GOD

Reason 11

Joseph Smith said that God was not always God; He was once a mortal man just like you and me.

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 the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible,-I say, 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 form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another...I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father...That which is without body or parts is nothing. There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bones.  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 40-42

James E. Talmage agrees with Joseph Smith.
From the evidence already presented, it is clear that the Father is a personal being, possessing a definite form, with bodily parts and spiritual passions. Jesus Christ, who was with the Father in spirit before coming to dwell in the flesh, and through whom the worlds were made, lived among men as a man, with all the physical characteristics of a human being; after His resurrection He appeared in the same form; in that form He ascended into heaven; and in that form He has manifested Himself to the Nephites, and to modern prophets. We are assured that Christ was in the express image of His Father, after which image man also has been created. Therefore we know that both the Father and the Son are in form and stature perfect men; each of them possesses a tangible body, infinitely pure and perfect and attended by transcendent glory, nevertheless a body of flesh and bones. Articles of Faith, James E. Talmage, p 37-38

     D&C 130:22
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also...

     From Mormon & LDS Facts Facebook page
"When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:50)
"The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood-was begotten of his Father, as we were of our father." (Brigham Young, JofD 8:115)

     See the Mormon Handbook for other teachings about God being a man.
mormonhandbook.com/god-is-an-exalted-man

     A great article about how the LDS view of God contradicts the Bible
utlm.org/onlineresources/ldsviewcontradictsbible

The Bible says that God has always been God, was never man, is Spirit, is invisible, is everywhere at all times and is unchanging.

     Numbers 23:19
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

     Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

     Psalm 102:27
But You are the same, And Your years will have no end.

     Psalm 139:7
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

     Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

     Jeremiah 23:24
Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.

     1 Samuel 15:29
And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent."

     Hosea 11:9
I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.

     Habakkuk 1:12
Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD. You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction.

     Malachi 3:6
"For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

     Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

     Luke 24:39 (Jesus speaking)
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."

     John 1:18
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

     John 4:24
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

     Romans 1:22-25
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

     Colossians 1:15 (Speaking of Jesus)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

     1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

     1 Timothy 6:15-16
which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

     Hebrews 1:12
Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."

     Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

     James 1:17 (giver)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

So if God has always been God, was never man, is Spirit, is invisible, is everywhere at all times and is unchanging, then it is not possible that He began as a man and changed or progressed to God.

How Big is God? He is BIG enough to save us all from our sins. Not only is God Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Immutable and Sovereign, but no one else will share His Glory! Let the Scriptures Speak, Suzanne Bishop, p 38

     Isaiah 42:8
I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
          (We should not praise any other person.)

In Mormonism, man became God. In Christianity, God became a Man. These two are complete opposites and only one can be right.

My unanswered questions were:

Why did Joseph Smith teach that God was a man just like us when The Bible clearly says that God is purely Spirit? How could Joseph Smith have seen God, when He is clearly not a man and no one has ever seen God?

I was initially devastated when I received these answers that Joseph Smith did not know God or The Bible as well as he claimed and that the LDS god is much different than the Christian God, yet overjoyed to find the truth that God was never a man like us and He became a man to save us all!