Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost

Baptism by Immersion

An early volume of writing, which was recognized by many early Christians, was the Didache (Teaching of the Apostles). This work was mentioned in many early writings, and was considered lost until 1883, when Archbishop Philotheos Bryennoise published a manuscript dating from 1056.^[133] It had been discovered in 1873 in a library in Constantinople. Though it is not considered inspired scripture, it is an early catechism which sheds a lot of light on the practices of the early Church.

The Didache gives clear instruction on the method of the early Christian baptism:

The procedure for baptizing is as follows…immerse^[134] in running water ‘In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’. If no running water is available, immerse in ordinary water. This should be cold if possible; otherwise warm. If neither is practicable, then pour water three times on the head ‘In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’. Both baptizer and baptized ought to fast before the baptism, as well as any others who can do so; but the candidate himself should be told to keep a fast for a day or two beforehand.^[135]

When someone converts to the LDS Church, they are baptized immediately, as long as they are at least 8 years old. This is the age of accountability in Mormonism, the age when you begin to be responsible for your actions. They emphatically reject the practice of infant baptism. Bruce R. McConkie writes:

Few practices constitute so gross a perversion of true Christian doctrine as does infant baptism… ^[136]

However, studies of early Christianity reveal that infant baptism was indeed a very early practice. According to the New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, “Infant baptism was practiced in the second century, but only with the aid of an adult sponsor.”^[137] In the third century, Origen (an early Christian writer, quoted more than seventeen times in Mormon historian Hugh Nibley’s study of early Christianity, The World and the Prophets) wrote that “the Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism also to infants.”^[138] If the LDS Church is a restoration of early Christianity, why do they not baptize infants? Because their scriptures explicitly forbids the practice. In the Book of Mormon, Moroni 8:9 calls it a “solemn mockery before God”.

In the first LDS baptism, Oliver Cowdery was baptized by Joseph Smith, and then Joseph was baptized by Oliver; later LDS tradition claims that they received the authority to baptize from the biblical John the Baptist himself. This was not always believed by the Church.

Joseph’s mother Lucy Smith, in her preliminary manuscript for her book Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for many Generations, wrote:

one morning however they [Oliver and Joseph] sat down to their usual work [translating the golden plates] when the first thing that presented itself to Joseph was a commandment from God that he and Oliver should repair to the water & each of them be baptized they immediately went down to the susquehana[h] river and obeyed the comm[andment] mandate given them through the urim and Thumim ^[139] as they were on their return to the house they overheard samuel [Joseph's brother] engaged in secret prayer[.] They had now received authority to baptize and Joseph said that he considered it a sufficient testimony of samuel’s honesty of heart and zeal for religion that they found him privately bowing before the Lord in pray[er] that for himself he thought it was an evidence readiness for baptism Oliver was of the same opinion and they spoke to Samuel who went withe [sic] them straightway to the water and was baptized[.]^[140]

In the History of the Church, Joseph tells a different story:

We still continued the work of translation, when in the ensuing month (May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:
“Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron^[141], which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.”^[142]

The heading of Doctrine and Covenants, Section 13 (1981 edition) says:

The ordination was done by the hands of an angel, who announced himself as John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament. The angel explained that he was acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, the ancient apostles… ^[143]

Curiously this entire section is missing from the original edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, which makes no mention at all of any visitation from John the Baptist. One might ask why, in a book which claims to be of compilation of “carefully selected”^[144] revelations from God, there is no mention of a priesthood restored to the earth by a man who had been dead for roughly 1800 years. That the restoration of the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood is absent from the Book of Commandments (1833) and the Doctrine and Covenants (1835) should be alarming for adherents to the beliefs of the LDS Church.

David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon’s golden plates, in an interview by Zenas H. Gurley, Jr. in 1885, said:

I moved Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to my fathers house in Fayette Seneca County New York, from Harmony, Penn. In the year 1829 [June]. On our way I conversed freely with them upon this great work they were bringing about, and Oliver stated to me in Joseph[']s presence that they had baptized each other seeking by that to fulfil the command… I never heard that an Angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic priesthood until the year 1834 [, 183]5[,] or [183]6- in Ohio. My information from Joseph and Oliver upon this matter being as I have stated, and that they were commanded so to do by revealment [sic] through Joseph. I do not believe that John the Baptist ever ordained Joseph and Oliver as stated and believed by some. I regard that as an error, a misconception.^[145]

According to Mormon writer Grant H. Palmer, “When Joseph and Oliver began mentioning their angelic ordinations in late 1834 and early 1835, they were facing a credibility crisis that threatened the church’s survival.”^[146]

E.D. Howe’s scathing Mormonism Unvailed had just been published, containing several sworn statements collected by Philastus Hurlburt^[147] which painted an incredibly negative picture of the Prophet Joseph. When the Church needed more solid grounding for its Priesthood and doctrines, stories of visitations and ordinations from John the Baptist, and Apostles Peter, James, and John were helpful shields in absorbing some of the damage done by Mormonism Unvailed.

Baptism for the Dead

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they baptized for the dead?

-1 Corinthians 15:29

If a person dies without hearing and accepting the Mormon Gospel, the LDS Church teaches that he goes to Spirit Prison, where he is instructed by missionaries. This person then must wait for a person in a Mormon temple to be baptized for him. ^[148]

This practice began in 1838^[149], but the LDS believe that the practice is much older than that. At the baptismal font on display at the Visitor’s Center at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, a placard reads:

The apostle John recorded this statement made by Jesus Christ during his ministry: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:6)
The savior made no exceptions. Everyone must be baptized.
To give everyone the opportunity for baptism, the Savior established a sacred ordinance which the apostle Paul referred to as “baptism for the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:29)
Although this ordinance was lost for centuries after the death of the original apostles, it has been restored in our time by the Savior himself through a modern prophet of God.
To perform this ordinance, a person who enters the temple is given the name of a deceased person and is baptized in his behalf in a font similar to this one.
Those who have died can then accept or reject the baptisms performed in their behalf. Just as all of us on earth, theirs is the freedom to choose, in accordance with the eternal principle of free agency.

1 Corinthians 15:29 has been touted by Mormons, who are the only ones to practice a baptism for the dead, as proof that they are the restoration of the original Christian church. Let’s take a closer look at this scripture. According to the New Jerome Biblical Commentary:

Interpretations of this verse are legion, but the most common view sees Paul as referring to members of the community who had themselves baptized on behalf of their dead friends or relatives who had died unbelievers. Paul’s sacramental theology, however, would never have permitted him to condone such superstition, much less to use it as an argument. Moreover, the antecedent context suggests that v 29 should evoke Paul’s ministry in a general way, and this is confirmed by vv 30-32. In this perspective one would translate, Why are they destroying themselves on account of the dead (to higher spiritual truths)? If those who are really dead are not raised, why are they being destroyed on their account? The “spirit-people” at Corinth- those who denied the resurrection- had mocked Paul for the effort he expended on those whom they considered merely “soul-people”. By radicalizing the gibe in the second question, Paul draws their attention to the implications of such effort. He would not be working himself to death, were he not absolutely convinced that the dead would be raised.^[150]

The footnote in the New American Bible states:

This practice is not further explained here, nor is it necessarily mentioned with approval, but Paul cites it as something in their [the people of Corinth] experience that attests in one more way to belief in the resurrection.^[151]

In verse 29, Paul is clearly not advocating the practice of baptism for the dead, as indicated by his phrase “they who are baptized for the dead,”. If he is speaking of Christians, why wouldn’t he say “we who are baptized for the dead,”? He is giving an example that even the superstitious believe that the dead will rise.

The Book of Mormon denies the very idea of salvation through posthumous baptism. Alma 34:31-35:

Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.
For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.^[152]

And again in Moroni 10:24-26:

And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth- that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief.
And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God.
And wo unto them who shall do these things away and die, for they die in their sins, and they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God; and I speak it according to the words of Christ; and I lie not.^[153]

One more question is raised by the practice of baptism for the dead. If it was correctly practiced by Christians, is mentioned by Paul in the first century, and is a necessary component of the true Gospel, why is there no mention of it in the Book of Mormon, which is supposed to contain the “fulness of the everlasting Gospel”? If the practice had been established by Christ through his apostles in the Old World, wouldn’t he have established the practice also to the people in the New? The LDS Church believes that many things have been removed from the Bible, and use that belief to explain why there is no explicit instruction for baptism for the dead in it. But, the Book of Mormon is supposed to be uncorrupted and it contains not one mention of the practice.

Multiple Baptisms

The LDS Church today recognizes that a person needs to be baptized only once. This baptism brings a remission of sins and official membership in the Church. Any sins committed after baptism must be repented of for a person to remain in good standing; but rebaptism is only necessary if a person leaves the Church and requests that his or her name be removed from the official records, and then decides to return.^[154]

Under no circumstances would an already baptized person be allowed a second baptism. Joseph Fielding Smith said:

It is unnecessary, however, to rebaptize persons merely as a renewal of their covenants every time they transgress in order that they may obtain forgiveness, for this would greatly cheapen this sacred ordinance and weaken its effectiveness. One baptism by water for the remission of sins should be enough, and there are other means by which sins may be forgiven for those who have made covenant with the Lord, provided they so not sin away their right to a standing in the Church.^[155]

He also admits that rebaptisms were sometimes necessary in the past, because of lost records^[156],
apostasy^[156], and in celebration of reaching the Salt Lake Valley. Joseph Fielding Smith again explains:

After their arrival in this western land, they were free from molestation, and in humility the approached the Lord, not because of transgression, but because of thankfulness for their deliverance from wicked enemies, and knowing no better way to express their gratitude decided to make covenant with the Lord that from that time forward they would serve him and keep his commandments. As a token of this covenant they entered the water and were baptized and confirmed, renewing their covenants and obligations as members of the Church.^[157]

Smith makes it sound like this was a special exception to the rule, but historical evidence proves that it was not. The Saints arrived in the Great Basin in 1847, but there is much evidence that rebaptisms were performed long after the Saints arrived. In 1875, Orson Pratt stated:

That seems to be a kind of standing ordinance for all Latter-day Saints who emigrate here [Salt Lake], from the First Presidency down; all are rebaptized and set out anew by renewing their covenants.^[158]

Church Chronology records that also in 1875, President Brigham Young, who arrived in Salt Lake in 1847, was rebaptized:

Sept. 17 [1875]- Pres. Brigham Young, his Counselors and others renewed their covenants by baptism at Ephraim, Sanpete Co. This example was subsequently followed by the Saints generally.^[159]

Shortly after the establishment of the Church on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith faced a problem. Many of his new converts had already been baptized Christian and did not feel they should be rebaptized. The following revelation is recorded in the Book of Commandments:^[160]

Behold I say unto you, that all old covenants have I caused to be done away in this thing, and this is a new and an everlasting covenant; even that which was from the beginning. Wherefore although a man should be baptized an hundred times, it availeth him nothing… ^[161]

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Nearly every member of the Church has stories about when the Spirit helped them and how, some of them professing bona-fide miracles courtesy of the Spirit. But how is the Gift of the Holy Ghost different from the Holy Ghost himself?

