Mormon Dilemma 60
Alma 11:44; “…every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.”
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 345; “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 who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, 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…” – August 11, 1844, Nauvoo, IL at King Follett’s (LDS member) funeral service.
Isaiah 3:9; “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”
My, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive…didn’t Smith remember the words he “translated”15 years beforehand? Mormons believe the “Trinity” is actually made up of 3 separate gods. The apostle Bruce McConkie explained the Trinity this way;
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 576; “Three separate personages — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — comprise the Godhead. As each of these persons is a God, it is evident, from this standpoint alone, that a plurality of Gods exists. To us, speaking in the proper finite sense, these three are the only Gods we worship.” – Bruce McConkie
So much for being the “most correct book on the face of the earth”. Our concern for the Mormon people never ends when it comes to this type of thing. Their scripture says not just one thing, but multiple, contradictory things which leaves them in a state of flux.
Today’s dilemma also qualifies as polytheism – which is a belief in more than one god. The Bible explicitly says this is idol worship!
Technically, the origin of the term Polytheism is from Hindu belief, in which the doctrine of God in many forms was common.
Thus, even the belief in a single God in three forms (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) is a type of Polytheism, as it is also God in multiple forms.
As to your supposed contradiction, I would point out that it simply does not exist. Your entire argument for the contradiction is based on the one word in Alma “one,” or “One Eternal God.”
The simple fact is that the term one can, and has many times, referred to a plurality. Take, for example, the United States Congress. It is one congress, but is comprised of two houses, each with separate committees and members. Thus referring to the Congress, in the singular, is in truth referring to the well over 400 individuals, in the plural.
Many other examples can be given, but the most pure example, that exemplifies the truth best, is that of the Presidency of the LDS church. Three men joined into one body to govern the affairs of the church throughout the world. While they are distinguished by President and first and second Counselor, all of them are addressed as President, and thus they make up the Presidency, or are all three together are one President over the church.
In like manner the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are distinguished by these names, or others, but are all addressed as God, and thus they make up the Godhead, or the three together are One Eternal God.
The supposed contradiction fades in the light of the true doctrine of the church.
Can you comment on the passage in the Book of Mormon where “Zeezrom” (spelling?) says that God is a spirit?
CAMDEN
Your spelling is correct, but I do not recall Zeezrom even making such a claim. Now, this claim is seen, partially, in the stories of Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah.
In Alma 18: 24-29 “And Ammon began to speak unto him with aboldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?
And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.
And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?
And he said, Yea.
And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?
And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.”
This is Ammon teaching King Lamoni about God and the plan of redemption. It does seem to teach that God is a spirit, but this is only a superficial understanding. As one can see the term God was unknown to the Lamanites, and so Ammon was forced to use their closest equivalent to the concept. They did believe and understand the concept of the Great Spirit, and so Ammon uses this, treating it as a kind of degenerate form of the true doctrine. As such, to say that he is teaching that God is truly a spirit is a false understanding of the narrative.
Ammon’s brother Aaron teaches Lamoni’s father in a similar way, which is also used to claim this idea of God being a spirit (see Alma 22). In this case it is Lamoni’s father who makes the comparison between their concept of the great spirit and God.
In either case the idea is not directly taught, and by understanding the nature of effective education it becomes clear that it was not their intention to teach this.
On a final note, I will say that the concept of the Great Spirit is very logical, and in truth not out of line with truth. Christ, before his mortal ministry, was a spirit, just like the rest of us. So, at the time that Lehi and his family were lead out of Jerusalem, Christ was a spirit, and it was Christ who lead them. As such, for the Lamanites, who lacked sufficient understanding of the truth, to develop the idea of the Great Spirit is not surprising. It is also not surprising that such would be compared to the true nature of God.
Maybe I mixed up the names… You probably have a B of M search engine, can you “search” the name Zeezrom? There is something that I remember about that name having to do with Spirit or something…
Thanks!
Camden
I have read the accounts of Zeezrom frequently, and even recently. I have done a search on him and found no reference to spirit, except that Alma and Amulek spoke with the spirit, and they taught the doctrine of the spiritual death. There is nothing that would indicate that God is a spirit.
I must’ve gotten it mixed up… I don’t have my B of M with me on the road… I guess never mind… I will get back to you on this one…