AboutHannah Expertise I can answer questions concerning standard doctrines, scriptures, curiousities, Mormon culture and society. I will not respond to debates. I'm sorry, but there are some things that I simply will not answer, not because I don't want to, but there are some things that the LDS people do not discuss casually--it's only talked about within the temple. Though I am a member, I do not believe that anyone could convert anyone to a religion over something as impersonal as the internet. So I won't even try to.
Experience I have been a member of the LDS church for 8 years. Though I'm still a young person, I can answer most things about the church.
Question QUESTION: Does God exist in a physical body? A body of flesh and bone? Did God start with a mortal body (like mine) and develop into being God (as he is now)?
I have just recently started reading the Book of Mormon after living a life as a Lutheran
ANSWER: This question is extremely LDS doctrinal, and a lot of Protestants get very defensive after hearing the answer to this one, so please hear me out.
So, yes, he does exist in a physical body, and yes it is a body of flesh and bone. Yes, he presumably started with a mortal body (like everyone on earth's) and EARNED the state of God (as he is now). He has a perfected body, and he is now a God. Some say that Mormons are polytheistic, not so. We believe that there are other gods in this universe. But our god is God. He is the God of this earth, and we are not to worship any other God. The other gods have their own universes, and just to clarify, they aren't any of the other gods that people have thought of (such as: Greek pantheon, Celtic pantheon, what have you...they're completely different).
I hope that I didn't confuse you further, and I hope that I didn't write something that is ambiguous. Thanks for asking, and I hope that if you have any other questions while reading that you'll ask me, someone around you that is LDS or missionaries if you find them.
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QUESTION: Thank you for being honest with me, This is what I thought I was reading and just wanted to verify. I hope that we can have a meaningful dialog into this matter and would like to ask your permission to ask very specific questions and reference chapter and verse from both the KJV bible and the book of Mormon. if this is not an acceptable situation for you I will understand and I do not wish to cause you problems as far as violating any of your religious practices but I am very interested in understanding the Mormon point of view. Please respond in either event so that I may understand if these types of questions are too personal for me to ask.
ANSWER: I'd be very happy to discuss everything that I can with you. There isn't much chance of me overextending as to what I can discuss, as I have not yet partaken of temple covenants and therefore things too sacred to discuss, I don't understand them very well.
I'd like to discuss it with you as well. Ask away!
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QUESTION: These are my points of not understanding and have become stumbling blocks for me.
1) The question of is God of flesh and bone I have found these references in the Bible, how do they fit into the Mormon Doctrine?
John 4:24 (King James Version)
24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Luke 24:37-39 (King James Version)
37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Matthew 16:15-17 (King James Version)
16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
2)And as to the question of God progressing to perfection and becoming a god I found these troubling verses, please answer this question...If God was as we are how can it be explained that he is unchangeable from eternity to eternity?
Numbers 23:19 (King James Version)
19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man,
Malachi 3:6 (King James Version)
6For I am the LORD, I change not;
Hosea 11:9 (King James Version)
9I ...: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee:
Psalm 90:2 (King James Version)
2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Romans 1:22-23 (King James Version)
22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,
Mormon 9:9
For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?
10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.
Moroni 8:18
18 For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity.
I do feel that there is some confusion on my part as to the constancy to which the scriptures can or can not support the teachings of a changeable god to the never changing God.
Can you please help me to understand?
Charlie
Answer Sure. Okay, let’s get started.
1) So, in John 4:24, it is in reference to the fact that God is eternal, and therefore a spirit in the same way that man is a spirit as discussed in Doctrine and Covenants 93:33 (If you do not have access to Doctrine and Covenants, it can be found on lds.org. It’s modern-day revelations mostly from Joseph Smith with a few others.)
For a second, I wasn’t understanding what the confusion was with Luke 24. I see now. If a body has not flesh and bone, why would God, being a spirit have them? So Christ is saying that he is more than just a spirit. He is a resurrected being. If he were only a spirit, in the sense that they believed spirit to be in the context (really more like a ghost—a disembodied spirit), he would not have flesh and bone. He is, however, resurrected, and therefore not just solely a spirit.
So, with the Matthew verse, the context shows us that Simon Peter has a much more spiritual knowledge of God. Christ is commending Simon in how he does not believe because of tangible proof or evidence, but through the Spirit of God (which is the Holy Ghost) bearing testimony unto Simon. When we say Spirit of God, instead of thinking of it like the Spirit which belongs to God, think of it as the Spirit who serves God. He’s like God’s messenger kind of. So, Simon Peter (who is Simon Bar-jona or Simon, son of Jonah) has faith, not proof of God.
2) Concerning Numbers. God isn’t man is he? He WAS a man. This scripture states that he is perfect, and that he is not like you or me. And he isn’t. He’s perfect, and he’s perfected. The Hosea passage substantiates this further.
Concerning Malachi. He doesn’t say, “I have changed not.” He says, “I change not.” God, in his current nature, has never changed, and never will. As God, he has not changed. Previous to being God, he presumably did. But he has not since and never will again.
The Psalm: This thing is, this is a great parallel to Doctrine and Covenants 38:1 explaining the everlasting and eternal nature of God. One thing that I always try to remember about Psalms: they’re songs. They’re poems. There is some poetic license taken. But it really doesn’t contradict the nature of God’s coming. God is God. He is the Beginning and the End—of this universe.
Romans: God isn’t corruptible. God is God. God’s perfect. This scripture refers to the way in which the Romans’ gods were made to be humanistic, even in their godly state, they were corruptible and susceptible to sins. God is not that way. He’s a perfected being. He is not a man.
Mormon: One of my favorite scriptures (next to Jeremiah 1:6 and a couple of others…) anyways, this is beside the point. God doesn’t change, as we discussed in the Malachi scripture.
Moroni: This is the same way as in Psalms.
I might add, just for safety sake that we do not have a scripture that tells us the exalted nature of God, but from the doctrine that we have gained about exaltation, we can logically assume that God is an exalted being. And I’m pretty that General Authorities and Latter-day Prophets are with me (and almost all practicing Mormons) on this one, and I’ll fine you a quote from one of them, just to make it more valid.
If you have some issues with my responses or anything that you have trouble understanding of comprehending, that’d be great. I’m all for discussion going both ways here. I must warn you, that if either of us start to get defensive or offensive, I’m very passionate about my beliefs due to personal confirmations that I have received and things that I know, so I just can’t do the stress, so we’d have to stop.
If we’re discussing in a calm and rational way, without “verbal shouting” I’d be happy to discuss whatever with you. It strengthens my faith and knowledge and helps me as much as or more than it helps you. Just so that’s clear.