The Book of Mormon ends with the exhortation to ask the Spirit if the book is true:

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.^[162]

Joseph Smith taught:

There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was baptized^[163], which was the convincing power of God unto him of the truth of the Gospel but he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was baptized. Had he not taken this sign of ordinance upon him, the Holy Ghost which convinced him of the truth of God, would have left him. Until he obeyed these ordinances and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, according to the order of God, he could not have healed the sick or commanded an evil spirit to come out of a man, and it obey him; for the spirits might say unto him, as they did to the sons of Sceva^[164]: “Paul we know and Jesus we know, but who are ye?” It mattereth not whether we live long or short on the earth after we come to a knowledge of these principles and obey them unto the end. I know that all man will be damned if they do not come in the way which He hath opened, and this is the way marked out by the word of the Lord.^[165]

In Mormon Doctrine, Bruce R. McConkie explains:

The gift of the Holy Ghost is the right to have the constant companionship of the Spirit; the actual enjoyment of the gift, the actual receipt of the companionship of the Spirit, is based on personal righteousness; it does not come unless and until the person is worthy to receive it…Even a righteous person is often left to himself so that he does not at all times enjoy the promptings of revelation and light from the Holy Ghost. ^[166]

But how does one know if the promptings they are receiving are from the Holy Ghost or from themselves? This question is quite difficult to answer. There are no specific “tests”. A Mormon has faith that the “still, small voice” is from God, and that faith is the only assurance they have. LDS author Grant H. Palmer, in his An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, writes:

Most of us have felt this spiritual feeling when reading the Book of Mormon or hearing about Joseph Smith’s epiphanies. What we interpret this to mean is that we have therefore encountered the truth, and we then base subsequent religious commitments on these feelings. The question I will pose is whether this is an unfailing guide to truth. Is something true because I and others find it edifying?^[167]

He also notes that, “Despite the [LDS] church’s claim to exclusive receipt of the Holy Ghost as a gift, a 1985 Gallop Poll reveals that over 40 percent of adults in America claim the same variety of spiritual feelings and experiences enjoyed by Latter-day Saints. Their most common denominator is not religious affiliation but the conviction that ‘religion is very important in their lives.’”^[168]

133
The Early Church, Henry Chadwick, pg. 46

134
According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, to “immerse” is to “cover completely in a liquid…”. This doesn’t necessarily mean total immersion, which is what has always been practiced by the LDS Church.

135
The Didache, published in Early Christian Writings, pg. 194 The LDS Church believes strictly in baptism by immersion, which they understand as baptism by submersion. If a person is not completely underwater, the baptism is considered invalid. There is no Biblical or historical Christian evidence of the practice of baptism by complete submersion.

136
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 379 (1966 edition). Curiously, in his study Mormonism and Early Christianity, Hugh Nibley has nothing to say about infant baptism.

137
New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, pg. 100

138
Origen, Commentarii in Romanos 5:9

139
The Urim and Thummin: pronounced “Oo-rim and Too-mim” in Hebrew, the LDS pronounce it “You-rim and Thumb-im”.

140
Lucy Smith, “Preliminary Manuscript,” dictated to Martha Jane Coray, 1844-45, original in the archives of the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Also published in Early Mormon Documents 1:381, and Lucy’s Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith’s Family Memoir pg. 439. In the published version of her memoirs, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for many Generations [Liverpool: S.W. Richards, 1853], the same passage appears as, “One morning they sat down to their work, as usual, and the first thing which presented itself through the Urim and Thummim, was a commandment for Joseph and Oliver to repair to the water, and attend to the ordinance of Baptism. They did so, and as they were returning to the house, they overheard Samuel engaged in secret prayer. Joseph said, that he considered this as a sufficient testimony of his being a fit subject for Baptism; and as they had now received authority to baptize, they spoke to Samuel upon the subject, and he went straightway to the water with them, and was baptized.” See Early Mormon Document 1:381, and Lucy’s Book, pg. 439.

141
In the LDS Church, the Aaronic Priesthood is required in order for a member to baptize. This priesthood and its origin will be discussed in greater detail later.

142
History of the Church 1:39

143
See the Doctrine and Covenants title page, 1835 edition.

144
Doctrine and Covenants 13, section heading, pg. 24 (1981 edition)

145
David Whitmer, interviewed by Zenas H. Gurley Jr., January 14, 1885, typescript in the archives of the Historical Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

146
An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, pg. 227

147
See Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 231-269, also Early Mormon Documents 2:13-77

148
A person may also receive his endowments and marriage sealing posthumously.

149
See Doctrine and Covenants 124:29, 127:5, 128:1-25

150
New Jerome Biblical Commentary, pg. 813

151
New American Bible, pg. 1300 fn.

152
Book of Mormon, Alma 34:31-35, pg. 295 (1981 edition)

153
Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:24-26, pp. 530-531 (1981 edition)

154
Excommunication and then acceptance back into the Church would also warrant rebaptism.

155
Doctrines of Salvation 2:335

156
Ibid., 2:334

157
Ibid. 2:333-334

158
Journal of Discourses 18:160

159
Church Chronology, pg. 94

160
Also in the Doctrine and Covenants 22:1-2, pg. 41 (1981 edition)

161
Book of Commandments, pg. 47

162
Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:4, pg. 529 (1981 edition)

163
See Acts 10

164
Acts 19:14

165
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 199

166
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 313 (1966 edition)

167
An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, pg. 131

168
Ibid., pp. 132-133

Principles and Ordinances 2: Repentance

Repentance is true remorse for sins committed; the repentant person then repairs any damage that his sins have caused (that can be undone), then asks God for forgiveness, which is available through the Atonement of Christ. In the LDS view, one doesn’t necessarily have to be sorry for his sins to be forgiven. Under the heading ‘Repentance’ in Mormon Doctrine, we read:

Where there is no repentance, the law of justice takes precedence and remission of sins is gained through suffering rather than as a gift of God through the blood of Christ.^[128]

By the above we can conclude that remission of sins is granted through suffering even if one doesn’t truly repent.

Mormons believe that most souls eventually get to heaven, and that heaven has three degrees of glory. Which heaven one goes to depends on their earthly life. The only people who have no hope for any degree of heaven are those who have learned the Mormon Gospel and turn away from it.

The highest heaven is the Celestial Kingdom. Only temple worthy Mormons who have received their Endowments (which can only be received in the LDS temple ceremonies) will be allowed into the Celestial Kingdom. It is from this Kingdom that a man can progress to godhood himself, and create and populate his own worlds, just as our God once did.

The middle level of heaven is called the Terrestrial Kingdom. According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, the Terrestrial Kingdom is “for those who lived honorable lives on the earth but ‘were blinded by the craftiness of men’ and were ‘not valiant in the testimony of Jesus’. Those who did not receive a testimony of Jesus while on earth, but who could have done so except for their neglect, are also heirs of the terrestrial kingdom.”^[129]

Those who lived good lives, and were perhaps Christian but not Mormon (which is what is meant by those “blind by the craftiness of men”), go to the Terrestrial Kingdom, as do those who were Mormon but not temple-worthy.

According to the rules of the church, a young man usually devotes two years of his life to a mission. Paid for by himself, his family, or his ward, the Church calls him to wherever there is a need for a missionary. This could be as close as the next state over or as far away as Europe. This normally occurs from age 19 to 21, but older converts, as well as elderly couples, can go on missions as well. Young women may also go on missions; theirs are similar to the young men’s but last half the time. When called on a mission, one goes to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, where they undergo a crash-course in effective teaching techniques, learning six discussions (lessons) they will use to hopefully convert and baptize investigators. If called to a foreign-speaking mission, they’ll learn the basics of the language they’ll be speaking. Before leaving on their mission, they get their “endowments” in a ceremony at an LDS temple. When they return from their mission, they are expected to get married, stay temple-worthy, and go to the temple once a month.

The Endowment Ceremony is basically a precursor to entering heaven. One learns all they will need to enter into the Celestial Kingdom. After obtaining endowments, Mormons are given garments (underclothes) which they are instructed to wear for the rest of their lives. These garments serve as reminders of spiritual commitment, and are a symbolic (and, some believe, literal) protection against the evils and dangers of the world.

Once you have taken out your endowments for yourself, you are asked to return to the temple often where you will stand in as proxy for a deceased person. In the spiritual afterlife, Mormons believe that a person unfamiliar with Mormon Doctrine is taken to “Spirit Prison”, where they await instructions from “Spirit Missionaries”, who will teach them the Mormon Gospel. After learning, they are given a chance to accept or reject this doctrine. If accepted, one is let out of Spirit Prison to await their earthly baptism, endowment, and sealing ceremony performed by a stand-in for them on earth. If they reject the Mormon Gospel, they are banished to “Outer Darkness” (the LDS equivalent of hell) for eternity. To go to the temple, as all Mormons are expected to do, one must obtain a Temple Recommend from his or her local Bishop. The Bishop interviews the person to make sure they are “Temple Worthy”. The questions asked in this interview are:^[130]

1. Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost?
2. Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer?
3. Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days?
4. Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?
5. Do you live the law of chastity?
6. Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?
7. Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
8. Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?
9. Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
10. Are you a full-tithe payer?
11. Do your keep the Word of Wisdom?
12. Do you have financial or other obligations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations?
13. If you have previously received your temple endowment:

Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?
Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?
14. Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been?
15. Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord’s house and participate in temple ordinances?

In each interview, emphasize to the applicant the need to safeguard the recommend. It must never be loaned and should be reported immediately to the issuer if lost or stolen.

The third level of heaven is the Telestial Kingdom. According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:

Within the telestial kingdom there will be varying degrees of glory even as the stars vary in brightness as we see them. It embraces those who on earth willfully reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and commit serious sins such as murder, adultery, lying, and loving to make a lie (but do not commit the unpardonable sin), and who do not repent in mortality. They will be cleansed in the postmortal spirit world or spirit prison before the resurrection.”^[131]

Mormons recognize three different “senses” of hell:

• That condition of misery which may attend a person in mortality due to disobedience to divine law;
• The miserable, but temporary, state of disobedient spirits in the spirit world awaiting the resurrection;
• The permanent habitation of the sons of perdition, who suffer the second spiritual death and remain in hell even after the resurrection.^[132]

Most human begins will be given forgiveness for all of their sins, whether through earthy repentance (including adherence to LDS doctrines) made possible by the atonement of Christ, or by suffering in Spirit Prison in the afterlife. The only ones who will go to hell for eternity are those that have committed the unpardonable sin. This unpardonable sin is denying the Holy Ghost, or blaspheming against the Holy Ghost. This amounts to knowing and accepting Mormonism, receiving a testimony (a good feeling about the truth of Mormonism said to come from the Holy Ghost), and then denying or turning against Mormonism.

128
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 631 (1966 edition)

129
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 1470

130
These are taken from the Church Handbook of Instructions: Book 1, which is not available to the general public; or even to most temple-worthy Mormons. According to the book itself, “Book1 has been prepared solely for use by general and local Church officers to administer the affairs of the Church. The entire book should not be duplicated. However, the stake president or bishop may authorize portions to be duplicated for high councilors and others as needed. When Church officers who have a copy of Book 1 are released, they should give the copy promptly to their successor or to their presiding authority.”

131
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 1443

132
Ibid, pg. 585

Principles and Ordinances 1: Faith

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The LDS Church accepts four books as scripture; these are, the Bible (King James Version), the Book of Mormon (the record that Joseph claimed to have translated from the golden plates), the Doctrine and Covenants (a collection of Joseph’s revelations), and the Pearl of Great Price (a miscellany of Joseph’s writings, revelations, translations, and corrections). The Book of Abraham is published in the Pearl of Great Price, and purports to be the actual writing of Biblical Abraham written by him while he was in Egypt.

The heading of the Book of Abraham, as currently published, is:

A Translation of some ancient Records, that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt.- The writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus^[114].

