Is the Mormon God/Heavenly Father described in the Bible?

  • Thread starter Thread starter 1voice
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
1

1voice

Guest
How do Mormons differ from Evangelical Christians in their concept of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

Is there a difference? Is it significant … or not?
 
Let me just give an Mormon perspective on the question…

As most know, we believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages who are one in purpose. Their purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Here is how we distinguish the three:

The Father - He is the Father of you and me. He is the Father of our spirits. He is the great ruler of the universe. We are created in his image.
The Son - He is also a spirit son of God. However, unlike you and me he is the only Son of God in the flesh. He atoned for our sins and through him we are saved.
Holy Ghost - He is a personage of spirit. We receive guidance and inspiration through his ministrations.

These three individuals constitute the Godhead.

We believe the bible affirms these facts. However, we also believe that Joseph Smith saw both God the Father and the Son. He testifies of his experience using these words, “When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other–“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!””
 
Let me just give an Mormon perspective on the question…

As most know, we believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages who are one in purpose. Their purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Here is how we distinguish the three:

The Father - He is the Father of you and me. He is the Father of our spirits. He is the great ruler of the universe. We are created in his image.
The Son - He is also a spirit son of God. However, unlike you and me he is the only Son of God in the flesh. He atoned for our sins and through him we are saved.
Holy Ghost - He is a personage of spirit. We receive guidance and inspiration through his ministrations.

These three individuals constitute the Godhead.

We believe the bible affirms these facts. However, we also believe that Joseph Smith saw both God the Father and the Son. He testifies of his experience using these words, “When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other–“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!””
Thank you for your response…
My daughter was dating a Mormon for a while … as result I wanted to find out what beliefs that the LDS Church teaches. One of the things that got my attention was Joseph Smith’s teachings about God the Father…

This is what I read:

Joseph Smith is quoted saying each of the following in “The Teachings of Joseph Smith”:

“I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea”

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret”

“It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God … that he 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; and I will show it from the Bible.”

“God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way…Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also?..”

I had never heard any of these things being attributed to God the Father until I read what Joseph Smith said. I have never seen anywhere in the Bible that describes God the Father in these terms.

I guess I’m looking for clarification.
…How do Joseph Smith’s teachings about God the Father in these quotes square up with what it says about God in the Bible?
 
Thank you for your response…
My daughter was dating a Mormon for a while … as result I wanted to find out what beliefs that the LDS Church teaches. One of the things that got my attention was Joseph Smith’s teachings about God the Father…

This is what I read:

Joseph Smith is quoted saying each of the following in “The Teachings of Joseph Smith”:

“I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea”

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret”

“It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God … that he 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; and I will show it from the Bible.”

“God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way…Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also?..”

I had never heard any of these things being attributed to God the Father until I read what Joseph Smith said. I have never seen anywhere in the Bible that describes God the Father in these terms.

I guess I’m looking for clarification.
…How do Joseph Smith’s teachings about God the Father in these quotes square up with what it says about God in the Bible?
John 10:17-18 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 5:17-20 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth…

If the Son can do nothing but what he seeth the Father do then how can the Son lay down his life and take it up again save he saw the Father do the same? Is it not reasonable then to supose that the Father dwelt on an earth just as the Son and the Son learned from the Father?
 
John 10:17-18 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 5:17-20 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth…

If the Son can do nothing but what he seeth the Father do then how can the Son lay down his life and take it up again save he saw the Father do the same? Is it not reasonable then to supose that the Father dwelt on an earth just as the Son and the Son learned from the Father?
This quote is really confusing … can you provide clarity here …

“I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea”
 
This quote is really confusing … can you provide clarity here …

“I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea”
You will get arguments inside and outside the LDS church on what the above means. Some opponents will quote other church authorities on the matter and say we believe in an infallible God. Truthfully I can not remember ever hearing a lesson on this topic in church. It is simply not discussed in detail.

