When Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon
around 1828 to 1829,
his theological background was in Protestant Christianity.
He believed what he was writing in the Book
of Mormon narrative – that God was Spirit.
Smith also, was entirely monotheistic in his
outlook.
Smith’s Lectures of Faith in particular,
affirmed that concept and those seven lectures
were later canonized as the ‘Doctrine’
part of the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835.
At that time, everyone who followed Mormonism
believed in the one God, who was a spirit.
Many years later, Smith changed his theology
and then altered the Book of Mormon passages
to accommodate his changed thinking - separating
God from Jesus.
But he did not indicate that God had a body
and he certainly did not change the verses
in chapters 18 and 22 of the book of Alma,
which specifically teaches that God is the
“Great Spirit.”
It’s no wonder Elder Smith and Elder Young
are confused about this matter.
What they don’t realize is that Joseph Smith
possibly derived the story in Alma from the
notion that some Native North Americans in
his day believed such a thing as a Great Spirit God,
so he included it in his Book of Mormon.
Time after time, in Alma 18 and 22, God is
confirmed as being a “Great Spirit” and
NOT ONCE is there a reference to physical
attributes - there or anywhere else in the
Book of Mormon.
It is compelling evidence that Smith did not
have a vision in 1820, and that his whole
‘plurality of God’s’ concept was a later
idea which he backdated to 1820 for dramatic
effect.
The LDS Church today teaches that God and
Jesus are two separate and distinct personages
each having bodies of flesh and bones.
The Church claims that Smith saw God and Jesus
with bodies in an early 1820 vision, but it
is impossible to derive that idea from the
Book of Mormon.
So, if these Elders are thinking clearly when
they ask, “What did these missionaries
(Ammon and Aaron) teach about the nature of God?”
The investigators should conclude that they
taught He was a personage of spirit - only.
It’s beyond me how the Church expects these
Mormon Elders to conclude that God has a body
from that or any other Book of Mormon passage.
I doubt the missionaries would ever share
this Book of Mormon account with their investigators.
Intelligent questions that would subsequently
arise could not be answered.
The only place you find the teaching that
God has a physical body is in
This teaching cannot be found in ANY of the
Mormon Standard Works – The Book of Mormon,
or Pearl of Great Price.
And especially not in the Bible.
In fact, there is a simple phrase Jesus uttered
when speaking to the Samaritan woman at the
well recorded in John 4:24
As the resurrected Lord, Jesus appears to
his disciples and says in Luke 24:39
Paul agrees with Jesus in Colossians 1:15
The invisible God - the consuming fire - is
not conf ined or restricted to a material body.
It comes down to this:
I don’t know about you, but I will side
with Jesus every time.
