So Many Questions...

I have quoted the LDS Prophet Lorenzo Snow often.  I even dedicated an entire chapter in my book to his teachings and doctrine.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, here is what he said:

Now, in my mind, this is the most famous quote - and most referenced - regarding God being a man.  But, this is not the only LDS prophet to insist that God is a man.  In fact, Joseph Smith started this idea in his King Follett sermon.  

"God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, 

and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great

secret.  ...If you were to see Him today, you would see Him

like a man in form - like yourselves in all the person, image, 

and very from as a man."

Now, I'm sure to even the least scholarly Christian, this doctrine seems a bit off from what they learn on Sundays from the pulpit.  And, the knowledgeable theologian can see a plethora of things Biblically wrong about these two statements and the dangers of what it implies.  If you want to read those types of arguments, please feel free to google "King Follett Discourse" and see for yourself all that smarter people than I have done in that area.  I like to try to tread different waters.  I like to just logically think things out and see if I can make sense of it.  So, instead, let's just presume they are right.  Ok?

God's Beginning

Now, since God was a man, he was born just like we were.  Most likely, he had parents like we do.  So, in my head God the Father has a beginning.  Ok, but then where did his parents come from?  And their parents? And their parents?  Somebody had to start the ball rolling, and this doctrine creates an infinite loop of origin confusion.  There has to be a starting point...somewhere!  

Additionally, I can see the argument arise that since Mormons hold the belief that they existed as spiritual babies/beings/spirits before we were given a body, maybe God was just at the start of this pool that is in heaven somewhere.  But then that creates an even more confusion.  Where did the 'soup' or 'pool' of this plethora of souls come from?  Does every man who is worthy to become a god (i.e. - "as God is now man may be") get to just pull souls from this pool when populating their world, or do mom and pa god (the worthy, devout, and righteous husband and wife) need to populate or 'refill' it?  If you're not LDS, I understand that I may have lost you at this point.  I'm sorry.  Lets move on.  

God's Sin
Secondly, since God was once like us, that means he most likely sinned.  Now this might strike a chord within you, but again...if we are to take this doctrine and break it down, we must look at all the angles.  So, try to just logically think it through.  God must have sinned, and not only sinned, but probably a lot.  Think about the most righteous man you can think of (other than Jesus).  That person sins...a lot.  So, while his list of sins may not be as long as mine, it's still pretty long.  

But we can't only look at the fact that he sinned, but what types of sin he may have been guilty of.  So, God could have been a liar, a cheater, a thief, an adulterer, a slanderer, an elitist, a chauvinist, a racist, a gossiper, a foul mouth, and/or a violent offender.  He could have been promiscuous, immoral, indecent, and an addict.  He could have been all of these or maybe just one of them.  Either way, he is, by His own standards set in the Bible, guilty and condemned.  So, if this were the case, would we, should we, and could we worship him?  Would that God, that guilty heavenly man, be worthy of such praise as this:

Psalm 106:1

Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting 

Psalm 84:11

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

Psalm 22:3

Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

Isaiah 6:3

...Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory

Exodus 15:11

Who is like you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?

Psalm 77:13

Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?

Psalm 33:21

For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name.

(This of course isn't an exhaustive list.  By no means!  

You can find hundreds upon hundreds of verses that only speak

 to the glory and honor and praise of God!)  

Anyways, I don't think that any sinful being would be worthy of such adoration, honor, and praise.  I mean, these words are eternal.  This praise is not just in the moment, but everlasting.  Isaiah says that the angels only job in heaven since creation is to speak how holy God is.  

Now, let me ask you, honestly...could you say this about yourself? About your spouse?  Your best friend?  Anyone you know?  No.  While we may be good by the worlds standards, we are not holy, holy, holy.  Even Mother Teresa, Ghandi, MLK Jr., any of the Apostles, nor anyone else you could think of is worthy of such praise.

God's Redemption

So, going back to our original assumption...if God was once a sinner, the Bible says (and Mormons agree) you need atonement.  Those sins need to be paid for and that sinner needs to be redeemed.  The Bible refers to it as Grace.  So, who showed grace to our God the Father?  Now, in Mormon theology, Jesus is God's firstborn son in heaven, meaning he is the first of the spirit babies.  So, God was redeemed before Jesus was ever formed.  So, that begs the question who redeemed our God? It would have to be another savior.  Who is this Savior that washed away the sins of our god and enabled him to progress and achieve Godhood and form our world and eventually us?  

Now this has always bothered me because of two primary reasons.

1. If our God's savior was holy enough to save our God from damnation, then shouldn't we worship that deity instead of our God?
   
2. Looking at God the Father's progression from created being, to sinner, to saved, to exalted, to God Mormonism teaches that if we follow the rules, we can do that too.  So, if I was holy enough to progress I could also become a God myself of my own world.  (This is in fact many Mormon's ultimate goal)  However, Jesus was God's firstborn son.  So, would my current firstborn son be the Jesus of my new world?  What if he also progressed.  He'd then be my world's savior and his own world's God?  How does that work?
   
