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Mormonism and the nature of God/Polytheism
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This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.
Contents
Question
Some of my non-LDS Christian friends have told me that because Mormons don't believe the Nicene Creed, we are polytheists. Is this an accurate characterization of LDS belief?
Source(s) of the Criticism
Response
Almost invariably when someone claims that Mormons are polytheists, they are not seeking a clear explanation of Mormon thought on the nature of God, but are simply using a word with negative connotations in our religious culture as a club to intimdate or confuse others.
There really is not a single word that adequately captures LDS thought on the nature of God. The key technical terminology includes the following:
- Monotheism (belief that there is but one God)
- Tritheism (understanding the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as distinct Gods)
- Polytheism (worship of or belief in more than one God)
- Henotheism (worhsip of one God without denying the existence of other Gods; also called Monolatry)
- Trinitarianism (belief that God consists of three Persons in one substance)
- Social Trinitarianism (belief that the oneness of the three Persons is not one of substance but is social in nature [unity of thought, etc.])
- Modalism (belief that there is only one God who does not exist as three separate Persons but rather manifests itself in three different "modes" {as Father, Son or Holy Ghost])
Usually the very same people who are pressing the case that Mormons are polytheists are some stripe of Evangelical Christians who claim to be monotheists. But Trinitarians are not Monotheists by definition (just ask a Jew or Muslim).
The fact that the LDS do not believe that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one in substance, and the fact that the Saints believe in deification/theosis (that humans may eventually become deified and become partakers in the divine nature), could be used to paint Mormons as in some sense polytheists.
But when we examine the technical terminology above, it becomes clear that a key point of demarcation is worship v. acknowledgement of existence. If members of the Church worshiped an extensive pantheon like the Greeks or Romans, then the label would be appropriate. But in the context of doctrinal differences over the relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Ghost or the doctrine of deification (which is a profoundly Christian doctrine and not just a Mormon one), use of the word "polytheistic" as a pejorative is both inaccurate and inappropriate.
The fact is that instead of using a single-word label, one must actually articulate the belief (using actual sentences or paragraphs), since the single-word label that will adequately describe the full breadth of LDS thought on the nature of God has yet to be coined.
Are Christians monotheists?
Any discussion with Jews or Muslims will quickly demonstrate that no Christian is, strictly speaking, a monotheist.
One of the chief objections by Jews and Muslims is that Christians are polytheists. Most brands of Christians insist on the divinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, the very word that those who crafted the great ecumenical creeds used to describe the deity of Jesus and also his Father and the Holy Spirit is trinity, which means three. And they insisted that they should not be confounded. To do that is modalism, which was one of the primary heresies that led to the formation of the ecumenical creeds and various confessions. Modalism often insists that the one God merely appears to us in three different way—that is as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is exactly what the creeds deny.
Christians of almost all brands have tried to stress that the three persons are one. But how? In "essence," whatever that is? Or in a social group where they are united in purpose and so forth, even though they have independent centers of consciousness?
Human deification and monotheism
In addition, the New Testament has language indicating that human beings can and should eventually become one with Jesus just as he is one with his Father. Flowing from that idea one finds all over the place the idea of deification taught by various Christians. If belief in theosis makes one a polytheist, many Christians would have to be so labaled: including such figures as C. S. Lewis and John Calvin. Clearly, this is not the way in which the term "polytheist," is normally used, but critics of the Church are often willing to be inconsistent if the Church can be made to look alien or "unChristian."
Instead, the fact is that the label "monotheism" is sufficiently broad to include the kind of oneness enjoyed by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as that promised to those who become one with them when fully sanctified.
Conclusion
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.
Yet, the Saints worship one God. There are no competing divinities in whom they put their trust. LDS scripture contains such language (1 Nephi 13꞉41, 2 Nephi 31꞉21, Mosiah 15꞉1-5, Alma 11꞉26-37, Mormon 7꞉7, DC 20꞉28, Moses 1꞉20), but it is qualified in somewhat the same way that Creedal Christians have found a way of saying "three"—as in Trinity—and yet also one.
However, trying to reduce LDS thought to a simple term or "slogan" will distort the doctrine.
Endnotes
None
Further reading
William O. Nelson, “Is the LDS View of God Consistent with the Bible?” Ensign, July 1987, ---.
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