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Please download and circulate this petition:
"1. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. "2. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. ... "7. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. "8. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. "9. But if they cannot contain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn." 1 Corinthians 7:1-2, 7-9
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Concerning the Godhead May 17, 2007 Dear J. D.: I have read over your letter very carefully, and must agree that you are very good at expressing Mormon doctrine and reasoning--that Jesus is Jehovah and God the Father is Elohim. If you read my own testimony on this website as well as the last seven articles under the title of “What Every Christian Should Know About Mormonism,” you will see some of the process I went through to arrive at my present acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, which teaches that there is one God in three persons.
When it comes to understanding the Bible teaching of God, it helps greatly if one goes back to the languages the Bible was written in. When one does that, it immediately becomes clear that the teaching that Elohim and Jehovah are different gods simply does not hold water. Take for example the very scriptures I quoted from Isaiah at the beginning of the section referred to on my home page entitled "Bible Scriptures for Mormons:"
44:8 “Is there a Elohim beside me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any. 45:5 “I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no Elohim beside me.” 44:6 “Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Jehovah of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no Elohim.”
This is consistent with the words Jehovah and Elohim throughout the Old Testament. Take for example a favorite passage of Judaism, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, stressing their belief in monotheism:
“Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah; And thou shalt love Jehovah your Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
As you can see, the Old Testament uses these words interchangeably, leaving no room for making them two different beings. No doubt, when Joseph Smith took his few lessons in Hebrew, he was enthralled to learn that the word Elohim is plural. From that he entertained the idea of there being many gods. However, as you, a teacher, well know, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. What he did not take into account was that it is often used with a singular verb: i.e. Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, Elohim created (singular verb—he created) the heaven and the earth.” This unique grammatical hint of the Trinity is consistent wherever the word Elohim refers to God in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, quotes from the Old Testament confirm the interchangeablity of the words Elohim and Jehovah. Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:2-3, Luke 3:4 and John 1:23 all refer to Isaiah 40:3 which reads:
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, “prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for Elohim.”
In Hebrews 1:8, the context has the Father speaking to the Son. It quotes Psalm 45:6. The New Testament reads:
“But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.”
Psalms 45:6 reads:
“Thy throne, O Elohim, is for ever and ever.”
As you can see, the Father here refers to the Son as Elohim, something totally contrary to Mormon doctrine. You can check this out for yourself in any English-Hebrew interlinear translation of the Old Testament.
Interestingly enough, the Holy Spirit is also referred to as Elohim when the New Testament in Acts 28:25-26 references Isaiah 6:9-10:
Acts 28:25-26 reads:
“And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.”
Isaiah 6:8-10 reads:
“And I heard the voice of Elohim saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.”
As you can see, this verse fits neatly into the concept of the Trinity, but does great violence to the teachings of Mormonism on the Godhead.
Assuming that scriptures teaching Mormon doctrine have been removed from the Bible is an argument from silence and is entirely inconsistent with what the Bible says. There is absolutely no evidence that such a thing ever happened beyond the word of a man. The conclusion that I come up with after careful examination of what the Bible actually teaches and what Joseph Smith declared to be "revelation" is that Joseph Smith simply wanted to lay aside Biblical authority in order to establish his own. Sincerely yours, Dr. Dean Helland |
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