I wrote this little essay to give my perspective on this perennial topic.
Monotheism vs Polytheism
Many Christians, dismayed by the amount of mental effort required to make careful arguments, attack the LDS doctrine of God via “labeling.” For most people, the label “monotheism” is acceptable, but labels like “polytheism” and “henotheism” smack of the old pagan pantheons. It’s the same in every political campaign–if one candidate can get some negative-sounding label (e.g., “anti-American,” “tax-and-spend liberal,” “champion of the rich,” or whatever) to stick to his opponent in the minds of a significant number of voters, he can get a big bump at the polls. A negative label is the ultimate “silver bullet.”
The truth is usually more complicated, however, even if mentally lazy people find this fact of life inconvenient. In this case, the Mormon doctrine of God doesn’t fit neatly into any of these categories. Yes, we speak of multiple “Gods” (see Abraham 3-4), which sounds like polytheism. Yes, we sometimes say that the Father is “our God,” as opposed to other exalted Beings, who don’t have anything directly to do with us, and this sounds like “henotheism” (i.e., acknowledgement of the existence of a plurality of Gods, but worshiping only one.) But what people who get worked up about this sort of thing do not understand is the senses in which the Mormon doctrine of God is more like “monotheism.”
God in the Singular and Plural
Essentially all Christians believe that God is in one sense “singular,” and in another sense “plural.” The Bible says there is “one God” (e.g., Deut. 6:4; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Cor. 8:6), and yet it calls three different persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, “God” (Eph. 4:6; John 1:1; John 20:28; Acts 5:3-4). Mainstream Christians believe that “God” is
one, singular, completely simple and unchangeable spiritual substance, [so] he must be declared to be in reality and in essence, distinct from the world, supremely happy in himself and from himself, and inexpressibly loftier than anything besides himself which either exists or can be imagined. (1st Vatican Council, Chapter 1)
Note that the word “simple” is a technical philosophical/theological term meaning “completely homogeneous” or “without parts.” If this is what God is, then the Trinity must be a single Being, a single spritual “substance.” But since the New Testament clearly presents them as three “persons,” the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit must somehow all exist as distinct persons within an spiritual “substance” that has no parts. It’s supposed to be a mystery that is not accessible by human reason.
On the other hand, Mormons believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate Beings, whose spirits are human in form, and that physical bodies actually clothe the bodies of the Father and Son (1 Nephi 11:11; D&C 130:22). Furthermore, Mormons believe that men can become “gods” (D&C 132:20). Although it isn’t in our scriptures, Joseph Smith also taught the doctrine that God the Father was once a man like us, who has a Father, and who was exalted to be God (
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345). How can we say that there is “one God”? For us, God is “one” in three senses.
- First, God the Father is the absolute monarch of the Universe. If there are other gods ruling over other Universes, we don’t have anything to do with them. “The Father is the one true God. This thing is certain: no one will ever ascend above Him; no one will ever replace Him. Nor will anything ever change the relationship that we, His literal offspring, have with Him. He is Elohim, the Father. He is God; of Him there is only one. We revere our Father and our God; we worship Him.” (Boyd K. Packer, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991, 293.)
- Second, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are completely One in will, purpose, love, and covenant. This unity is so complete that they can be spoken of as “one God,” because they act as a single, perfectly unified, entity. (See “The Father and the Son,” in James R. Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, vol. 5, 23-34.)
- Third, all those who are exalted to become gods are perfectly one in each other, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in each other. Brigham Young explained this in the following quotations.
If men are faithful, the time will come when they will possess the power and the knowledge to obtain, organize, bring into existence, and own. “What, of themselves, independent of their Creator?” No. But they and their Creator will always be one, they will always be of one heart and of one mind, working and operating together; for whatsoever the Father doeth so doeth the son, and so they continue throughout all their operations to all eternity. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2: 305–306.)
When shall we become entirely independent? Never, though we are as independent in our spheres as the Gods of eternity are in theirs. (Brigham Young, JD 8:190.)
Is he one? Yes. Is his trinity one? Yes. Is his organization one? Are the heavens one? Yes. (Brigham Young, JD 14:93–94.)
Gods exist, and we had better strive to be prepared to be one with them. (Brigham Young, JD 7:238.)
So whose definition of the Divine Unity is right? Mormons argue that the only time the Bible says anything about
how God is one, it implies that humans can be one with each other and one in the Father and Son in the same way that the Father and Son are one in each other. This seems to us to fit very well with our definition of the Divine Unity, but to be at odds with the mainstream Christian definition.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (John 17:20-23)
(Cont’d in next post.)
