Was God once a man?

“As man now is, God once was, and as God now is, man may become” --Lorenzo Snow. 

Irenaeus, an early church father, said nearly the same thing.  “We have not been made gods from the beginning, but at first men, then at length gods but following the only true and steadfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself. - 1

This, the eternal regression of Gods, is without a doubt one of the most inigmatic teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It is far from core doctrine but would be classified squarely on the esoteric side. There is no set doctrine on this matter one way or the other and there are differences of opinion within the church.  Many members do not believe this.  This would not be found in any mainline church lesson manual, nor would it be taught from the pulpit.  As I suggested, not all Latter-day Saints accept the idea of a regression of divine beings and are still fully accepted members.  Mormon thought on this point can be hazy, both in and out of the church.  

With that said, if this doctrine is taken as truth, it easily challenges ideas that must be reckoned with such as, God is unchangeable, God cannot fall, and the eternality of God.  

Right or wrong, understood or not, one can make an appropriate claim that this has been taught in the past, not only in our church, but in the Bible as well.  Just as Jesus Christ is a glorified human being, so it can be said of the Father.  Like father, like son.  To the creedal Christians out there--If one believes Jesus is THE only God there is, then it should be plain--Jesus was a man.

There is much in ancient Christian literature to show a belief that man can become God (theosis), however, there is much less available to show that they believed or understood that God was once a man. Besides the above quote by Irenaeus, interesting examples are found in the Armenian literature. This material shows that at least some Christians may indeed have had a belief that God was once a man.

For example, in one translation of an ancient Armenian Christian document which Michael Stone entitles “Concerning Adam, Eve and the Incarnation,” we find, following Eve’s telling Satan that they would die if they ate the fruit of the tree, that the serpent replies, “That is not so! God was a man like you. When he ate of the fruit of this tree he became God of all.” 2

There is biblical scripture that supports concepts conducive to the idea that God was once a man. One of these is John 5:19-20. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth.”

Notice this is given in the present tense, "seeth."  But it would not seem to make sense that the Father is doing the same things Jesus is doing at the same time.  But Jesus is rather presently seeing what the Father did.  It can be surmised the Father showed Christ a vision of his own experiences so that Christ could carry these details out. But present tense or not, we are told Jesus follows what the Father did.

Whether God's past was as a man or not, there is a multitude of scripture that can be used to support the idea that God is a holy man with a physical body in the present. One of these is Hebrews 1:3. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Christ could only be the exact representation of the Father if the Father himself possessed a body of some sort. In fact, some who wish to avoid what I feel is the plain meaning of Hebrews 1:3 actually go so far as to separate the natures of Christ or declare that the passage could not possibly infer that the Father is embodied.

To suggest that God was once a man seems to be problematic with biblical scriptures such as Hebrews 13:8, suggesting that God has eternally been God.  Let me quote biblical scholar Stephen E. Robinson on this point.  "The biblical concept of “eternity” is problematic, and most constructions translated “forever” or “eternal” actually read “to the end of the age” or just “to the age.” Indeed, the words usually rendered “forever” or “eternal” are the Greek and Hebrew words for “age” (aion and olam respectively).  First century Jews understood eternity to consist of successive ages or eons--all with the parameter of the beginning and the end.

 

God is the First and the Last, the only being who exists from the beginning to the end (Isa 44:6, Rev 1:8), that is, from the first moment of creation to the last.  This is clearly a temporal frame.  The phrase “before all ages: (Jude 25) simply means “from the beginning,” from before the succession of ages began--before the clock started ticking.  God did exist as God “before all ages” (from the beginning), but that still does not say anything about before the beginning."3

 

The statement "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever" is a declaration of God's immutability, meaning He remains constant and unchanging in His character, nature, and promises. 

Is it not correct to say that God is exactly as the Bible describes Him—an exalted Man?

The Savior says over and over again that he is the “Son of Man.” It seems plain to me that Jesus is indeed the Son of God; therefore, God must be a Man since God is His Father and Jesus is His Son.

Romans 8:28 tells us that we are to be, 'conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."  Like father, like son, like all of us.

We are made in the image of God, therefore, God must look like us and we like Him.  James says that men are made in “the similitude of God” (James 3:9).

God is our Eternal Father. He created us in his image, in His exact similitude. We are His offspring (Acts 17:29). If we are His offspring and made in His similitude, and are in His image, then logic dictates that He must be a Man.

