By Aaron Shafovaloff
Created August 3, 2021

Limited dominion, diminished meaning

When Mormons say they believe God “created all things”, this is often because:

• “all things” excludes most things: worlds elsewhere created by other gods (ancestors, cousins), e.g. the world that Heavenly Grandfather was born on
• “created” means to organize things which have existence one is not responsible for

In other words, for the Mormon gods to “create all things” is to re-arrange things they did not create, and to do so in a relatively small corner of the universal sandbox.

Essence, existence, and potential

To create means, in part, to give something potential. The universe has potential because God created to have potential. To create a potentiality is to create something composite – something that has essence and existence. God is responsible both: whether a thing is (existence), and what a thing is (essence).

The gods of Mormonism gave potentiality, arguably, to nothing. They only activate what eternally had potential. They are responsible for neither the fundamental existence nor the essence of anything.

Essence, existence, and potential are eternal in Mormonism, having no creator. This is why Mormonism insists that spirit is material in essence, that God himself is made of parts, and that “law” is eternal.

It rejects an undivided, simple Composer. It refuses the Creator, Pure Act, who is the ground of all being.

Summary

The exalted gods of Mormonism have created nothing; each has only organized a relatively tiny percentage of “all things.”

Saying, “God created all things”, but not believing that God created any essence, existence, or material potentiality, is like saying, “God invented Minecraft”, when really he just installed it and played it on his personal laptop.

Oh, that Mormons would join us in worshipping the Creator!

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)