   Or...maybe, our God didn't need a savior and my assumptions are way off.  Maybe he lived a perfect life and earned his way into heaven.  Then, lets assume then that Jesus was the first ever Christ.  Since I'm covered by His blood on the cross, would my new world also be covered by his blood?

Now, I have brought this up to several of my Mormon friends.  None of them had a answer.  Instead, I got the cookie-cutter LDS response of, "God has yet to reveal that to us." which is just basically saying, "I see what you're saying, and I see how confusing that is, but I believe this doctrine even though you can't logically extrapolate it out so I'll just come up with an answer that you can't argue with."  

...and I hate that answer because it is absolutely no help at all.

Conclusion

Is the fact that so many questions are able to be raised (and left unanswered) grounds for dismissal?  No.  Does this prove that the LDS doctrine is incorrect?  No.  In fact, this doesn't really prove anything, other than the fact that I can type a lot about nothing!  However, I think it is very telling of how drastically different the Mormon Church is from the Christian faith.  

Now, to be fair, the Christian beliefs generate a lot of questions too.  How can God be eternal?  How is it that one guys death is sufficient to cover the entire worlds sin?  How can God be one and in the same breath three?  Why does a God who created everything in this vast and gigantic galaxy care about me?  And honestly, I can't give you a satisfying answer on these either.  All I can say is that in the book that describes Him to us, it says all of these things are true about Him.  I don't know how it works.  

What helps me though is the difference from the place that the respective "answers" are coming from. I answer these with a foundation that is grounded in the study and understanding of the word of God, the mounds of evidence supporting the Bible's historical accuracy, Jesus, His life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and from my personal experiences from being born again.  Mormons on the other hand seem to answer questions like this from a completely different perspective.  They rely almost entirely on their faith, having little to no evidence for their scriptures, and a history that is peppered with false claims, false prophets, and misinterpreting scripture.  

Now, again, this doesn't really prove Mormonism is wrong.  But when you have a belief that is so elaborate and complex and yet cannot be elaborated on, that raises a red flag.  When the slightest questioning provokes a response of "we may never know" it becomes scary.  And I don't think I'm wrong in asking these questions, for they are the logical progression in thought.  I haven't even got an intelligent response or speculation.  And again, that's just...scary.

A Worshipful Heart

Worship.  While there are a lot of meanings, here is how I like to define it.  Worshiping something is to give honor and praise to it.  To be completely distracted by it, so much so that it is all you can think about.  To adore that something so much that your heart sings and dances every chance it gets.  In my opinion, which I get from reading the Bible, God is the only thing that deserves worship. And, I think Mormons would honestly probably agree with that idea.  They too believe that worship should be reserved for Him and Him alone.

Now, before I get started, I want to say a few things about...well...what I'm about to say.  I will be speaking out from personal observation.  These views and assumptions come from my inward, reflective look into my Mormon life and from observing other Mormons in many different arenas.

Ok... lets do this then.

When I was Mormon, I didn't worship God.  In fact, I don't even think I knew how.  True, I loved Him, or what I thought was Him, and very much so.  But I didn't really worship Him.  I sang songs to Him, but it was just reciting words on pitch.  I prayed to Him, but it was just mumbling words in reverence.  I went to church, but it was just a building I went to every Sunday morning.  I saw pictures of Him (sorry 2nd Commandment sticklers) and I just thought, "Yeah, I know that guy."

Looking back, I don't really remember anyone truly worshiping God.  Now, I know worship looks very different to a lot of people and because of that I know that I cannot say with 100% certainty.  But, with that being said, I honestly think you can tell a difference, at least most of the time, between someone who knows of God and someone who worships God just by having a conversation with them, or by watching them at church or live life.  Those who have been transformed and born again cannot help but cry out in worship in every facet of life.  Not perfectly, mind you...but still.  

Mormons are very, very, very, very nice people.  They are kind, generous, loving people.  They will serve you and help you any way they can.  However, I have had many conversations with many different Mormons of all ages, races, and locations and observed some of them (and myself) during church services.  I can honestly say that I have never seen a Mormon worship.  Sure, they love Jesus.  Sure they sing songs.  Sure they try to live a servant's life.  But, again from my perspective, the are simply going through the motions.  This was true for me as well.  I had convictions of why I believed what I believed and I could rationally argue with anyone why I was Mormon.  But there was no fire for God.  I wasn't in love with Him.  I didn't have a relationship with Him.  I didn't worship Him.

