Highlight: Refuting Mormonism - Is There Only One God?
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This is a clip of our premier webcast Apologia Radio. In this clip Jeff responds to a recent video that was put out critiquing the Christian understanding of God.
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- 00:00
- He quotes Isaiah 43, 10. Before me, there was no God, and after me, there will be no other.
- 00:06
- And this is presented as, therefore, the LDS conception of God is refuted by the
- 00:12
- Bible. Right. So yeah, what's your scriptural response to that question?
- 00:19
- It'll take me half an hour, but maybe I'll just get a start on it. First of all,
- 00:26
- God there is actually addressing, if you read the context of it in Isaiah, Isaiah 42, 43, 44, the whole context is these
- 00:38
- Hebrews that are supposed to be worshiping Yahweh are busily making idols.
- 00:46
- They're making idols of wood, stone, you know, clay, and bowing down to them and worshiping them.
- 00:55
- And of course, these are idols that are inspired by demons. And it's just blatant idol worship, worshiping things formed by their own hands, okay?
- 01:08
- And so our father's like, look, don't do that. I'm the only one you should be worshiping.
- 01:15
- Yeah, that's not what the text says at all. That's typically the way that they try to explain it away or one of them at least.
- 01:22
- Yes, you know, there's only one God that we worship, but not one
- 01:28
- God in existence. Yeah, the text says, Isaiah 43, 10 context, you are my witnesses declares the
- 01:36
- Lord and my servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me, no
- 01:44
- God was formed, nor shall there be after me. I am the
- 01:50
- Lord and besides me, there is no savior. Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be after me.
- 01:56
- Now, David Alexander wants to pretend that the issue here is just simply the creation of idols.
- 02:02
- What God is talking about there is false gods, these idols. Great, okay, so let's try that. Let's put David Alexander's answer into the text, ready?
- 02:10
- That you may know and believe me and understand that I am he, before me, no idol was formed, nor shall there be any idol formed after me.
- 02:19
- Doesn't work. Doesn't work, does it? Is the issue idols? The false gods that men create with their hands?
- 02:27
- Because again, I'll do it again. Let's try it. Let's put David Alexander's answer into the text. Before me, no idol was formed, nor shall there be any idol formed after me.
- 02:38
- There are idols galore around the world today after this text was given to us from God.
- 02:46
- There are many idols formed after this text was given. And so that just doesn't work, does it?
- 02:51
- And it's interesting because yes, Isaiah 40 through 46, amazing section of scripture where God goes to great lengths to describe who he is and how he is the only
- 03:03
- God. There is no other God besides him. Just, we can't read the whole six chapters here on this show today, but just some examples.
- 03:10
- In Isaiah chapter 40, one example, verse 18 of chapter 40 says, to whom then will you liken
- 03:18
- God or what likeness compare with him? And again, 25. To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him?
- 03:26
- Says the Holy One. Well, for Mormonism, that's easy. Your father,
- 03:31
- God. And then his God before him. And all these other gods that went through exaltation like you, that's who
- 03:40
- I can compare you to. No, as a matter of fact, I can compare you to me because I'm going through the same process you did.
- 03:48
- I'm just like you, daddy. I'm just like you. And so that's who I'll compare you to, God. So the
- 03:54
- Mormon actually has a response. It's a very sinful response. It's an erroneous response to the
- 03:59
- God of the Bible when he says, who then will you compare me to that I should be like him?
- 04:05
- Well, God, you're like me because you propagated as a part of your species, me.
- 04:11
- You're making little gods. And you were just like me. You went through exaltation on a planet kind of like this one, and you were created by your
- 04:21
- God and his goddess wife. And that's how you came to be. And so I will liken you to me, just like me.
- 04:28
- But it goes on. See, that's the context. And if you read Isaiah chapter 40 through 46,
- 04:34
- I'd encourage you, highly encourage you to do so. God displays over and over and over again that he is unique.
- 04:41
- He's the only God. He's the everlasting God, the everlasting God, the eternal God. As a matter of fact,
- 04:47
- God teaches that explicitly in verse 28 of chapter 40. Have you not heard?
- 04:52
- Have you not, sorry, have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal
- 04:58
- God, the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not go faint or grow weary.
- 05:06
- His understanding is unsearchable. Now in Mormonism, the
- 05:12
- Mormon God, even over this earth, is not the eternal God. He has not been
- 05:17
- God from all eternity. He has not. Like the God of the Bible, Psalm 90 verse two, from eternity into eternity, from everlasting to everlasting.
- 05:26
- The same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the unchanging God. He's the eternal
- 05:32
- God, the everlasting God. The God of the Bible says, you can't compare me to anything or anyone.
- 05:38
- And he says he's the eternal God. He moves into, you can move into Isaiah 43 .10, where God specifically says there, he says, before me no
- 05:48
- God was formed, nor shall there be after me. Keep moving into the same context, the same discussion.
- 05:54
- And you see Isaiah 44 .6, more context. Thus says the Lord, the
- 05:59
- King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last.
- 06:06
- Besides me, there is no God. Now in Mormonism, that's not true.
- 06:13
- The God of this earth isn't the first. He isn't the last
- 06:19
- God. Not the first and not the last. But it goes on, who is like me?
- 06:25
- Let him proclaim it. And then all the other gods in Mormonism should be going, me, me,
- 06:31
- I'm like you. As a matter of fact, the person reading this, according to Mormon theology, should be able to say, me.
- 06:39
- God asked the question, it's a rhetorical question. The answer should be obvious. It says, who is like me?
- 06:45
- Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me. Since I appointed an ancient people, let them declare what is to come and what will happen.
- 06:53
- Fear not, nor be afraid. Have I not told you of old and declared it and you are my witnesses.
- 06:59
- Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock. I know not any.
- 07:06
- Now the God of Mormonism can't say that. Can't say that. He's not the first.
- 07:12
- He's not the last. He knows of many other gods and you can compare all kinds of other gods and their experiences to exactly his experience.
- 07:21
- And so I'll let you answer if you wanna respond to that. I wanna read to you. Did you want to respond to that specifically?
- 07:29
- I would just add one thing about that because so much of this can be resolved with a proper doctrine of God. You know, you read from Isaiah, before me there was no
- 07:38
- God formed. And God is fundamentally saying to his people, what makes me different than you or any other so -called
- 07:45
- God is that I'm not, I didn't come into being. At any point.
- 07:51
- In other words, I'm not an aspect of the created order like everything else. I'm fundamentally other.
- 07:58
- To put it in the way that God himself does when he appears to Moses, I am who
- 08:03
- I am. I am, I was, I will always be. God possesses within himself seedy.
- 08:08
- He is self -existent. He's not dependent upon anything else for his existence. Nothing else in the created order is he dependent upon.
- 08:17
- Paul says in Acts 17, God doesn't live in temples made by man. He's not served by human hands as though he needed anything.
- 08:25
- So nothing about him is dependent upon anything else or anyone else. And that's what makes him unique and incomparable.
- 08:32
- He's eternal. He has no beginning. He's immortal. He'll have no end. He is immutable, which means he does not change.
- 08:41
- He's not subject to elements of creation to alter his fundamental being. And so I believe that so much of this can be resolved with the proper doctrine of God.
- 08:50
- When we say the God of the Bible, we're referring to the self -existent one, the one in whom every other aspect of creation is dependent upon, including us, his creatures.