In July 1835, Michael H. Chandler traveled to Kirtland, Ohio (then home of the Saints), exhibiting Egyptian mummies. With these mummies were scrolls of papyrus. Mr. Chandler sought out Joseph Smith (who had claimed that the Book of Mormon had originally been written in “Reformed Egyptian”), to see if he was be able to translate the ancient writings.
Egyptian hieroglyphics, though decipherable to scholars today, was considered lost in the early nineteenth century. The Rosetta stone had been discovered in 1799^[115], but it wasn’t until 1824 that it had been deciphered by Jean-Francois Champollion, and his translations weren’t published until the early 1830′s. It wasn’t until the early nineteenth century that hieroglyphics were understood by Egyptologists.

When Joseph Smith viewed the papyrus scrolls, he told Michael Chandler that he could indeed read them, and expressed an interest in purchasing them. The mummies and the scrolls were sold to Joseph shortly thereafter. In the History of the Church, he writes:

…with W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the scrolls contained the writings of Abraham, another writings of Joseph of Egypt…^[116]

In December of 1835, Joseph gave an account of how Michael Chandler came to own the artifacts and writings, and how they came to be in Kirtland.^[117] He concludes with:

Thus I have given a brief history of the manner in which the writings of the fathers, Abraham and Joseph, have been preserved, and how I came in possession of the same- a correct translation of which I shall give in its proper place.^[118]

Joseph’s translation of the text was first published, along with facsimile reproductions of artwork on the scrolls, in installments in the Mormon periodical Times and Seasons beginning on March 1, 1842. It was next published in the Pearl of Great Price in 1851.

In 1938, Mormon scholar Dr. Sidney B. Sperry wrote:

The Mormon people are especially blessed with scriptures that have a very interesting archaeological background…If a manuscript were to be found in the sands of Egypt written in Egyptian characters with the title of ‘The Book of Abraham’, it would cause a sensation in the scholarly world. Our people do profess to have such a scripture containing but five chapters which was written by Abraham who came from Ur of the Chaldees and eventually went down into the land of Egypt.^[119]

The little volume of Scripture known as the Book of Abraham will some day be reckoned as one of the most remarkable documents in existence…the author or editors of the book we call Genesis lived after the events recorded took place. Our text of Genesis therefore cannot be dated earlier than the latest event mentioned by it. It is evident that the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, of which our printed Book of Abraham is a copy, must of necessity be older than the original text of Genesis.^[120]

When the Saints left Nauvoo for Salt Lake City, the papyrus scrolls stayed behind with the Smith family. According to William E. Berrett:

They [the papyrus scrolls] were considered as the property of the Smith family and, after the Prophet’s martyrdom, were retained by his wife, Emma. They were later sold by her to a museum at St. Louis, from whence they found their way into a Museum of Chicago. In the great Chicago fire [in 1871] the museum was totally destroyed and with it the precious ancient manuscripts.^[121]

But, on November 27, 1967, the Deseret News announced:

NEW YORK- A collection of pa[p]yrus manuscripts, long believed to have been destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871 was presented to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here Monday by the Metropolitan Museum of Art…Included in the papyri is a manuscript identified as the original document from which Joseph Smith had copied the drawing which he called ‘Facsimile No. 1′ and published with the Book of Abraham.^[122]

The discovery of the scrolls caused an explosion of excitement from the Mormon community. For years Egyptologists had looked skeptically upon the printed facsimiles. They argued that the supplied translations of the hieroglyphics were incorrect. The Mormon response was that Egyptologists couldn’t examine the lost original documents. Perhaps they had been taken out of context; perhaps there was a printing error. Whatever the case, until the original documents could be examined no one could convince the LDS people that the Book of Abraham was anything but authentic. Now that the scrolls had been found, Joseph Smith’s work as an inspired translator would be vindicated and the world would have to admit the authenticity of the LDS Church. Renowned LDS scholar and apologist^[123] Dr. Hugh Nibley didn’t seem to share the view of the majority of the Church members at that time. On December 1, 1967, the Daily Universe, published at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, reported:

“The papyri scripts given to the Church do not prove the Book of Abraham is true,” Dr. Hugh Nibley said in an academics Office-sponsored assembly Wednesday night. “LDS scholars are caught flat footed by this discovery,” he went on to say.
According to Dr. Nibley, Mormon scholars should have been doing added research on the Pearl of Great Price years ago. Non-Mormon scholars will bring in questions regarding the manuscripts which will be hard to answer because of lack of scholarly knowledge on the subject…Dr. Nibley said worldly discoveries are going to “bury the Church in criticism”…

Even Dr. Sidney B. Sperry, who before had said that the Book of Abraham would someday be recognized as one of the “most important documents in existence”, was cautious, saying in 1968:

We ought to be very careful in our estimation of these things. I[t] would be better for us to take a conservative view now, than to go out on a limb and say they prove more than they actually do…we ought not to overrate the importance of this discovery. It would be better to be conservative then [sic] to be overly expansive in our estimate of the value of the papyrus sheets.^[124]

The scrolls, authenticated by the LDS Church and studies intensively by Mormon scholars, were proven to be nothing but common Egyptian funeral scrolls dating from around the time of Christ. Not once did they mention Abraham, or anything of Jewish or Christian origin.^[125] In Church History in the Fulness of Times, an LDS Religious course manual, it is admitted:

In 1967 eleven fragments of the Joseph Smith papyri were rediscovered by Doctor Aziz S. Atiya, in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Studies of them have confirmed that they are mainly ancient Egyptian funerary texts of the sort commonly buried with royalty and nobility and designed to guide them through their eternal journeyings. This has renewed the question about the connection between the records and the book of Abraham.^[126]

It goes on to say, in what has become a common explanation when confronted with irrefutable evidence:

Joseph Smith did not explain the method of translating the book of Abraham, just as he did not explain fully how the Book of Mormon was translated. Nevertheless, like the Book of Mormon, the book of Abraham is its own evidence that it came about through the gift and power of God.^[127]

Therefore, one must rely on faith that the Book of Abraham is true, regardless of solid evidence that it is not. The General Authorities have made no official statement defending the Book of Abraham. In the textbook cited above, students are advised to take the book as proof of itself; that the book is “its own evidence”. Mormon apologists offered that perhaps Joseph thought he was translating hieroglyphics but was actually receiving inspiration from God. Joseph Smith was supposed to have been an inspired prophet of God. Joseph said that the scrolls were the actual writings of Abraham. He also said that he would provide a “correct translation” of the scrolls. He drew an extremely influential religious book from pagan funerary texts. He claimed that the scrolls were over three thousand years old; they turned out to be less than half that age.

Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt said:

Faith is the result of evidence. True evidence, when believed, produces true faith: false evidence, when believed, produces false faith. Neither a true nor false faith could exist without evidence.^[128]

114
Pearl of Great Price, pg. 29 (1981 edition). The first edition of the Pearl of Great Price [Liverpool, 1851] has a slightly different explanation of the Book of Abraham. It states: “A translation of some ancient records, that have fallen into our hands from the catecombs [sic] of Egypt, purporting to be the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus.” [Pearl of Great Price, 1851 ed., pg. 19]

115
The Rosetta stone was discovered in 1799 at Rashid in the Nile during a military construction project. The stone was thought to have been incorporated into a larger structure that was demolished to make way for new construction. It contains copies of a decree in honor of Pharaoh Ptolemy V, written in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, demotic Egyptian, and Greek in 196 BC. This stone was used as a key in translating Egyptian.

116
History of the Church 2:236

117
Ibid. 2:348-350

118
Ibid. 2:351

119
Ancient Records Testify in Papyrus and Stone, pg. 39

120
Ibid. pg. 83

120
The Restored Church, pg. 144

122
Deseret News, November 27, 1967, pg. 1

123
Dr. Nibley was also supposed to be the LDS Church’s top authority on ancient languages and Egyptology.

124
Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, Brigham Young University, March 1, 1968, pp. 6-8.

125
For more information, see By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri by Charles M. Larson and Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? by Jerald and Sandra Tanner.

126
Church History in the Fulness of Times: Religion 341-43 [Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1993, revised edition], pg. 258

127
The Seer, pg. 198

The Atonement of Christ

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

“He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

-Isaiah 53:5

The Atonement of Jesus was, from a Christian standpoint, the most important event in history. In taking upon himself the sins of the world, Jesus gave his life to redeem humanity from the effects of the Fall. Before Christ’s sacrifice, all of humanity was lost. Through his Atonement, our sins can be forgiven. Mormons do not entirely disagree; the Book of Mormon teaches:

Behold, he [God] created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man.^[102]

However, they see Christ’s sacrifice differently. Christ went through suffering and torture that no normal man could bear leading up to his crucifixion, then freely gave his life for all of mankind. The focus of Christianity has always been upon Jesus’ teaching, his passion, death, and resurrection. Mormons maintain that the suffering of Christ mainly took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prepared for the anguish he was about to undertake:

[Jesus suffered] the pains of all men, which he did, principally, in Gethsemane, the scene of his greatest agony.^[103]

Ezra Taft Benson:

It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him.^[104]

Bruce R. McConkie:

Forgiveness is available because of the atoning sacrifice of the Great Jehovah. Forgiveness is available because Christ the Lord sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane as he bore the incalculable weight of the sins of all who ever had or ever would repent.^[105]

In all but the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’ suffering in the Garden was great, but it was in preparation for the Atonement, it wasn’t the Atonement itself. The Bible presents several instances of Apostles speaking of the cross, but none of them say that the Atonement took place in the Garden.^[106] Christ himself spoke the cross, but not of the garden:

And if he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Matt. 10:38)

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

Go thy way, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. (Mark 10:21)

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

Four times in the Gospels, Jesus tells us to take up the cross to follow him; never once does he ask us to kneel in a garden to follow him. The Bible makes it plain that Jesus’ death on the cross was the focus of the early church:

Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Colossians 1:20
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 2:14
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Galatians 6:12
As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

Galatians 6:14
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Romans 5:10
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

There are two types of Atonement in Mormonism. The first is the Atonement of Christ, which brings resurrection to all mankind. No faith or particular belief is required on the part of man; resurrection is automatic and guaranteed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ Atonement covered the basic sins of mankind, but there are sins that it doesn’t cover, which brings us to the second type, Blood Atonement. Blood Atonement comes into play when you have committed a sin so great as to be outside of Christ’s saving Grace, and your own blood must be shed for your sin(s) to be forgiven. In fairness, this doctrine is not spoken of much anymore, and could be on its way out, but it deserves mention.

In a sermon delivered in the Tabernacle at Temple Square in Salt Lake City on March 16, 1856, Brigham Young said:

Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them, you would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the kingdom of God. I would at once do so in such a case; and under such circumstances, I have no wife^[107] whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands…There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants.^[108]

Elsewhere among Brigham Young’s sermons and writings, we find:

I could refer you to plenty of instances where men have been righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins.