So having said that I will give you some of my thoughts. Further on in the same discourse we have been quoting Joseph says, “he [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, and I will show it from the Bible.” Please read the above carefully. He was a man, like us but dwelt on the earth the same as Christ did. Did Christ dwell on the earth as fully human? Yes. Christ, like us, was born of woman and suffered death. Does that mean Christ was a sinner? Of course not. Christ was the only perfect being to ever walk the earth. I take this quote to mean that God at some previous time came to earth took upon him flesh and blood the same as Christ did.

With the above belief, I, a member in good standing, may attend church, go to the temple and receive all blessings the same as any other member. May Joseph have meant more than what I just explained? Indeed it is possible, but I am not bound to believe it. No doubt some members would not even go so far as I have gone.
 
The Catholic Church has the fullness of truth of who Jesus Christ is, and the Christ given authority to interpret Scripture.

Without the Church, you are going to have endless divisions and disputes.

There is only One God, One Wiill, One Subsrtance, One Church. Baptism based on this communion of 3 Persons in One God is extended to the incorporated baptized in Christ. The Holy Father represents this communion with God in Christ and with all believers.

You either accept division and disputes or communion with the Lord, His Church, and with believers.
 
John 10:17-18 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 5:17-20 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth…

If the Son can do nothing but what he seeth the Father do then how can the Son lay down his life and take it up again save he saw the Father do the same? Is it not reasonable then to supose that the Father dwelt on an earth just as the Son and the Son learned from the Father?
I’m not sure if you’re a man or a woman, but let’s just assume for the sake of argument that you’re a man, and that you had a father. Do you do everything in your life, exactly as your father did? Or, do you only do some things that he did? Or, perhaps have you never done any of the things that your father did in the same way that he did? Is your entire life a perfect mirror image of what your father was, and what he did, in every detail? Do you even know one son that’s done everything, exactly as his father did before him? What about your brothers if you have any? If not, then why would you assume that Jesus had to do everything exactly as His Father did? Are they supposed to be exactly the same, in every detail of their existence? Have you ever known any father and son that had everything that happened to them in their lives, happen in the same exact way?
 
I’m not sure if you’re a man or a woman, but let’s just assume for the sake of argument that you’re a man, and that you had a father. Do you do everything in your life, exactly as your father did? Or, do you only do some things that he did? Or, perhaps have you never done any of the things that your father did in the same way that he did? Is your entire life a perfect mirror image of what your father was, and what he did, in every detail? Do you even know one son that’s done everything, exactly as his father did before him? What about your brothers if you have any? If not, then why would you assume that Jesus had to do everything exactly as His Father did? Are they supposed to be exactly the same, in every detail of their existence? Have you ever known any father and son that had everything that happened to them in their lives, happen in the same exact way?
You are undoubtedly correct that a son may not do every last thing that his father does. However, in this case Christ was commanded to lay down his life and take it up again by his Father (See John 10:18 as given previously). Christ says, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38). His atonement was the major purpose for his entire life. So when the Savior says he can do nothing but what he sees the Father do this almost certainly includes his atonement.
 
You are undoubtedly correct that a son may not do every last thing that his father does. However, in this case Christ was commanded to lay down his life and take it up again by his Father (See John 10:18 as given previously). Christ says, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38). His atonement was the major purpose for his entire life. So when the Savior says he can do nothing but what he sees the Father do this almost certainly includes his atonement.
If your father tells you to do something that he never did, would you still obey him, or would you argue with him and tell him that he never did it, so why should you? Jesus always did His Father’s will out of love and obedience to Him. Whether His Father had already “done it before” or not, was totally irrelevant to Him obeying the commands that His Father gave Him. Joseph Smith was just grasping at straws to find reasons to believe that the Father was once a man, so he could ‘prove’ that men can also become gods. That’s why he interpreted much of what Jesus said in the ways that he did.

