
}}
{{disinformation|Latter-day Saints are not polytheists in any reasonable sense of the term that does not also exclude most other Christians who deny the Modalist heresy}}
{{:Question: Are Mormons polytheists because they don't accept the Nicene Creed?}}

==Response to claim: 46 - The author claims that the LDS church teaches that "God has not always been God"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author claims that the LDS church teaches that "God has not always been God."
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{propaganda|The idea that God progressed to His current state is not actually the subject of any lesson within the Church. It is a concept that we learn from Joseph Smith, but we know little more than that. In any case, Mormons do not diminish the authority and power of God in any way by believing this.}}
{{:Question: Does the Book of Mormon refute Joseph Smith on the nature of God?}}

==Response to claim: 46 - The author states that the Old and New Testaments say that there is "only one absolute, holy God"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author states that the Old and New Testaments say that there is "only one absolute, holy God."
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{misinformation|Mormons worship the God of the Old and New Testaments.}}
{{:Question: How is Mormon belief compatible with Isaiah's statement that beside the Lord "there is no God?"}}

==Response to claim: 47 - The author states that Joseph Smith taught that God was once a "finite man on another world"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author states that Joseph Smith taught that God was once a "finite man on another world."
|authorsources=<br>
#Joseph Fielding Smith, ''Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith'' (1977) 345-46.
}}
{{information}}
{{:Question: Does the doctrine that God has a physical body contradict the Bible?}}

==Response to claim: 49 - The author states that the Bible cannot be used to attribute human characteristics (body parts) to God, and that John declared that "God is a spirit"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author states that the Bible cannot be used to attribute human characteristics (body parts) to God, and that John declared that "God is a spirit."
|authorsources=<br>
#John 4:24
}}
{{misinformation|Yet, the Bible ''does'' attribute physical characteristics to God.}}
{{:Question: Does the Mormon doctrine that God has a physical body contradict the Bible's statement in John 4:24 that "God is a Spirit"?}}

==Response to claim: 49 - That author states that Mormons believe in an "infinite regress" of gods, and that if this is true, then "no gods could have ever come to exist"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=That author states that Mormons believe in an "infinite regress" of gods, and that if this is true, then "no gods could have ever come to exist."
|authorsources=<br>
#Not provided
}}
{{misinformation|An "infinite regress" of gods is not a teaching within Mormon doctrine because we know very little about it.}}
{{:Question:Is it true that Mormon doctrine teaches a "genealogy of gods," in which God the Father had/has a god, and this god had a god, and so forth?}}

==Response to claim: 53 - The author states that nothing in the scriptures indicates that God has a wife==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author states that nothing in the scriptures indicates that God has a wife.
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{misinformation|Latter-day Saints infer the existence of a Heavenly Mother through scripture and modern revelation.}}
{{:Source:Gospel Topics:Becoming Like God:Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them}}
{{:Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a female divine person, a "Heavenly Mother" as counterpart to God, the Heavenly Father?}}

==Response to claim: 54 - The author discusses the Mormon concept that "Jesus and Lucifer are our older brothers"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author discusses the Mormon concept that "Jesus and Lucifer are our older brothers."
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{propaganda|We believe Jesus is the divine Son of God and that Satan is a fallen angel, but that God is the Father of all. The fact that we believe that Lucifer is fallen son of God does not diminish Jesus in any way.}}
{{:Question: Do Latter-day Saints consider Jesus to be the brother of Satan?}}

==Response to claim: 55 - The author asks, "Do Men become Gods?"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author asks, "Do Men become Gods?"
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{information}}
{{:Source:Gospel Topics:Becoming Like God:Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense}}

==Response to claim: 56 - The author notes that Mormons do not believe that the world was created "out of nothing"==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author notes that Mormons do not believe that the world was created "out of nothing."
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{information|The author's claim is correct.}}
{{:Question: How did the mainstream Christian view that God created the universe out of nothing originate?}}
{{:Question: What were the early Christian beliefs about the creation?}}
{{:Question: How was the doctrine of creation altered to "creatio ex nihilo"?}}

==Response to claim: 57 - The author claims that the ''Book of Mormon'' does not support a plurality of gods==	
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Mormonism Unmasked
|claim=The author claims that the ''Book of Mormon'' does not support a plurality of gods.
|authorsources=<br>
#}}
{{misinformation|The Book of Mormon teaches that the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three persons, and is not consistent with either modalism/Sabellianism or standard Nicene trinitarianism}}
{{:Question: Does the Book of Mormon teach that Christ and the Father are a single individual expressing himself in different modes?}}

{{endnotes sources}}



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