This is loving our neighbor as ourselves; if he wants salvation and it is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he may be saved, spill it. Any of you who understand the principles of eternity, if you have sinned a sin requiring the shedding of blood, except the sin unto death, would not be satisfied nor rest until your blood should be spilled, that you might gain that salvation you desire. That is the way to love mankind.^[109]

This doctrine has caused much controversy between orthodox Christians and Latter-day Saints. Bruce R. McConkie accused “anti-Mormon” writers of concocting the quotations above by “taking one sentence on one page and another from a succeeding page,”^[110] and “taking a part of a sentence on one page and a part of another found several pages away,”^[110] He then goes on to explain,

[T]he true doctrine of blood atonement is simply this:
1. Jesus Christ worked out the infinite and eternal atonement by the shedding of his own blood. He came into the world for the purpose of dying on the cross for the sins of the world. By virtue of that atoning sacrifice immortality came as a free gift to all men, and all who would believe and obey his laws would in addition be cleansed from sin through his blood.^[110]

In the above statement, McConkie generally agrees with the Christian community, though it could be argued that his statement that Christ “came into the world for the purpose of dying on the cross,” may contradict the theory of the Garden of Gethsemane as the site of the Atonement. He then supports Brigham Young and departs from his accusation against “anti-Mormons” by writing,

2. But under certain circumstances there are some serious sins for which the cleansing of Christ does not operate, and the law of God is that men must then have their own blood shed to atone for their sins.^[110]

What sins would require the shedding of your own blood to atone for?^[111]

Murder: ^[112]

“The founders of Utah incorporated in the laws of the Territory provisions for the capital punishment of those who willfully shed the blood of their fellow men. This law, which is now the law of the State, granted unto the condemned murderer the privilege of choosing for himself whether he die by hanging, or whether he be shot, and thus have his blood shed in harmony with the Law of God; and thus atone, so far as it is in his power to atone, for the death of his victim.” (Joseph Fielding Smith- Doctrines of Salvation 1:136)

Adultery and Immorality:

“Modern governments do not take the life of the adulterer, and some of them have done away with the supreme penalty where murder is involved- all of which is further evidence of the direful apostasy that prevails among the peoples who call themselves Christians.” (Bruce R. McConkie- Mormon Doctrine, pg. 314)

“The principle, the only one that beats and throbs through the heart of the entire inhabitants of this Territory, is simply this: The man who seduces his neighbor’s wife must die, and her nearest relative must kill him.” (George A. Smith- Journal of Discourses 1:97)

Theft:

“If you want to know what to do with a thief that you may find stealing, I say kill him on the spot, and never suffer him to commit another iniquity.” (Brigham Young- Journal of Discourses 1:108)

“Mixing blood” with Africans:

“Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so.” (Brigham Young- Journal of Discourses 10:110)

Breaking Covenants:

“We have those amongst us that are full of all manner of abominations, those who need to have their blood shed, for water will not do, their sins are of too deep a dye…I would ask how many covenant breakers there are in this city and in this kingdom. I believe that there are a great many; and if they are covenant breakers we need a place designated, where we can shed their blood…” (Jedediah M. Grant- Deseret News vol. 6, pg. 235)

Apostasy:

“I say, rather than that apostates should flourish here, I will unsheathe my bowie knife, and conquer or die.” (Brigham Young- Journal of Discourses 1:83)

Other unforgivable sins include taking the Lord’s name in vain, not accepting or receiving the Gospel, lying, and counterfeiting. Another incredibly odious atrocity was having anything to supporting, approving of, or condoning the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was shot and killed along with his brother Hyrum in Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844. Apostle Abraham H. Cannon, in his private journal, wrote about Joseph F. Smith in December of 1889:

About 4:30pm this meeting adjourned and was followed by a meeting of Presidents Woodruff, Cannon and Smith and Bros. Lyman and Grant…Bro. Joseph F. Smith was traveling some years ago near Carthage when he met a man who said he had just arrived five minutes to late to see the Smiths killed. Instantly a dark cloud seemed to overshadow Bro. Smith and he asked how this man looked upon the deed. Bro. S. was oppressed by a most horrible feeling as he waited for a reply. After a brief pause the man answered, “Just as I have always looked upon it- that it was a d—d cold-blooded murder.” The cloud immediately lifted from Bro. Smith and he found that he had his open pocket knife grasped in his hand in his pocket, and he believes that had this man given his approval to that murder of the prophets he would have immediately struck him to the heart.^[113]

It is also interesting to note that the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony contained an oath to avenge the blood of the prophets. In 1912 the “law of retribution” was described by David H. Cannon as a “prayer” rather than an oath. When it was removed from the ceremonies in 1924, Edward H. Snow explained that it was no longer necessary; the prayers had already been answered.

102
Book of Mormon, Mormon 9:12, pg. 485 (1981 edition)

103
Ensign, May 1982, pg. 6

104
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 542

105
The Messiah Series, 1982

106
In fact, the Gospel of John doesn’t even mention the Garden of Gethsemane, except to say that Jesus was arrested in a “garden”; it says nothing about his suffering, and certainly doesn’t imply that the Atonement took place there.

107
Brigham Young was a polygamist, estimates of just how many wives he had vary considerably.

108
Journal of Discourses 3:247

109
Journal of Discourses 4:220

110
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 92 (1966 edition)

111
See Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, pp. 398-404A

112
The idea that shedding your own blood would atone for a murder you committed contradicts the Book of Commandments Chapter XLIV:18, pg. 91, which states, “Thou shalt not kill; and he that killeth, shall not have forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.”

113
Daily Journal of Abraham G. Cannon, Dec. 6, 1889, pp. 205-206 (Original at Brigham Young University Library Special Collections Dept./photocopies at Utah State Historical Society and the University of Utah Library.

The Adam-God Theory

After Joseph Smith’s death, the majority of the Mormons in Nauvoo saw Apostle Brigham Young as their new leader. In 1847 the young Church followed the new Prophet to the Salt Lake Valley in modern-day Utah. Brigham proved to be, like Joseph Smith, a formidable leader. He was given to long sermons and dissertations on a variety of subjects, and often introduced new doctrines that clashed with orthodoxy, and occasionally even with LDS theology. One of these strange teachings, no longer recognized by the Church as inspired, deserves discussion here.

It is important to remember that Latter-day Saints view their Prophets as spokesmen of God. Two General Conferences are held annually, and the words of the Prophet and Apostles at these meetings are considered nearly infallible scripture by devout Mormons.

Doctrine and Covenants says:

There is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred.^[85]

Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he reveiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.^[86]

General Authorities have had much to say on the matter. Wilford Woodruff wrote:

I say to Israel, the Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God.^[87]

Heber C. Kimball:

[I]f you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong.^[88]

Marion G. Romney:

I remember years ago when I was a Bishop I had President [Heber J.] Grant talk to our ward. After the meeting I drove him home…Standing by me, he put his arm over my shoulder and said: “My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he ever tells you anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it.” Then with a twinkle in his eye, he said, “But you don’t need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray.”^[89]

Specifically concerning the doctrines and teachings of President Brigham Young, Apostle Orson Hyde said:

Brigham Young has said “when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture.” I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God.^[90]

Again, this is no longer an LDS belief, but it is interesting to speak about it here in light of the beliefs held by Mormons concerning their Prophets; Brigham Young taught that Adam was God the Father himself. In 1852, Young said:

Now hear it, o inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the Garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize the world. He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! About whom holy men have written and spoken- He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christians or non-professing, must hear it, and will know it sooner or later.^[91]

Though the plurality of wives, originally taught by Joseph Smith^[92], was generally accepted by the Latter-day Saints, especially after arriving in the Great Basin, this doctrine concerning Adam seemed much more difficult to accept. Brigham Young responded in an article written for the Church-owned Deseret News:

How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me- namely that Adam is our father and God…
Our Father Adam is the man who stands at the gate and holds the keys of everlasting life and salvation to all his children who have or who ever will come upon the earth.^[93]

He wrote in his private journal:

Our spirits and the spirits of all the human family were begotten by Adam, and born of Eve. How are we going to know this? I reackon [sic] it. And I reakon [sic] that adam [sic] came into the Garden of Eden, and did actualy [sic] eat of the fruit that he, himself planted; and I reakon [sic] there was a previous understanding, and the whole plan was previously callculated [sic], before the Garden of Eden was made, that he would reduce his posterity to sin, missery [sic], darkness, wickedness, wreatchedness [sic], and to the power of the devil, that they might be prepared, for an exaltation, for without this they could not receive one. I tell you, when you see your father in the heavens, you will see Adam; When you see your Mother that bear [sic] your spirit, you will see Mother Eve. And when you see yourselves there you have gained your exaltation; You have honered [sic] your calling here on the earth; your body has returned to its mother earth; and somebody has broken the chains of death that bound you, and given you a ressurection [sic].^[94]

Mormon apologists have claimed that Brigham Young was misquoted in the 1852 speech first referring to Adam as God, but it is obvious from Young’s other writings that he did in fact teach and believe this doctrine. Future Mormon Prophet Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal, dated December 16, 1867:

At meeting of School of the Prophets. Presidt. Young said Adam was Michael the Arkangel [sic] & he was the Father of Jesus Christ & was our God & that Joseph [Smith] taught taught [sic] this Principle.^[95]

Though some Latter-day Saints were slow in accepting this teaching, others were writing that everyone should accept it. Edward Tullidge wrote:

“Adam is our Father and God. He is the God of the earth.” So says Brigham Young. Adam is the great archangel of this creation. He is Michael. He is the Ancient of Days. He is the father of our elder brother, Jesus Christ- the father of him who shall also come as Messiah to reign. He is the father of the spirits as well as the tabernacles of the sons and daughters of man. Adam!^[96]

The Church periodical The Millennial Star published the following in 1853:

Then Adam is really God! And why not? If there are Lords many and Gods many, as the Scriptures inform us, why should not our Father Adam be one of them? Did he not prove himself as worthy of that high appellation as any other being that ever lived upon the earth?^[97]

Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1856 edition, included the following hymn:

We believe in our God, the great Prince of His race,
The Archangel Michael, the Ancient of Days,
Our own Father Adam, earth’s Lord as is plain,
Who’ll counsel and fight for his children again.

We believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, who, in love
To his brethren and sisters, came down from above,
To die to redeem them from dead, and to teach
To mortals and spirits the Gospel we preach.

We believe in the Spirit most holy, that’s given
From God, our great Father, who dwells high in heaven,
To instruct and enlighten, to comfort and cheer-
Tongues, dreams, visions, healings proclaim it is here.^[98]

Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, writing in 1981, said, “There are those who believe or say that they believe that Adam is our father and our God, that he is the father of our spirits and our bodies, and that he is the one we worship…I, of course, indicated the utter absurdity of this doctrine and said it was totally false,” He went on to add, “True religion is found only where men worship the true and living God. False religion always results from the worship of false gods”^[99]. According to his logic, Brigham Young worshipped and taught a false god. President Wilford Woodruff that, “the Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so he will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.”^[100] How can the facts that the second Prophet of the Church taught a “false god” be reconciled with the teaching that the Lord will not permit a prophet to lead the Church astray?

In 1976, Prophet Spencer W. Kimball said:

We warn you against the dissemination of doctrines which are not according to the scriptures and which are alleged to have been taught by some of the General Authorities of past generations. Such for instance is the Adam-god theory. We denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this and other kinds of false doctrine.^[101]

85
Doctrine and Covenants 132:7

86
Doctrine and Covenants 21:4-6

87
The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 212-213

88
Journal of Discourses 6:32

89
President Marion G. Romney, quoted by Ezra Taft Benson in BYU Devotional Assembly, Tuesday, February 26, 1980, 10:00am. See Following the Brethren: Speeches by Mormon Apostles Ezra Taft Benson and Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Lighthouse Ministry]

90
Journal of Discourses 13:264

91
Journal of Discourses 1:50

92
See In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Todd Compton

93
Deseret News, June 18, 1873, pg. 308

94
Brigham Young Papers MSS, Call # Ms. D 1234, October 8, 1854

95
Private Journal MSS, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, UT

96
Women of Mormondom, pg. 179 (1877)

97
Editorial, The Millennial Star, Vol. 15 pg. 801

98
Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pg. 375 (1856 edition)

99
For Any Latter-day Saint, pp. 107,108

100
Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 212-213

101
Deseret News, Church News Section, October 9, 1976

Adam’s Transgression

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

From both a Jewish and a Christian point of view, Adam and Eve and their roles in the Fall of Man are fairly simple. God created the universe and everything in it, then created man. Mankind was originally perfect and incorruptible; he could not die, fall ill, or suffer. God gave them the Garden of Eden and told them they could eat the fruit of any of the trees, except one. Adam and Eve were told specifically not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; they were told that if they broke the rule, they would die.^[73]

A serpent appeared to Eve and tempted her to eat of the fruit, saying that if they ate it they would become as gods, knowing the difference between good and evil. Eve ate of the fruit and persuaded Adam to eat it. God punished them by casting them out of the garden and allowing death and suffering into the world.

