LDS Beliefs Concerning God are More Biblical Than Others
Mormons believe in the theology of God as revealed in the
Bible:
WE believe in God, the Eternal Father,
and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. (Articles
of Faith 1)
The Bible teaches
that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one in
purpose, but separate in their nature and being:
That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us: John 17:21
[If they make up the Trinity, then so do we. At least we
would have had a scriptural basis for the doctrine.]
“He (Jesus) is the reflection of
God's glory and the exact imprint
of God's very being…”
Heb 1:3
“…yet for us there is one God,
the Father, … and one Lord, Jesus Christ,” I Cor
8:6
“In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was fully God” [Footnote
“and what God was the Word was”]”
(NET bible, John 1:1)
“When the Most High apportioned the
nations,when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of
the peoples according to the number of the gods;
the LORD's own portion was his people, Jacob his
allotted share.” Dt.32:8-9
"He [Paul] seems to be a
proclaimer of foreign divinities." (This was
because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)
Acts 17:18
(Paul’s teachings were proclaiming that God and Christ
are distinct Gods. The philosophers use the word “daimonion”
to describe their understanding of Paul’s teachings. The
word means a lower order divine being between men and God (BDAG
210). See Acts 2:4 for the message.) He clearly taught God and
Christ are two Gods.
God has taken his place in the
divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
Ps 82:1
Early Christians believed this was the case as well:
Justin Martyr: Jesus is “another
God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things”
(Dialog: 56)
John taught that Christ is a separate and distinct God
from God. Though he was a Jew, he was not writing to Jews
(Jn 1:41, 7:1-2), nor did he hold “Jewishness” as being
doctrinally correct or holy (Jn 3:9-10, 8:54-55).Furthermore
conservative, and honest, scholars agree that John is teaching
that the Word and God have similar natures, not that he is
teaching they are the same God.
Newman and Nida (A Translator's Handbook on the Gospel
of John, New York: United Bible Societies, 1980, pages
8-9):
He was the same as God appears in most translations
as "the Word was God" [Revised Standard Version
(RSV), JB, NAB]. NEB renders by "what God was, the Word
was" and Mft "the Logos was divine" {Goodspeed
(Gdsp) "the Word was divine"]. Zurcher Bible (Zur)
has "the Word was God," with a footnote indicating
that this means the Word possessed a divine nature.
These many differences in translation are due to the Greek
sentence structure. In this type of equational sentence in
Greek (A=B) the subject can be distinguished from the
predicate by the fact that the subject has the article before
it and the predicate does not. Since "God" does not
have the article preceding it, "God" is clearly the
predicate and "the Word" is the subject. This
means that "God" is here the equivalent of an
adjective, and this fact justifies the rendering he
(the Word) was the same as God. John is not
saying that "the Word" was God the Father, but he is
affirming that the same divine predication can be made of
"the Word" as can be made of God the Father and so
"the Word" can be spoken of as God in the same
sense.
“Mormons Don’t Believe the
Trinity” TRUE
The Trinity
came together centuries after Christ, and was the product of
intellectual reflection based on Hellenistic thinking. It is
not stated or even implied in the Bible.
“On the other hand, we must honestly admit that the
doctrine of the Trinity
did NOT form part of the early Christian-New
Testament-message. Certainly, it cannot be denied that not
only the word "Trinity",
but even the EXPLICIT IDEA of the Trinity
is absent from the apostolic witness of the faith.. The
doctrine of the Trinity
itself, however, is not a Biblical Doctrine" (Emil
Brunner, "The Christian Doctrine of God",
Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1949, pp. 205 & 236).
"To Jesus and Paul the doctrine of the trinity
was apparently never known. They say nothing about it [Origin
and Evolution of Religion, by Yale University Professor E.
Washburn Hopkins]."
"The doctrine of the holy trinity
is not taught in the Old Testament “ [New Catholic
Encyclopedia].
"The Platonic trinity,
itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back
to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity
of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or
divine persons taught by the Christian churches. ... This
Greek philosopher's conception of the divine trinity
... can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions" (French
Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel [New Universal Dictionary],
Vol. 2, p. 1467).
