Ether 4:12; “And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good; he that will not believe my words will not believe me—that I am; and he that will not believe me will not believe the Father who sent me. For behold, I am the Father, I am the light, and the life, and the truth of the world.”
John 1:4; “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
John 4:6, 24; “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”
John 8:12; “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
John 9:5; “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 10:30; “I and my Father are one.”
The Book of Mormon is filled with strange teachings like the one we see today. Smith opened up a Bible, took a snippet of a sentence from here and there to invent his own version of scripture and the verse in Ether is a good example of that!
Our compilation of verses listed above also serve as examples showing how the verse in Ether may have come about.
Another thing to keep in mind is timing. Ether was supposedly a prophet who lived c. BC 2600 (Tower of Babel timeline). Jesus is a Greek word and Greek didn’t show up in the annals of history until the early fourth century BC so he’s 2,200 years too early.
Jesus never said that He is the Father. Jesus said He and the Father are one, indicating their cohesiveness in the Trinity. Matthew Henry explained it this way;
‘…more than the harmony, and consent, and good understanding, that were between the Father and the Son in the work of man’s redemption’.
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