|
"Which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God, infinite and
eternal, without end. Amen." (Doctrine and Covenants 20:28)
|
|
| What Do
Latter-day Saints Believe About God? |
| "With the vast
majority of their fellow Christians, members of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints believe in a God of love, who has all knowledge and
all power (see 1 Nephi 11:22; 2 Nephi 1:15; 2 Nephi 9:20; D&C 38:1-3;
Moses 1:6; 1 Nephi 7:12; Alma 26:35)." FARMS |
|
| God |
| "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate and
distinct beings who constitute one Godhead. Generally speaking, the Father
is the Creator, the Son is the Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost is the Comforter
and Testifier" Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| The
Godhead |
| "Latter-day Saints believe in God the Father;
his Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost (A of F 1). These three Gods
form the Godhead, which holds the keys of power over the universe. Each
member of the Godhead is an independent personage, separate and distinct
from the other two, the three being in perfect unity and harmony with each
other (AF, chap. 2)." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| God
the Father |
| "Latter-day Saints also attribute omnipotence and omniscience
to the Father. He knows all things relative to the universe in which mortals
live and is himself the source and possessor of all true power manifest
in it."Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Jesus
Christ, the Son of God |
| "Jesus Christ is the central figure in the doctrine of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith
explained that "the fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony
of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was
buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all
other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it" (TPJS,
p. 121). Latter-day Saints believe that complete salvation is possible
only through the life, death, resurrection, doctrines, and ordinances of
Jesus Christ and in no other way." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| The
Holy Ghost |
| "Joseph Smith taught that the influence of the Holy Ghost,
which is the convincing power of God of the truth of the gospel, can be
received before baptism, but the gift, or constant companionship, of the
Holy Ghost, which comes by the laying-on of hands, is obtained only after
baptism (TPJS, p. 199)." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Mother
in Heaven |
| "Latter-day Saints infer from authoritative sources of
scripture and modern prophecy that there is a Heavenly Mother as well as
a Heavenly Father." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| What
do Latter-day Saints mean when they say that God was once a man? |
| "It is the first
principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and
to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another,
and that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of
us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did." Joseph
Smith |
|
| Condescension
of God |
| "Such condescension denotes, first, the love of God the
Father, who deigned to sire
a son, born of a mortal woman,
and then allow this Son to suffer temptations
and pain (Mosiah 3:5-7), "be judged of the world," and be "slain for the
sins of the world" (1 Ne. 11:32-33). Second, it signifies the love and
willingness of God the Son (Jesus Christ) to die for mankind."
Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Omnipotent
God; Omnipresence of God; Omniscience of God |
| "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the
familiar terms "omnipotent," "omnipresent," and "omniscient" to describe
members of the Godhead." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Name of God |
| "Latter-day Saints invoke the name of God in prayers, in
ordinances such as baptism, in testimony bearing, and in sermons." Encyclopedia
of Mormonism |
|
| Godhood |
| "Logically and naturally, the ultimate desire of a loving
Supreme Being is to help his children enjoy all that he enjoys. For Latter-day
Saints, the term "godhood" denotes the attainment of such a state—one of
having all divine attributes and doing as God does and being as God is."
Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Early
Christian Deification |
| "From the second to eighth centuries, the standard Christian
term for salvation was theopoiesis or theosis, literally, "being made God,"
or deification. Such language survived sporadically in the mystical tradition
of the West and is still used in Eastern Orthodoxy. LDS doctrines on eternal
progression and exaltation to godhood reflect
a similar view of salvation." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Theodicy |
| "Theodicy is the attempt to explain God's goodness and
power and reconcile these with the evident evil in the created world."
Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| The
Doctrinal Exclusion: Trinity and the Nature of God |
| "If by 'the doctrine of the Trinity' one means the New
Testament teaching that there is a Father, a Son, and a Holy Ghost, all
three of whom are fully divine, then Latter-day Saints believe in the doctrine
of the Trinity. It is as simple as that. The Latter-day Saints' first article
of faith, written by Joseph Smith in 1842, states, "We believe in God,
the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost......However,
if by "the doctrine of the Trinity" one means the doctrine formulated by
the councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon and elaborated upon by subsequent
theologians and councils--that God is three coequal persons in one substance
or essence--then Latter-day Saints do not believe it. They do not believe
it, because it is not biblical. Words central to the orthodox understanding
of the Trinity --words like coequal, consubstantial, and
circumincession, or the word trinity itself, for that matter--are
not found in scripture. " Are Mormons Christian? |
|
| The
Nature of God in the Book of Mormon |
| Dr. Robert L. Millett discusses what the Book of Mormon
reveals about the nature of each member of the godhead and the relationships
among them. Dr. Millet focuses especially on the preeminent role of Jesus
Christ in the Book of Mormon as both Father and Son and as Eternal God. |
|
| Theogony |
| "Theogony refers to the origin of God and has been a subject
of religious inquiry throughout the ages." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| Theology |
| "The traditional task of theology (from the Greek theos,
God, and logos, study of) is to seek understanding of God's reality, to
describe divine things rationally, and to elaborate the present meaning
of past manifestations of God, whether theoretically, practically, descriptively,
or critically." Encyclopedia of Mormonism |
|
| (See Basic Beliefs home page) |
|
