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©2001 by Thomas F. Heinze
The Book of Mormon and Church Doctrine
• Many Gods Mormons accept the Bible as sacred Scripture and believe it to be true insofar as it is translated correctly, but their teaching also states: "Almost all of the doctrines of the gospel are taught in The Book of Mormon with much greater clarity and perfection than those same doctrines are revealed in the Bible." 1 They elevate The Book of Mormon to the place of highest honor among the books which they accept as scripture. They read it, and often think that their religion is based on it, but, other than accepting its historical background, The Book of Mormon has hardly been taken into consideration in determining the main distinctive of Mormonism. This is a serious charge. Let's see if I can back it up. The Mormon teaching is that there are many gods, not just one. In contrast to both the Bible and The Book of Mormon, today's Mormon doctrine teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three Gods rather than one God in three persons. Joseph Smith said later: "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods."2 McConkie writes: "…and yet they are three separate and distinct entities. Each occupies space and is and can be in but one place at one time, yet each has power and influence that is everywhere present." 3 Belief in three Gods stands in stark contrast to the Bible: "…I am the LORD, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:6). Jesus said: "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). The Mormon belief in three gods is also completely contrary to the teaching of The Book of Mormon: "…I say unto you, that the Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are One; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one." 4 The Bible and The Book of Mormon are in agreement in this point. Both teach one God and not three. The earlier part of Doctrine and Covenants is also in agreement. "Which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, infinite and eternal, without end. Amen." 5 Mormon doctrine also recognizes a Mother God. "This doctrine that there is a Mother in Heaven was affirmed in plainness by the First Presidency of the church…" and teaches that our spirits were born from the Father God and the Mother God. 6 That, however, is just the beginning of the Mormon gods. Mormons are taught that those who are married in the temple and obey faithfully to the end will become gods themselves and populate other worlds with their spirit children: "Mortal persons who overcome all things and gain an ultimate exaltation will live eternally in the family unit and have spirit children, thus becoming Eternal Fathers and Eternal Mothers." 7 They believe that these spirit children will later be born into physical bodies. Are there really many gods? As we have just seen, the Bible, The Book of Mormon, and the early part of Doctrine and Covenants all teach that there is only one God. Contradicting all of this is section 132 of Doctrine and Covenants, which was written later when Smith wanted to teach Mormons to marry multiple wives. Here he added that in the next life those who followed this new covenant would become gods: "Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them." 8 What is the most important commandment of all? One day a man asked Jesus: "Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment" (Mark 12:28-30). Not only is there only one God, there was none before Him, and there will never be another after Him: "I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me" (Isaiah 43:10). There is a certain attraction to believing we will become gods. Satan used this to get Eve to sin against God's commandment to her and Adam when he said to her in the garden: "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Lucifer said, "I will be like the most high" (Isaiah 14:14). Whether or not he had any influence on this doctrine in Mormonism, it seems similar. Mormons study their genealogies, looking for dead relatives who have not been baptized. They are then baptized for them by proxy, hoping that they will have accepted the gospel in the spirit world. If The Book of Mormon is right, this practice is useless: "For behold, this life is the time for men to meet God…"9 These verses state clearly that when one is alive is the time to meet God, and if he puts it off till death the devil seals him, and that is the final state of the wicked. No hope is given of accepting the gospel after death. All of the following are doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, none of them are found in The Book of Mormon. In fact, in some cases, The Book of Mormon teaches the opposite:
This is not intended as a complete list, but added to the doctrines that we have already looked at, they are enough to help you understand that The Book of Mormon has very little to do with the Mormon distinctives. It does have the stories about migrations to America which Mormons believe are historically true, but not much more. Other than providing a setting for The Book of Mormon, the stories of these migrations have little effect on the distinctive beliefs of the Church of Latter-day Saints today.
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