Latter Day Saint Doctrines: Some refuted - Some not

Much research for this taken from Volume 17, Issue 4 of the Christian Research Institute’s “EQUIP” Newsletter by Hank Hanegraaff.

LDS doctrine agrees with the mainstream Protestant Christian view of “One God,” as evidenced by Alma 11:28-29; D & C 20:28; II Neph. 31:21; I Neph 13:14; scriptures from Joseph Smith’s 1830’s revelations. However, by 1844, he said that there were many separate gods, in the Teachings of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, page 370. Nonetheless (and I add this criticism of EQUIP’s explanation), this may be taken in context with the “gods” using the small, lower-case “g” and as shown in scriptures such as: (emphasis added for clarity)

* Ps. 82:1, 6 “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods…I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

* Ps. 86:8-10 “8Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. 9All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. 10For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.”

* I Kings 18:25b “…call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.”

* and lastly:

* I Corinthians 8:4-6 “4As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

* Deuteronomy 11:16 “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;”

* Jeremiah 25:6a “And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them...”

** Conclusion: Hank Hanegraaff, the president of CRI, makes a good point here, but he does not address my criticism, namely that Joseph Smith may have been using the term “god” in the sense as we see here: False “gods” in the lower-case letters, and the “real” God in the Capitol “G”-style.

LDS doctrine, here: http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,11-1-13-59,00.html says that God was once a man: “This is the way our Heavenly Father became God. Joseph Smith taught: "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. . . . He was once a man like us; . . . God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46).”

What the scripture says: Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

** Conclusion: Scripture says differently: God was always God, not a mere mortal man, and this time, instead of asking Hank and CRI for an explanation, we need to ask the LDS’s for an explanation.