We had a great talk yesterday with an ex-Mormon missionary. He mentioned that Mormonism was as different from true Christianity as was Islam. Ergun Caner has said that Islam can be described as medieval Mormonism: “Anything Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism) did, Mohammed had already done.” Both religions have “corrected” version of Scripture, call Jesus a prophet, turn salvation into a works-based religion, and turn women into sexual slaves.
This might seem harsh. How much of it is true? For now let's look at what Mormonism teaches about God (after all, if we can't agree on who God i, the rest is not very important!). We can let the Mormons speak for themselves - which of these sound like the single, triune God of Christianity?
Founder / Prophet Joseph Smith:
"I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods" (History of the Church, 6:474).
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345).
"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's" (D&C 130:22).
"We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 345).
Second Mormon Prophet / President Brigham Young:
"How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods" (Journal of Discourses 7:333).
"Some would have us believe that God is present everywhere. It is not so" (Journal of Discourses 6:345).
Apostle Orson Pratt:
"We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father, and so one, from one generation to generation" (The Seer, 132).
Apostle John Widtsoe:
"God and man are of the same race, differing only in their degrees of advancement" (Gospel Through the Ages, 107).
Apostle Parley P. Pratt:
"God, angels, and men are all of the same species, one race, one great family" (Key to the Science of Theology, 21).
Apostle James Talmage:
"neither God the Father, nor any actual person of any one member of the Godhead can be physically present in more than one place at one time" (The Articles of Faith, 39).
| one of several gods (Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham 4:1-5; Journal of Discourses 6:5) |
the only true God
(Gen 1:1; Deut 6:4; Isa 44:24; Neh 9:6; John 1:1) |
| not revealed as three in one
(History of the Church 6:476) |
revealed as three in one (compare Gen 1:2; Isa 44:24; and Col 1:16) |
| not an eternal god
(History of the Church 6:476) |
eternal, He was always God
(Isa 43:10; Mal 3:6) |
| an exalted man (D&C 130:22,132:19-21; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pg 345-346; Times and Seasons 5:613) |
is not a man
(Hos 11:9; Luke 24:39 cf. John 4:24) |
| the literal, physical father of Christ (Teachings of the Prophet Ezra Taft Benson 7; Journal of Discourses 1:50-51) | revealed in the person of the Son in flesh by the virgin birth from the Holy Spirit(Matt 1:18; Luke 1:34-35) |
