In the LDS faith, (Quit reading BOM) are the "father, son, and holy ghost" one in the same or are they three separate people/entities?? I sort of gathered that it may not have been exactly the same as I'd been taught all of my life. I may be incorrect on this though. Tks. for the input.

The father and son are resurrected beings of "flesh and bone." the holy ghost is still only a spirit who will get a body one day.

One of the craziest early teachings of the church is that Joseph Smith IS the holy ghost but in human form.

True story.

Tks. Raptor!!! I thought i understood it to be of difference than what I/We had always been taught. I'm not stating that one religion is correct and the other not, but, it seems bizarre, and I thought lds thought/taught it to be 3.Lots of info/beliefs of lds faith I've accrued in such a short time seems somewhat "out there" oh well.

In the BofM, it shows a Trinitarian Godhead, but Smith later changed his mind.

The BoM is trinitarian if you re-read it. (And I don't recommend that)

Although the Book of Mormon appears to present a Trinitarian Godhead, that is not the case. Actually, The Book of Mormon presents a modalistic god who is one being but simply appears as other beings. In other words, he is an actor who puts on a disguise in order to appear as Jesus Christ and possibly the Holy Ghost as well. The Book of Mormon does not define the nature of the Holy Ghost.

Joseph Smith did change his mind about the nature of the godhead, but He changed his belief from a modalistic godhead (BOM) to a binitarian godhead (Father and Son as separate beings, with a Holy Ghost as the mind of God, Lectures On Faith, 1835) and then to a tritheistic godhead (Father and Son as separate beings with bodies, and a Holy Ghost as a spirit being). This tritheistic concept is what the church adopts today - and defines the godhead as one in purpose but not one in being as is found in Trinitarian theology. The Mormon concept of the godhead is replicated in the office of the First Presidency and could conceivably be composed of any combination of three gods, just as the First Presidency is an ever-changing group of apostles.

I couldn't think of the correct terms when I was posting.

And, where did Joseph Smith get that he could change what was created "LONG" before he was even "thought of"?

He believed that he was called/inspired to correct teachings that he supposed were incorrectly rendered in the Bible and Christian doctrine.

2) First Book of Nephi, p.25 (1830): "Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh."

Today: 1 Nephi 11:18: "...is the mother of the Son of God."

3) First Book of Nephi, p.25 (1830):."...behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!"

Today: 1 Nephi 11:21: "yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!"

4) First Book of Nephi, p.26 (1830): "And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Everlasting God was judged of the world..." Today: 1 Nephi 11:32: "...yea, the Son of the Everlasting God was judged of the world..."

5) First Book of Nephi, p.32; (1830): "...that the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Saviour of the world."

Today: "..the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father and the Savior of the world."

The first link is very informative.

http://www.mormonismi.net/pdf/Reconstruction_of_Mormon_Doctrine_Alexander.pdf

http://www.lds-mormon.com/changod.shtml

http://www.lds-mormon.com/godsname.shtml

The idea of God having a body didn't come about until 1835 or shortly thereafter. Although it is one of the core doctrines of Mormonism today, it wouldn't even be included in the Mormon canon of scripture had Willard Richards not jotted it down on April 2, 1843. (It subsequently ended up as part of D&C 130). Joseph Smith apparently said the words found in D&C 130, or words similar, as a response to Elder Orson Hyde's speech in which Apostle Hyde stated that God was a warrior who dwelt in our hearts.

This is how I've always understood the Mormon "godhead."

As opposed to 3-in-one god in Christianity.

Actually this is one doctrine in LDS that I find a lot easier to accept than mainstream Christianity.

I think it's a preposterous cop out to call Father/Son/Holy Spirit one god in Christianity. Seriously, have the courage to call it what it is--polytheism. It's ok. Most religions ever to have existed on the planet were polytheistic in nature.

both! at the same time.

MORmONS have the quantum mechanic theory of doctrine where obvious contradictions in their doctUrine makes it more profound instead of incorrect
.....well at least in MORmON minds!



when Jeff Holland criticized and mocked traditional Xtianity for being mixed/messed up on the doctrine of the trinity in LDS Gen Conf it was totally sick, twisted, & HYPOCRITICAL. LAME STUPID & MORmONIC ! DUMB ASS BLABBER MOUTH ARROGANT MORmONS!
they have never had a real soultion to anything yet, but they preach away to others on everything!

Joseph Smith said that he saw God the Father, AND his Son, Jesus Christ. They were two separate beings. The Holy Ghost is supposed to be the third member of the Godhead, but He doesn't have a body, like Jesus and Heavenly Father do. At least not yet. One day, supposedly, He will.

They are said to be one in heart, mind and purpose, so that if one spoke, you can have confidence that the others would also say the same thing.

One Godhead, one Gospel, but three separate beings within that Godhead.

The Holy Ghost was originally the mind and will of God.
After years of debate, Elder Talmage declared in 1916 that the Holy Ghost was a third and distinct member of the Godhead. It was formally adopted in 1921.

That answers the ? well, greyfort.it's still totally different than what's been otherwise taught to me all of my 50 yrs. Maybe, it's like "eternal marriage." i'd questioned that and also why after all of these yrs. didn't I know and the answer was "They must not have known" (presbyterians, baptists, etc.)

As I was taught by Mormonism:

God, or Elohim, is an old man with a white beard. He is like Gandalf, and has powers. He makes a lot of people die. He likes floods and earthquakes and plagues.

Jesus is God's son. He can engineer planets, but his bragging (I am the way) gets him into trouble. Ancient humans nail him to a pole, and he dies.

The Holy Ghost is a blurry guy who stands by ineffectually. He can make you feel stuff inside, like a bad burrito passing through your digestive system.

So they are three separate dudes. But they aren't much to speak of, really. They each kind of suck in their own way.

It's the reason why most mainstream Christians don't consider the Mormons to be Christian at all. Because the Mormons don't believe in the Trinity, where Jesus is God Himself, as most Christians do. That's why they say that the Mormons worship a "different Jesus."

There has to be something 'new' or 'different' because once you start lying, then you need to tell more lies to cover up the old ones and so on.

The truth...THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!
(plagarized from Jack Nicholson...)

So, I guess this would be the same answer I always received whenever it(?) was "i wonder why I didn't know that" IT'd be stated "They just didn't know" It is completely different from other's beliefs. WOW!!!

Yep, and it's the deepest darkest truths which they keep hidden from their members that we found out, and which is why we got the heck out of there.

Except for the groups that splintered off of the LDS church, many others if you look at their statements of beliefs do not agree with the current LDS view of three distinct beings or of God having a body of flesh and bone.

Book of Mormon/Bible believing groups generally reject LDS theology because it does not coincide with the teachings of the Bible or of the Book of Mormon. They also reject the King Follett Discourse regarding the nature of God and men becoming gods.

All that matters is there's some type of divine entity out there who must be obeyed, who will give thumbs up or down on your life, and who might grant you favors once in a while or at least ease your troubled mind.

Well, actually, all that matters is doing what the self-appointed bosses say you should, because Mormonism is more about what you do or don't do than what you believe. And what you do is obey.

Wouldn't he lose some of his super powers ?

Who ya gonna call ?