God the Father has flesh and bones

Unrefuted

No good counter-argument has been published by LDS scholars.

What is taught

D&C 130:22 is canon: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's." In the King Follett sermon of 1844 Joseph Smith preached that "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man." The 2014 essay Becoming Like God still quotes that approvingly, with Lorenzo Snow's couplet. The same essay affirms that God organised the universe out of matter that already existed.

Where it went next

Brigham Young took it further. In 1852 he taught that "Adam is our father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do." That is Journal of Discourses 1:50-51, and it entered the temple lecture at the veil in 1877.

In October 1976, President Spencer W. Kimball denounced it in General Conference: "We denounce that theory… false doctrine."

What the Bible says

John 4:24 — "God is a Spirit." Numbers 23:19 — "God is not a man." Psalm 90:2 — "from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." Isaiah 43:10 — "before me there was no God formed." Hebrews 11:3 has the worlds framed by the word of God. Malachi 3:6 and Hosea 11:9 point the same way.

Their answer, at full strength

FAIR reads John 4:24 as mode and character, not anatomy. Compare "God is light" in 1 John 1:5 and "a consuming fire" in Deuteronomy 4:24.

Nobody treats those as the whole story. Spirit and body are not opposites either; the risen Christ has flesh and bone in Luke 24:39.

FAIR points to appearances of God in Exodus 33:11 and 33:23. And David Paulsen of BYU argues the earliest Christians thought of God in bodily terms, before Greek philosophy displaced it.

On Adam-God, FAIR says Young was poorly recorded or misunderstood, that it was never canonised, and that the church correcting it shows living prophets working.

How strong is this argument?

Strong for you. Every part is documented in canon or in current church publications.

Take the verses together rather than one at a time. A God who was once as we are cannot be God from everlasting to everlasting.

And the Adam-God episode cuts hard against the self-correction defence. One prophet formally called another prophet's pulpit teaching about God false doctrine.

What to say

"Psalm 90:2 says from everlasting to everlasting. Was there a time he was not God?"

Nauvoo about 1846; the King Follett discourse was preached in this city in April 1844

A Nauvoo Temple sunstone capital, carved during the years of the King Follett teaching

How they answer this — at its strongest

'God is a Spirit' speaks of mode, not anatomy, and the risen Christ has flesh.

FAIR argues that 'God is a Spirit' at John 4:24 states mode and character, not anatomy. It runs parallel to 'God is light' at 1 John 1:5 and 'a consuming fire' at Deuteronomy 4:24. Nobody takes those as the whole story.

Spirit and body are not opposites in any case. Risen beings have flesh and bone at Luke 24:39. FAIR marshals the appearances of God at Exodus 33:11 and 33:23. And David Paulsen of BYU argues that the earliest Christians thought of God in bodily terms, before Greek philosophy displaced that view.

On Adam-God, FAIR holds that Young's remarks were poorly recorded, speculative, or misunderstood. They were never canonised. And the church rejecting them shows living prophets correcting course, rather than prophecy failing.

The verdict

Strong for you: take the verses as a set, and the Adam-God case cuts hard.

Every element is documented from canon or from current church publications. D&C 130:22 is canon. The 2014 essay confirms that the church still teaches the exalted-man doctrine.

The FAIR reading of John 4:24 has some force on its own. But the conflict rests on the verses taken together. A God who 'was once as we are now' cannot be God 'from everlasting to everlasting', or unchanging as Malachi 3:6 says. A God who rose inside an eternal frame of matter and law is not the Bible's Maker of all that is.

The Adam-God episode is on its own damaging to the self-correction reply. Young taught it plainly, again and again, over 25 years, including inside the temple. Kimball's 1976 denunciation means one prophet branded another prophet's pulpit teaching about God 'false doctrine'.

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