Jesus said that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus was a man, therefore, if they are identical, God must also be a man.  What else would, or could He be if He is the Father of Christ and if Christ is in His express image?  

His order in all of creation is that one kind will reproduce to more of the same kind.  Dogs will beget dogs.  Trees will beget trees.  Why would he deviate from this pattern when He begat us?  We are of the same species, but it's like an acorn and an oak tree.

He said to Mary, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17) Among other things, this passage teaches that Jesus is not the same being as His and our Father. He is God’s Son, a separate and distinct being. If God were an omnipresent spirit, as some believe, then Christ would not have had to ascend to Him, because the Father would have in fact been Him already. But if God is both Jesus’ Father and Mary’s Father, what must He be?

Stephen saw a vision (view, sight, see, form, shape, appearance, position, location, etc.) of Jesus standing on the right hand (righthand side, not to the left, or beneath, or above, but to the side) of God the Father (a being, a person, someone who occupies space so that Jesus can be to the right of Him), not an amorphous, formless nothing, not an invisible spirit (Acts 7:56).

The form of the Father and Son were never fundamentally different, in scripture, in thought, or in good logic. The heavens tell us in every way, God is a man just like His Son. Straightforward and simple.  If He tells us we can inherit all that the Father has, well, one thing He has is an eternal nature--that He has been God through all eternity (assuming today's understanding).  

Then if we can inherit this eternality from Him, did He inherit it as well? As Stephen E. Robinson puts it, "Does the infinite not bestow infinity upon the finite with which it is joined together in one?" 3 

See minutes 11 to 15 here.

 

1- Against Heresies, Vol. 5: Preface; TANF vol. 1, p.526. In AH 4:38

2- Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Adam and Eve (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), 25.

3- How Wide the Divide, p.92.

 

Scriptural Enigmas?

Scriptural Enigmas?

 

Joseph Smith was asked regarding the Bible, wherein do you differ from other sects?  "We believe the Bible, and all other sects profess to believe their interpretations of the Bible." 1

“Let the Bible speak for itself” -Don Fleming *

 

Genesis 1: 26, 27, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them.”

 

Exodus 33: 11, “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.’

 

Exodus 40: 12, 13: “And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him.”

 

Leviticus17: 2, “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Deuteronomy 16:21, "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God."

Numbers 27: 23, “And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.”

 

2 Samuel 12: 8, “I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom.”

 

1 Kings 8: 13, “I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.”

 

2 Chronicles 20:20, “Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”

 

Job 38:4-7, “When I laid the foundations of the earth… the sons of God shouted for joy.”

 

Psalms 45:7, “Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

 

Psalms 62:12, “Unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.”

 

Psalms 82:6, “I have said, Ye are gods: and all of you are children of the most High.”

Proverbs 3:8, "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones."

Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

 

Isaiah 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer?”

Isaiah 22:20-25, "I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle...and the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder...and I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place."1

Isaiah 45:1, "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden"

Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

 

Jeremiah 29:6, “Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters.”

 

Amos 3:7, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

 

Amos 8:11, “Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land… of hearing the words of the Lord.”

 

Matt 3:16, 17, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of god descending like a dove, and lighting upon him; And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Matt 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect."

 

Matt 7:23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Matt 16:19, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

 

Matt 24:13, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

 

Luke 11:49, “I will send them prophets and apostles.”

 

Luke 14:32, “They said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?”

Luke 24:39-43, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have...Have ye any meat?  And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.  And he took it, and did eat before them."

 

John 10:13, “The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.”

 

John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

 

John 17:21-23, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us… that they may be one, even as we are one.”

John 20:17, "Jesus saith unto her, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.""

 

Acts 1:26, “And the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”

 

Acts 2: 37-38, “They were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, What shall we do?  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you.”

 

Acts 3:20-21, “He shall send Jesus Christ… Whom the heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things.”

 

Acts 7:55-56, “He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing of the right hand of God.”

Acts 8:17, "Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."

 

Acts 20:29, “After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”

 

Romans 8:16-17, “We are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”

 

1 Cor 6:9, “The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

 

1 Cor 8:5-6, “Even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” #

 

1 Cor 12:28, “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets.”

1 Cor 13:2, "Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

 

1 Cor 15: 29, “What will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead?  If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?” #

1 Cor 15:41, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars."

 

2 Cor 12:2, “Such an one caught up to the third heaven.”

 

Eph 1:10, “In the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.”

 

Eph 2:20, “Are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.”