"Neither the word trinity
nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament" [The
New Encyclopedia Britannica].
"The New Testament does not contain the developed
doctrine of the trinity”
[The New International Dictionary of New Testament
Theology].
"The doctrine of the Trinity
did not form part of the apostles' preaching, as this is
reported in the New Testament" (Encyclopedia
International, Ian Henderson, University of Glasgow, 1969,
page 226).
"The doctrines of the Logos and the Trinity
received their shape from Greek Fathers, who ... were much
influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy
... That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from
this source can not be denied" (The New Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, edited by Samuel Macauley
Jackson, 1957, Vol. IX, p. 91).
"At first the Christian Faith was not trinitarian. It
was not so in the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic ages, as
reflected in the New Testament and of the early Christian
writings” [Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics].
"Christianity
did not destroy paganism; it adopted it ... From Egypt came
the ideas of a divine trinity"(The
Story of Civilization, Caesar and Christ, Will Durant, Part
III, 1944, p. 595).
The trinity:
"is a very marked feature in Hindooism, and is
discernible in Persian, Egyptian, Roman, Japanese, Indian and
the most ancient Grecian mythologies" (Religious
Dictionary, Lyman Abbott, p944).
Trinitarians have corrupted the original Biblical
concepts of God, and Mormonism is the restoration of the
knowledge of God. Mystic math and shapeless deity was never
the God we must know for salvation. Mormons are more Biblical.
The Book of Mormon teaches men can become like God,
contrary to some anti-Mormons’ statements that the doctrine
is not in the BoM (3Nephi 28:10).
Mormons Don’t Worship Christ?
Untrue. We worship God, as Christ taught.
Christ taught that we are to worship the Father
John 4:23 true worshippers shall worship the Father in
spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
him
He also taught we are to pray to the Father
Matthew 6:9 ¶ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our
Father which art in heaven…
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and
the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
The only time we are to worship or pray to Christ is when
he is right there in our presence. His commandment is to
worship and pray to the Father.
One of the signs of the true Church of Christ is they do
not preferentially worship Christ, but worship and pray to God
the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ.
How Do Mormons Get Saved? Just
Like Original Christians Believed.
Mormons believe salvation is a gift from God, obtained by
Grace, Faith, Repentance and Obedience to the laws of God.
We believe that
through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by
obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. We believe
that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are:
first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance;
third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth,
Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Articles
of Faith Verse 3, 4
For we labor
diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our
brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for
we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after
all we can do. 2 Nephi 25:23
Though he were a
Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey
him; Hebrews 5:7-8
Ordinances show our obedience and dispense the grace of God
to those who are humble and repentant, desiring to follow
Christ. There is no difference between the confession of one
turning to God, and baptism. They are both built on faith.
Control Freaks: Calvin and others who advocate God
Pre-destines those He wants to save, and basically control
every aspect of people’s lives, reflect their own
megalomaniac need for control which was manifested in their
personal lives. It is easy to understand that they see a
Perfect Leader as having iron fisted control over people’s
destiny, because that is what they craved and tried to
enforce. Even a simple biographic reading of Calvin’s life
shows a despot’s craving for total control over all people’s
lives. But early Christians and the Bible teach a belief in
the human CHOICE to obey, and the choice leads to
ordinances, like baptism, essential to salvation. Clement of
Rome (85 A.D.) repeatedly teaches salvation is obtained
through grace, faith and obedience. The Didache (mid to late 1st
Century) strongly teaches obedience and ordinances save.
Ignatius of Antioch (107 A.D.) teaches faith means doing works
(vss.15-16) and that participating in ordinances of the Church
“…is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote which
prevents us from dying”(vs.20).
The Bible teaches our ultimate salvation is to be like
God, teaching we “may become participants of the divine
nature” (1Pet. 1:4).We will reign with God (Rev 3:21); judge
mankind, which is a divine function (1Cor 6:2); receive glory
(Jn 17:22); inherit all God has jointly with Christ (Rom
8:17).Jesus Inherited His name and position, and we will be
joint heirs. This is based on keeping the commandments (Rev
22:14), and not frustrating grace (Heb 6:4-6, 2Pet
3:17).The message throughout the Bible is that we reap what we
sow, in terms of salvation (Mt 7:16-27; Gal 6:7-9; Titus
1:16-2:14).
