3 Questions That Effect Your Eternal Life

3 Important Questions

That can change your eternal destiny

Jesus Christ asked many questions throughout the Gospels as a way of teaching religious people the truth about God. In emulation of Him, the following three questions show distinctions between Mormonism and New Testament teachings. These distinctions are vitally important to your eternal life. If answered incorrectly, one has then rejected the Bible and embraced doctrines of men instead of God. If you are wrong about God, Jesus, and His provision of salvation, then you are wrong enough to lose your soul for all eternity.

Was God the Father once a man or is He eternally God?

LDS SCRIPTURE SAY YES: Mormonism teaches that God the Father is a resurrected exalted man. “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of spirit” (Doctrine and Covenants [D & C] 130:22). “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God hade he him; in the image of his own body . . .” (Book of Moses 6:9). “Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name, Man of Counsel is my name . . .” (Book of Moses 7:35).

THE BIBLE SAYS NO: The Bible expressly states that God the Father was not a man and, hence, he cannot be an exalted man. “I am God, and not man, the Holy One in your midst” (Hosea 11:9). The Bible also teaches that God is Spirit. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” (See also 2 Cor. 3:17). God doesn’t “have” a spirit, as if He is composed of many parts. He is omnipresent Spirit who cannot be contained in a body, “the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You” (1 Kings 8:27). And, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24). We see, then, that God is not man because He is omnipresent Spirit.

Is there one God (monotheism) or are there many gods (polytheism)?

LDS SCRIPTURE SAYS YES: Mormonism teaches that many gods exist. “Whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest.” (D & C 121:28). “And they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth . . . the Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the face of the waters . . . And the Gods called the light Day . . .” (Book of Abraham 4:1-5). “Abraham . . . Isaac also and Jacob . . . have entered into their exaltation . . . and are not angels, but are gods” (D & C 132:37). “Then shall they be gods, because they have no end . . . ” (D & C 132:20).

THE BIBLE SAYS NO: The Bible teaches monotheism, that there is only one true God existing. “And there is no God besides Me” (Deuteronomy 32:39). “You alone are God” (Psalm 86:10). “Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me” (Isaiah 43:10). “You believe there is one God. You do well” (James 2:19). The Bible teaches in all places that only one God exists. All other “gods” are declared by the Bible to be false and unworthy of worship and unworthy of prayer.

Does the Bible teach that God dwells in the heart of His believers?

LDS SCRIPTURE SAYS NO: Since Mormonism teaches that God the Father is a man, hence denying his omnipresence, they also deny that God can indwell the believer’s heart. “. . . The idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false” (D & C 130:3).

THE BIBLE SAYS YES: The biblical position is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit indwell the believer’s heart. Without such an indwelling of God there is no salvation. The New Testament says: “My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17). “Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either, he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23). “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

Certainly Scripture shows that the Father and Son indwell the hearts of believers. Why, then, does Mormonism teach the opposite? Joseph Smith contradicted the Bible in all three of our questions: he taught that God the Father was a man, that there are many gods, and that the Father and Son do not indwell human hearts.

The Bible has no difficulty here. God the Father is “the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17), and He is eternal, omnipresent, Spirit. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). He never ceased being God, but He came to earth and took upon Himself the form of man in order to save us from our sins (Philippians 2:6-8). The work of Jesus on the cross provides salvation as the free gift of God: “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

How is this applied to us? We must first recognize that we are sinners separated from God (Romans 3:23). Our sinful nature does not just separate us, it makes a debt we cannot pay, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Christ’s blood, then, paid the full price for our sins. He purchased us “with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). It is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). His forgiveness is applied to our lives when we trust Jesus to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness through His atonement (1 John 1:7-9). Why not ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and invite Him into your heart today?

Jude 3 Missions – Utah Gospel Mission

P. O. Box 780, Victorville, CA 92393