 

Eph 4:11-14, “He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God…that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.”

James 2:24, "By works a man is justified, and not by faith only."

 

2 Thes 2:2-3, “The day of Christ is at hand… that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first.”

 

Tim 1:9, “According to his own purpose… was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

 

2 Tim 4:3-4, “The time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth.” #

 

James 2:17, “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

 

1 Peter 3:18-20, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient.”

 

1 Peter 4:6, “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”

2 Peter 1:10, "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."

Revelation 2:17, "To him that overcometh... will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."

Revelation 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

Revelation 12:7-9, “There was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon…And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil.”

 

 1-Teachings of The Prophet Joseph Smith, p119.

 

*While it is recognized that some scripture may need some help hermeneutically or otherwise, the vast majority of scripture is to be understood as is—easy enough for a child to understand, as it was meant to be.

 

# NRSV

Why Mormons do not use the cross (most the time)

The History of the Cross in Latter-day Saint Symbolism

 

Today, Christians around the world solemnly remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the willing sacrifice of His life for ours. We know that Christ’s suffering on the cross is an essential component of His Atonement and President Gordon B. Hinckley taught “we cannot forget [the cross]. We must never forget it, for here our Savior, our Redeemer, the Son of God, gave himself a vicarious sacrifice for each of us.”

And yet, though Latter-day Saints have deep doctrinal beliefs about what took place on Golgotha’s hill, we have a complex history with the cross as a symbol. On this Good Friday, take a closer look at the history of the cross in Latter-day Saint symbolism.

Early Christian Symbols

For the earliest Christians, the cross represented gruesome torture and exquisite death. While we are far removed from the depravity of crucifixion today, death by crucifixion was common for slaves and the lower classes. Thus, the cross was not a popular Christian symbol in the first few centuries following Christ’s death. This isn’t to say the cross wasn’t associated with early Christians or used in iconography; it simply wasn’t venerated on the same scale in later years and was included in a wide array of symbols, including the ichthus, the dove, and the good shepherd.

In his book, The Cross Before Constantine, Bruce W. Longenecker helps us understand the meteoric rise of the cross as a symbol after the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and legalized the faith.

 

“It is not my view that the cross was predominant among the early Christian symbols,” Longenecker writes. “Other symbols were also employed by pre-Constantinian Christians as symbols of faith, and some of them seem to have had a wider currency (e.g., Jesus the Good Shepherd).

“Moreover, the cross clearly does not have the same kind of prominence prior to Constantine that it came to have after Constantine. At that point, the cross increasingly became incorporated into Christian worship, outstripping other symbols as the preeminent symbol of the Christian faith in the centuries that followed. During the fourth through the seventh centuries, the cross continued to rise to prominence as the centerpiece of Christian religious art, adorning walls, and architecture at key positions in post-Constantinian places of Christian worship.”

The Reliquary Cross of Justin II.

 

In the years leading to the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the cross was displayed in multiple ways—on buildings, on personal tokens and artifacts, and in religious ceremonies. As the years passed, it became more and more common to depict the actual crucifixion with the oft-gruesome body of Christ displayed hanging upon it. This helped spur a change in meaning for the cross. Instead of a symbol of victory, with empty crosses displayed as scepters and decorated with gems and gold, it became a connection to Christ’s intimate knowledge of our own suffering.

However, as the Reformers began to push against the doctrines and policies of the Catholic Church, the use of the cross began to be hotly contested. Protestants often saw the cross as an idol and many churches removed or simplified the cross. This clash between Catholicism and other reformed churches would continue in modern times and directly impact Latter-day Saint symbolism.

The Restoration

In Joseph Smith’s time, reformed sects dominated the religious landscape and early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were likely to have been part of churches that remained separated from the heavy iconography of the cross.

John Hilton III writes in Considering the Cross, “In America, during the 1820s, the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and many other Protestant churches did not typically display the image of the cross on or in their buildings. That was a Catholic practice, and at that time Catholics comprised a very small minority of Christians in America.”

 

Hilton went on to quote historian Richard Bushman when he said that Joseph Smith did not consciously reject the cross since the choice would have “required no decision on Joseph’s part. No one around him used the cross.”

Crosses for Early Latter-day Saints

 

 

Amelia Folsom Young, a wife of Church President Brigham Young, is photographed wearing a cross necklace.