The two Bible quotes you posted are from two completely different situations and subjects, that are not related in the way that you propose them to be. In John 5, Jesus was being persecuted by the Jews for healing a man on the sabbath. He was teaching them that He worked on the sabbath by doing the things that His Father sent Him to do, because God is not subject to the laws of man. He can do whatever He pleases on the sabbath, because it’s the Lord’s day and He is the Lord. His Father’s “work” that He was referring to, were things that He was sent to do, such as preaching and performing miracles like healing the sick. His Father never stopped ‘working’ at providing for His children on any day of the week, because if God ever stopped ‘working’, even for an instant, all that exists would vanish, forever.

In John 10, Jesus was speaking about laying down His life for His sheep (we who follow Him), which was the way that He would reopen the gates of Heaven, which had been closed to all mankind since Adam and Eve sinned, and were cast out of Paradise. Jesus was, is, and always will be God (the Alpha & the Omega). The only way that anyone could take His life from Him, was if He allowed it to happen. No man on earth could ever kill Him otherwise, because He is God. He never lost any of His Power as God, even while He was living as a man. He allowed men to kill Him in obedience to His Father. The lesson in that line is that we should all strive to do God’s will in everything that we do in this life, just as Jesus did the will of His Father through His obedience to Him.
 
Thank you for your response…
My daughter was dating a Mormon for a while … as result I wanted to find out what beliefs that the LDS Church teaches. One of the things that got my attention was Joseph Smith’s teachings about God the Father…

This is what I read:

Joseph Smith is quoted saying each of the following in “The Teachings of Joseph Smith”:

“I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea”

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret”

“It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God … that he 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; and I will show it from the Bible.”

“God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way…Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father also?..”

I had never heard any of these things being attributed to God the Father until I read what Joseph Smith said. I have never seen anywhere in the Bible that describes God the Father in these terms.

I guess I’m looking for clarification.
…How do Joseph Smith’s teachings about God the Father in these quotes square up with what it says about God in the Bible?
To be fair to Joseph Smith…he had been studying Holy Kabbalah with a rabbi acquaintence of his who alow was teaching him Hebrew…his King Follett sermon makes perfect sense to me knowing that Joseph Smith was perhaps elaborating on a Kabbalistic teaching of Primal Man…Adam Kadmon.🤷
 
The two Bible quotes you posted are from two completely different situations and subjects, that are not related in the way that you propose them to be. In John 5, Jesus was being persecuted by the Jews for healing a man on the sabbath. He was teaching them that He worked on the sabbath by doing the things that His Father sent Him to do, because God is not subject to the laws of man. He can do whatever He pleases on the sabbath, because it’s the Lord’s day and He is the Lord. His Father’s “work” that He was referring to, were things that He was sent to do, such as preaching and performing miracles like healing the sick. His Father never stopped ‘working’ at providing for His children on any day of the week, because if God ever stopped ‘working’, even for an instant, all that exists would vanish, forever.

In John 10, Jesus was speaking about laying down His life for His sheep (we who follow Him), which was the way that He would reopen the gates of Heaven, which had been closed to all mankind since Adam and Eve sinned, and were cast out of Paradise. Jesus was, is, and always will be God (the Alpha & the Omega). The only way that anyone could take His life from Him, was if He allowed it to happen. No man on earth could ever kill Him otherwise, because He is God. He never lost any of His Power as God, even while He was living as a man. He allowed men to kill Him in obedience to His Father. The lesson in that line is that we should all strive to do God’s will in everything that we do in this life, just as Jesus did the will of His Father through His obedience to Him.
Yes, these two events did not happen at the same time and so indeed have different circumstances surrounding them. The question is, are the two subjects completely different? In John you agree Jesus was speaking of laying down his life for the sheep. An important requirement in order to accomplish the atonement.

But what of chapter 5 of John. Was Christ strictly speaking of Sabbath observance? As you said, he was being accused of healing on the Sabbath. But also of making himself equal with God. In the next verse Jesus shows his humility by indicating he can do nothing but what the Father has done. Jesus continuing in his thoughts In verse 21 he says, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” Then in verse 25 and 26, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself: so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;…” These scriptures would seem to be rather clear allusion to the resurrection, another vital requirement for the atonement. They also indicate the link between the life found in the Father and the Son.