The final word is had in Rev. 20:12-13:“And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of
life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works”.
Some have argued that they did not
mean an “uncreated” God. That may be true, but
Irenaeus and others say we will be made uncreated by being
made eternal by Christ. All from Justin Martyr to Athanasius
cite Ps 82 as being real gods, and the destiny of man.
Justin Martyr: Jesus is
“another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things”
(Dialog: 56)He says elsewhere: "it is demonstrated that
all men are deemed worthy of becoming "gods”, and of
having power to become sons of the Highest”; (Dialog 124).
Irenaeus (Book IV,
38:4)we have not been made gods from the beginning, but at
first merely men, then at length gods…through [His] love and
[His] power, He shall overcome the substance of created
nature.
Athanasius (De Inc.
54:33). For He was made man that we might be made God
Clement of Alexandria
“Yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might
learn from a man how to become a god.” (A.D. 160-215,
Exhortation to the Greeks 1)
Without Living Prophetic Leadership, The
Church of God was Destroyed, and People Left to Their Own
Interpretations of Scripture.
It is easy to see that when there are 2,000 or so
denominations in the USA, and their theology ranges from
Evangelical to Reformed to Catholic to Baptist, with many of
them contradicting each other on the requirements for
salvation, the Church of God needed to be restored. Paul
repeatedly taught of the Body.1 Cor 12, Eph 4.Based on LIVING
apostles and prophets on Earth.
Un-Stuffing Straw Men
Answers to Criticisms of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints
Copyright 2002 Robert B. Vukich rvukich@hotmail.com.This
is not an official LDS publication, just the musings of an
imperfect member.
Most attacks against the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints have a small kernel of truth heaped on with
a huge amount of distortion. Here are a few examples:
3000 Changes to the Book of Mormon
No. Many more than that. But how did they happen? Most were
done by the original printer, without any Church involvement.
The Church has been trying to fix them ever since. Recently,
Royal Skousen completed 10+ years of research to identify all
of the changes. Most are punctuation, since the BoM text was
unpunctuated. Editing changes are relatively few when compared
to the 150,000 changes in the much smaller New Testament. When
corrections back to the original BoM manuscript are made, what
will the critics say then?“3000 fearless corrections made to
the Book of Mormon!” Sure.
Charge: Mormons don’t believe the Bible is inspired or
the inerrant word of God.
We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is
translated correctly; (Articles of Faith 8). Does someone
out there believe the Bible when it is incorrectly translated?
It is one of the 4 standard works or scriptures of the LDS
Church. Similar opinions have been expressed by many great
Bible scholars, and the discoveries of the past 200 years
demonstrating 150,000 variant readings among the known texts
of the NT, and the thousands of OT variants discovered with
the DSS show the LDS position is the only reasonable position
to take, and yet still accept it as scripture.
Charge:Satan is the spirit brother of Jesus.
According to the Bible, this is true. Job 1:6. It is
spoken as shock value, as most people have not read the Bible
carefully, so they find it a “hard saying". But all
spirits come from God the Father (Heb 12:8).Satan is a spirit
(Rev 18:2; Lk 7:21; Mt 4:24; Is 14:12-15), and Christ also was
originally a spiritual being (Jn 1:1, Lk 23:46).Therefore,
they are spiritual brothers. But what does that matter? If you
understand the Godhead, it is not a big deal.
Charge: God had sex with Mary.
