Is it true that Mormonism taught that Adam is God the Father?
It is true that second LDS president Brigham Young taught that Adam is
God. It was April 9, 1852 when Brigham Young publicly taught the following:
"When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it
with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He
helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel,
the ANCIENT OF DAYS! about whom holy men have written and spoken—HE is
our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do." (Journal
of Discourses, 1: 51, emphasis original)
While the quote above is most commonly cited to show that Brigham Young
actually taught Adam is God, it is not the only source to turn to. For
example, the LDS publication Millennial Star ran an article entitled Adam,
the Father and God of the Human Family in December os 1853. The article
claimed that "while the sentiment [that Adam is God] may have appeared
blasphemous to the ignorant; it has no doubt given rise to some serious
reflections with the more candid and comprehensive mind... Adam is really
God! and why not?" (Millennial Star, vol. 15, p. 801, December
10, 1853, insert added)
Needless to say many members of the LDS church had problems with such a teaching. Twenty years after proclaiming that Adam is God Brigham Young rebuked those who doubted his teaching.
"How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me - namely that Adam is our father and God." (Deseret News, June 14, 1873)
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Adam-God doctrine was Young's claim that Adam is the father of Jesus Christ.
"When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family... Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden..." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 1:50-51)
"That first man sent his own son to redeem the world..." (Herber C.
Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 4:1)
To the credit of the LDS church this doctrine is no longer taught. However, it does leave one to wonder why an alleged ‘prophet' of God would teach something that is considered heresy today.