The Mormon Deity Contrasted with the Eternal God of the Bible

 First thing, a little announcement. This is my 700th blog post. Who could have imagined that I would have that much to say!

When Mormon missionaries ride around on their bicycles, there are certain Mormon doctrines that they don't discuss with new contacts. One of those doctrines is their belief that their god was once a man on another planet, with its own god, which man succeeded in fulfilling that god's plan of salvation, such that he was rewarded with godhood and a planet of his own. Mormons call this "exaltation," and claim that some of them will receive the same reward in their afterlife. (Side note: these doctrines are part of popular Mormonism, not official doctrines of the LDS organization.)

This doctrine is stated in what is known as Snow's Couplet:
"As man now is, God once was;
As God now is, man may be."

It was also stated more prosaically by LDS Founder Joseph Smith in his King Follett Discourse: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!"

I can imagine no clearer proof that can be offered that Mormons are not Christians, and have, not just a different god, but a different kind of god from that of the Bible. Their theism is more comparable to that of the ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, or modern Hindus, than to Christianity.

In contrast, the God of the Bible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is eternal. That is, He is as He has been for all eternity past and as He will be for all eternity future. This precludes not only the evolutionary deity of Mormonism but also the creaturely Son of Arianism and the multiple-personality deity of the Modalist. The biblical God is utterly unlike any creature, including humans.

In Psalm 9:7, David tells us, "The LORD sits enthroned forever." "LORD" indicates Jehovah, the preincarnate Christ, proving the eternality of the Son.

In Psalm 90:2, Moses is even more explicit: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God." He precludes the possibility that God could ever have been any less than God!

The anonymous writer of Psalm 102:25-28 tells us even more: "Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but You are the same, and Your years have no end. The children of Your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before You." He builds a contrast between changeable and perishable matter and the true God who can do neither, and then provides that as the foundation for assurance for the biblical believer. How can anyone have assurance of salvation, the future, or eternity, when he thinks that his god is an evolutionary creature?

When I read the Greek or Roman myths, and they describe a man exalted to godhood, I take no umbrage at that assertion, because a Pagan doesn't claim to be representing Christianity. And if Mormons stopped claiming to be Christians, I would stop being offended by their religion. However, as long as they continue to claim Christian terminology for Pagan content, I will continue to be offended, and to believe that I have a responsibility to expose and refute their doctrines.