Scrap Book of Mormon Literature (Vol. 1 of 2): Religious Tracts
Religion
Scrap Book of Mormon Literature (Vol. 1 of 2): Religious Tracts
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saints
"Excuse me. Did you say 'foolish ideas?' Why, my dear {267} sir, we
are told in the Bible that 'This is life eternal, that they might
know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.'
(John xvii: 3.) Therefore it should be our first duty to find out the
character and being of God. You say we are not expected to understand
these things, while the Bible says these are what we must understand
if we desire eternal life. It also says we can understand the things
of man by the spirit of man, but to comprehend the things of God we
must have the spirit of God; and as you profess to be one of His
servants, you are presumed to be in possession of the necessary light
to understand the true and living God, also Jesus Christ whom He sent.
You say God has no body; did our Savior have one? If so, then His
Father had one, for I have just proved by the words of Paul that Christ
was in the express image of his person. (Heb. i: 3) Jesus appeared in
the midst of His disciples after His resurrection with a body of flesh
and bones, and called upon His disciples to satisfy themselves on this
point by touching Him; 'for,' says He, 'a spirit hath not flesh and
bones as ye see Me have.' (Luke xxiv:39.) Then He called for something
to eat and He did eat (verses 42, 43), and with this tangible body He
ascended into heaven and stood, as Stephen says, on the right hand of
God. (Acts vii:55.) Now if He has no body, what became of the one He
took away with Him?"
"This is nonsense! You know that God is a spirit, and I think we would
better not delve too deeply into matters which we are not permitted to
comprehend."
"Pray listen a while longer, for I have yet more to say in regard to
what you call nonsense, although if it be such, I must insist that
it is Bible nonsense. You say God is a spirit; does that prove He
has no body? We are also told we must worship Him in spirit. Am I to
understand from this that we must worship him without a body? Have you
a spirit? Yes. Have you also a body? Yes. Were you made in the image
of God, body and spirit? So says the Bible. Man was created in the
image of God. (Gen. i: 26, 27.) Then God has a body and, consequently,
must have parts. Moses talked with Him face to face, as one man talks
with another (Ex. xxxiii: 11), and he also saw His back parts. He
promised (Num. xii: 8) to speak with Moses mouth to mouth. We are told
in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy that He has a hand and arm. The
Psalm (cxxxix: 16) tells us He has eyes, and Isaiah (xxx: 27) says He
has lips and tongue. John describes His head, hair and eyes. (Rev. i:
14.) And as for passions, we are told in the Bible that He exercises
love and is a jealous God. Are {268} these not parts and passions? It
would appear that all who believe in the Scriptures must conclude that
they are parts and passions, and that the Creator is a God after whose
likeness we are made."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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