It wasn't until I was removed from the LDS doctrine and their call for rigorous obedience to their rules and ordinances that I truly began to worship Him.  When I realized the magnitude of what Jesus did on the cross for me, my heart leapt out of my chest in worship.  When I realized what He orchestrated in my life to grab a hold of me and save me from my sin, my soul cried out in praise.  When I hear the name of Jesus, I want to cry and laugh and sing and be still and silent in adoration of my God.  When I think about Him dying on the cross for the sins of the world and being raised again three days later so that I can never taste eternal death, I get goosebumps and chills!  GOD IS AMAZING!!!!!

Do you wanna see true worship?  Read Isaiah chapter 6.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I (Isaiah) saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him (God) were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."" (v. 1-3)

Isaiah sees these angels flying above God.  Their only job...their only job...their ONLY job is to fly and proclaim "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."  That's it.  What's more amazing...is that they are completely satisfied with only doing that for eternity!  AMAZING!  Just being in the presence of God, all these magnificent creatures can do...all they want to do...all of their being literally cries out to do...is give glory to God!  How great must our God be when the heavenly hosts while in His presence can only shout how good He is?!?

But wait...Isaiah isn't done...

""Woe to me!" I cried.  "I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."  Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."  Then i heard the voice of the lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here I am. Send me!"  (v. 5-8)

Isaiah is understandably freaking out.  The ground is shaking, angels are chanting, God is literally right in front of him, and he's like, "I'm gonna die!  This is it!  This is how it ends for me!"  But then the angel takes a searing, hot coal, touches his lips, and his sins are all forgiven.  Now, remember, this is before the cross.  This is before Jesus.  This is before the greatest story every told even happened.  So, Isaiah, is instantly forgiven and he is amazed.  He is marveling at what he is experiencing, this interaction with the living God.  So when God asks who will go for them, before anything else is said, Isaiah is like, "Yes Lord!  I'm here!  You are so good, sign me up!  After what I've just seen, I will do whatever you ask!"  I can almost hear him wanting to join the other angels in just simply worshiping God.

That is worship.  When all you can do is say "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty."  When all your soul, body, mind, spirit, heart, etc. just cries out, "Here I am. Send me!"  When you are completely in awe and wonder for everything surrounding God...that is when you worship.  I'm worshiping just writing these words!  GOD IS AMAZING!

And in all honestly, Mormons don't talk like that.  I've never seen a Mormon almost in tears of joy talking about their savior.  I've never had a conversation with a Mormon when I've left thinking, "Whoa...that person really loves the Lord."  I've never seen a Mormon sing "How Great Thou Art" with open arms and hands lifted in praise.  I've never seen a Mormon sing any hymn with any type of conviction.

Now, maybe I just never saw it.  Maybe there are tons of Mormons who can, have, and do praise and worship the true and living God (that is a possibility and I want to make it clear that it is a viable possibility).  Or, maybe I never saw it because it never truly happens.  Maybe I never saw it because it cannot happen so long as LDS doctrine remains as it is.  Maybe I never saw it because Mormonism doesn't point to the true God.  Maybe they don't preach the same Gospel that converted Saul, that the apostles died for, that Jesus hung on the cross for, that millions of people have been martyred over, and that the Bible proclaims.  Maybe their prophets are false and have diluted and perverted the gospel so much so that people have nothing to worship.  Maybe having to do a lot of works for salvation rather than just putting all their trust in Jesus has stripped their joy from them.  Again, maybe it's just me.

When I was LDS, I never knew God so I could never worship Him.  Of course, I knew the answers.  "Jesus died for me."  "God created the world."  "I am a child of God."  "He is risen."  But I never had a reason, or saw the point, of putting an exclamation instead of a period on any of those statements.  But when you know God, when you know you're saved, when you know how awesome, wonderful, powerful, mighty, strong, gracious, loving, kind, just, all knowing God is you cannot help but cry out in worship and praise!

I don't know who I'm writing to.  I don't know where you are in life.  But if you are feeling convicted, if you feel like, "You know what...I don't worship God" then maybe you need to have a conversation with Him.  Pray, right now - seriously, right now.  Stop reading this, close your eyes and pray to God.  Pray that He would save you.  Pray that He would awaken your dead heart and bring it to life in Jesus.  Pray for forgiveness of your sins, for healing, and know...truly know...that God is alive!

Lastly, I'll leave you with this.  I know that within the body of Christ people worship differently.  I know that it looks differently to everyone.  Some fall on their face, some sit quietly, some stand with arms raised, some just bow their head, some shout Hallelujah, some just lift their eyes, and it goes on and on.  I'm not saying people should worship like I do, or like this one church denomination does.  Not at all.  Variety is in our DNA, it's how God made us.  The importance isn't how you worship, but rather that you worship.  Mormons have no fire in their eyes, no burning in their hearts, no fear and trembling for God, no surrender.  I truly believe scripture is true:

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." 

Matthew 15:8

Let not your heart be far from God.  Let your heart and mouth pour out praises to our Lord and King.  If it's in song, sing your heart out.  If it's in personal study, then fall in love with the Word, if it's just walking around, shout praises (or whisper them) to our Creator.  Just worship.