 

Though crosses may not have been commonplace in the religious iconography of the day, the doctrine behind the cross was taught frequently in early Latter-day Saint meetings and the cross as a symbol wasn’t taboo or stigmatized. Crosses were displayed at funerals, worn by prominent Latter-day Saint members (especially women), and printed on an 1852 European edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. Charles W. Nibley, the Presiding Bishop for the Church at the time, even wrote a letter in 1916 requesting a cross be erected on Ensign Peak as a memorial to the pioneers. The idea was supported by President Joseph F. Smith and a local newspaper stated, “The monument is intended as an insignia of Christian belief on the part of the Church which has been accused of not believing in Christianity.”

Though the proposal would eventually be rejected, it stands as an example of the neutral, if not positive attitudes, the leadership of the Church had in regard to the cross.

The Great Transition and Continued Tensions

So, what changed? How did Latter-day Saints come to be so firmly against the cross as a symbol?

First, the growth of the Catholic Church greatly expanded between the 1840s and 1860s in eastern America as immigrants flocked to the country. This includes the arrival of over half a million Irish Catholics due to the 1845 Potato Blight. Attitudes changed and many churches which fought against the symbolism of the cross began to embrace it. However, this was the same time period in which the Church migrated to escape religious persecution. The Saints became largely isolated in the Intermountain West and kept from this revival of cross iconography.

Second, Latter-day Saint leaders continued to experience tension with the Catholic Church, stemming from prejudice that existed amongst multiple sects in Joseph Smith’s time. The Catholic Church had become linked in the minds of some Latter-day Saints with the “great and abominable church of all the earth” as referenced in 1 Nephi 14, though this was never publicly expressed by leaders. Privately, disdain brewed and eventually led to the rejection of the cross as an accepted personal symbol for members. This firm line in the sand took hold during the presidency of David O. McKay, the ninth president of the Church.

President McKay had a spirit of warmth for individual Catholics, but animosity to the institution of the Catholic Church. He served as the president of the European mission in the 1920s and recorded in his journal that during a late-night celebration at a Catholic church people were “drinking and carousing until 6:30 this morning. O what a Godless farce that organization is.” The Church also had a difficult time with proselytizing efforts in the deeply Catholic countries over which President McKay presided.

 

Despite his personal feelings, relations between Latter-day Saints and Catholics remained cordial in Utah until 1948. During that year, the Church began a series of radio addresses on Sunday nights where President J. Reuben Clark Jr. of the First Presidency would affirm core tenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The radio station also made airtime available on Sunday nights for the Catholic Bishop Duane Hunt to do the same. After Bishop Hunt’s first address, Church leaders reacted negatively, taking his words as an assault on Church theology and President Clark felt there was an active agenda to lead Latter-day Saints from the Church by local Catholic leaders.

A month later, a pamphlet written by Bishop Hunt’s assistant and designed to raise money for underfunded Utah parishes was published. No mention of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was made, but when President McKay saw the title, “A Foreign Mission Close to Home!” he assumed the pamphlet was about proselytizing to Latter-day Saints and began to speak against it. Bishop Hunt was deeply hurt and wrote to a colleague, “I have done everything possible to contribute to harmony…Some day I will discuss the whole subject with you, but not at present. I am too angry. I must wait until I have cooled off.”

With the pamphlet, the crisis between the Catholic Church and Latter-day Saint leaders boiled over. Local leaders throughout Utah were invited to meetings about how the Catholic Church was waging a war against Latter-day Saints and damaging sentiments were broadly shared. Eventually, meetings between Bishop Hunt and President McKay were held, tensions were eased, and the benevolent relationship between the two faiths resumed. When Bishop Hunt died in 1960, President McKay attended his funeral.

Still, President McKay’s personal feelings remained conflicted. In 1953, as he and a host passed by a Catholic Church in California, President McKay said, “There are two great anti-Christs in the world: Communism and that church.”

Discouraging Crosses Is Codified

One of the first public teachings against wearing or displaying crosses in the private lives of members occurred just a few short years after this conflict erupted. As author Michael G. Reed relates in his book, Banishing the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo, President McKay spoke publicly on wearing crosses in 1957 after a jewelry store advertised cross necklaces for girls. Joseph L. Wirthlin, the Presiding Bishop, saw the advertisement, contacted President McKay, and asked if it was appropriate.

President McKay responded and said crosses were “purely Catholic and Latter-day Saint girls should not purchase and wear them…Our worship should be in our hearts.” While Latter-day Saints had never used the cross as an official symbol, this statement helped codify the idea that members should not embrace the cross as a private symbol of their faith.