So both scriptures are alluding to the Sons great and last sacrifice and are not so different in theme.
 
Yes, these two events did not happen at the same time and so indeed have different circumstances surrounding them. The question is, are the two subjects completely different? In John you agree Jesus was speaking of laying down his life for the sheep. An important requirement in order to accomplish the atonement.
Jesus’ death on the cross and rising again are the two most important factors in the salvation of the entire world.
But what of chapter 5 of John. Was Christ strictly speaking of Sabbath observance? As you said, he was being accused of healing on the Sabbath. But also of making himself equal with God. In the next verse Jesus shows his humility by indicating he can do nothing but what the Father has done. Jesus continuing in his thoughts In verse 21 he says, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” Then in verse 25 and 26, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself: so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;…” These scriptures would seem to be rather clear allusion to the resurrection, another vital requirement for the atonement. They also indicate the link between the life found in the Father and the Son.

So both scriptures are alluding to the Sons great and last sacrifice and are not so different in theme.
When referring to the ‘work’ of His Father and His works, done by the commandment of His Father, yes. He was answering their charge that He had broken the sabbath, when in fact He created the sabbath, and is free to do whatever pleases Him, no matter what day of the week it is. I agree that part of that lesson was also that He was the true Messiah, the Son of God. I never said I didn’t agree with any of that.

But, your primary reason for connecting those two passages was to point out the references to Jesus doing what the Father did, as if He were talking about His Father having had the same experience of being a “Son of God”, which is a completely false premise. That was my objection to your connecting the two different passages for that purpose. Jesus is God, and as such, He has always done what the Father also does. He gives life and takes it away, again. He makes the sun shine and the rain fall. He can raise the winds to cause storms or He can keep the wind from blowing. Jesus proved that He could do all of those things while He was traveling around the countryside with the Apostles.

As I also said, Jesus never lost His power as God because He was always Divine, from before the very beginning of all creation. His Divinity cannot be separated from His humanity, any more than He can ever be separated from His Father and the Holy Spirit. Even though He was living on earth as a human being, He was always joined with His Father and the Holy Spirit, in Heaven. They can never be separated from Each other like an earthly father and son, that are always completely separate creatures. Wherever you find the Father, there is the Son and the Holy Spirit, also. Whatever the Father does, so does the Son and the Spirit. That was the lesson that Jesus was teaching when referring to everything He did being the same as His Father did.
 
in a word- no. The LDS God is not Biblical. It comes from the mind of Joseph Smith.
 
Yes, these two events did not happen at the same time and so indeed have different circumstances surrounding them. The question is, are the two subjects completely different? In John you agree Jesus was speaking of laying down his life for the sheep. An important requirement in order to accomplish the atonement.

But what of chapter 5 of John. Was Christ strictly speaking of Sabbath observance? As you said, he was being accused of healing on the Sabbath. But also of making himself equal with God. In the next verse Jesus shows his humility by indicating he can do nothing but what the Father has done. Jesus continuing in his thoughts In verse 21 he says, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” Then in verse 25 and 26, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself: so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;…” These scriptures would seem to be rather clear allusion to the resurrection, another vital requirement for the atonement. They also indicate the link between the life found in the Father and the Son.

So both scriptures are alluding to the Sons great and last sacrifice and are not so different in theme.
On a different subject … how do Mormons deal with the fact that both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young practiced polyandry with multiple men’s wives ?

I had no idea until just recently.

Ann Eliza Young, who had been married to Brigham Young, said this:

"Joseph not only paid his addresses to the young and unmarried women, but he sought ‘spiritual alliance’ with many married ladies… He taught them that all former marriages were null and void, and that they were at perfect liberty to make another choice of a husband. The marriage covenants were not binding, because they were ratified only by Gentile laws… consequently all the women were free…

"One woman said to me not very long since, while giving me some of her experiences in polygamy: ‘The greatest trial I ever endured in my life was living with my husband and deceiving him, by receiving Joseph’s attentions whenever he chose to come to me.’

