god Makers, God Fakers
Mormonism and the divine-spiritual DNA of human beings.
“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 any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3, KJV
The religious group headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, claims to be Christian, but their teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ makes their claim suspect. Mormons, known officially as The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, would like for us to view them as within Christendom’s pale, but the fact of the matter is, their professed Christology invalidates any such claim, and here’s why.
A key question differentiating true from false Christian profession is the one Jesus asked the Pharisees who like the Mormons, regulated their religious life according to a formalistic-legalistic system. To them Jesus personally asked this question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” (Matthew 22:42; Compare Matthew 16:13 ff.). The New Testament provides one answer to that inquiry, while Mormonism gives an altogether different one. To see the difference, we need to understand the Mormon view of the human soul-spirit, both that of Jesus and the rest of humanity.
Mormonism holds to a highly speculative and otherworldly fable to explain the origin of both Jesus’ and our spirits (See 1 Timothy 4:6-7; 2 Peter 1:16.). This church/cult tracks the source of a human spirit to the generation of a heavenly Father and Mother. In the process, these “parents” gave birth to billions of extra-terrestrial spirit beings. One reporter notes that according to Mormonism, “Human beings begin life as spirit children procreated in a ‘pre-existence’ by the heavenly Father and Mother, and then acquire mortal bodies at birth to human parents.”[1] Corresponding with and parallel to the begetting of heavenly spirits by heavenly parents, Mormon doctrine views earthly bodies as “containers” procreated by earthly parents to house pre-existent spirits begotten by a heavenly Father-Mother deity. In other words, at core our spiritual essence of DNA is divine! From before birth, humans are all God’s children! Hence, for the purpose of providing habitation for the billions of existent spirits out there, original Mormonism advocated that men have multiple wives through whom many material bodies could be birthed down here!
Into this fantastic scheme of origins, Mormons fit Jesus. Just like the rest of us, He too was a begotten spirit by a heavenly Father-Mother deity, the only difference being that He was birthed first! (See Colossians 1:15.)[2] According to Mormonism, Jesus is the first-born spirit being. In the Mormon view Jesus is but one of billions of pre-existent spirits begotten by the heavenly Mother and Father. The only difference between Jesus and us is one of time. He was begotten prior to us. As such, Jesus becomes to us our older brother!
As to the physical body Jesus came to inhabit, Mormonism attempts to mimic the Christian virgin birth tradition, that Jesus’ body was “physically begotten by God upon a human mother, Mary.” According to a Mormon theologian, “Jesus has 46 chromosomes like everyone else.” Twenty-three of those are from his heavenly Father and 23 are from Mary. Yet in spite of this positive affirmation, Mormonism has successfully packaged the core of a lie in the skin of truth.
The Bible does not trace Jesus’ or our spirit’s origin to any heavenly begetting. This idea is heresy for three reasons: First, it ascribes a point of origin to Jesus’ spirit; second, the spirit of Christ is reduced to be of the same sort as ours (Mormons teach that as God is, man may become.); and third, it ascribes pre-existence to us, an existence the Genesis record of the soul’s origin contradicts. Moses wrote: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Thus, as Jesus, Mormonism ascribes our origin from a begetting by the ”divine heavenly pair,” and for reason of such origin, invests all humanity with a potential to become little gods. This scheme of origins perpetuates the devil’s lie to Eve, “ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5).
About Jesus the Apostle John wrote: ”In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). From this statement we understand that before He created time, matter and space, Jesus possessed timeless being–a static, ontological and pre-temporal oneness with the Father. He did not come into being by the action of any heavenly Father and Mother. As theologians say, there never was a time when the Son was not. By way of contrast, Mormonism teaches there was a time when the spirit of Jesus was not, and that His spirit came into existence when begotten by the heavenly Father-Mother deity.
Thus to Jesus’ question, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” Mormons answer that Jesus did not uniquely pre-exist, but like us was produced as a spirit offspring by heavenly parents, the only difference being that He was the first such spirit generated. Therefore, Mormonism sees no transcendent difference between our spiritual being and Jesus’ thereby perpetuating the man is god heresy that ascribes divinity to humanity. Ontologically, Jesus remains unexceptional amongst us, other than a belief that His spirit was begotten prior to ours. Jesus’ being is merely the prototype to ours. This Mormon scheme of Jesus’ being makes Him unexceptional. He therefore cannot be called Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3), and understanding Jesus in such a way is the spirit of anti-Christ (1 John 2:22).
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ENDNOTE
[1] All quotations taken from Kenneth L. Woodward, “A Mormon Moment,” Newsweek, September 10, 2001, 46-51.
[2] Within the Hebrew context, the meaning of “firstborn” is that of an honored, select or solitary son. As “firstborn” marked Israel out to be the single nation elected by God–in contrast to Egypt or other nations (Exodus 4:22)–so the title marks Jesus out to be the exception among men. As God had one but one elect nation in the ancient world, so He also has one “elect” Son, one “firstborn,” the Cosmic Christ who spoke creation into existence (Colossians 1:16; See John 1:1 ff.). Mormonism’s doctrine of Jesus’ derivation from a heavenly Father-Mother deity is anti-Trinitarian; and no doctrine is more central or crucial to Christianity than the Trinity. The idea that deity consists also of heavenly “Mother” introduces goddess-ism into spirituality, something that from cover to cover, the Bible adamantly opposes (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19, 25).