Mormons, Monotheism, and Deification-A Philosophical Exploration
Many traditional Christians claim that Mormons aren't Christians. In fact, their belief in deity is so drastically detached from the idea of God that they caution to avoid all interaction with this blasphemous belief. The different starting points that Mormons take do differentiate their theology, but it is disingenuous and intellectually dishonest to make these straw man arguments without actually exploring what Mormons believe.
The theological debate of the oneness of God rages back to the early patristic period. Christianity derived as a sect of Judaism and endured intense intermittent persecution from the Roman empire. In the year 311 A.D., Gelarius put an end to all persecution and legally recognized the existence of the Christian religion (McGrath 20). With the state backing the Christian religion, it now had the leisure to outline beliefs, practices, and theology in a philosophical way. With the unique challenge to preserve the godhood of Christ, the Father, and the Spirit while also distancing themselves from any notion of polytheism, the theological debates and ecumenical councils played a vital role in solidifying the concept of monotheism in Christianity. With this background in mind, one can see the challenge that presents itself to Mormons-who’s conception of deity and godhood are radically different from traditional Christianity. Lorenzo Snow, a Mormon prophet is famous for saying: “As man now is, God once was: “As God now is, man may be.” (Teachings of the President of the Church Ch. 5). Implicit in this claim is that God was once a man and all men will/can one day become God. One will quickly see that Mormons are faced with the problematic claim that they are both monotheistic and believe in the concept of deification. Notwithstanding these apparently contradictory claims, Mormons simultaneously preserve the principles of deification and monotheism by adopting a Cappadocian approach to the Godhead, reject the argument based on contingency, and dispute the traditional definition of God’s essence.
The Greek Absolutist stressed the fundamental principle of one God. This is due to philosophical implications put forth by the likes of Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, and Aquinas. They were of the view that if there was even the potential of another thing being greater than God, this God was no longer worthy of worship. Some theological journals have even gone as far to call Mormonism an atheistic “faith” (A.A. Howsepian). As far as monotheism is defined (i.e. a belief in one God)-Mormons would claim to be monotheistic, but also further stipulate that this does not limit man’s potential to attain the same level of progress as deity. Perhaps an oversimplification of their monotheistic belief, but it would be sufficient to state that Mormons reserve worship and ultimate belief towards one being: God the Father.
During the patristic period debates regarding the trinity, the Cappadocian approach was a compelling argument that was put forth. The theory states that the godhead consists of three different modes of existence, but ultimate priority is given to God the Father. This approach does not take the stance that Christ and the Spirit are inferior, but that they ultimately derive from the Father (McGrath 57). “...my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name” (Alma 26: 35). The Father’s omnipotence is illustrated in this verse and furthermore the Mormon church solidifies the Father as the ultimate source of the known godhead in the text Truth to the Faith: “God the Father is the Supreme Being in whom we believe and whom we worship. He is the ultimate Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of all things. He is perfect, has all power, and knows all things” (True to the Faith, God the Father). Criticism of the Mormon godhead often points to the belief that Mormons believe the Father, Son, and the Spirit are separate in all physical senses. This seems to imply that there are three Gods who are possibly competing for power. One can see that the adoration and sacred worship is solely reserved for God the Father. In this way, the concept of humans becoming like God does not diminish from the ultimate Godhood of the father. And more importantly, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit can be claimed to maintain the properties of distinct individuals that are one in purpose, will, character, etc. with the Father. In stark contrast to the theological issues faced by early Christians, Mormons define the oneness of the trinity as a communal aspect, to avoid the conundrum of literally three in one. The literal oneness in body is rejected, implicating that there are three Gods, but Mormons maintain that ultimate worship is still reserved for God the Father. This is Cappadocian in nature because it recognizes the different aspects of the Godhead, but points at the Father as being the original fountain source in which all things spring from. Thus, the principle of the plurality of Gods not being one in a physical sense is reconciled with monotheism by adopting a Cappadocian approach.
The cosmological argument for the existence of God resides in the argument based on contingency. This philosophical argument is used to deductively prove the existence of God to a non-believer. Essentially it states that all existent things are either necessary or contingent. Not all things can be contingent and thus there must exist at least one necessary being, which is called God (Pojman 23-30). Mormons belief in deity does not consists of the necessary and contingent dichotomy but asserts that all matter is eternal. Mormon theology appears to view God as the organizer of intelligence and not the creator. But due to the prominence of the contingency argument in both historical and philosophical theology, mainstream Christians view the Mormon’s perspective as heretical and nonsensical. The Pearl of Great Price states: “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones” (Abraham 3:22). God, or the creator simply organized these intelligences into what we know as spirits. This carries the implication that the fundamental building blocks of the human soul is composed of something as eternal as God himself. Thus, one can see that rejection of the argument based on contingency moves the Mormon theological model into a different paradigm and allows for different theological conclusions and statements to be made. Such as 1) a plurality of Gods can exist and not tarnish the supremacy of a first being, because there was no first being, rather varying degrees of progression implicit in the essence shared by man and God. 2) The spirits of mankind existed in a state known as pre-earth life and prior to this state existed as intelligences. 3) God the Father is the fountain source and organizer of spirits. Thus, by claiming that God is a temporally eternal being and transcends the model of necessary and contingent, Mormons can accurately claim to believe in deification and monotheism.
The origin of this term homoousios is most commonly known from the Nicene creed. The two main arguments revolved around the issue of whether God and Christ were made of the same substance or of like substance. The conclusion made in the creed was that that the godhead is made of the same substance. Mormons reject this because they claim that the Godhead is made up of 3 individual personages. The term homoousios, put into historical context, suggests that the three members of the godhead are part of the same being (McGrath 30). Mormons would not necessarily dispute that the Father and Christ are made of the same essence/substance, but it becomes problematic when substance becomes synonymous with being. Revisiting the point of man’s potential to become deified, this is explained by stipulating that man’s very nature and essence contains properties of God’s essence, but on a different degree. Mormons view pre-life, mortality, and post-mortality as a trajectory of progression. The choices that are made contributes to the overall evolution of the god-like essence present in all of mankind. In this way, Mormons deviate from the traditional Christian understanding of the essence of God. Claiming that mankind and Christ can essentially share the same properties as God the Father, but that the Father has attained more improvement than man allows Mormons to maintain that they are monotheistic. Thus, rejection of the traditional understanding of the essence of God keeps in balance the ideas of deification and monotheism.
Many theological issues arise in Mormon doctrine due to many semantic differences with other religions and its stark difference from the Greek absolutists model.
The approach that Mormons take to justify its monotheism and its belief in deification can be understood by maintaining that Christ and the Spirit are in union with the Father’s will and plan (i.e. there are not competing Gods with different goals for mankind-which would be characteristic of polytheism) and using different models of understanding (Argument based on contingency and homoousios or homoiousios) then traditional Christians.
Works Cited
Hardy, Grant. The Book of Mormon. University of Illinois Press, 2006.
McGrath, Alister E. Historical theology: an introduction to the history of Christian thought. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Pojman, Louis P., and Michael C. Rea. Philosophy of religion: an anthology. Cengage Learning, 2015.
Howsepian, A. A. “Are Mormons Theists?” Religious Studies, vol. 32, no. 03, 1996, p. 357., doi:10.1017/s0034412500024409.