This is not an official doctrine of the LDS Church. God the
Father is the literal father of Christ, including his human
body. But even humans do not need to have sex to create a
child. God's abilities transcend anything humans can do. The
only remotely official person to suggest God had sex with Mary
was Orson Pratt, whose statements in “The Seer” were
officially condemned by the LDS Church in August 1865.The real
question is: Was Jesus
fully human? (1 Tim 2:5 seems to answer “Yes”.) If yes,
then he needed DNA from his mother and his
Father. Every statement by LDS Church leaders states
God is the literal father of the physical body of Christ. They
do not say, however, that a sexual act was the means of its
creation. LDS scripture teaches the opposite. Mary was still a
virgin after Christ’s conception. There is only one way to
be a virgin: never having had sex. The Book of Mormon and LDS
leaders affirm her virginity. See 1Nephi 11:13-20; Jesus
the Christ, pg 81;The Book of Mormon says Mary was a
virgin, as do all official statements that discuss the topic.
Anything more is guessing.
Charge: Mormons blindly follow and try to trick people
into the LDS Church.
This suggestion is just stupid, and frankly hypocritical.
Do people at Revivals get a course in Trinitarian theology’s
relationship to paganism? Anyway, tricking people into
something usually results in their leaving. Anti-Mormons feel
they have special knowledge that proves the Church untrue, but
when members and non-LDS are presented the “evidence” and
are not swayed, the Anti’s say we are brainwashed. The idea
that their arguments and evidence stinks baffles them.
Contrast a revival to people wishing to join the LDS Church.
People investigating the LDS Church are required to attend
lessons and Church, read independently and pass an interview
to make sure they understand the basics, the milk of the
Gospel. Some Anti’s assert the LDS visitors’ centers’
tours are too brief. The people attend a 20-40 minute tour.
They want to know things like when it was built, why, out of
what, etc. It is hard to pack 170+ years of history into 20
minutes, so it is brief.
Charge: Mormonism has no real scholarship supporting its
views. Some Evangelical observers (e.g. Owen & Mosser:
Mormon Sholarship, Apolgetics and Evangelical Neglect,
Losing the Battle and not Knowing it?: Trinity Journal
19/2 (1998) pp 179-205) have noted that the LDS apologetic
works are virtually unchallenged in their superiority and
response to Anti’s attacks. Others point out the LDS views
on early Biblical doctrines are being substantiated by textual
discoveries since the late 19th century, after the
founding of the LDS Church. Anti’s sometimes make bizarre
statements attacking scholarship because it is vindicating LDS
positions. One example: Recognizing the Hebrew and early
Christian belief that men can become like God. Here is an
example of the non-scholarly approach of LDS critics:“…it
is fascinating to note the degradation of commentaries over
the years (I have often commented that especially when it
comes to the OT, you have to go back 100 years to find much of
worth)” [J. White, White-Hamblin Online Exchange Over PS 82,
Letter 28].The statement is the result of Mr. White being
confronted with evidence that virtually all commentaries on Ps
82’s use of bene elyon state the meaning is divine beings,
and not judges, and this is the consensus of all surveyed
commentaries since 1971.His statement is even more bizarre
when considered in light of the evidence of the Dead Sea
Scrolls, Ugaritic texts and other OT archaeological data
finding its way into commentaries. LDS Scholars are recognized
by their peers in every scriptural field as first-rate.
Charge: You can’t tell by feelings what God wants you
to do.
Someone should tell the Apostles and prophets of the Bible,
because they said you can. Such an assertion is a lie.
And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and
while he opened to us the scriptures? Lk 24:32
If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men]
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:5
Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to
come. John 16:13
When wisdom
entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant
unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding
shall keep thee: To deliver
thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that
speaketh forward things; (Proverbs 2:10-12.See also Pro.2:2-9,
3:1-6; 16:1; Jer 31:33; Ps 49:3)
O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye
fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Proverbs 8:5
Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding:
Prov.14:33
…the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us
(Romans
5:5)
If being “Saved” is by grace alone,
then explain all these other salvation statements. Salvation
is more than 4 chapters in Romans and a few statements in Gal.
and Eph.
Enduring Saves
Matthew 10:22, (24:13, Mk 8:34, Mk 13:13) … he that
endureth to the end shall be saved.
Sacrifice Saves
Matthew 19:25(also Mark 8:34-35, 10:26, Lk 18:26) 25 When
his disciples heard [it], they were exceedingly amazed,
saying, Who then can
be saved? Vs.28 those
that followed me; vs 29 And
every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall
inherit everlasting life.
