Talk:Godhead (Latter Day Saints)

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[edit] Book of Mormon statement

I deleted the following statement:

:(in particular the original 1830 edition) 

The current version of the Book of Mormon is closer than the 1830 edition to the reference made. -Visorstuff 18:16, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

[edit] God Head information innacurate

Considering Joseph Smith never said anything about believing in "the trinity" that Catholics and other Christian denominations accept, this article is chalk full of misinformation. Trinity means only 3 people, while many misunderstand that to mean 3 in 1! I would like to see evidence that Joseph Smith taught that. He only taught that they were ONE IN PURPOSE! The salvation of all mankind! I am sorry to say, but while I don't agree that everyone should agree with the beliefs of the LDS church, I feel most of the articles on Wikipedia relating to 'mormons' are HORRIBLY inaccurate, and should be revised, unfortunately that would be such a high volume job, it may be better to start from scratch. Wikipedia, while an open source database, should have reliable sources, and should not seek historical information in anti-mormon documents, as they prove to be innacurate. This is not only apparent in the Mormon articles, but in 7th day adventist and Jehovas witness documents as well. If you would like to read the real beliefs of the LDS church, concerning the Godhead, please visit www.lds.org or www.mormon.org . Who better to ask about Mormon beliefs, than an actual Mormon!?

The section in question was written by Mormons - and about the broader Latter Day Saint movement, not just the LDS Church. Please note that when Joseph Smith left the sacred grove that he didn't know everything about the church. Some things evolved over time as new revelation was given and doctrine was clarified. For example, Smith may have assumed that everyone realized that God and Jesus were seperate people and didn't clarify until the Kirtland period. In fact, there is evidence that he didn't teach certain things as he felt that the people would reject all of his teachings if he did. Some did leave over this issue in the kirtland period and are still part of the Latter Day Saint Movement (not LDS church) This article does a good job with the latest scholarly research available. I'm sorry that youfeel this page is so inaccurate, but from a historical view it is quite solid. -Visorstuff 23:47, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

These are well stated points, and I think the confusion is a lack of communication on my part. While Joseph Smith did teach different, deeper things, when the time was right, what's to be said for the fact that the article implies that he changed the doctrine, while any member of the Church of Jesus Christ knows that the nature of the God head is Eternal, and has never changed. I can see your point, but the section seems to imply that Joseph Smith changed doctrine, which he didn't. When you say this was written by Mormons, are you saying members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, or another church that broke off from it? Visorstuff, thanks for all of you work on wikipedia, I truly admire it seeing as there are so many articles out there!

Ahh, yes. By Mormons, in this instance, I do mean members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can see how you'd read that section in this way. Perhaps we can clarify - what do you suggest? It is not that the doctrines changed, but rather, that what Smith emphasized changed. What is and what is not church doctrine is a fuzzy thing and, as you likely know, has always been the case. Many things that church members believe to be "doctrine" is not, but cultural doctrines promulgated by church members. In any case, the teachings of Smith and what he emphasized are fuzzy enough that many people thought his earlier teachings were more accurate, or that he changed doctrines, or that the current church misunderstood his teachings on many matters. We have to balance this to be historically accurate, with what is believed and taught today. Not an easy task. I'm open to suggestions in how to change wording. Let's discus here and then make the changes. Suggestions? Also, I'd invite you to join wikipedia. We always need newcomers. Registration is easy! -Visorstuff 00:23, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Some possible solutions may include stating that the Godhead according to 'mormonism' has common elements with the aforementioned ideologies. Also, another solution would to briefly summarize what you have stated above, and to respect the beliefs of the factions of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter day Saints, you could say that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints believe that while Smith revealed different things over time, he was merely revealing new aspect of the Godhead that the members of the church were ready to learn, and never erased what he had already taught, but added. This point would also help in emphasizing modern revelation.

[edit] Mormon use of the word "Jehovah"

The Elohim article mentions that Mormons use the terms "Jehovah" and "Yahweh" in a unique way, and refers to this article (Godhead (Mormonism)) for details.

I'm surprised that none of these terms ( Elohim, Jehovah, Yahweh ) are mentioned here, much less described in detail.

On the other hand, I hate to stir up an edit war over picky dictionary definitions.

- I would like far more to be said on this issue. The connections between LDS and Jehovah's Witnesses become clearer on these doctrinal points, especially if the Temple Ritual could at least be aluded to in its cosmology which extends beyond the Book of the Mormon.