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.
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Revision as of 23:58, 9 February 2011
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Contents
- 1 Mormonism and the nature of God
- 1.1 Topics
- 1.1.1 Corporality
- 1.1.2 Deification of man
- 1.1.3 Elohim and Jehovah
- 1.1.4 Foreknowledge
- 1.1.5 "God is a man"
- 1.1.6 God is a Spirit?
- 1.1.7 Godhead and the Trinity
- 1.1.8 Graven images
- 1.1.9 Heavenly Mother
- 1.1.10 Hinckley downplaying the King Follett Discourse
- 1.1.11 Infinite regress of Gods
- 1.1.12 No man has seen God
- 1.1.13 Polytheism
- 1.1.14 Unchanging
- 1.1 Topics
Mormonism and the nature of God
==Topics
==
Corporality
Summary: Critics attack the LDS doctrine of God the Father and Jesus Christ being corporeal beings—i.e., having physical bodies. They claim that this doctrine is not Biblical.Deification of man
Summary: Critics claim 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.Elohim and Jehovah
Summary: Some critics assert that Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai and other similar Old Testament Hebrew names for deity are simply different titles which emphasize different attributes of the "one true God." In support of this criticism, they cite Old Testament scriptures that speak of "the LORD [Jehovah] thy God [Elohim]" (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:2; 4:35; 6:4) as proof that these are different titles for the same God.Foreknowledge
Summary: Most Latter-day Saints hold to unlimited foreknowledge. This has been the traditional view of most Christians since the post-New Testament period, and it is one doctrine that Joseph Smith didn't seem to question, as there are no revelations that address it. Indeed, it appears that most LDS leaders and scholars simply haven't questioned its veracity."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).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."- Lecture of Faith 5 teaches the Father is "a personage of spirit"—
Brief Summary: Lectures on Faith, which used to be part of the Doctrine and Covenants, teach that God is a spirit. Joseph Smith's later teachings contradict this. More generally, critics argue that Joseph Smith taught an essentially "trinitarian" view of the Godhead until the mid 1830s, thus proving the Joseph was "making it up" as he went along. (Click here for full article)∗ ∗ ∗
- Lecture of Faith 5 teaches the Father is "a personage of spirit"—