Wholeheart
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The first item in the Mormon doctrinal statement, first published in 1838, states, “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” So this would seem to be a completely acceptable trinitarian declaration of belief, and there is no doubt but that the wording was given so as to impress the casual inquirer with the orthodoxy of the new church. Many people hearing or reading this statement are favorably impressed by it and come to the conclusion that the Mormons are just another branch of Christianity—somewhat different, but rather successful.
I think before accepting the Mormon doctrinal statement regarding the nature of Deity, it might be a good idea for some definitions to see if the statement really means what it seems to mean from the biblical viewpoint. In my in-depth study on Mormonism I have come to the conclusion that the god of Mormon theology is not the God of the Bible or of evangelical Christianity.
I would go further and say that the present Mormon concepts of god as an exalted man and of the plurality of gods are totally absent from The Book of Mormon.
The names of god as used in The Book of Mormon are scarcely different from those used in the King James Version of the Bible: Joseph Smith and his coauthors quoted copiously from it while composing their volume of Mormon belief. When Smith was writing The Book of Mormon, with the assistance of Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris and, possibly Sidney Rigdon, he and his associates had no greater knowledge of the names and attributes of God than the average person of their day.
One of the most preposterous claims of the Latter-Day Saints is that on April 6, 1830, the true Church of Jesus Christ was reestablished on the earth, after a lapse of seventeen hundred years. In the use of the term “restoration,” the Latter-Day saints do not mean reformation, revival, or revitalization; but complete reestablishment, with a restored apostolic authority. According to the Mormons, that authority was forfeited by the apostasy that followed the death of the twelve apostles. After this post I plan to go into the beginning of the Mormon church and the history of Joseph Smith and his family before The beginning of Mormonism.
I think before accepting the Mormon doctrinal statement regarding the nature of Deity, it might be a good idea for some definitions to see if the statement really means what it seems to mean from the biblical viewpoint. In my in-depth study on Mormonism I have come to the conclusion that the god of Mormon theology is not the God of the Bible or of evangelical Christianity.
I would go further and say that the present Mormon concepts of god as an exalted man and of the plurality of gods are totally absent from The Book of Mormon.
The names of god as used in The Book of Mormon are scarcely different from those used in the King James Version of the Bible: Joseph Smith and his coauthors quoted copiously from it while composing their volume of Mormon belief. When Smith was writing The Book of Mormon, with the assistance of Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris and, possibly Sidney Rigdon, he and his associates had no greater knowledge of the names and attributes of God than the average person of their day.
One of the most preposterous claims of the Latter-Day Saints is that on April 6, 1830, the true Church of Jesus Christ was reestablished on the earth, after a lapse of seventeen hundred years. In the use of the term “restoration,” the Latter-Day saints do not mean reformation, revival, or revitalization; but complete reestablishment, with a restored apostolic authority. According to the Mormons, that authority was forfeited by the apostasy that followed the death of the twelve apostles. After this post I plan to go into the beginning of the Mormon church and the history of Joseph Smith and his family before The beginning of Mormonism.