In 1975, President Gordon B. Hinckley talked in General Conference about the symbols of Christ and what symbols best represented the Church. President Hinckley shared the following response he gave to a Protestant minister who toured a temple and wondered why no crosses were displayed:

“I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian brethren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ.”

He went on to say, “And so, because our Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of his death as the symbol of our faith. But what shall we use? No sign, no work of art, no representation of form is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the Living Christ. He told us what that symbol should be when he said, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments.’”

The Cross As a Symbol Today

Because the Church does not employ the cross as an official symbol, many question if the Church is indeed Christian. Though the Church continues to embrace the living Christ and living discipleship as the ultimate symbol, recent changes have helped reflect our dedication to Christ.

In October 2018, President Russell M. Nelson placed prophetic emphasis on using the correct name of the Church. In April 2022, he announced a new logo for the Church featuring the Christus Statue.

It’s important to note that there is no statement in the Church’s official handbook about wearing or displaying crosses in the private lives of members. However, the Church has a Gospel Topics essay on the cross, which states, “As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also remember with reverence the suffering of the Savior. But because the Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith.”

John Hilton III ultimately summarized how we can consider the cross today when he wrote, “Throughout the history of Christianity, faithful believers have had differing perspectives on how the cross should be used to represent Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Varying meanings of the image of the cross have been found among many denominations and geographic regions and even within the history of the restored Church. Today, some may choose to wear or display images of the cross or Crucifixion to remind themselves or teach their children of Christ’s love, shown through his atoning sacrifice. Others prefer to avoid images related to Christ’s death and instead focus on other symbols that remind them of the Savior’s Atonement. Either way, instead of judging the actions of others, we can all treasure the doctrine that Jesus Christ was ‘crucified for the sins of the world.’”

This paper was completed by Aleah Ingram

Gethsemane or Calvary?

 

·     800+ BYU students were asked where Christ suffered for sins; 58% said Gethsemane, 2% said Calvary, and 40% said both.

 

·     There are two scriptures that talk of Christ suffering for sins in Gethsemane (Mosiah 3 and D&C 19), but there are 50+ scriptures that talk of Calvary or Christ dying for our sins.

 

·     Only once in scripture does Christ himself talk about Gethsemane, but 20 times about His crucifixion.

 

·     The first time Nephi talks about Christ’s sacrifice, he states, I saw Him lifted up on the cross, dying for our sins.

 

·     After introducing himself, Christ says when he appears to the Nephites, “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet.” (3Ne 11)

 

·     “This is my gospel… that I might be lifted up on the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father.” (3Ne 27, 13-14)

 

 

·     “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

 

·     In all of Joseph Smith’s teachings, not once did he talk about Gethsemane.

 

·     In General Conference talks from 1850 to 2020, there are five times more that talk of Christ dying on the cross than suffering in Gethsemane.

 

·     Russell M. Nelson has said, “In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Savior took upon Himself every pain, every sin, and all of the anguish and suffering ever experienced by you and me and by everyone who has ever lived or will ever live.  Under the weight of that excruciating burden, He bled from every pore.  All of this suffering was intensified as He was cruelly crucified on Calvary’s cross.”1

 

·     We love the scripture, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”  But the very next verse He states, “Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet.” (D&C 6:36-37) He wants us to fix our eyes on the crucifixion.  It is personal to Him; it opens up a window to connecting with Him.

 

·     With our pain in life, we can draw closer to Christ knowing that He understands us and can provide a healing connection.  “If He can do that, I can do this”; or “I can stop this.”

 

Crucifixion in the Ordinances

 

·     We are, “baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3)

·     What is important in the sacrament is that we remember, “my body which was laid down for you, and my blook which was shed for the remission of your sins.” (D&C 27:2)

 

·     In the sacramental prayers we eat, “in remembrance of the body”, and, “of the blood.”

 

·     “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death.” (1Cor 11:26)  In the sacrament we crucify the old you.

 

·     The veil of the temple, which represents Christ, was torn that all may enter, and as we do, we go through Christ into God’s presence.

 

·     The alter has always been known as a place of sacrifice and death, and as we kneel at an alter we are sealed as families. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” (Eph 5:25)  

AA current apostle's comments on this topic here.

 

1-Russell M. Nelson, “The Correct Name of the Church,” Liahona, Nov. 2018, 88.