Christian teaching says that because of the transgression of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, all mankind are born into this world in a “fallen state”. This is referred to as Original Sin. Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice, giving his perfect life for the sins of the world, was a reversal of Adam’s curse. The Apostle Paul said, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Mormons today have an entirely different view of the Fall of Man, but this has not always been the case. The Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:11, states:

For behold, and also his [Christ's] blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam…

But the Book of Mormon also hints at what would later become the focal point of Mormon theology in regard to Adam:

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.^[74]

As previously discussed, LDS doctrines concerning our pre-existence are unique to the Mormon Church, and these views offer unique interpretations of standard Christian teachings. Adam is seen not as the reason for the suffering of the people of the world, but is given hero-status, seen as an instrument of the Lord in bringing salvation unto the children of man.

In Mormon doctrine, Adam was chosen in the pre-existence to be the father of all mankind. His transgression is not seen as a sin, but as something that had to happen in order for mankind to have the opportunity to become gods. Mormon Apostle John A. Widtsoe wrote:

In Joseph Smith’s philosophy of existence Adam and Eve were raised to a foremost place among the children of men, second only to the Savior. Their act was to be acclaimed. They were the greatest figures of the ages. The so-called “fall” became a necessary, honorable act in carrying out the plan of the Almighty.^[75]

Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

I never speak of the part Eve took in this fall as a sin, nor do I accuse Adam of a sin. One may say, “Well did they not break a commandment?” Yes….It is true, the Lord warned Adam and Eve that to partake of the fruit they would transgress a law, and this happened. But it is not always a sin to transgress a law.^[76]

Bruce R. McConkie seemed to place responsibility on the Lord- and not Adam- for the fall, when he explained:

In conformity with the will of the Lord, Adam fell both spiritually and temporally.^[77]

The LDS Church teaches that Adam and Eve could not have sex or have children before the Fall. This has no Biblical basis. In fact, God’s first commandment to Adam and Eve are to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,”^[78]

From the LDS perspective, God is giving them a commandment they cannot possibly abide by. We’ll now explore the Biblical story of the fall of man.

Gen 3:1-8

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heart the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife his themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

The serpent’s punishment is described in Genesis 3:14-15, and includes what Christians believe to be the first foreshadowing of Jesus:

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.^[79]

According to the New American Bible, “Since the antecedent for “he” and “his” is the collective noun offspring, i.e., all the descendants of the woman, a more exact rendering of the sacred writer’s words would be, ‘They will strike…at their heels.’ However, later theology saw in this passage more than unending hostility between snakes and men. The serpent was regarded as the devil, whose eventual defeat seems implied in the contrast between head and heel. Because ‘the Son of God appeared that he might destroy the works of the devil’ (1 John 3:8), the passage can be understood as the first promise of a Redeemer for fallen mankind. The woman’s offspring is primarily Jesus Christ.”^[80]

The Book of Mormon generally agrees with the Christian view of the Fall, though it does, as previously mentioned, set the stage for Joseph Smith’s future teachings. In 1830, a few months after the organization of the Church and the publication of the Book of Mormon, Joseph announced that he would begin a new “translation” of the King James Version of the Bible. Using his Prophetic call, he would correct the errors of the original translators and restore the Bible to the pure word of God. This undertaking was a daunting task, and the current LDS Church argues that he never completed it. He did, however, make several corrections, additions, and deletions, and his “Inspired Version” of the Bible is widely available in printed form today.^[81]

The Book of Moses, from Joseph’s translation of the Bible, is canonized as Scripture and is published today in the Pearl of Great Price. Many details about the beginning of the world, and much of what is believed by the LDS Church is contained in it. Concerning the fall of man, it says:

Moses 4:10-13

And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die; For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it became pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make her wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and also gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they had been naked. And they sewed fig-leaves together and make themselves aprons.^[82]

This account is basically a paraphrase of the Genesis story, including the same punishments for the serpent, Adam, and Eve. However, in the next chapter, the Book of Moses makes a radical departure from orthodoxy, declaring:

And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.^[83]

Eve’s experience was similar, and instead of being horrified at her mistake, she praised God and was filled with joy:

…Were it not for our transgression we should never have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth to all the obedient.^[84]

This is a curious thing for her to say, considering that the “redemption” she speaks of is thousands of years away.

73
Many contemporary theologians and philosophers have expressed the belief that many of the stories in Genesis are not literal history, but simplified and symbolic stories meant to convey a teaching. These views are not expressed to downplay the religious significance of the stories, but to offer a comfortable explanation to some events that have lost their ground in light of modern scientific and archaeological discoveries.

74
2 Nephi 2:25. When Joseph began translating the Book of Mormon after Martin Harris lost the original 116 pages, he began at Mosiah (the eighth book in the Book of Mormon), continued on through Moroni (the final book), then translated 1 Nephi through Words of Mormon, the first seven books as they appear in the Book of Mormon.

75
Joseph Smith- Seeker After Truth, pg. 160

76
Doctrines of Salvation 1:114

77
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 268 (1966 edition)

78
Genesis 1:28

79
Genesis 3:15

80
New American Bible, pg. 4

81
The “Inspired Version” of the Bible, and the LDS Church’s use (and nonuse) of it as scripture will be discussed in greater detail in a future post. .

82
Pearl of Great Price, pg. 9 (1981 ed.)
83
Ibid., pg. 12, Moses 5:10

84
Ibid., Moses 5:11. These scriptures are also published as Genesis 4:10-11 in Joseph Smith’s Inspired Version of the Bible

The Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost doesn’t fit well in Mormon Theology, which tends to place more emphasis on the humanity of God than the divinity of God. Viewing the Holy Ghost from orthodox Christianity, his role is powerful but simple. God the Father is the creator of all things, Jesus the Christ is God in the flesh, and the Holy Ghost is the spirit of the Father and the Son, given to man and freely available to all believers. Throughout the ages He has inspired Biblical prophets. When Jesus was resurrected, his Apostles thought that He would then set up his Kingdom on earth and reign for eternity, “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”^[59] But the plan wasn’t complete; the Apostles were to be teachers, bringing the Gospel “unto the uttermost part of the earth.”^[60] To achieve this, Christ promised to send his Spirit, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth…”^[61]

Jesus then sent his Apostles to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always[s], even unto the end of the world. Amen.”^[62]

From the LDS perspective, the identity and role of the Holy Spirit has evolved dramatically. In the Lectures on Faith, which were included with the Doctrine and Covenants until being removed in 1921, Joseph Smith taught:

• Q. How many personages are there in the Godhead?
• A. Two: the Father and the Son
• Q. How do you prove that there are two personages in the Godhead?
• A. By the Scriptures…
• Q. Do the Father and the Son possess the same mind?
• A. They do…
• Q. What is this mind?
• A. The Holy Spirit…
• Q. Do the Father, Son and Holy Spirit constitute the Godhead?
• A. They do…
• Q. Does the foregoing account of the Godhead lay a sure foundation for the exercise of faith in him unto life and salvation?
• A. It does.^[63]

In 1855, Apostle Orson Pratt said:

I am inclined to think from some things in the revelations, that there is such a being as a personal Holy Ghost, but it is not set forth as a positive fact, and the Lord has never given me any revelation upon the subject, and consequently I cannot fully make up my mind one way of the other.^[64]

Pratt later said,

Heat, light, electricity, and all the varied and grand displays of nature, are but the tremblings, the vibrations, the energetic powers of a living, all-pervading, and most wonderful fluid, full of wisdom and knowledge, called the Holy Spirit…there are many expressions in Scripture which plainly show that the Holy Ghost exists, not only as a person, but as a diffused fluid substance…Let it be remembered that the Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit represent the same Holy Substance or fluid, being two different names for the same thing.^[65]

The church now teaches that the Holy Ghost is a personage, much like the Father and the Son, but without a body of flesh and bones. Joseph F. Smith said:

The Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit, he constitutes the third person in the Godhead.^[66]

The reason that the Holy Spirit doesn’t quite fit into Mormon Theology is that He doesn’t have a body, yet He is a God. From a Mormon perspective it is difficult to explain exactly who He is and how He became a God. Heber C. Kimball, a member of the First Presidency, said:

The Holy Ghost is a man; he is one of the sons of our Father and our God…^[67]

According to LDS teaching, we are all literal children of God the Father, who procreated us as spirit children long before the creation of the world. In order for us to become gods, we had to gain physical bodies of flesh and bone. When Satan was not chosen to be our Redeemer, he became angry and rebelled. He and his angels were cast out of heaven, their main punishment being that they could not receive physical bodies. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

The punishment of Satan and the third of the hosts of heaven who followed him, was that they were denied the privilege of being born into this world and receiving mortal bodies. They did not keep their first estate and were denied the opportunity of eternal progression.^[68]

General Authority Milton R. Hunter affirmed that a physical body and temple ordinances are required to attain godhood:

The crowning Gospel ordinance requisite for Godhood is celestial marriage…obedience to this law is absolutely necessary in order to obtain the highest exaltation in the Kingdom of God.^[69]

So who is the Holy Spirit? How did He become a God and, why doesn’t He have a body, when a body is supposed to be necessary for eternal progression? The LDS Church has a very difficult time answering these questions. Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith said:

I have never troubled myself about the Holy Ghost, whether he will sometime have a body or not, because it is not in any way essential to my salvation.^[70]

Apostle Bruce R. McConkie had this to say:

He is a Personage of Spirit, a Spirit Person, a Spirit Man…in this dispensation, at least, nothing has been revealed as to his origin or destiny; expressions on these matters are both speculative and fruitless. ^[71]

The LDS temple ceremony, known as the “Endowment Ceremony”, contains a presentation of Creation. In this presentation, God the Father (Elohim) directs Jesus (Jehovah) and Michael the Archangel (who would become Adam) to create the world. The Holy Spirit is never mentioned in the ceremony.^[72]

59
Acts 1:6

60
Acts 1:8

61
John 14:16-17

62
Matt. 28:19-20

63
Doctrine and Covenants, pp. 52, 53, 55, 57, 58 (1835 edition), as quoted in Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, pg. 171. In the April 1921 General Conference, Charles W. Penrose, a member of the First Presidency, attempted to explain why the Lectures on Faith were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants: “There is one little point in regard to that which I will mention: In the book of D&C we have a number of lectures inserted in the first part; which are not revelations. There are seven lectures, and in the fifth lecture, particularly, we are told that there are two personages in heaven, the Father and the Son, and that the [H]oly [S]pirit is the mind of God. That is true, so far as it goes. But the revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith as to the personality of the Holy Ghost came many years after; it was given in 1843. In that revelation we are clearly instructed concerning the third personage in the Trinity. Now, as far as Sidney Rigdon, and some others who delivered those lectures, went, they spoke the truth. There are two persons in the heavens, the Father and the Son, but the Holy Spirit is passed by almost, as the “mind of God.” It is true that the Holy Spirit conveys the mind of God that is, I am speaking now of this universal spirit which is the life and the light of all things, which is in and through and round about all things, and God says he made the world by the power of that spirit. That is his agent but the personage, the Comforter, which Jesus Christ said he would send when he went away, that was a personage of the Trinity. He promised to send this Comforter to reveal the things of the Father and to bear witness of the Father and the Son.” (Conference Report, April 1921, pg. 16)

64
Journal of Discourses 2:338

65
The Holy Spirit, a pamphlet by Orson Pratt. Orson’s brother, Parley P. Pratt, taught the same theory of a “fluid” Holy Spirit in his work, Key to the Science of Theology, but the passages dealing with this bizarre doctrine were deleted from the book after his death.

