CHARGE: The Mormon God is not Omnipotent, or Omniscient.

LDS RESPONSE: Latter-day Saint doctrine teaches that God is all-knowing and has all possible power, but even God cannot save an unrepentant sinner.

REALITY: There are a trinity of “O” words which normally go together: Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. The word Omnipresent is the only one of the three that can firmly be dismissed in Mormonism; some Mormons would even debate this.

The best single word definition for Omnipotent is Almighty. Within Mormonism, and within the realm of experience in this world, the term Almighty is appropriate. The LDS faith teaches that the God of our world was once like we are, and that he had a God over him in the past. This certainly makes the notion of Almighty less appealing in Mormonism.

Omniscient is having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things. Mormon doctrine leads us to understand that one must grow into knowledge before becoming a God. Yes, this means the LDS faithful believe there was a time when God didn’t know it all. Mormons are less confident when it comes to the idea of awareness or perception as they don’t believe in predestination, or that God knows what you’re going to do before you do it. They claim he has a pretty good hunch about it, but we are not destined to act a given way. Mormons believe God is personally aware of our circumstances and our needs, but rarely intervenes to steer our course in an alternate direction.

The concept of Omnipresence (that God can be present everywhere at the same time) is shunned in Mormonism. There would be no way for this to work since they believe God has a body of flesh and bone. They claim that in some mystical way “The Holy Ghost” and another mystical entity known as “The Light of Christ” can influence our spirits and inspire us; yet there is no explanation as to how this is possible.

In a mean-spirited display of Mormon arrogance, the pre-1990 version of the LDS temple ceremony portrays a Christian Minister employed by the devil to teach false doctrine to Adam and Eve and the rest of Adam’s posterity.  The concepts of Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence are ridiculed. Here is a portion of the transcript:

MINISTER: “I understand that you are inquiring after religion.”

ADAM: “I was calling upon Father.”

MINISTER: “I am glad to know that you were calling upon Father. Do you believe in a God who is without body, parts, or passions; who sits on the top of a topless throne; whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere; who fills the universe, and yet is so small that he can dwell in your heart; who is surrounded by myriads of beings who have been saved by grace, not for any act of theirs, but by His good pleasure. Do you believe in such a great Being?”

ADAM: “I do not. I cannot comprehend such a being.”

MINISTER: “That is the beauty of it. Perhaps you do not believe in a devil, and in that great hell, the bottomless pit, where there is a lake of fire and brimstone into which the wicked are cast, and where they are continually burning, but are never consumed?”

ADAM: “I do not believe in any such place.”

MINISTER: “My dear friend, I am sorry for you.”

LUCIFER: “I am sorry…very, very sorry!”

CHARGE and LDS RESPONSE (originally) online at: fairlds.org/The_God_Makers (now obsolete).