July 23, 2025
Do Christians and Mormons Worship the Same God?
Do Christians and Mormons worship the same God? Sitting down with two female Mormon missionaries about a month ago I shared with them my problem with the Mormon religion. One asked what problems I had. I began with the revelation that fourteen year old Joseph Smith claimed to receive by himself in the woods.1 Joseph Smith claimed (in account two (1835))2 that he saw “two personages (whose brightness and glory defy all description) standing above me in the air. One of <them> spake unto me calling me by name and said (pointing to the other) “This is my beloved Son, Hear him.”
Did this really happen? Did God the Father reveal Himself to Joseph Smith in the woods? If you know your doctrine of God, the answer is easy—no! The Bible tells us to test the spirits. John says (1 John 4:1), “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” And Joseph Smith is no exception. He claims that God the Father materialized in a physical body, revealed Himself, and then pointed with His physical hand to Jesus, all right in front of him. This is a major doctrinal problem as God the Father is Spirit (John 4:24) and no one has seen God the Father (1 Tim. 6:16). Paul is clear that God “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.”3 Thus, no human being should expect to see God the Father Himself materialized on this earth.
The entire Mormon faith hinges on this revelation and in one simple doctrinally counterpoint it falls apart. I have come to realize that Mormons lack a proper understanding of God. And in fact, they have been taught a completely different god—even though they use the same or similar biblical terminology. Listen to the 12th President of the Mormon church Spencer W. Kimball. He stated,
“Men with keen intelligence got together…[at] Nicea and created a God. They did not pray for wisdom or revelation. They claimed no revelation from the Lord. They made it just about like a political party would do, and out of their own mortal minds created a God which is still worshiped by the great majority of Christians.”4
Kimball is not alone in his assessment. Mormon Apostle Bruce McConkie said,
“The false gods of Christendom bear the same names as the true Gods of the Bible. Beyond this they have little resemblance. They are described in the creeds that the Lord told Joseph Smith were ‘an abomination in his sight.’”5
Do Christians and Mormons worship the same God? We don’t. Mormons have left the doctrine of God behind in the true Bible and have supplemented and overridden God’s revelation with the teachings of Joseph Smith and his succeeding company. The differences are stark! Here is a simple comparison.6
The Doctrine of God
Christians |
Mormons |
|---|---|
|
God is eternal Before the mountains were brought forth, |
God is not eternal “We were begotten by our Father in heaven; the person of Father in Heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father; and so on, from generation to generation….”7 |
|
God is not immutable For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. |
God is immutable “Therefore, if the law of progression be accepted, God must have been engaged from the beginning, and now must be engaged in progressive development, and infinite as God is, he must have been less powerful in the past than he is today.”8 Ironically this contradicts their own Book of Mormon. Mosiah 3:5 and Moroni 7:22 teach that God is everlasting. |
|
God is self-existent “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, |
God is not self-existent “Evidently his [the Son’s] Father passed through a period of mortality even as he passed through mortality, and as we are all doing.”9 |
The differences abound between biblical Christians and Latter-Day Saints. Next time you have the chance to speak with a Mormon, point out to them Joseph Smith’s misunderstanding of the glory of God in his vision. He did not see God the Father pointing to God the Son. And thus, he is a false prophet with a different god than the glorious one of the Bible.
1Joseph Smith’s accounts differ in age. In account one (1832) he claims to be in his 16th year; in account two (1835) he claims to be between 14–15; and in account three (ca. 1839–41) he claims to be in his fifteenth year.
2This is also claimed in account three (ca. 1839–41). Account one (1832) only has the Lord speaking. However, accounts two and three are accepted as true and expansions on the detail son the first account. The accounts have multiple contradictions, including, Joseph Smith’s age, what he believed, and who he saw.
3See 1 Tim. 6:16
4Bill McKeever & Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House Co, 2000), 23, citing President Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 426.
5Ibid., 24 citing Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), 55.
6This comparison is pulled and summarized from the first chapter of Bill McKeever & Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101.
7Ibid., 25–26, citing Orson Pratt, The Seer (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 1990), 132.
8Ibid., 28, citing John A. Widtsoe, A Rational Theology As Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7th ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1968), 24.
9Ibid., 30, citing Joseph Feilding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith, 3 vol., ed. Bruce R. McConkie (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 2:47.
*The Image used above is from https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/joseph-smith.