MORMON 09

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MORMON CHURCH
(LDS)

THE GOD OF THE MORMONS WAS ONCE JUST A MAN

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The Mormon church claims to believe the Bible as one of its sources of scripture. If that is the case, then the God of the Bible should be the same god believed by the Mormon church. However, this is not the case, because the god of the Mormon church is not the same as the God of the Bible. This can be no more evident than what is revealed in the Mormon doctrine that their god was once just a man, the same as any human being:

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret.
(LDS) prophet, president and seer Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3, 1844

The father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as Man's; the Son also...
(LDS) prophet, president and seer Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 130, p. 22, 1843

What is God? He is a material organized intelligence, possessing both body and parts. He is in the form of a man, and is, in fact, of the same species... This being cannot occupy two distinct places at once, therefore he cannot be everywhere present."
(LDS) prophet, president and seer Joseph Smith, TheMillenniall Star, Vol. 6

The Gods who dwell in the Heaven have been redeemed from the grave in a world which existed before the foundations of this earth were laid. They and the heavenly body which they now inhabit were once in a fallen state... they were exalted also, from fallen men to Celestial Gods to inhabit their heaven forever and ever.

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 on, from generation to generation, from one heavenly world to another still more ancient, until our minds are wearied and lost in the multiplicity of generations and successive worlds, and as a last resort, we wonder in our minds, how far back the genealogy extends, and how the first world was formed, and the first Father was begotten. But why does man seek for a first.. why then, do you seek for a first personal Father in an endless genealogy?
(LDS) apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, January 1853, pp. 23, 132

He is our Father - the Father of our spirits, and was once a man in mortal flesh as we are, and is now an exalted being... there never was a time when there were not Gods...

It appears ridiculous to the world, under their darkened and erroneous traditions, that God has once been a finite being...
(LDS) prophet, president and seer Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 333

As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.
(LDS) Mormon statement - Source of quote unknown

What the Mormon church presents is a god who was once actually a man who lived on another planet and became a god, has a body of flesh and bones and lives on his own planet somewhere in the universe. In addition there are an infinitude of other gods who were once men and have also become gods and live on their own planets.

This doctrine is strange indeed, because it begins with man and ends with god - thus the origin of the first man is a great question. Even the Mormon apologist Orson Pratt argued himself into the corner when he noted that people will ask how the first father was begotten. His answer, was not to think about it, begging the question. If the first man had to be born, and there was no other man before him, how was he conceived? And what about a mother, where was she?

The idea that man becomes a god is the Mormon doctrine of "Eternal Progression" and is actually a form of religious evolutionism. The idea of man progressing to higher and higher levels is the same as the physical evolutionary theory of man evolving in complexity and intelligence from lower to higher forms. But the same question faces the evolutionist; who created the material and the universe in which man evolved? The question to the Mormon cannot be answered just as the question to the evolutionist cannot be answered. But the doctrine is still believed by the Mormon and the evolutionist also proceeds just as if there is nothing wrong with the theory.

In reality, the idea that man can become a god is a convenience to men who wish to distance themselves from the reality of their condition in relation to the doctrines taught in the Bible. Mormon doctrine is designed to decrease the holiness, righteousness and differences between the God of the Bible and man, so that the Mormon doctrine of man becoming a god would seem to be more of a possibility rather than an impossibility. If the goal is made low enough or easily attainable, then people are more likely to follow the path to that goal. The Mormon apologists wished to level the playing field and lower the goals, bringing God down closer to the character of man and lifting man closer to the character of God. In the process, the Mormon church defines the real God in their image, making Him less than He is and elevating man to a position higher than he is entitled. Mormons deceive themselves into believing that the minimal good works that they do in this life will allow them to attain exaltation to godhood for eternity, being equal to a god that is not as great, powerful, mighty, holy or righteous as He actually is, as revealed in the Bible.

The God of the Bible does not accept the doctrine taught by the Mormon church and specifically indicates that He is not a man, and that there is no other god beside Him. Therefore, man cannot become a god. There is no room for discussion, as the doctrines of the Bible and those of the Mormon church are in opposition to each other with no possibility of reconciliation.

"To whom will you liken Me that I would be his equal", says the Holy One.
The Holy Bible, Isaiah 40:25 (NAS)

To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
The Holy Bible, Deuteronomy 4:35 (NAS)

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
The Holy Bible, Numbers 23:19 (NAS)

"I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath."
The Holy Bible, Hosea 11:9 (NAS)

"I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols."
The Holy Bible, Isaiah 42:8 (NIV)

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen.
The Holy Bible, Romans 1:22-25

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