What Do Mormons Believe? – Page 36 – "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

Is Jesus the only son of God?

Q. I grew up believing that Jesus was the only son of God. In your faith do you believe differently?

Jesus ascension

Short answer: Yes and No.

Long answer: You might think this question would have a straightforward answer, but turns out it doesn’t. Entire ecumenical councils have been convened to address the relationship between Jesus and the Father. It’s a sticky question, and this is why:

The Bible uses the term “Only Begotten” four times in reference to Jesus (the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures tack on a whopping forty more). So it seems pretty straightforward; he must be the only one. At the same time, however, there are many other scriptures that seem to indicate there are more children of God—namely us. Those scriptures refer to the human race as either being the children of God already (Acts 17:29: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God…”) or having the potential to become the children of God (John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God”). Furthermore, sometimes Jesus refers to the Father only as “my Father” (Luke 2:49), and sometimes as “your Father” (Matt 5:48), and sometimes both (John 20:17).

So which is it? Is Jesus the only son of God, or are we all sons and daughters of God? And if we’re not now, is it possible for us to become so?

I don’t pretend to understand how the majority of Christianity answers those questions, especially since the early creeds seem confusing on what exactly the relationship between the Father and the Son is. Luckily you just want to know what Mormons believe and that is, by comparison, pretty straightforward.

1. All of us (including Jesus) are children of God because God is the Father of our spirits.

To suggest that Jesus is always and ever was the only son of God is to ignore a whole lot of scripture in the Bible. In one sense, we are all children of God. God is the Father of our spirits. This is why Paul calls us all “the offspring of God.” We have that piece of divinity inside us. Jesus is special because he was, as the author of Hebrews calls him, “the Firstbegotten.” The same author calls His church the “church of the Firstborn.” Just the use of the words Firstbegotten and Firstborn imply that there are others. Not only that, we were all with God and Jesus before the world was. (See the posts on the pre-mortal life of man for a better explanation). In short: all of us are children of God, but Jesus is the first.

Jesus Birth

2. Jesus is the only begotten of the Father in the flesh.

If we all are children of God, why are the scriptures so adamant that he is the “Only Begotten Son”? To beget someone is to father them. Everyone born on earth has been begotten by an earthly, mortal father. That is, everyone but Jesus. Jesus was born to a virgin. His father is God. We don’t pretend to know the details of all that, but Jesus is the only one for whom that is true, and that’s why He is called the Only Begotten.

3. We become the sons and daughters of God in a different sense by accepting the gospel.

If we are all already the children of God, what is all this scriptural talk of becoming the children of God? Turns out sometimes salvation is spoken of as becoming the sons/daughters of God, or of Christ. When Jesus came to earth and atoned for our sins, he opened the way to be saved. He gave us power to become the sons of God, as John said. Maybe it’s confusing to describe it that way, but hey, it wasn’t my idea. Besides, it’s a good way to describe the spiritual change that happens when we accept Jesus Christ. I think the Book of Mormon king Benjamin described it best to his people, who had just accepted Jesus Christ with a covenant to follow Him:

“And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.” (Mosiah 5:7)

So we see that if there were only one sense in which a person could be a child of God, the Bible would remain ambiguous on the question. But if they are referring to different relationships, we get a coherent picture of our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. In one sense everyone is a child of God, in another sense only Jesus is, and in a third sense, we start out not children and then have the option to become children of God.

An important footnote: Do Mormons believe Jesus and Satan are brothers?

Carl_Bloch_Denying_Satan One of the more shocking things you’ll hear about Mormonism is that we believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Now that we’ve outlined our relationships to God, we can address that claim in the proper context. It’s true that they are brothers in the first sense that I described above, but saying it out of that context is intentionally misleading, because almost everyone is thinking in the second sense. When you’re coming from the position that Jesus is the only son of God, putting Satan up there with him not only seems like a blatant contradiction of the “Only Begotten” scriptures, but also makes it seem like we consider them to be equals. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Jesus Christ, the Greatest of all, who personifies goodness and grace, and Satan, the father of lies, who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, are not equals. They are brothers in the sense that we are all brothers and sisters, spiritual offspring of the same Father. Aside from that, they couldn’t be more different.

