The Andromeda galaxy by Isaac Roberts 1899

Photograph of the Andromeda galaxy, Isaac Roberts, 1899

The Bible teaches that one God created and rules over the world, and that human beings are finite creatures whom God made (Genesis 1-2). The New Testament reveals this one God more fully in three Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (e.g., Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). The Son, like the Father, has always been God, and he humbled himself to become a man in order to redeem us from our sins. Through that redemption, we may become perfect, immortal, and glorified creatures, but we will never be Gods of the same infinite nature as the Father. Rather than being his literal offspring, we are creatures whom God created to have a relationship with him like that of children to a father, and he adopts us as his children through faith in his one eternal, divine Son Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:14-30). 

Jesus speaking to premortal human spirits in heaven.

LDS artwork depicting Jesus speaking to premortal human spirits in heaven.

The Mormon view of God and man is radically different from that of the Bible. According to LDS Church teaching, God the Father has a wife, our Heavenly Mother. All human beings preexisted in heaven as the spirit children of these heavenly parents. Jesus Christ is their firstborn spirit son and our eldest spirit brother, and he is the first of us to become a God. Thus, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate Gods. All human beings, all angels, and the devil and all demonic beings are spirit children of Heavenly Father; we are all of the same “species” as God. Jesus and Lucifer were both our spirit brothers in heaven, but Lucifer fell and became Satan because he made the bad choice to reject Heavenly Father’s plan. In that plan, we were sent to this world to make spiritual progress in the hope of returning “home” to the celestial kingdom and eventually becoming Gods ourselves, like Jesus Christ—and like Heavenly Father, who also passed through human mortality and later became exalted as a God.

Mormon theology thus radically contradicts traditional, Bible-based Christian doctrine. Moreover, historical analysis of Joseph Smith’s revelations and teachings demonstrates that these were man-made doctrinal innovations that he developed gradually during his years as the prophet of the LDS religion.

We have a wealth of articles on the nature of God and man, comparing and contrasting Mormon theology with the teachings of the Bible. Our website also has a large number of articles on the doctrine of the Trinity, a key point of difference between Mormonism and traditional Christianity.

For a summary of the twelve reasons with links to articles on each, see the main article, “Why Christianity Is True but Mormonism Is Not: A Dozen Reasons.”