The Mormon and Christian God

I think Mormon's tend to assume that they worship the same God as do most Christians, but really the Father character in each tradition have such drastically different characteristics that they can hardly be considered the same entity.

The most common conception of God the Father in Christianity is a hybrid of the transcendent God of the philosophers and the covenant God of Abraham. He is the progenerator of the universe, omnipotent and omniscient while not interfering with the freedom of human will, benevolent and occasionally vengeful. He is something entirely inhuman, but with human sensibilities which are manifested to mankind in the form of Jesus in whom is contained all the attributes of the Deity.

The Mormon God, on the other hand, is a person of flesh and blood, perfect and incorruptable. He is, essentially, a man who has achieved through his efforts qualities which are ideal and the aspirations of all men. He even has a name, Eloheim. His power comes from his integrity and the hidden forces of the creation which yield to and are commanded by him. He did not make the elements, but they obey him and organize as he dictates. The Mormons believe the universe has always been and do not make any suggestions as to how it came to be or even that it needed to come to be. It just is. The actual capabilities of The Father are not perfectly outlined, but he is generally awarded similar attributes as the Christian God, such as omnipotence and omniscience, though these attributes must be confined to his own sphere of influence. Mormons do not discount the possibility of there being other deities similar to Eloheim who are lords of their own organized worlds elsewhere in the universe. This is why the Mormon religion is more accurately labelled as being monolatristic than monotheistic.

It is an equivocation for a Mormon to say to a Christian that he believes in God. Mormons believe in a Father who is not God. They don't believe God is needed. The reason he is called "God" is because that is how his name has been translated and because he plays essentially the same role in human affairs as God does.

Actually, that last paragraph is not entirely true, but only because the conception of God held by Mormons has changed some. It seems that the differences between the Christian and Mormon God has been deemphasized by the Mormon church. Many now seem to believe that the Mormon God is the same as the Christian God except that he has a physical body. I don't doubt that some in the church consider him to be the creator of the universe which is something that is irreconcilable with the teachings of Joseph Smith. Or it could be that they project that image of God outwardly to the world while inwardly they believe something different. Whether it is merely a deemphasis, an actual change in understanding, or just a change in outward image, the reason for it can only be the result of the evangelical mission of the church. History shows that the result of evangelism is often compromise. This is the primary reason why Catholics have saints and Christmas is celebrated in the winter. This is probably why the leaders of the LDS church have grown more quiet on this sort of doctrine. They want converts and are afraid that declaring what the church believed for the first century of it's existence will be too big of a turn off. So they don't really believe it any more. At least not as confidently.

It's a shame really. The Mormon doctrine on Deity is it's defining characteristic and also it's best. I think the church should emphasize the human attributes of the Father even more than they do. It's a doctrine that allows a person to deal with God rationally and potentially have true reverence for Him as a person. The God of Mormondom deserves our admiration because He earned it. Also, a doctrine of a God with a perfect character does not necessarily mean that God is infallible. If our spirit Father could be viewed as dynamically good but potentially fallible then we could each look at His actions and determine for ourselves what his successes and failures were the same way a boy will look at how his father raised him and choose what was good and what he will change when raising his own child. A Deity like that is one worth believing in even if he isn't actually God.