A Book of Mormon Synopsis: Anno Domini

This is the final part in summarizing the Book of Mormon. Part 1 and Part 2 are also available to read.

By 1AD, most of the people described in the Book of Mormon did not believe in Jesus Christ nor His prophets. One of those prophets named Samuel prophesied boldly on the city walls of the signs of Christ’s birth and death (Helaman 14). On the night that Christ was born into the world, an irrefutable sign was given. A day, a night, and a day became one continuous day without darkness. This was to the relief of the believers and utter astonishment to the rest.

It didn’t take long for people to forget about the sign and continue life normally. More wars happened, particularly against the now very large society of robbers, and around 30AD, just as Christ was beginning His earthly ministry among the Jews, the entire Nephite government was overthrown and the people divided into tribal states. Then, three years later, one the greatest events of the Book of Mormon began to occur. At the time of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross of Calvary, Samuel’s prophecy of storms, earthquakes and destruction did indeed happen. Cities were leveled, burned, buried, and sunk into the ocean. Darkness covered the land for three whole days (3 Nephi 8).

After the three days, Christ’s voice was heard by the survivors. He was calling them to Him and lamenting their destruction. Of all events told in this book, what happened next far outshines the rest. Christ, Himself, descended from Heaven and proclaimed His divinity. He had drunk the bitter cup and glorified the Father. He taught the people, blessed them and healed them. For several days, He did so. I would encourage all to read even just a few of these passages from 3 Nephi 11 to 28. Before He left, He chose twelve men to teach and guide the people in His absence.

Then, for two hundred years, there was peace. After three hundred years, however, the people had digressed so far from Jesus Christ and his Gospel, that civilization had degenerated to a state of total war. The final prophets of God among the people, Mormon and his son Moroni, were left to witness the decay of their once great civilization into war and disorder. It was during this time that Mormon took all the historical records of his people and compiled them into a single history so that it could be available to us.

A final battle between Nephites and Lamanites took place. During this battle nearly all of the Nephites were killed. The only Nephite we know of surviving, other than those that joined the Lamanites, was Moroni. For many years, Moroni carried the record his father had made and wandered. During this time, Moroni completed his father’s work by summarizing the record of the Jaredite people whose records had been found early in Nephite history. The Jaredites were brought to the same land as the Nephites by the Lord somewhere around 2500BC, when the language of the people was corrupted at the tower of Babel. They crossed the ocean and lived for many centuries of alternating periods of righteousness and wickedness until finally they refused to repent and were destroyed as a society.

After finishing the story of the Jaredites, Moroni then buried the record, written on plates made of gold, on a small hill in upstate New York, now called the Hill Cumorah. 1500 years later, he appeared as an angel to the boy Joseph Smith and directed him to where the plates were buried. They were found, translated, published and have been printed for the past 179 years as the Book of Mormon–Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

The Book of Mormon continues to be a guide to everyone who reads it. Just before Moroni buried the plates in the ground, he wrote a promise to anyone who would read the book. He promised us that when we read and ponder on the things of the book, and ask God in the name of Christ, then we will know the truth of it by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is an extraordinary promise and one that has been tested and tried by millions of people. It is my invitation that you do the same. Read a portion of the Book of Mormon and ask God to know for yourself. I know of myself the truth of this book and know that you can know as well.

Humanitarian Aid

Q. What kind of humanitarian work has your church been involved in? Are there statistics or outstanding stories to share?

Excellent question. Thank you for asking it! I can think of very few topics that better assert our “Christian-ness” than humanitarian aid. The Church has been involved in serving others, no matter their religion or nationality, for a long time. Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society for women in order to “provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor.” Brigham Young sent agricultural ambassadors to the Native Americans to improve their crop yields. During and after the first and second World Wars, the Church sent food, medical supplies and clothing to the ravaged nations. (“Doing Good and Being Good.” Harold C. Brown. Women’s Conference, BYU 1997) These kinds of efforts continue today — on an even grander scale.