Being Willing Saves
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Calling On God Saves
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Obedience Saves, and Saves Yourself
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and
exhort, saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation. [Jamieson, F&B say this is
salvation, not just some temporal good behavior]41 Then they
that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day
there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls. [This
is clearly water baptism, vs38&41]
Hebrews 5:9Christ is “the author of eternal salvation
unto all them who obey him. Paul
Believed that Though He Was Saved (1Cor 1:18), he could lose
his salvation(1Cor 9:29).He teaches obedience is love
repeatedly in his letters (Ro 6:16,13:8-14; 2Cor5:10; Gal 5:7,18-24,
25, Eph 4:17-19, 24-5:22;Ph 2:12, 4:9)
Being a Wife and Birthing Babies Saves
1Tim 2:15 Notwithstanding she
shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in
faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. (Note: These
verses are clearly talking about Spiritual salvation, since it
is speaking of Eve’s transgression. Not Just Grace.)
1Cor7:16 Wife, for all you know, you might save your
husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
Fall From Grace No such thing as once
saved always saved.
Gal 5:4Ye are fallen from grace; Heb 6:4-6 can fall after
true conversion; 1Cor 9:27, 10:12-13.Eph 5:30 Grieve not the
Spirit.
Love is Good Works, not Works of the Law
1Cor 13 Good works must be done with love, but no good
works means no love (James 2:17-18).Faith means good works. It
is the attitude that determines if it is a work unto sin or
love (Rom 13:98-10;14:22-23).We can choose good (Lk 11:13)
even though we are evil. God calls and draws, but we must
respond MT 23:37.
Baptism Saves
Acts 2:38, 1Peter 3:20-21, Titus 3:5, Mark 16:16, John
3:5Calling on the name of the Lord means to repent and be
baptized: Acts 2:21, compare to Acts 2:38 and
Lukes closing remarks in Acts 22:16.Same author, same
book, same context. Only one conclusion is possible from the
facts.
Baptism Meant Immersion
The phrase meant to dunk. In Titus 3:5, Paul notes
that it is the “washing of Regeneration” and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost which saves us. The word he uses is the same
as found in Leviticus of dunking people in water to bathe them
or other objects. There is no confusion. Paul states that he
baptized just a few people, which surely MUST mean they
were physically dunked, or the passages he writes about makes
no sense. Furthermore, Mark 7:4 uses the word “baptize”
of washing, which means they thrust in their hands in water,
fully immersing them. It is illogical to think he would use
the word so differently 7-times earlier and 8-times after.
Book of Mormon Proofs
BoM correctly names and places the city of Nahom (1
Nephi 16:34), 100+ yrs before it was rediscovered. It also
accurately described the costal geography of the Arabian
peninsula. Answers question of finding BoM names.
The BoM contains many Hebrewisms. (River of water, etc.)
The BoM accurately states that Bethlehem was in the Land of
Jerusalem, which was unknown until the 20th
Century.
The BoM accurately uses the name ALMA for men.
The BoM accurately places BARLEY in pre-Columbian America.
The BoM accurately places HORSES in America.
The BoM has been proven to have been written by multiple
authors, and none of them Joseph Smith, Cowdery or Spaulding.
The BoM contains passages, such as 3 Nep 12:22 (compare to
Mt 5:22, which contains the words “without a cause”) which
are more accurate than the KJV, and did so 50 years before the
proof of the better accuracy was discovered.
The BoM accurately tells of Hebrews using Egyptian writing.
BoM accurately describes use of metals and ore in portions
of eastern Arabia before it was known to exist there.
BoM contains elegant Chiasmus, unrecognized in JS’s day,
which can not be accidental. (Helaman 6:7-14, for example).
What about the 11 witnesses?
The final point of this tract is quite simple. If the BoM
of is false, how did it come into existence? How do you
explain away the witnesses? Only the LDS case is plausible.
By Robert B. Vukich. I am solely responsible for
this work. |
