I was thinking today on my run and it hit me. In the bible it says God is Alpha and Omega, right? Then how can he ever have been a man? I remember an lds quote that said God once was as we are now, and as God is now, we may become. Or something like that. That doesn't make sense to me if God has no beginning or end as the Bible teaches?

God was once a man? I don't know that we teach that.

I was taught it growing up in the church. It did strengthen my testimony to think I was on a journey as great and wondrous to eventually become a god myself.

Brother you just need to put that one on the shelf. God will explain that in the hereafter.

Since God is a projection on the cosmic screen of whatever you need at the moment, God can be whatever you need him to be at the time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2014 12:44AM by slskipper.

He's the Alpha and Omega *of this universe*

Introduce multiple dimensions/existences, and you can do whatever you want, man. (Kolob was just his landing pad / de facto HQ for this universe, not like where he grew up as a boy or anything. That was in MEGAKOLOB!)

God is so awesome, don't you feel blessed to be a part of it?

(Action figures available in approved LDS outlets.)

The heretical King Follett Discourse where that teaching came from is clearly at odds with Mormon scripture. Prior to D&C 130, there was no such man-god revelation in any LDS canon. Essentially, this teaching was a key part of the promotion of polygamy and disappeared from the teachings of the groups that did not go west.

They were still teaching it, openly and explicitly, in the 1980s and 1990s.

True.
The wording was just a tad ambiguous. I meant that the mormonite groups that that did not go west with Brigham did not continue the man-god teachings.

Mormonism believes that all beings are uncaused. The explanation is essentially that god's nature is infinite, not his current manifestation. The same is true for everything else, the BOA is quite clear that god didn't create, god organized.

According to mormon teachings, all of us have existed forever. Before we were spirits, we existed as 'intelligences'. I guess that an intelligence is to a spirit, what a spirit is to a body. So like us, god existed forever as an intelligence, at least from what I was taught. Even though that's in the pearl of great price, the church will probably deny it if cornered by the media about it.

"I, YHWH, change not.". From Jeremiah, I recall. (My Bible app isn't cooperating.)

Except that part where god became Jesus and had a physical body that could die an all that. Oh and that other part were god is really three gods that are one god. Christian theology isn't all that much more logical than LDS theology it is just more mature.

Read John 1:1. Yes the idea of an uncreated God is what sets Christians apart from Mormons. In John 1:1, the "Word" is Jesus.

You're looking for Mormonism to make sense? Seriously?

"God" and "Heavenly Father" are not the same beings. Elohim, the Mormon Heavenly Father, was a mortal extra-terrestrial who attained divine powers and ascended to a higher plane of existence. The Judeo-Chrisian-Islamic "God" is an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent being who has no beginning and no ending, whose form and nature, if any, is unknown to humans. It's like saying Amun-Ra, Zeus, and Odin are all the same god when they are not.

Joseph Smith was on a power trip and started the "men becoming gods" business. "Elohim" is a reflection of his will and desires. When Mormons pray to "Heavenly Father" they are praying to psyche of Joseph Smith without realising it. Joseph Smith is Elohim and Elohim is Joseph Smith. In that sense he has made himself a god.

Mormonism and Christianity (or, if you prefer, traditional Christianity) have a lot in common, but they also have many differences. The single biggest is not whether God is a trinity of three persons or a Godhead of three gods. It's also not whether God the Father has a body or not (remember, Christians believe that Jesus has a physical body, so the idea of God having a physical body is really not all that divergent). The big difference is in how each of these traditions understands the nature of God.

Mormonism (at least the traditional variety) sees God as a natural and limited being: 1) He is no more eternal than anyone else, since all gods and people have existed eternally, at least as intelligences; 2) he is an exalted man, who is of the same species as human beings, though a lot more advanced; 3) he is a descendant of a line of older gods receding back into infinity; and 4) he is subject to moral and physical laws that he did not make. For example, in Mormon belief God did not create time, matter, energy, and intelligence, and he can alter these things only on a limited basis.

Traditional Christianity sees God as a supernatural and unlimited being: 1) He is the First Cause who created all things; 2) he is fundamentally different from every other being; 3) he is completely self-existent, and is not descended, created, or otherwise contingent upon anything or anyone else; and 4) he created time, matter, energy, intelligence, and everything else, and can alter them in any way.

That's the fundamental point where Mormonism diverges from most of the other branches of the Christian tradition.

Throwing out the causality problem that plagues both. I find the Mormon theology to be a tad more realistic. If there ever is going to be a god it is more likely that, that god would resemble Mormon god.

Heresy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
It's also not
> whether God the Father has a body or not
> (remember, Christians believe that Jesus has a
> physical body, so the idea of God having a
> physical body is really not all that divergent).

My understanding is that the Mormon God was once a man and progressed to godhood.

Christianity believes that God became (incarnated as) man and we call him Jesus.

In Christianity Jesus is fully man and fully divine (God).

I agree, JS got it backwards. It's not a man became God, it's more like God became a man, temporarily. JS might have been confused from eating all those magic mushrooms that he put in wine to have other people experience all sorts of visions.

I remember having the same light-bulb moment about the nature of God when I was tracting as a missionary. That led to several other questions about the nature of God - why would God exist as a human physical body with flesh and bones? That to me was equally crazy.

Excellent point Scruples. But a word to the wise: If you keep drawing those kind of conclusions you are running the risk of destroying your testimony.

Indeed. Put that on the shelf. It's not essential to your salvation. Some things that are true are not useful.

I'm not so sure that this make any more or less sense than anything else out there. In fact of all of my beefs with Mormon god this is probably the most minor. For those who think that the fact that Mormon god once was a god in training is a negative, stop and think a little whether or not Christian god could have used any training. Christian god like Mormon god doesn't seem to get things right all the time. At least Mormon god has an excuse. Mormon god just isn't all powerful.

I don't see that Christian God and Jewish God are the same person, just an observation of what is taught of God in the Old and in the New Testaments. Very different descriptions of God.

"...god didn't create, god organized."

I wish he'd come over and have a look at my garage.

It's all so stupid.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever...

Except for that time he was human...
Except for that time he was a psychopath in the Old Testament...
Except for that time he decided to spin off a human son and kill him...
Except for that time he used to drive chariots in the sky...

Now he's a business god in a partnership with his son to collect real estate. He especially likes French Provincial furniture and chandeliers and lots of "houses" and malls.

I can't believe the pains I went to trying to explain and excuse all that crap.

Silly humans!