In 1995, the General Welfare Committee of the Church established an organization known as Latter-day Saint Charities, a non-governmental organization (NGO) like the Red Cross or AfriCare or Catholic Charities. Latter-day Saint Charties has worked all over the world to help people become self-reliant, healthy and take care of basic needs. You can check out their current list of projects here. Click around, you’ll be amazed at how far reaching it is.

I want to point out a couple of notable things here:

The goal of this organization is to help, yes, but to help with the long-term in mind. They don’t bring in barrels of water, they help the people dig a well. Rather than giving money to unemployed people, they pay for job certification or skill acquisition. “In Guatemala, for example, LDS Charities contracted with an electrician to train and certify more than two dozen Guatemalans in electrical work. All twenty-five or so young men who took the course got jobs” (Brown). The goal is self-sufficiency. That is when aid is really meaningful.
Every penny donated to LDS Charities goes towards the projects themselves. There is no overhead, no administrative costs or salaries. When you donate to LDS charities, you are directly helping the poor people in the world (not paying electric bills in a high-rise administrative office).
All of this service is carried out by volunteers. Couple missionaries (the older variety) scout out, set up and see through the projects. Some specialized missionaries – health care professionals, agricultural experts, etc. — are called to serve in their professional capacity for 18 months. This is why there are no salaries involved in the donations. Other volunteers assemble as-needed, as in the case of natural disasters.

helping hands The common anecdote told goes something like this: In the aftermath of a hurricane, a young lady is being interviewed by a TV reporter and he asks her who she has seen getting involved in the cleanup. She responds: “There were two groups here right away–the Mormons and the LDS church.”

There are thousands of stories, here is just one.

Survey: Reading the Scriptures

Q. Survey question for all authors: How does reading the scriptures help you? Haven’t you read them several times by now?

Thaddeus: Reading the scriptures is like eating breakfast. It gives me the spiritual nutrition I need for that day. Some people are overwhelmed by the volume of verses in our canon, but you don’t look in your fridge and say, “Oh man! I couldn’t possibly eat all that food!” Somehow you do, but it isn’t really a chore. In fact, it’s more of a disappointment when the food is gone. Reading through all the scripture stories just once gave me a cursory superficial glance at the treasures that are available. That first read-through was essential to understanding the basic plots and doctrines, but I see it as the primer coat to learning much deeper truths. Each time I read the Book of Mormon or the New Testament, etc. I keep a study journal to record new insights I receive along the way. Sometimes the insights are answers to prayer unrelated to the topics I read, but reading puts me in a mindset to receive revelation.

Jan: Scripture study is totally vital to my day. It helps me in every way because when I study the scriptures, I am letting Heavenly Father know that I would like His help that day in whatever I am going to be doing. So even if the words from the book of Isaiah (where I’m reading right now) aren’t explicitly applicable to my day, the Spirit that accompanies me throughout the day is. I have found that the more I am involved in reading, thinking and discussing the scriptures, the more they come together in my mind and give me the perspective that I need to live my life well. And yes, I’ve gone through them several times already but each time through I have noticed more beauty and depth. Again, I would attribute that to the Spirit.

scripture (1)

Bret: For one thing, just because I’ve read the scriptures several times, doesn’t mean I won’t learn anything new from them. Every time I read through a passage, not only is my memory refreshed, but different points that I passed over previously are brought to my attention. Often times that is because that particular point is relevant to my life here and now. Sure I knew that Jesus loves us, but until I read the words, “Jesus wept” while I struggled in my own life, I didn’t realize how individual and how deep that love goes. Scripture reading also tends to calm a person down and invoke reflection when taken seriously.

Bus: Interesting, we just talked as a family yesterday about how many times we had read each of the standard works; our reading of the Bible is lacking. What do I get out of reading scriptures? A broader perspective of the daily tasks I have before me and a comfort in knowing that there is an ultimate truth and a loving father that wants what’s best for me.

