God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible,--I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form--like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another...
Cited in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, pg 40. Originally in History of the Church Vol.6
The Bible tells REAL Christians that God is spirit, not man. But Smith taught that God was once a man who worked his way to exaltation and now lives near the star Kolob (some say it’s a planet but I’ll address that in a later post). The real God lives outside His creation but is always acting within His creation.
Adam was not "in the very fashion, image, and likeness of God” because God is not now nor ever was a man. One can walk and talk with God in prayer, and some patriarchs actually heard God’s voice. And, if you note, Genesis 1:26 says Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (KJV, emphasis added).
John MacArthur’s commentary explains the true meaning of “likeness” and “image” of God in Genesis 1:26:
1:26: Us…Our. This is the first clear indication of the triunity of God (cf. 3:22; 11:7). The very name of God, Elohim (1:1) is a plural form of El. The plural pronouns introduce plurality of relationships in the Godhead. They suggest both communion and consultation among members of the Trinity. They also signify perfect agreement and clear purpose. man. The crowning point of creation, a living human, was made in God’s image to rule creation. Our image…likeness. This speaks of the creation of Adam in terms that are uniquely personal. It establishes a personal relationship between God and man that does not exist with any other aspect of creation. It is the very thing that makes humanity different from every other created animal. It explains why the Bible places so much stress on God’s hands-on creation of Adam. He fashioned this creature in a special way—to bear the stamp of His own likeness. It suggests that God was, in essence, the pattern for the personhood of man. The image of God is personhood [MY emphasis], and personhood can function only in the context of relationships. Man’s capacity for intimate, personal relationships needed fulfillment. Most important, man was designed to have a personal relationship with God. … In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect will, and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God because he was good and sinless. However, it did not bestow deity upon man.
As MacArthur—and multitudes of Christian commentators—notes, God was never a man so His image/likeness in man had to do with his spirituality, his personhood, his ability to have relationships, etc. Mormon theology gives all mankind the ability to work themselves to godhood. Christian (and Jewish) theology, as taught in the Bible, has ONE eternal and spiritual God and none of mankind will ever be a god.
2 comments:
That God was once a man, that he did not create ex nihilo is the most outrageous believe that Mormons have in my view. I have been a Mormon for 40 years and reluctantly still attend their church. But if this view of the Mormon God is true, then he is not God. He cannot be all powerful because someone or something must have made him. Therefore the made god cannot be infinite and eternal. How could more than one person be infinite at the same time another is. Mormons might say that God had a father who had a father who had a father, an eternal regression. But somewhere along the line there needed to be a start, an uncreated creator. That being we call God according to Thomas Aquinas.
With their beliefs, Mormons are worshipping a "demi-god" even in their own terminology and arguments. I think they are deceived and wrongly taught. God loves them and died for them, and thankfully He is not the being they think he is.
So why ARE you still attending a Mormon church?
Post a Comment