66
The Restored Church, pg. 541

67
Journal of Discourses 5:179

68
Doctrines of Salvation 1:65

69
The Gospel Through the Ages, pg. 118

70
Doctrines of Salvation 1:39

71
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 329 (1966 edition)

72
See here.

Jesus Christ

In bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints “do not believe in the traditional Christ. No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak. For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.

-Deseret News, June 20, 1998^[42]

“Jesus became a God and reached His great state of understanding through consistent effort and continuous obedience to all the Gospel Truths and universal laws.”

-Milton R. Hunter^[43]

On the surface, LDS theology seems to be quite close to that of traditional Christianity, a cursory glance at their thirteen Articles of Faith reveals nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary; but just below the surface Mormonism is incredibly far from traditional Christianity in its views on nearly every facet of theology.

Christianity says that God the Father is a spirit. Jesus the Christ is God Himself manifest in the flesh. The Holy Spirit is everywhere; He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and dwells in the hearts and minds of Christians. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, taught love and forgiveness, was crucified, and willingly gave his life on the cross for the sins of all mankind. To be saved, everyone must believe in him and live their lives according to his teachings contained in the New Testament of the Bible.

Christians believe that God created the world, and then created mankind; who fell into sin and turned their backs on God. Adam and Eve were the first people created by God, and they broke their covenant with him, causing all humanity to fall from exalted status and into suffering, pain, and death. The whole of humanity was lost after the Fall, and Jesus was born into this world and was crucified and resurrected to save everyone from the effects of the Fall. Our ultimate goal is to accept Jesus Christ and live according to His teachings, so that we may, through God’s mercy, be saved and live with God for eternity.

Mormons believe that God the Father once lived on a world exactly like ours, was a normal human being, and through following the Gospel (which they believe to be LDS doctrine & theology) He was exalted by His God and allowed to become a God. On his earth, He had a wife (or wives), and she (or they) were exalted with him. We were living at the time of God’s exaltation, but we existed as “intelligence”, and did not have human shape or form. God the Father, along with our “Mother in Heaven” procreated- in the normal way- so that our intelligences could be born as spirit children, now having the shape and form that we have now, but not yet having physical bodies.^[44]

Jesus Christ and Lucifer were the first two spirit children born to God and Mother in Heaven. Eons and eons passed, and everyone who has ever been born or will ever be born on earth was born first as a spirit child. God the Father then decided that He wanted all of his spirit children to receive physical bodies so that they could possibly become gods themselves. He created an earth for us. The eternal rules, that God had followed when He was a man, said that we needed to be born on this earth to receive bodies of flesh and bone. We wouldn’t remember our previous life in Heaven, so we would sin and separate ourselves from God. There needed to be a Savior appointed to die for the sins of the world, so that we could once again return to Heaven, and this Savior would be resurrected so that we could be too. But who would this Savior be? God called a meeting with all of His spirit children. According to Gospel Fundamentals:

Our oldest brother, Jesus, asked our Father in Heaven to send Him. He said He would follow our Father in Heaven’s plan. He would come to the earth and teach us the things we would need to do to return to our Father in Heaven. He would die to pay for the wrong things we did. He would also make it possible for us to live again after we die. He would allow us to choose for ourselves to obey or not to obey our Father in Heaven.^[45]

But, Jesus had a challenger…

Satan, who was called Lucifer, also asked our Father in Heaven to choose him to be our Savior. He said he would come to earth and force us to do what we should do. He said that none of us would be lost. He would not allow us to choose for ourselves. As his reward, he wanted all the glory and honor our Father in Heaven had.
Because our Father in Heaven loves us, He chose Jesus to be our Savior…Our Father in Heaven chose Jesus rather than Satan because our Father in Heaven did not want us to lose our right to choose for ourselves. He knew we must do good things because we want to, not because someone forces us to.^[46]

When God chose Jesus’ plan over Satan’s, Satan rebelled and there was a war in Heaven. One-third of the spirit children were on Satan’s side, and were cast into Outer Darkness, the Mormon equivalent of hell.
The LDS Church teaches that the Virgin Mary was the mother of Jesus. On this point, they don’t differ from traditional Christianity. They do, however, disagree on the conception of Jesus. According to the Bible, Luke 1:30, 34-35:

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Matthew 1:18:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

The Bible explains that the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary and told her that she was full of the Grace of God, and was to be the mother of the Messiah. The Holy Spirit then overshadowed her, and she was with child. It describes a miraculous conception, wherein the Holy Spirit blessed her with the Christ child in her womb. Today, the LDS belief is much the same, and many Saints never hear anything other than the standard Biblical description of the events; however, many LDS Prophets, Apostles, and other General Authorities have greatly dissented from the orthodox views of Christ’s conception, even suggesting and teaching that God the Father had a physical, sexual union with the Virgin Mary to conceive Jesus:

Bruce R. McConkie:

God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal Personage. And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the Son of God, and that designation means what it says.^[47]

Brigham Young:

When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came Himself and favoured that spirit [Mary] with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it. The Saviour was begotten by the Father of His spirit, by the same Being who is the Father of our spirits, and that is all the organic difference between Jesus Christ and you and me.^[48]

The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood- was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers.^[49]

Joseph Fielding Smith also disagreed with the Biblical story of the conception:

“Reorganites” claim that Brigham Young went astray and apostatized because he declared that Jesus Christ was not begotten of the Holy Ghost^[50]…If “Reorganites” are correct, then Jesus is not the Only Begotten Son of the Father, but the Son of the Holy Ghost. This will not do for it conflicts with the scriptures. The Prophet [Joseph Smith] taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were three separate personages, and that Jesus was the Only Begotten of the Father.^[51]

Orson Pratt:

The fleshly body of Jesus required a Mother as well as a Father. Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus, according to the flesh, must have been associated together in the capacity of Husband and Wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father: we use the term lawful Wife, because it would be blasphemous in the highest degree to say that He overshadowed her or begat the Saviour unlawfully…^[52]

Mormon writer Carlfred B. Broderick said, “In the light of their understanding that God is a procreating person of flesh and bone, latter-day prophets have made it clear that despite what it says in Matthew 20, the Holy Ghost was not the father of Jesus…the Savior was fathered by a personage of flesh and bone, and was literally what Nephi said he was, “Son of the Eternal Father.” ^[53]

In 2003, the popular fictional book The DaVinci Code advanced the theory that Jesus was a married father. Many Christian writers have gone to great lengths to debunk the book, but some forgotten Mormon teachings advance perhaps a more outrageous view of Christ. Orson Pratt wrote, “From the passage in the forty-fifth Psalm^[54] , it will be seen that the great Messiah who was the founder of the Christian religion, was a polygamist…the Messiah chose to take upon himself his seed; and by marrying many honorable wives himself…the Son followed the example of his Father, and became the great Bridegroom to whom kings’ daughters and many honorable Wives were to be married. We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as time,”^[55]

Apostle Orson Hyde said, “I shall say here, that before the Savior died, he looked upon his own natural children, as we look upon ours; he saw his seed, and immediately afterwards was cut off from the earth.”^[56] He later advanced a theory echoed in books such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and more recently in Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code, “It will be borne in mind that once on a time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha, and the other Mary also whom Jesus loved, must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it.”^[57] Speaking of the wedding at Cana, John 2:2, King James Version, states, “And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.” The New American Bible, “Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.” The New Jerusalem Bible, “And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.” The Douay-Rheims Version, “And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage.” It seems absurd that one would be “invited” to their own wedding.

General Authority Jedediah M. Grant lead the Church even further away from the Jesus of the Bible, claiming that polygamy was the cause of Christ’s crucifixion, “The grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in the doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the persecution of Jesus and his followers.”^[58]

42
Church News section, Salt Lake City, UT, week ending June 20, 1998, pg. 7

43
The Gospel Through the Ages, pg. 51

44
Some LDS prophets and apostles have taught that God the Father is a polygamist (has many wives), and therefore there are several “mothers in heaven.”

45
Gospel Fundamentals, pg. 11

46
Ibid.

47
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 742 (1966 edition)

48
Journal of Discourses, 4:217

49
Ibid. 8:115

50
Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a schismatic group that began after the death of Joseph Smith, who believe that only direct descendants of Smith have the right to prophecy.

51
Doctrines of Salvation 1:19-20

52
The Seer, pg. 158

53
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1967, pg. 101

54
Psalm 45 (KJV): “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of man: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thin arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. The kind’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the name. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.”

55
The Seer, pg. 172

56
Journal of Discourses, 2:82

57
Ibid., 4:259

58
Ibid., 1:346

God, the Eternal Father

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost

-The First Article of Faith of the LDS Church

“God is a perfected, saved soul enjoying eternal life.”

-Marion G. Romney^[16]

There have been divisions and disputes among professing Christians since New Testament times. In fact, many Pauline letters in the Bible directly address and attempt to correct communities who were straying from the Gospel. Today is no different, and it could be argued that it is worse, with thousands of denominations all claiming to be Christians, some with widely varying beliefs, and all claiming the Bible as a base. Even with all of the current divisions, few who claim to be Christian would resort to calling those with similar beliefs cultists; but most professing Christians have heard at least a few rumors about what is often called the “cult” of “Mormonism”. From an LDS perspective, slander and libel are to be expected; Satan fights against the truth, and any words against the LDS Church must be Satan’s words against the True Church of God.

In traditional Christianity, the Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; one God in three Divine Persons. Speaking of the relationship between the Father and the Son, the opening verse of St. John’s Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”^[17]

The so-called “traditional” view should not be confused with Modalism/Sabellianism/Patripassionism, which said that God the Father, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit are one single person. The orthodox belief is that the Trinity is composed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit- three separate persons comprising one single God.^[18]

According to the book The Christian Faith, “In God there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit[, T]he three are one undivided Godhead[, e]ach person is fully God: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit: The divine persons are distinct from one another: they are distinct through mutual relationship[.]“^[19]

The Trinity doctrine is not explicitly spelled out in the Bible, and remains the most difficult concept to grasp in all of Christianity. Richard Dawkins observed, “Do we have one God in three parts, or three Gods in one? The Catholic Encyclopedia clears up the matter for us, in a masterpiece of theological close reasoning:

In the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these Three Persons
being truly distinct one from another. Thus, in the words
of the Athanasian Creed: ‘the Father is God, the Son is
God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not
three Gods but one God.’^[20]

LDS Theology currently offers what is probably the most lucid definition of the Trinity: There is one God, God, and he has a Son, Jesus, and there is also a Holy Spirit. When they speak of God, they are talking about God the Father. Three separate entities, all of which are easy to understand. This was not always the case.

