Thursday, December 20, 2007

Myth Alert! Everyone Loves the Same Jesus

Don't think that we need to know or recite the Athanasian Creed? It is an important defense against heresy that you should arm yourself with. It is the only way to defend against the many false Jesus look-a-likes that are floating around. Sure, it is easy to know that the Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong about Jesus being an angel, but how do you know that the crypto-trinitarian error of the Latter-Day Saints is wrong? How do you know that they are in error? What makes them no different than other churches who are Christian but just have errors in doctrine and practice?

No matter what politicians and newsmen will tell you, the LDS faith is not Christianity. It wasn't Christianity when it was revealed to fallible men several hundred years ago and it remains a heretical belief system to this day. Here is a current LDS Statement of Faith by President Gordon B. Hinckley. You should read it with a copy of the Athanasian Creed in hand. They claim to have a Godhead, but it is not our Godhead. You will see that their Godhead is a unity of purpose of distinct individual beings; an alliance of individuals. They believe that the three persons are three beings that are one in the sense of their same purpose and cooperation. I have provided and important excerpt that draws the distinction between the LDS heresy and the one, holy, and apostolic faith (heresy is presented in red):


Three Distinct Beings


And so I believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.


I was baptized in the name of these three. I was married in the name of these three. I have no question concerning Their reality and Their individuality. That individuality was made apparent when Jesus was baptized by John in Jordan. There in the water stood the Son of God. His Father’s voice was heard declaring His divine sonship, and the Holy Ghost was manifest in the form of a dove (see
Matt. 3:16–17).

I am aware that Jesus said they who had seen Him had seen the Father. Could not the same be said by many a son who resembles his parent?

When Jesus prayed to the Father, certainly He was not praying to Himself!

They are distinct beings, but They are one in purpose and effort. They are united as one in bringing to pass the grand, divine plan for the salvation and exaltation of the children of God.


In His great, moving prayer in the garden before His betrayal, Christ pleaded with His Father concerning the Apostles, whom He loved, saying:

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” (
John 17:20–21).

It is that perfect unity between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost that binds these three into the oneness of the divine Godhead.

Miracle of miracles and wonder of wonders, They are interested in us, and we are the substance of Their great concern. They are available to each of us. We approach the Father through the Son. He is our intercessor at the throne of God. How marvelous it is that we may so speak to the Father in the name of the Son.

I bear witness of these great, transcendent truths. I do so by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.

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Someone may say that this is just one Morman's personal opinion. They are wrong. Here is the official statement of the LDS church:

The Church's first article of faith states, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." These three beings make up the Godhead. They preside over this world and all other creations of our Father in Heaven.

The true doctrine of the Godhead was lost in the apostasy that followed the Savior's mortal ministry and the deaths of His Apostles. This doctrine began to be restored when 14-year-old Joseph Smith received his First Vision (see Joseph Smith—History 1:17). From the Prophet's account of the First Vision and from his other teachings, we know that the members of the Godhead are three separate beings. The Father and the Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bones, and the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit (see D&C 130:22).

Although the members of the Godhead are distinct beings with distinct roles, they are one in purpose and doctrine. They are perfectly united in bringing to pass Heavenly Father's divine plan of salvation.

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