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Sunday, February 19, 2012

A Logical Proof That Mormonism is False?

There is an organization called the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministries which posted an article allegedly describing a logical proof that Mormonism is false.

You can read the full article here, but the main point of the argument revolves around the LDS concept of Exaltation.

The LDS church teaches that through obedience to Gospel principles, we can, at some point in the eternities, eventually become like God.

Lorenzo Snow, a former President of the LDS church, also taught that, “As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be.”

From these two ideas, it is inferred that God has a God, who has a God, who has a God, and so forth. This sets up an infinite regress, which is impossible.

There are two main problems with this "logical proof."

First of all, the Mormon church does not teach that God has a God, who has a God, etc. To the best of my knowledge, the church's official position on this topic is, "We don't know and, frankly, we don't care." Therefore, any inference of an infinite regress is just the unofficial conjecture of the members, or words put in our mouths by CARM, but it is not LDS doctrine.

Second, even if it's true that God has a God who has a God, and so forth, it does not necessarily lead to an infinite regress.

For example, it is a common idea in Christianity that God exists outside of time. He is not bound to a linear chronology the way we are. In other words, He is capable of time travel.

Imagine that in the beginning, there was nothing. Then a God appears, creates a world populated by people, some of which go on to be exalted and receive Godhood. Then, one of those exalted beings travels back and becomes that first God who appeared.

Is that what happened? I don't know. Probably not. But the point is that it is entirely in line with LDS doctrine and resolves CARM's "logical proof."

So CARM's argument fails in two ways. First is that it is based on a doctrine which is not even taught by the church. Second, even if the LDS church did teach such a doctrine, it would not necessarily lead to an infinite regress.


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