Dave: There are currently 3.1 million good things in the scriptures. Guidance, doctrine, advice, inspiration. There’s no way I could pick them all up from one, two, or a hundred reads (much less remember them). I also find that reading the scriptures opens my heart to the personal inspiration that God is constantly trying to give me.

A Book of Mormon Synopsis: Before Christ

In a previous post, I recounted briefly the story of the first part of the Book of Mormon. Now, I would like to outline more of what happens in the book.

At the beginning of the book of Mosiah (circa 121 BC), the people of Nephi and Zarahemla had recently merged together to form a single society, ruled by the righteous Nephite kings, Mosiah, his son Benjamin and later by grandson Mosiah. During the time of the first Mosiah, a group had left to return to the city that Nephi himself had founded.

For three generations they lived there and three kings ruled during that time. Zeniff, the first of those kigns, made a treaty with the Lamanites in the land and gained use of the city of Nephi. He and his people were righteous and grew and defended themselves against the eventual Lamanites offensive.

Zeniff’s son, Noah, ruled after his father but was self-indulgent and ruined the kingdom through corruption and immorality. A prophet named Abinadi testified of Jesus Christ against Noah but was put to death (see picture above). Abinadi’s influence caused Alma, one of Noah’s priests, to see the error of his ways and so he began to secretly teach the people about Christ. Alma’s followers were true believers of Christ and were forced to flee when Noah sent his army to destroy them. Noah was soon displaced when the Lamanites overran their city and he was killed by his own people.

His son, Limhi, ruled over the conquered people who were forced to pay tribute of half of all they had to the Lamanites. After several unsuccessful battles, Limhi emptied the city and fled to Zarahemla. Alma and his people also found their way back to Zarahemla. Both groups were guided in their escape through the power of the Lord.

Now in one body in the land of Zarahemla, Alma received permission from king Mosiah (the second) to organize a church and became the chief priest. Years later when Mosiah needed an heir to the throne, none of his sons were willing to be king because they left to become missionaries to the Lamanites. Without an heir, Mosiah created a system of laws and elected judges to govern the people after he died.

Alma’s son, Alma (a.k.a. Alma-the-Younger), who was the chief priest of the Church after his father, was selected to be the first chief judge over all the land. In that position, he watched the dealings of the people. He executed a militant false prophet (Alma 1), defended his people against insurrectionists as well as Lamanites and then stepped down from his political office to teach the people as the chief priest (religious office) where he still guided the religious aspect of the people. As priest, he selected teachers, silenced anti-Christs (literally, Alma 30)and set right the affairs of the Church for many years.

During this time, the missionary sons of Mosiah had been teaching the Lamanite people about Jesus Christ. Due to some very miraculous events, thousands had come to have faith in Him, burying their weapons of war in order to have peace (Alma 24:15-19). Their conversion invoked the anger of others who did not believe. To avoid prolonged conflict, the Lamanites who believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ left their homes and settled in a land that the Nephites gave them.

Throughout the entire story, various rebellious groups became unsatisfied with Nephite religion and way of life and so went to the Lamanites to cause them to form an army to fight the Nephites. This happened several times, particularly with the case of a man named Amalickiah, who caused a twelve year long war (Alma 46 through Alma 62) between Lamanites and Nephites. The Nephite people grew over the years, spreading out and covering more land. A secret society of robbers and assassins was formed in their midst which was never completely extinguished for almost a hundred years. The Nephites grew wicked and righteous in cycles and Lamanites were converted to believe in Jesus Christ at various times.

It is important to understand that all throughout the Book of Mormon, there were prophets of God among the people. Those prophets always testified of Christ. They saw His coming and told the people about the signs of His birth. The righteous believers of Christ understood His purpose in their own lives and the Atonement. Thus, by revelation from God, the people had access to a correct view of what was to happen and what their role in life was. Today, there is a prophet on the earth and that same opportunity to access the same spirit that guided the Nephites anciently.

“And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.” —Alma

This synopsis is continued in part 3.