Do Christians and Mormons Worship the Same God?

In the past we asked whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God.  The answer was:  YES.  They may have some very mistaken ideas about God, but insofar as we are both referring to the one infinite, eternal, uncreated, source of all reality... we are indeed worshiping the same God.

By way of analogy, imagine asking a person if he knows your father.  He first demonstrates enough knowledge that he's clearly thinking of the right person.  However, as you begin to ask more questions, it becomes clear that he's been given some bad info about your dad.

Lately a few of the kids I work with have asked me if the same is true of Mormonism.  So today we'll be taking a look at that.


He's Orange and Dimply, Right?

Again, the thing which Christians and Muslims are referring to when they say God is the:

• One
• Uncreated
• Immaterial 
• Eternal
• Omnipotent 
• Source of all contingent reality

Now, there is no telling what your Mormon friend or neighbor actually believes.  So your results may vary.  But the official doctrine of Mormonism has a very different concept in mind when it says "God".

In 1843, Joseph Smith began breaking away from classical Theism and developing his very distinct understanding of God.  It began by asserting that God has a physical body:

"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." - Doctrine and Covenants 130:22, 1843

This was made more specific a year later in his King Follet Discourse:

"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 [] 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. [...]  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." - Joseph Smith, The King Follett Discourse, 1844

This is commented upon by the Latter Day Saints website, which says:

"In that phrase, the Prophet collapsed the gulf that centuries of confusion had created between God and humanity. Human nature was at its core divine. God 'was once as one of us' and 'all the spirits that God ever sent into the world' were likewise 'susceptible of enlargement.'” - LDS.org, "Becoming Like God"

So when Mormonism speaks of "God", what it is referring to a Mormon male from another cosmos  who underwent a process called "Exaltation" or "Eternal Progression" - and created his own cosmos to continue the cycle.  A cycle which has supposedly been going on forever and ever.

This means the god which Mormonism directs us to is a finite, physical creature with a limited scope of influence.   To reuse the analogy; Imagine you ask someone if he knows your father .... and he begins describing a basketball.  This is not just wrong, this isn't even the same sort of thing.   

So... no.  We don't worship the same God.  

Or perhaps more accurately:  The being which Mormonism intends for you to worship isn't God.

Count to Infinity:

Now, suppose you were speaking to a Mormon who actually believes this.  What might you say?  Well, I'd want to help the person see how this concept of God is incoherent and actually points to the necessity of the real God.  

Here's how...

Suppose you saw one of your friends on a date with a young lady.  Afterward he confided to you that she had demanded he count to infinity before going on the date.  And then he concludes, "It took a while, but I finally did it."

Immediately you'd think, "No you didn't. That's impossible."

He couldn't  have counted to infinity prior to the date... because even if he counted for a million years he'd be no closer to infinity.  The date you saw would have never occurred.  So you know the thing he's suggesting is just flat-out impossible.

A similar thing applies to the Mormon concept of God.  Their doctrine supposes that the cycle of men becoming gods - and gods begetting men - has been going on forever.  In other words, it says there has been an infinite series of these cycles preceding today.  

That means the theological scheme - as proposed - is impossible.  There simply must have been a first God which would have started the whole thing.  An ultimate, uncreated creator which transcends everything else.  

And if that is the case... isn't THAT the one you'd want to worship?

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For two more arguments which apply to Mormonism, check out the post I did on the Jehova's Witnesses a while back.  The two arguments work the same with Mormonism.

See you next time.