Getting at the Truth by Robert L. Millet

Author:Robert L. Millet [Millet, Robert L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gospel Teachings
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2004-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

GOD AND MAN

The first vision of Joseph Smith represents to Latter-day Saints the beginning of the revelation of God to man in this final dispensation. Knowledge pertaining to the nature of God—his character, personality, divine attributes, powers, and purposes— has been made known through latter-day prophets, and some of this knowledge obviously stands in contrast to what many in the Christian world believe about God and about man’s relationship to Deity. The following are a few questions that are often asked about the Latter-day Saint doctrine of God, the Godhead, and man’s relationship to that divine presidency.

1. Do the Latter-day Saints really believe in the Fall? Why do they not believe in human depravity, as most other Christians do?

On the whole, the Latter-day Saint perspective on the Fall of Adam and Eve is optimistic when compared with views held by traditional Christians, who generally believe in the depravity of humankind. As Latter-day Saints, we believe that Adam and Eve went into the Garden to fall and that their fall was as much a part of the foreordained plan of the Father as was the Atonement. Modern scripture repeatedly speaks of the actions of Adam and Eve in Eden as a transgression, not a sin (2 Nephi 2:22; 9:6; Article of Faith 2). We echo Lehi’s words: “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). Elder Orson F. Whitney taught that “the fall had a twofold direction—downward, yet forward. It brought man into the world and set his feet upon progression’s highway.”1

On the other hand, we believe that the Fall does take a toll on all of humankind, both temporal and spiritual. We as Latter-day Saints do not believe in the traditional Christian view of human depravity, but we do believe that “since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself” (Alma 22:14). The Fall created a separation between man and God, a chasm that could be bridged only by and through the infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is clear from the scriptures, ancient and modern, that we cannot forgive our own sins, change our own nature, raise ourselves from the dead, or glorify ourselves hereafter. Such is the work of a God, even the work of the Son of God.

2. If God has a physical body, as the Latter-day Saints claim, is he not limited?

We believe that all humankind are created in the image of God. We believe that God is more than a force, more than a divine influence, more than a great unmoved mover. We believe, further, that he possesses all the attributes of godliness in perfection. That God has a physical body (D&C 130:22) is one of the most important of all truths restored in this dispensation: it is inextricably linked to such doctrines as the immortality of the soul, the literal resurrection, eternal marriage, and the continuation of the family unit into eternity. In his corporeal, or physical, nature, God can be in only one place at a time.

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