Countercult ministries/Watchman Fellowship/Section 1

1. REDIRECTTemplate:Test3

Response to claims in "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Profile"

A FAIR Analysis of: Watchman Fellowship A work by author: Rick Branch

Claims made in "Hinckley Claims LDS Worship Different Christ"

Claim
The authors claim that Joseph was told during the First Vision that "all the Christian Church's doctrines 'were an abomination'."

Author's source(s)

• Joseph Smith - History 19, Pearl of Great Price.

Response

• This is false. Joseph was told that the "creeds" were an abomination, not all the doctrines taught.
• For a detailed response, see: Creeds an abomination
• For a detailed response, see: Apostasy
• For a detailed response, see: Non-biblical and unscriptural ideas in the creeds

Claim
The authors claim that Mormonism is a "polytheistic religion," because of the belief that God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three distinct and separate personages.

Author's source(s)

• Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 370.
• McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 576-577.

Response

• This is false. The Saints believe that God is "one," but understand this oneness differently than creedal trinitarians.
• For a detailed response, see: Polytheism

Response to claim: According to Joseph Smith, God "was once a man like us."

The author(s) of Watchman Fellowship make(s) the following claim:

According to Joseph Smith, God "was once a man like us."

Author's sources: History of the Church, 6:305

Question: Does the doctrine that God has a physical body contradict the Bible?

A growing consensus of scholars recognizes that God, as depicted in the Bible, is embodied

The overwhelming academic consensus is that God, as depicted in the Bible, is embodied. Several books that you can read bare this out:

• Kamionkowski, S. Tamar and Wonil Kim, eds. Bodies, Embodiment, and Theology of the Hebrew Bible. New York: T&T Clark International, 2010.
• Halton, Charles. A Human-Shaped God: Theology of an Embodied God. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021.
• Wilson, Brittany E. The Embodied God: Seeing the Divine in Luke-Acts and the Early Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• Wagner, Andreas. God's Body: The Anthropomorphic God in the Old Testament. Trans. Marion Salzmann. New York: T&T Clark, 2019.
• Markschies, Christoph. God's Body: Jewish, Christian, and Pagan Images of God. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019.
• Sommer, Benjamin D. The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Stavarakopolou, Francesca. God: An Anatomy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021.

This last book, God: An Anatomy, was helpfully reviewed by Latter-day Saint scholar and apologist Daniel C. Peterson. Peterson commends and gives some cautions regarding the book that may apply more generally to the books just listed. We recommend seeing his review cited below.

It is incorrect to imply that God cannot be in human form, since a fundamental doctrine of Christianity is that Jesus is God, made flesh

Mormons believe that God has a physical body and human form. Does scripture which says that "God is not a man" (e.g. Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Hosea 11:9) contradict this idea?

These scriptures read (emphasis added):

• "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man [i.e., a human being], that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" - Numbers 23:19
• "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." - 1 Samuel 15:29
• I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. - Hosea 11:9

The first passage, in Numbers, not only says that "God is not a man", but it also says that God is not "the son of man." If a Christian were to claim from this passage that God is not a man, they would have to consistently claim that God is also not a "son of man." This of course contradicts many New Testament statements about Jesus (who is God) to the contrary. Though there are many examples, one should suffice. Jesus says, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40 Therefore, we know that the passage from Numbers is not suggesting that God is fundamentally not a "son of man", but rather that God is not a "son of man" in the sense that God doesn't have need for repentance. The next logical step requires us to conclude that the passage is not suggesting that God is fundamentally "not a man", but that God is not a man in the sense that God does not lie.

These verses say nothing about the nature or form of God—they merely assert that God is not like man in certain ways

God will not lie or change his declared course, unlike humans. As the NET translation of 1 Samuel says, "The Preeminent One of Israel does not go back on his word or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.”

It is incorrect to imply that God cannot be in human form—the fundamental doctrine of Christianity is that Jesus is God, made flesh. One would have to assume that these verses also apply to Jesus, when they clearly do not. Jesus may be in human form, but he will not sin, or change his mind from doing his father's will.

Claim
Brigham Young said that the birth of Jesus Christ "was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action."

Author's source(s)

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:115.
• McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 742.

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Conception of Jesus Christ

Claim
Jesus "is the brother of Lucifer."

Author's source(s)

• Milton Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, 15.

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Jesus Christ the brother of Satan?

Claim
Latter-day Saints make a distinction between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit.

Author's source(s)

• McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 752.

Response

• In the source cited above, the author notes that the term "Holy Spirit" "is a synonym for the Holy Ghost, that Spirit entity or personage of Spirit who is a member of the godhead." But, two other scriptural uses of the term include the spirit of Christ that entered His physical body, and the power or influence of Christ generally.

Claim
The authors state the "every worthy male, according to the standards of Mormonism, will become a god and rule over their own planet." The authors state that women are excluded.

Author's source(s)

• Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 2:48.

Response

• Men cannot be exalted without women; women cannot be exalted without men. The critics ignore the fact that human deification (theosis) is a prominent biblical teachings and found among the early Christians.
• For a detailed response, see: Human deification
• For a detailed response, see: Gods of their own planets?

Claim
There is a "Mother God."

Author's source(s)

• Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions 3:143-144.

Response

• For a detailed response, see: Heavenly Mother

Claim
We are all spiritual offspring of our Heavenly Father and Mother, and we once lived in the pre-existence.

Author's source(s)

• McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 589.

Response

• This is an accurate reflection of LDS belief.
• For a detailed response, see: Heavenly Parents

Claim
The authors claim that "Black people are black because of their misdeeds in the pre-existence."

Author's source(s)

• Melvin J. Ballard, Three Degrees of Glory, p. 21.

Response

• This claim is false; the critics cite an author from 1922—and here he makes it clear he is only expressing his opinion: "I am convinced."
• This idea has since been repeatedly repudiated by leaders of the Church.
• For a detailed response, see: Repudiated ideas about race
• For a detailed response, see: LDS do not regard their leaders as infallible
• For a detailed response, see: Only the LDS President and prophet may declare doctrine

Claim
The authors claim that salvation or exaltation "is based on one's own good works or merit."

Author's source(s)

• Lowell Bennion, "The Religion of the Latter-day Saints," p. 160.
• Church News, October 8, 1988, p. 23.

Response

• Neither the Church News nor Bennion's manual from 1940 are canonized doctrinal sources.
• The Book of Mormon teaches that "here is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah...." (2 Nephi 2꞉8).
• That said, the Bible, Book of Mormon, and other LDS scripture teach that we must exercise faith, accept Christ, repent, be baptized, and endure to the end to be saved. These are "good works"—they do not save us, but signal our sincerity and willingness to follow Jesus.
• For a detailed response, see: Do LDS neglect grace?
• For a detailed response, see: Salvation by faith alone?
• For a detailed response, see: Early Christian views on what was required for salvation

Claim
The authors claim that Latter-day Saint consider the Bible "suspect due to its many errors and missing parts."

Author's source(s)

• Articles of Faith No. 8, Ensign January 1989, pp. 25, 27.

Response

• The article of faith says only that LDS believe the Bible "as far as it is translated correctly." LDS are not bound by transmission or translation errors by non-prophetic authors. They are not scriptural inerrantists.
• For a detailed response, see: Scriptural inerrancy and LDS cherish the Bible

Daniel C. Peterson, "An Unexpected Case for an Anthropomorphic God," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 50 (2022): vii–xx.