The Man Who Would Be God by Lloyd Sharp

"Virtually every single theological heresy begins with a misconception of the nature of God." Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute, coined this phrase. It highlights the importance of how one views God. In the Bible we learn that God is eternal and there was never a time when he was not God Almighty. This is drastically different from the LDS teaching that God the Father used to be a man and evolved to become the God of this world. We will look at this teaching, its logical implications and what the Bible has to say about the matter.

In the Beginning...

While the Bible is clear that "In the beginning God…," Mormonism would be more aptly explained with "In the beginning man…" This is because Mormonism teaches that God is an exalted man. This teaching has been espoused by every single LDS president and was first taught by Joseph Smith himself. Joseph Smith stated that "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens…. If you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form" and that God "was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, pp. 345-346). This doctrine of evolving from man to God is known as Eternal Progression. It is this doctrine of eternal progression, Mormons believe, that will allow faithful Mormons to become gods, just as God the Father did. This is best seen in the LDS manual Achieving a Celestial Marriage. Page 132 reads, "By obedience to eternal gospel principles, he progressed from one stage of life to another until he attained the state we call exaltation or godhood."

1+1=3

There are some serious logical problems with the doctrine of eternal progression. The first main problem is known as an infinite regress. Imagine that what Joseph Smith taught was true for a moment. God was a man, created by a god who was a man, who was created by god who was a man back into infinity past. You could never get to the first Mormon god because he would always need a creator! This infinite regress of gods makes it impossible to have a first cause. Second LDS president Brigham Young admitted the difficulty in finding the beginning of all things within Mormonism when he said, "Many have tried to penetrate the first cause of all things… It would be as easy for a gnat to trace the history of man back to his origin as for man to fathom the First Cause of all things" (Journal of Discourses, 7:284). Other logical problems abound as well. For example, the Mormon God evolved to godhood by abiding by various eternal laws and regulations. If you can never reach the first LDS god, then who created these rules? Even if you could reach the first LDS god, how did he get his body? Who created the earth he lived on? How could he overcome sin, if there was no god before him to define what sin is? As we see, the lack of a first cause makes the Mormon concept of God not only confusing, but also limited and illogical. This goes contrary to scripture which states that God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33).

An example of the limitations of the God preached in Mormonism is seen in the creation of the universe. While the Bible teaches that God created the universe Ex Nihilo (out of nothing), the LDS church teaches that God can only create things out of preexisting material know as element. Rather than speaking the universe into existence, the God of Mormonism forms elements together to create planets, people, etc. LDS Apostle John Widtsoe stated that "God, the supreme power, cannot conceivably originate matter; he can only organize matter. Neither can he destroy matter; he can only disorganize it…. The doctrine that God made the earth or man from nothing becomes, therefore, an absurdity." (Widtsoe, A Rational Theology, p.12). How God can be "the supreme power" as Widtsoe said, and be limited to organizing preexisting material seems to be a self-defeating statement.

The Final Verdict

While many Latter-day Saints continue to struggle with how God can be an exalted man and still not be limited, the Bible offers a better alternative. God is eternal and is the only God ever to exist. Isaiah 43:10 states that "before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." Through the prophet Malachi God said that "I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). Numbers 23:19 makes it clear that "God is not a man," not even an exalted one. In the New Testament we read that God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24) and a spirit does not have flesh and bones (Lk. 24:39). God creates by His powerful word. When He speaks in Genesis, the universe leaps into existence. God is unique in every way from His creation and rebukes any who compare Him to man (Ps. 50:21; Romans 1:22- 23).

Back to No Comparison or The Father