Originally, Joseph Smith’s teachings of the Godhead varied from orthodox Protestant beliefs to what seemed to be Modalism/Sabellianism/Patripassionism. In the Book of Mormon, the Testimony of Three Witnesses (discussed in greater detail in Chapter Eight) says, “And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God.”^[21] The same book also speaks of “the only true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end.” Elsewhere we read the following confused discourse:

…I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in the flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son- The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son- And they are
one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.^[22]

The original Doctrine and Covenants, the second volume of latter-day Mormon Scripture^[23] printed in 1835, contained a section entitled Lectures on Faith. These lectures basically comprise a question-and-answer catechism, and were the “doctrine” section of the Doctrine and Covenants^[24]. They taught that the Holy Spirit was the “mind” of the Father and the Son:

The Father… [is] a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fulness: The Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle, made, or fashioned like unto man, or being in the form and likeness of man…And he being the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and having overcome, received a fulness of the glory of the Father- possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit…^[25]

Joseph Smith’s concepts of God evolved throughout his lifetime, and many changes were made in LDS Scriptures to reflect this evolution. Curiously, the Lectures on Faith sections in the Doctrine and Covenants survived intact until 1921, when they were removed from the book entirely. The Book of Mormon, however, has been significantly altered since the original edition. Most of these alterations were made when the second edition was published in 1837, but it has been edited continually, with the most recent changes appearing in the Church’s latest, 1981, edition. The 1830 (first) edition of the Book of Mormon mixes traditional orthodoxy with Modalism/Sabellianism/Partipassionism, and seems to betray Joseph Smith’s confused understanding of the Holy Trinity. For an example of orthodoxy we’ll turn to page 25 of the 1830 edition, which reads^[26]:

Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh.

Page 25 of the original edition displays apparent Modalism:

And the angel said unto me, behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!

Compared with the 1981 edition, 1 Nephi 11:21, which has been altered to read:

And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father

Page 26 of the 1830 edition again presents the Patripassionist view:

And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, even the Everlasting God, was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.

Compared with the 1981 edition, 1 Nephi 11:32:

And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.

1830 edition, page 32:

…the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Saviour of the world…

1981, 1 Nephi 13:40:

…the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world…

LDS apologist^[27] Robert L. Millet argues that these changes were made “to make certain that no reader – member or nonmember – would confuse the Latter-day Saint understanding of the Father and the Son with that of other Christian denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic Church^[28].

This is an insufficient explanation for several reasons. First of all, the Catholic Church teaches that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three separate personages that exist as one God. Therefore, changing “Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh,” to “…the mother of the Son of God…” would be appropriate in Millet’s explanation, and would differentiate between a distinctly LDS teaching and that of the Catholic Church. However, changing, “…the Lamb of God…yea, even the Everlasting God, was judged of the world…” to read, “the Son of the Everlasting God,” would be inappropriate because the Catholic Church does not teach that God the Father died on the cross.
Noted LDS scholar Hugh Nibley gives this explanation for the Son of interpolations:

[In 1 Nephi 11:21] the declaration of the angels, “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!” has been augmented in later editions to “even the Son of the Eternal Father!” to avoid confusion: in this passage the Eternal Father is possibly in apposition not to “Lamb” but to “God” — he is the Lamb of God-the-Eternal-Father. But that might not be obvious to most readers, and so to avoid trouble, and without in the least changing the meaning of the text, the Lamb of God is made equivalent to the Son of the Eternal Father. Both ideas are quite correct, and there is no conflict between them.^[29]

This explanation might suffice if the change had been made to read, “Behold the Lamb of the Eternal Father,” or, “Behold the Lamb of God the Eternal Father.” They were not, and Nibley’s explanations seem to be attempts to provide answers where no real answers can be provided.
In studying the evidence- the Book of Mormon (1830), and the Lectures on Faith (written in 1834, published in 1835)- it is logical to conclude that Joseph Smith modified the Book of Mormon in 1837 to conform to his then-new, and purely polytheistic, view of the Trinity (which will be discussed momentarily).
Latter-day Saints today may be confused by some of these early teachings because, as they understand it, Joseph Smith reported having a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ- two separate bodily persons- in 1820. Why, if he had actually seen God the Father and Jesus in 1820, would he have taught in the early 1830′s that they were the same being, and that God did not have a body of flesh and bone?
The text of the First Vision, as known today, was written around 1838. It was first published in the Times and Seasons, a Church periodical, in 1842, and appeared in the third official volume of LDS Scripture, The Pearl of Great Price, in 1851. The importance of this text cannot be overstated; many General Authorities have explained that upon it lies the very foundation of Mormonism. Apostle Bruce R. McConkie has written, “This transcendent vision was the beginning of latter-day revelation; it marked the opening of the heavens after the long night of apostate darkness; with it was ushered in the great era of restoration…Through it the creeds of Christendom were shattered to smithereens, and because of it the truth about those Beings whom it is life eternal began again to be taught among men…With this vision came the call of that Prophet who, ‘save Jesus only’ was destined to do more ‘for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.’ This vision was the most important event that had taken place in all world history from the day of Christ’s ministry to the glorious hour when it occurred.” The Introduction to the 1952 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants agrees, “[T]he first and of all most glorious [of Joseph Smith's revelations] was the visitation in which, in answer to the young man’s prayer for guidance as to which of the numerous and opposing sects of the day he should join, the Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, personally manifested themselves, and the Father, pointing to the Christ, thus affirmed and commanded: This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”^[30]

For the sake of clarity, here in its entirety, is the official, canonized version of the First Vision:

…I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom that I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was sized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction- not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other- This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)- and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home.^[31]

The first account- and the only one in Joseph Smith’s handwriting- was written in 1832:^[32]

… thus from the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the situation of the world of mankind the contentions and divi[si]ons the wicke[d]ness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the of the minds of mankind my mind become exceedingly distressed for I become convicted of my sins and by searching the scriptures I found that did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ …
marvilous even in the likeness of him who created him (them) and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath the wise man said the (it is a) fool (that) saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclaimed all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotant and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in their bounds who filleth Eternity who was and is and will be from all Eternity to Eternity and when I considered all these things and that (that) being seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and to obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in (the) attitude of calling upon the Lord (in the 16th year of my age) a piller of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the (Lord) opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph (my son) thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy (way) walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life (behold) the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the gospel and keep not (my) commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to th[e]ir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which (hath) been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud (clothed) in the glory of my Father and my soul was filled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but [I] could find none that would believe the hevnly vision nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart … ^[33]

In the above account, written by Smith at least five years before the official published version, Joseph mentions only the Lord appearing to him. There are not two “Personages,” there is no evil power attempting to destroy him, and there is no voice which says “This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!” And, though it does mention “none doeth good no not one,” and “they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me,” the condemnations from the mouth of the Lord that all existent Christian creeds were an “abomination” in His sight is notably absent. The reason for the Lord’s appearance in the 1832 account seems to simply be to forgive Joseph his sins, admonish him to walk in His path, and let him know that He is coming soon. And, very importantly, Joseph’s age in this account (“in the 16th year of my age”) is quite different from the fourteen years old he claims to be in the official version.

But what of his claim that he was ridiculed by the Protestant ministers, as well as many acquaintances, of the Palmyra area after telling them of his vision in 1820? The only evidence of these persecutions is Joseph’s 1838 account of the First Vision. There is absolutely no evidence outside of it. In fact, there is some evidence to support the fact that no one had heard of this vision in the 1820′s.

The first “Anti-Mormon” book ever published was Mormonism Unvailed [sic], by E.D. Howe, in 1834. In contains venomous remarks by Howe on subjects ranging from the content of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith’s character. It also contains sworn statements by acquaintances of the Smith family in Palmyra, collected by Doctor Philastus Hurlburt^[34] in which “Every idle story, every dark insinuation which at that time could be thought of and unearthed was pressed into service,”^[35]. The most interesting thing about the book is what it doesn’t contain. It mentions absolutely nothing about Smith claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ and God the Father. After reading Howe’s book, one can see that if he knew anything about the Prophet claiming to have seen Jesus Christ and God the Father in a vision, he probably would have ridiculed him for it, and certainly would have mentioned it.

In The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph relates that, shortly after having the vision:

I soon found…that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects- all united to persecute me. It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself. However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision.^[36]

If he in fact had beheld a vision, and if he had related it to so many people, none of them remembered when asked by Philastus Hurlburt for sworn statements about the faulty character of the Prophet.

The second version of the First Vision was recorded in 1835 in the handwriting of Warren Parrish, Smith’s scribe:^[37]

…being wrought up in my mind, respecting the subject of religion and looking at [upon] the different systems taught the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong and I considered it of the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involve eternal consequ[e]n[c]es; being thus perplexed in mind I retired to the silent grove and bow[e]d down before the Lord, under a realising sense that he had said (if the bible be true) ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened seek and you shall find and again, if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbradeth not; information was what I most desired at this time, and with a fixed determination to obtain it, I called upon the Lord for the first time, in the place above stated or in other words I made a fruitless attempt to p[r]ay, my toung seemed to be swolen in my mouth, so that I could not utter, I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me, I strove again to pray, but could not, the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer, I sprung up on my feet, and and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking, I kneeled again my mouth was opened and my toung liberated, and I called on the Lord in mighty prayer, a pillar of fire appeared above my head, it presently rested down upon me my head, and filled me with Joy unspeakable, a personage appeared in the midst of this pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage appeared like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testifyed unto me that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; I was about 14 years old when I received this first communication…^[38]

Mormons believe in a doctrine of “pre-existence”- that is, they believe that every soul existed as a spirit before being born into this world. In the highly influential book Mormon Doctrine, under the subject “Pre-Existence” we read:

To understand the doctrine of pre-existence two great truths must be accepted: 1. That God is a personal Being in whose image man is created, an exalted, perfected, and glorified Man of Holiness, and not a spirit essence that fills the immensity of space; and 2. That matter or element is self-existent and eternal in nature, creation being merely the organization and reorganization of that substance which ‘was not created or made, neither indeed can it be.’ Unless God the Father was a personal Being, he could not have begotten spirits in his image, and if there had been no self-existent spirit element, there would have been no substance from which those spirit bodies could have been organized.^[39]

By LDS understanding, God is an exalted man. He lived on another earth, much like ours, somewhere else. He was a faithful adherent to the LDS Gospel, accepting the same doctrines that the LDS Church teach today, and accomplished all that was necessary during his own mortal lifetime to receive exaltation from his god. After being appointed as a god of his own world/universe he, along with his wives, procreated our spirit bodies to house already-existent matter (i.e. our intelligence) that had existed from all eternity. God then chose to put these spirit bodies into tabernacles of flesh, so that we could someday become gods of our own worlds/universes. Gospel Fundamentals explains:

In heaven we learned many things and improved ourselves as much as we could, but there were things we could not learn and do there. Our Father in Heaven made a plan for us to learn more. He called us to a meeting in heaven. We were all there. He explained His plan to help us to learn and told us that if we followed His plan we would become like Him. Our Father in Heaven said He would have an earth made, on which we would live for a time. On the earth, we would not remember our life with Him in heaven. We would be able to choose good things or bad things. This would be a test to see if we would obey our Father in Heaven when we were not with Him. According to our Father in Heaven’s plan, we would each receive a body of flesh and bones. We would need this kind of body to learn the things He knows and do the things He does. Later, we would die and our spirits would leave our bodies of flesh and bones. But our spirits would be joined again with our bodies, and we would never die again.^[40]

God’s plan was to give us “free agency”, which is the power to decide between right or wrong. It is up to us to live a good life; we have the gift of free will.

