FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormonism Unmasked/Chapter 4"
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|summary=It is claimed that the Book of Mormon teaches the trinitarian heresy of modalism or Sabellianism. This reading misinterprets some Book of Mormon verses, and ignores Book of Mormon texts which clearly contradict this reading. | |summary=It is claimed that the Book of Mormon teaches the trinitarian heresy of modalism or Sabellianism. This reading misinterprets some Book of Mormon verses, and ignores Book of Mormon texts which clearly contradict this reading. | ||
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Revision as of 19:24, 12 January 2014
- REDIRECTTemplate:Test3
Contents
- 1 Response to claims made in "Chapter 4: Polytheism Reborn"
- 1.1
- 1.2 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."
- 1.3 Claim The author claims that the LDS church teaches that "God has not always been God."
- 1.4 Claim The author states that the Old and New Testaments say that there is "only one absolute, holy God."
- 1.5 Claim The author states that Joseph Smith taught that God was once a "finite man on another world."
- 1.6 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."
- 1.7 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."
- 1.8 Claim The author states that nothing in the scriptures indicates that God has a wife.
- 1.9 Claim The author discusses the Mormon concept that "Jesus and Lucifer are our older brothers."
- 1.10 Claim The author asks, "Do Men become Gods?"
- 1.11 Claim The author notes that Mormons do not believe that the world was created "out of nothing."
- 1.12 Claim The author claims that the Book of Mormon does not support a plurality of gods.
Response to claims made in "Chapter 4: Polytheism Reborn"
| Chapter 3: The Making of a Religion | A FAIR Analysis of: Mormonism Unmasked A work by author: R. Philip Roberts
|
Chapter 5: Confronting the Mormon Jesus |
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."
Author's source(s)
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine (1979) 576-77.
Response
Polytheism
Summary: Some non-LDS Christian claim that Latter-day Saints are polytheists because we don't believe the Nicene Creed. Others say Mormons are polytheists because they believe humans can become gods. Is this an accurate characterization of LDS belief?
46
Claim
The author claims that the LDS church teaches that "God has not always been God."
Response
Unchanging
Summary: Does the Book of Mormon refute Joseph Smith on the nature of God? Critics point out that the Book of Mormon never says God was once a mortal. In fact, it teaches that God was always God. Take for instance Moroni 8:18. It says God is "unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity." Joseph Smith, however, taught, "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."
46
Claim
The author states that the Old and New Testaments say that there is "only one absolute, holy God."
Response
"No God beside me"
Summary: Some Christians claim that the Mormon doctrine of the Godhead and belief in theosis are not compatible with multiple statements in Isaiah that "beside [the Lord] there is no God." These passages include Isaiah 43:10-11; Isaiah 44:6,8; Isaiah 45:5-6; Isaiah 45:21-22; and Isaiah 46:9-10.
47
Claim
The author states that Joseph Smith taught that God was once a "finite man on another world."
Author's source(s)
Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (1977) 345-46.
Response
"God is a man"
Summary: Critics object to the LDS position that God has a physical body and human form by quoting scripture which says that "God is not a man" (e.g. Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Hosea 11:9).
49
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."
Author's source(s)
John 4:24
Response
God is a Spirit?
Summary: Critics object to the LDS position that God has a physical body by quoting John 4:24: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
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."
Author's source(s)
Not provided
Response
Infinite regress of Gods
Summary: Is it true that LDS doctrine teaches a "genealogy of gods," in which God the Father had/has a God, and this God had a God, and so forth? If so, how does LDS doctrine deal with the problem of an "infinite regress" of "great-great-grandfather Gods"?
53
Claim
The author states that nothing in the scriptures indicates that God has a wife.
Response
Heavenly Mother
Summary: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a female divine person, a "Heavenly Mother" as counterpart to God, the Heavenly Father? Are we allowed to pray to our "Heavenly Mother?" It is claimed that LDS belief in a "queen of heaven" is a pagan belief, and that the concept of a "Heavenly Mother" has no support in LDS scripture.
54
Claim
The author discusses the Mormon concept that "Jesus and Lucifer are our older brothers."
Response
Brother of Satan?
Summary: It is claimed that the LDS consider Jesus and Satan to be "brothers," thus lowering the stature of Christ, or elevating Satan. Some go so far as to imply that the LDS "really" worship or revere Satan, and are thus not true "Christians."
55
Claim
The author asks, "Do Men become Gods?"
Response
Deification of man
Summary: It is claimed that the doctrine of human deification is unbiblical, false, and arrogant. Related claims include: 1) Mormons believe they will 'supplant God', 2) Belief in theosis, or human deification, implies more than one "god," which means Mormons are "polytheists," 3) The Mormon concept of "human deification" is a pagan belief derived from Greek philosophy.
56
Claim
The author notes that Mormons do not believe that the world was created "out of nothing."
Response
Creatio ex nihilo
Summary: Mainstream Christianity teaches that God created the universe from nothing (ex nihilo), while Mormons teach that God organized the universe from pre-existing matter. The LDS God is therefore claimed to be "less powerful" than the God of mainstream Christianity, or "unbiblical."
57
Claim
The author claims that the Book of Mormon does not support a plurality of gods.
Response
Modalism in the Book of Mormon?
Summary: It is claimed that the Book of Mormon teaches the trinitarian heresy of modalism or Sabellianism. This reading misinterprets some Book of Mormon verses, and ignores Book of Mormon texts which clearly contradict this reading.