By Bill McKeever

Note: The following was originally printed in the July/August 2024 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here.

Published 9/26/2024

When the attributes of the God of the Bible are examined, it can be done within the context of “always.” For example, when Hebrews 6:18 says “it is impossible for God to lie,” we can correctly assume that it has always been impossible for God to lie. Never has the God of the Bible been less than truthful than He is now. Lying has always been against His nature.

When Exodus 34:6 states that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” we can rest in the fact that there was never a time when God was not merciful, gracious, and slow to anger who failed to exhibit love and faithfulness. Granted, with the limited, fallen understanding we all have, comprehending how God exhibits His mercy, grace, patience, love, and faithfulness is not always easily misunderstood. This difficulty often stems from our failure to take into account that God’s concern for His creation will always surpass what His creation may consider is best, simply because God’s understanding of any given situation is always “beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5). God is very much concerned about His creation. He is much more concerned than fallen humans could ever be.

God takes very seriously any effort made to harm or pervert that which God has set in place for the protection of His creation. For example, it is not unusual for sinful humans to demand that, if God really loves, He must acquiesce to the desires, beliefs, and deeds of sinful mankind. They insist that, if God really loves, His creation should be permitted to do anything they like, even if such behavior causes themselves or others harm. Such a view expresses a perverted type of love that fails to take into account God’s concern and well being of His creation. We may not always see the big picture but God always loves.

In Psalm 90:1-2 Moses prayed, “Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Again we can use the word always and conclude that God was always God, from everlasting to everlasting. In Isaiah 43:10 God tells Israel that they should believe and understand that before Him, no God was formed, nor shall there be any God on the horizon that will come after Him. He has always been the only God.

God is all knowing. His omniscience implies that he was always knowledgeable about everything. He has no need to learn anything and has no need for new information that would aid Him to make an unforeseen course correction. This attribute explains why God could rightfully declare in Isaiah 44:8 that there is no God besides Him. He knows not any. If He doesn’t know of any other God, we can be sure no other God, or Gods, exist.

In Malachi 3, we read, “I, the Lord do not change.” From this we deduce that God is always the same. He is immutable. What He is now, He has always been, and nothing can thwart what God has determined. We can be confident that what He has promised He will see to fruition, including our salvation. We can depend on Him for that!

God has always been all powerful, or omnipotent. This unlimited power makes sense if we understand Him to be eternally God. He is often described as the “Almighty,” particularly in the Book of Job (see also Genesis 35:11, Exodus 6:3; Psalm 68:14; 91:1; Isaiah 13:6; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 1:8). The Bible gives every indication that God has never been less powerful than He is right now, nor does it teach that He will eventually be more powerful in the future than He is right now. Revelation 4:11 declares that God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for He “created all things,” by His will. God has always been self-sufficient. His “aseity” (from the Latin a “from” and se “self”) tells us that God is self-existent. He needed nothing to make Him what He is and from now on and into eternity He will never be in need of anything. He is an eternal God who created all things, not some things.

When King David wrote in Psalm 34:8 that “the Lord is good,” we can count on the fact that He has always been good. His ultimate goodness explains why “the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (Psalm 34:16), which leads us to conclude that He is always against those who do evil. His perfect goodness causes us to also conclude that He is always just.

All this to say. . .

I present this long list of God’s attributes to demonstrate the absurdity of the Mormon doctrine of godhood.

In an official First Presidency Statement signed by sixth President Joseph F. Smith and his two counselors, John R. Winder and Anthon H. Lund, members of the LDS Church were told:

“Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undeveloped offspring of celestial parentage is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God.” (Man: His Origin and Destiny, 355. See also Achieving a Celestial Marriage, p. 130).

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism (2:791) states that “all the children of God are embryonic gods or goddesses.”

Members of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are led to believe that when they obtain godhood, they too will have the ability to reorganize matter and create worlds, just as Elohim, the God of Mormonism, organized this world. Like Elohim, they will also have the ability to procreate, a doctrine known as “eternal increase.”

But what kind of a God could they really become? After all, Mormonism never teaches that a member who reaches exaltation will ever hope to pass Elohim on their continued road of eternal progression. Think of an escalator. Those who qualify for exaltation (or godhood) join God on the escalator; however, because God stepped onto this hypothetical escalator long before they did, Mormonism insists that no one will ever pass him. However, given the fact that the God of Mormonism had a Father, who had a Father, etc., it seems reasonable (within the context of Mormonism, of course) that the God of Mormonism is also prevented from surpassing any and all Gods who preceded him.

Twelfth President Spencer W. Kimball wrote that men who perfect themselves, and “become as Gods,” will also become “ omniscient and omnipotent” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 2). Let us assume that this unbiblical belief is actually practical, and a Latter-day Saint becomes the “Heavenly Father” of a world they formed out of already existing matter. How would this God answer, should one of his literal offspring ask the following:

• “Have you always been all powerful?
• “Have you always known all things?”
• “Have you always told the truth and never lied?”
• Were you always merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness?”
• “Have you always been God, from everlasting to everlasting?”
• “Were there any Gods before you, and will there will be any Gods after you?”
• “Did you create all things?”
• “Have you always been unchangeable?”
• “Have you always been self-sufficient?”
• “Have you always been good?”

Whereas the God of the Bible answers yes to these queries, no Mormon, even if godhood is a true doctrine and such a state is possible to attain, could answer in the affirmative.

But consider this: Not even the God of Mormonism, a glorified, human being who once went through a mortality as all humans go through, can answer yes to these questions! The God of Mormonism cannot claim to be self-sufficient. The God of Mormonism could never say there are no other Gods besides him. The God of Mormonism could never say he was God “from everlasting to everlasting.”

Sadly, the LDS people have been convinced to place their trust in a deity that is clearly not the God of the Bible. This is something to think about should a Latter-day Saint tell you that they are Christians, “just like you.”