"This woman, and others, whose experience has been very similar, are among the very best women in the church; they are as pure-minded and virtuous women as any in the world. They were seduced under the guise of religion,…

“Some of these women have since said they did not know who was the father of their children; this is not to be wondered at, for after Joseph’s declaration annulling all Gentile marriages, the greatest promiscuity was practiced; and, indeed, all sense of morality seemed to have been lost by a portion at least of the church.” (Wife No. 19, 1876, pages 70-71)

I read this from an LDS apologist…
In an article, published on LDS FAIR (The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research) web site, apologist Samuel Katich confirms the Church’s acceptance that Joseph Smith did marry a number of women who were already legally married to other men. He says:

“Perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of Joseph Smith is that of his plural marriages to women that were already married to other men. This paper examines the forms of marriage in practice and looks at each of the women and men involved in the relationships in an attempt to better understand these unique marriages. Joseph Smith was eternally married to what currently are argued to be between eight and eleven already married women. If we consider only those eight marriages that can be adequately documented, we find that six of the marriages occurred within an eight-month period between late October 1841 and June 1842. Two more marriages occurred early in 1843. The women ranged in age from 20 to 47, with an average age of 29. Of those eight marriages, five were to women who had Mormon husbands and three were to women married to disaffected members or non-Mormons. Three of the women’s first marriages to Mormon husbands and two of the marriages to non-Mormons lasted until death. The other three remaining marriages ended later in life after Joseph’s death in 1844. In all cases the women continued to live with their first husbands. Technically, a woman with more than one husband is defined as being involved in a polyandrous relationship, or practicing polyandry.”

fairlds.org/pubs/polyandry.pdf
 
Another excerpt from the FAIR article, you can see why Heber thought no more of taking another wife than he did buying another cow, after all he’d decided that a wife was a THING he could give to another man. Apparently a number of “high ranking” LDS had the same view, wives were nothing more than things to be given away at will.
Heber was devastated at such a request after all that he had already sacrificed. He fasted and prayed for three day after which he apparently received spiritual direction. He took his wife, Vilate, to Joseph and presented her. Joseph wept at their act of "faith, devotion and obedience. It was never Joseph’s intention to take Hever’s wife. It was a trial that both had passed. Joseph then sealed Heber an Vilate together as eternal companions. John Taylor was another who faced this challenge and passed with the same results. After Taylor informed the prophet that he could have his wife, Joseph said that he did not want her, rather, he simply wanted to know where he stood. Brigham Yougn was yet another who was willing to give his wife, but again was informed that it was only a test.
What would a man of God say, who felt aright, when Joseph him for his money? He woulds, “Yes, and I wish I had more to help build up the kingdom of God”. Or if he came and said, “I want your wife?” "O yes, he would say, “here she is, there are plenty more”
 
Yup, mere possessions to be given away at will…

Truly pathetic, and completely non-Christian.

Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)
 
Just a side note:

My 25th anniversary of leaving the LDS cult is coming up. To this day, whenever I drive past an LDS chapel I utter a small prayer of thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit for helping me to recognize the deception and to get out when I did.

Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)
 
To be fair to Joseph Smith…he had been studying Holy Kabbalah with a rabbi acquaintence of his who alow was teaching him Hebrew…his King Follett sermon makes perfect sense to me knowing that Joseph Smith was perhaps elaborating on a Kabbalistic teaching of Primal Man…Adam Kadmon.🤷
So then it might be reasonable to assume the Madonna and Joseph Smith could have had a conversation that made sense.👍
 
Just a side note:

My 25th anniversary of leaving the LDS cult is coming up. To this day, whenever I drive past an LDS chapel I utter a small prayer of thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit for helping me to recognize the deception and to get out when I did.

Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)
I hear that. A good day to commemorate, thanks be to God.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top