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.