General Authority Bruce R. McConkie explained, “Endowed with [free] agency and subject to eternal laws, man began his progression and advancement in pre-existence, his ultimate goal being to attain a state of glory, honor, and exaltation like the Father of spirits.”^[41]

16
Salt Lake Tribune, April 3, 1977 (Marion G. Romney was, at that time, a member of the First Presidency.)

17
John 1:1-3, 14

18
See The Trinity by Karl Rahner

19
The Christian Faith, pg. 141

20
The God Delusion, pg. 34
21
This Testimony of Three Witnesses appears in every edition of the Book of Mormon.

22
Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 31:21, pg. 115 (1981 edition)

23
The LDS Church recognizes four volumes of Holy Scripture: The Holy Bible (KJV), the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

24
They were removed from the book in 1921.

25
Doctrine and Covenants, pg. 53 (1835 edition)

26
The original, 1830, edition of the Book of Mormon had fewer chapter divisions than the current version, and contained no verse numbering. When it is referred to I will include the 1830 edition page number, as well as the corresponding chapter/verse of the 1981 (current) edition. It is also interesting to note that the earliest available manuscript copies of the Book of Mormon agree with the 1830 edition, but not with subsequent editions. See The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon.

27
Apologetics are defined as the act of a formal defense or justification, and apologist is defined as “a person who defends or justifies something, such as a doctrine, policy, or institution.” (American Heritage Dictionary). The terms are of ancient origin and do not imply an acknowledgement of fault or offense.

28
The Power of the Word: Saving Doctrines from the Book of Mormon, pg. 12

29
Since Cumorah, pg. 6

30
Mormon Doctrine, pp. 284-285

31
Pearl of Great Price, pp. 48-50 (1981 edition), Joseph Smith-History 1:11-20

32
Most spelling errors are left uncorrected, though some appear with brackets for clarification.

33
An American Prophet’s Record, pp. 5-6, also see Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, UT.

34
“Doctor” was his given name, he was not a doctor. It bears mention that Hurlburt was almost certainly a man of questionable motives. According to A Comprehensive History of the Church, “Hurlburt had been expelled from the ‘Mormon’ church in Kirtland, in June, 1833, for immoralities; and because he had threatened to take the life of Joseph Smith, Jun., he was placed under bonds ‘to keep the peace and be of good behavior to all the citizens of the state of Ohio, generally, and to said Joseph Smith, Jun., in particular” (1:41)

35
A Comprehensive History of the Church 1:41

36
Pearl of Great Price, pg. 50 (1981 edition), Joseph Smith- History 1:22-24

37
Once again, spelling errors are left as in the original, though brackets are added to some words for clarification.

38
Early Mormon Documents, 1:43-45, also see Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, UT.

39
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 589 (1966 edition)

40
Gospel Fundamentals, pg. 7

41
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 238 (1966 edition)

Divinely Called?

[Joseph Smith] was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground. If Joseph Smith was a deceiver, who willfully attempted to mislead the people, then he should be exposed; his claims should be refuted, and his doctrines shown to be false.

-Joseph Fielding Smith ^[1]

An honest reading of history tells us that America’s Founding Fathers were not the steadfast and faithful Protestants they’re widely assumed to have been. It has been romanticized that our forefathers built this country on a solid foundation of Biblical Christianity; careful study shows otherwise.

In 1803 Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, “To the corruptions of Christianity, I am indeed opposed; but not the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.” ^[2] To promote his beliefs, Jefferson compiled his own version of the Four Gospels, removing any reference to the Divinity of Jesus, and removing all mention of miracles.^[3]

Thomas Paine, one of the most influential figures of the American Revolution, published his Age of Reason in 1794. The book promoted Deism, the theory that God had created the universe then abandoned it to natural laws. Deism also held that every human being would enjoy heaven regardless of faith or deeds. The popularity of Age of Reason led many to renounce all forms of organized religion.

One could argue that the deterioration and rapid change of accepted belief was inspired, and perhaps encouraged, by the new-found freedom and independence of the American people; but, no matter the cause, orthodoxy was quickly becoming a thing of the past in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America.

Universalism, another doctrine of salvation for all, was growing as rapidly as Deism. Despite a climate becoming more and more hostile to organized religions, new sects began to blossom. Especially popular in the Northeastern states, folk magic was added to Christianity to create new amalgams of occultism and Protestantism.^[4]

As “heresies” blossomed and new religions were born, Protestant ministers began earnest campaigns to bring people back to Protestant orthodoxy. As is human nature, many lost sight of common goals and began to focus their energies on aggressively attacking each other, oftentimes from the pulpit.

It was in this religiously divided and volatile climate that Joseph Smith, Jr., the founding Prophet of the LDS Church^[5] was born and raised. Some have speculated that Joseph- an undeniably gifted and charismatic leader, regardless of your opinion of him- invented “Mormonism” in an attempt to destroy skepticism and convince followers of the truthfulness of Biblical Christianity.^[6]

In 1830, Joseph Smith founded a church that would attract over 25,000 in his day, and claim nearly 12 million today.^[7] This new religion claims to be the restoration of an original Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself, and not just another revival or faction.^[8]

The world was given the Book of Mormon, a new volume of Holy Scripture comparable with and equal to the Bible. The Keys of the Kingdom of God were once again entrusted to a man, a new “Prophet, Seer, and Revelator” who would act as a mouthpiece for God, bringing important new teachings to a world which for over sixteen hundred years had known only spiritual darkness.^[9]

This new Church would open the doors to the “Dispensation of the Fullness of Times,” would be entrusted with building the Kingdom of God on earth, and would prepare the way for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, who would reign for a millennium upon the throne that the new Church would build for Him.

This began, according to Mormon history, in 1820, when there was a great religious revival in the Palmyra region of New York State. In the midst of the religious contention of the day was fourteen-year old Joseph Smith, Jr. His father, an outspoken and headstrong farmer and part-time schoolteacher, believed that the true Church of Christ was no longer on the earth. He believed that the sinful nature of man had corrupted the pure truths of the Gospel, and refused to join any religious denomination. Joseph’s mother Lucy, along with the rest of his family (two brothers and a sister) joined the Presbyterians. Joseph decided- tentatively- to join the Methodists.

The Smith family often read the Bible together and encouraged individual Bible study. One night while studying alone, Joseph happened upon James 1:5, which states, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”^[10] After reading this verse, he described, “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine…”^[11] He resolved to pray to God to ask which church to join, and went to a grove of trees near his house. Kneeling down to pray, he claimed to have beheld a marvelous vision in which God the Father and Jesus Christ- two separate, physical personages with bodies of flesh and bone- appeared to him. He asked which of the sects he should join, and, in his words: “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me [Christ] said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”^[12]

Three years later, an “angel of light”^[13] appeared to him in his bedroom and told him that his name would be known for “good and evil among all nations.” He was told that golden plates were buried in a nearby hill which contained the religious records of long-forgotten inhabitants of the Americas.

After four years of instructions, Joseph was allowed to remove these plates from their location on a hill he would later name the Hill Cumorah. The Urim and Thummim, translating tools consisting of two “seer stones” and a breastplate, were buried with the golden plates. Joseph began his work of translation in 1827, and the first edition of the Book of Mormon was published in March, 1830.
Joseph founded the new Church of Christ, later called the Church of Latter-day Saints, and finally named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 6, 1830. Because of persecution, the Saints moved from Upstate New York to Kirtland, Ohio, then to Independence (know to the Saints as “Zion”), Missouri , and finally settled in Nauvoo, Illinois- a town founded by the Saints and named by Joseph Smith.^[14]

Joseph, along with his brother Hyrum, was murdered in Carthage, Illinois on June 27, 1844. He left behind a legacy that included several volumes of Scripture, an entirely new form of Christianity, a beautiful temple in Nauvoo, and thousands of Saints who would follow Smith’s successor to the barren valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847.

In the spring of 1842, the Prophet sent a letter to the Chicago Democrat newspaper containing a brief summary of the fundamental beliefs of his church. This book uses these thirteen Articles of Faith for discussing Mormon beliefs and doctrine and draws liberally from LDS sources. The Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith once said that if Joseph Smith was not an authentic prophet, his doctrines should be shown to be false.^[15] This blog is a modest attempt to do just that.

1
Doctrines of Salvation 1:188-189

2
Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, online at the Unitarian Universalist Biographical Dictionary, http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/thomasjefferson.html

3
Published in 1904 as The Jefferson Bible.

4
See Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn for an exhaustive study.

5
The term “Mormon Church” is incorrect, and is generally considered derogatory by members of the LDS Church. Although they will often call themselves “Mormons”, the correct term for the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the correct term for its people is “Saints”.

6
See Robert N. Hullinger’s Joseph Smith’s Response to Skepticism.

7
It is unclear whether this number includes members that are posthumously baptized. Thousands of people, including prominent figures from history, have been “baptized” by proxy after their death, never having accepted the LDS faith in their lifetime. It is possible that their names are added to the LDS Church membership rolls after their death, though this is just the suspicion of the author. This number certainly includes, however, members who have become inactive in the church and have never bothered to get their names formally removed.

8
Many sects have made this claim. Evangelical Protestant Lorraine Boettner wrote, “Protestantism as it emerged in the 16th century was not the beginning of something new, but a return to Bible Christianity and to the simplicity of the Apostolic church…” (Roman Catholicism, pg. 1). Studies of the writings of the Early Church Fathers, and even a cursory reading of the New Testament reveals that there was nothing simplistic about the Apostolic Church, and that it was in fact rife with controversies and divisions over doctrine and practices. Claiming to be a “restoration” of the Apostolic Church sounds appealing, but in reality it is wishful thinking based on misunderstandings of the early Christian Church. For more information, see The Early Church by Henry Chadwick, and Early Christian Writings [New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1987].

9
Joseph Smith taught that the original Church of Christ had fallen into total apostasy by about 200 AD. The LDS Church teaches that the “Great Apostasy” began around the time of the death of the last Apostle (around 100 AD) and was complete within 100 years. It is curious that they would choose this date over, perhaps, the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325- here they would find at least a bit more support for their argument, whereas 200 AD makes very little historical sense. For more information on the LDS view, see James Talmage’s The Great Apostasy.

10
This book will use the text of the King James Bible unless otherwise stated, as it is the official Bible in the LDS canon.

11
Joseph Smith-History 1:12, Pearl of Great Price (1981 edition), pg. 48

12
Ibid. 1:19

13
According to the “Explanatory Introduction” in the 1949 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, “In September, 1823, and at later times, Joseph Smith received visitations from Moroni, an angel of light, who revealed the resting place of the ancient record from which The Book of Mormon was afterward translated.” (pg. iii, emphasis added). Interestingly, in Apostle Bruce R. McConkie’s cyclopedic Mormon Doctrine, under the heading “Angel of Light” it says only, “See Devil.” (pg. 35, 1961 edition)

14
Joseph Smith said that “Nauvoo” was Hebrew for “beautiful plantation”. The Hebrew word for “beautiful” is “Na’ah”; the Hebrew word for plantation is “Matta”. Some have quoted Joseph as saying that it meant “beautiful city” or “the city beautiful”, “iyr” (pronounced “eer”) is Hebrew for city. (see Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, William Gesenius, S.R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1959]).

15
See Doctrines of Salvation, 1:188-189