Who is the One Mormons Call Elohim?
By Bill McKeever
For
centuries Christians have professed their belief in a God who is God alone (Is.
44:8), self-existent (Is. 43:10; 48:12), transcendent (Num. 23:19; Ps. 50:21), immutable
(Ps. 102:27; Is. 46:10; Mal. 3:6), eternal (Ps. 90:2; 93:2), omnipresent (1
Kings 8:27; Prov. 15:3; Is. 66:1; Jer.
23: 23, 24), and incorporeal (John 4:24; Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17). He is also a
God who dwells in the believer (Eph.
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS ONE OF MANY GODS
Joseph
Smith, the founder of Mormonism, stated, "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).
Brigham
Young, the second prophet and president of the LDS Church, said, "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).
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT SELF-EXISTENT
Mormon
Apostle Orson Pratt taught, "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, pg. 132).
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT TRANSCENDENT
While
the God of the Bible makes it clear that He is not like man, Mormon leaders
have insisted that their God is an exalted human being.
Joseph
Smith declared, "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, pg. 345).
Mormon
Apostle John Widtsoe stated, "God and man are of
the same race, differing only in their degrees of advancement" (Gospel Through the Ages, pg. 107).
This
concurs with Mormon Apostle Parley P. Pratt's comment which states, "God,
angels, and men are all of the same species, one race, one great
family..." (Key to the Science of Theology, 1978 ed.,
pg. 21).
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT IMMUTABLE
Whereas
God's perfection makes it never necessary for Him to change, the God of
Mormonism changes both in his physical person and moral attributes. This is
demonstrated by the fact that he evolved from a man into a God and that he has
changed decrees which are theoretically "unalterable." Examples of
this would include the abandonment of polygamy in 1890, the reversal of the ban
which withheld the LDS Priesthood from Blacks in 1978, and the changes in the
LDS temple ceremony in 1980.
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT ETERNALLY GOD
Joseph
Smith taught that God was not always God when he stated, "We have imagined
and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and
take away the veil, so that you may see" (Teachings, pg. 345).
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT INCORPOREAL
Unlike
the God of the Bible who is a God of Spirit (John
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT OMNIPRESENT
Because
the LDS God is limited to a physical body, he is not omnipresent. Brigham Young
said, "Some would have us believe that God is present everywhere. It is
not so" (Journal of Discourses 6:345).
LDS
Apostle James Talmage stated that 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, pg. 39). The Mormon God's "omnipresence" is fulfilled through
the Holy Spirit which, according to Mormon Apostle John Widtsoe,
is not to be confused with the Holy Ghost (Evidences and Reconciliations, pp.
76-77).
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM CANNOT DWELL IN THE BELIEVER
According to Joseph Smith, "The idea that the
Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false"
(D&C 130:3. Oddly enough, the Book of Mormon teaches the Lord
does dwell in the hearts of the righteous. See
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM IS NOT OMNIPOTENT
As
Mormons believe they will always be subservient to their God, so too it would
make sense that their God is subservient to his God as well. It would also
makes sense that if the LDS God is the offspring of another God, then his God
must be more advanced in his eternal progression than the God whom Mormons
claim to serve.
Mormon
author W. Cleon Skousen
stated that God is God only because another force sustains him as such. He
wrote, "Through modern revelation we learn that the universe is filled
with vast numbers of intelligences, and we further learn that Elohim is God
simply because all of these intelligences honor and sustain Him as such...since
God 'acquired' the honor and sustaining influence of 'all things' it follows as
a corollary that if He should ever do anything to violate the confidence or
'sense of justice' of these intelligences, they would promptly withdraw their
support, and the 'power' of God would disintegrate...'He would cease to be
God'" (The First 2,000 Years, pp. 355-356).
That
the LDS God would have to answer to anyone clearly shows he is not omnipotent.
Some Mormons insist his omnipotence lies in the fact that he has unlimited
power, not all power. This too is inconsistent with Mormon thought since the
God of Mormonism has no ability to create ex-nihilo,
or out of nothing. The God of Mormonism is limited to only being able to
reorganize matter.
THE
GOD OF MORMONISM DOES NOT FORGIVE COMPLETELY
Another
major difference between the God of the
The God
of Mormonism, however, must keep in remembrance past transgressions for D&C
82:7 warns, "And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any
sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto the soul who sinneth
shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God." There is no
possible way that these two beings can be the same.
CONCLUSION
There
is probably no greater sin than to place your trust in a God whose attributes
do not match those of the God of the Bible. The biblical term for such a sin is
idolatry. The fact that Joseph Smith failed to represent the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob proves that he was not a true prophet. God warned the children
of