Recently,
Dr. Dunning-Kruger, in a youtube video on his recent anti-Mormon book, has
argued that there is no LDS scriptural texts that speaks of the person of the Godhead
being united as “one God” in the sense of shared purpose, etc. Here is one from
the New Testament and two from uniquely LDS texts that speak of the Father and Son being "one" in such a way (e.g., in-dwelling unity [cf. the concept of perichoresis]):
Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
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 the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou
hast loved me. (John 17:20-23)
And that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—The Father because
he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made
flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men. (D&C 93:3-4)
And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be
called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the
Father, being the Father and the Son---the Father because he was conceived by
the power of God, and the Son because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father
and the Son; and they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and
of earth. (Mosiah 15:2-4; for a discussion of Mosiah 15 and the [errant] claim early LDS Christology was that of Modaism, see my friend Blake Ostler's article Re-vision-ing the Mormon Concept of Deity)
[D&C
93] explains how the Son becomes divine because the Father communicates to the
Son a fulness of power, knowledge and presence. This same fulness of power,
knowledge and presence is communicated to the Saints:
|
The Son of God |
The
Sons of God |
|
I was in the
beginning with the Father. (93:21) |
Ye were also in the
beginning with the Father. (93:22) |
|
I am the Firstborn.
(93:21) |
All who are
begotten through me ... are the Church of the Firstborn. (93:20) |
|
and he received not
of the fulness at first; but continued from grace to grace, until he
received a fulness. (93:13) |
If ye keep my
commandments you shall receive of his fulness ... Ye shall receive grace for
grace. (93:20) |
|
I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.... (93:3) And the glory
of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him. (93:17) |
You shall... be
glorified in me as I am inthe Father. (93:20) |
|
And he received a
fulness of truth, yea, even all truth. (93:26) |
He that
keepeth the commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is |
|
He received all
power both in heaven and on earth. (93:17) |
Then shall they be
gods because they shall have all power. (132:20) |
|
And thus he was
called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at first.
(93:14) |
Wherefore it is
written, they are gods, even the sons of God. (76:58) |
What is often overlooked is the multi-valency of the term "God" in both Trinitarian and LDS theologies. A Trinitarian may balk, but "God" can refer to the being of God and yet be predicated upon the persons, too, and none of the persons is God in that sense (Jesus is not "the Trinity" but he is "God," for e.g.)
For those familiar with the Cecile Richards (*) of anti-Mormonism and his work, such is par for the course--make crap up, pretend to be fair and scholarly, and dupe your Protestant audience, hook, line, and sinker.
