Why was the issue of the origin of God skirted in recent interviews by President Hinckley? Short answer – I don’t know.
I like that President Hinckley has been so willing to be interviewed. Many of the questions he has been asked are ones I want to learn more about. During his interview for Time Richard N. Ostling asked,
Q. “. . . Is this the teaching of the church today, that God the Father was once a man like we are?
A. I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it. I haven’t heard it discussed for a long time in public discourse. I don’t know. I don’t know all the circumstances under which the statement was made. I understand the philosophical background behind it. But I don’t know a lot about it and I don’t know that others know a lot about it. (see Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, by R.N. Ostling and J.K Ostling, 1999 page 421-422)
When I first heard this interview I was really excited when the question was asked because I really wanted to hear the answer. However, when the prophet answered, as quoted above I recall being confused, concerned and a bit disappointed. Since the interview, I mistakenly assumed that Pres. Hinckley didn’t want to discuss that Mormon’s believe we can become like God after this life. However, I was definitely mistaken. Pres. Hinckley has said the following in a 1994 general conference which clarifies really well the belief :
”On the other hand, the whole design of the gospel is to lead us onward and upward to greater achievement, even, eventually, to godhood. This great possibility was enunciated by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the King Follet sermon (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 342-62; and emphasized by President Lorenzo Snow. It is this grand and incomparable concept: As God now is, man may become! (See The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, comp. Clyde J. Williams, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984, p. 1.)
Our enemies have criticized us for believing in this. Our reply is that this lofty concept in no way diminishes God the Eternal Father. He is the Almighty. He is the Creator and Governor of the universe. He is the greatest of all and will always be so. But just as any earthly father wishes for his sons and daughters every success in life, so I believe our Father in Heaven wishes for his children that they might approach him in stature and stand beside him resplendent in godly strength and wisdom.”
Maybe Pres. Hinckley didn’t want to discuss the details of God once being a man like us because there really is not enough information about it that can settle the issue. It would be nice if he had just acknowledged the teaching though. Perhaps discussing it just invites more unanswerable speculation and therefore there is a policy in place to avoid comment. Who knows? I do know however that while this doctrine many not be discussed publicly in General Conference of late it is discussed openly at the local level (which is a form of public discouse). In fact, the teaching is emphasized and highlighted in chapter four of the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young. The publication is a manual used for the instruction of adult men and women in the priesthood quorums and the Relief Society. This manual was developed by two apostles (Elders Oaks and Holland) and was reviewed by a church-service committee made up of men and women (see article by Don L. Searle, “Major Curriculum Changes in Priesthood and Relief Society,” Ensign, Dec. 1997, 7). The manual was approved by the First Presidency. The manual was released for use in January 1998, the year following Pres. Hinckley’s interview with Richard Ostling where he said “I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it.” However, quoted below are two excerpts from chapter 4 of the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young.
1. God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost constitute the Godhead. President Brigham Young taught the Latter-day Saints to worship God the Father and address prayers to Him in the name of Jesus Christ. He taught further that God the Father was once a man on another planet who “passed the ordeals we are now passing through; he has received an experience, has suffered and enjoyed, and knows all that we know regarding the toils, sufferings, life and death of this mortality” (DBY, 22).
2. The doctrine that God was once a man and has progressed to become a God is unique to this Church. How do you feel, knowing that God, through His own experience, “knows all that we know regarding the toils [and] sufferings” of mortality?
Based on the above quotes it is obvious that Pres. Hinckley taught from documents that teach the doctrine that God was once a man as late as 1994. He also approved the use of a manual that teaches the doctrine and emphasizes it as unique to this church. In October of 1997 Pres. Hinckley made the following comments in relation to news coverage of the church and his interviews:
"The media have been kind and generous to us. This past year of pioneer celebrations has resulted in very extensive, favorable press coverage. There have been a few things we wish might have been different. I personally have been much quoted, and in a few instances misquoted and misunderstood. I think that’s to be expected. None of you need worry because you read something that was incompletely reported. You need not worry that I do not understand some matters of doctrine. I think I understand them thoroughly, and it is unfortunate that the reporting may not make this clear. I hope you will never look to the public press as the authority on the doctrines of the Church." (Gordon B. Hinckley, “Drawing Nearer to the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 1997, 4).
Pres. Hinckley clarified that he knows the doctrines thoroughly therefore I must assume he eluded answering the interviewers’ questions in regards to the doctrine that God was once a man for reasons that he has not made public. Perhaps, the following quote (from Chapter 4 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, 1998) summarizes why the church doesn’t want this issue to be focused on.
"Many have tried to penetrate to the First Cause of all things; but it would be as easy for an ant to number the grains of sand on the earth. It is not for man, with his limited intelligence, to grasp eternity in his comprehension. … It would be as easy for a gnat to trace the history of man back to his origin as for man to fathom the First Cause of all things, lift the veil of eternity, and reveal the mysteries that have been sought after by philosophers from the beginning. What then, should be the calling and duty of the children of men? Instead of inquiring after the origin of Gods—instead of trying to explore the depths of eternities that have been, that are, and that will be, instead of endeavoring to discover the boundaries of boundless space, let them seek to know the object of their present existence, and how to apply, in the most profitable manner for their mutual good and salvation, the intelligence they possess. Let them seek to know and thoroughly understand things within their reach, and to make themselves well acquainted with the object of their being here, by diligently seeking unto a super-power for information and by the careful study of the best books "(DBY, 25).
Questioning this stuff just leads to more questions. If God is without beginning or end how was he ever like us? If he was like us isn’t Christ better than God because he led a perfect life, whereas God was once like us? How could Christ be better than God? Christ says he didn't do anything that he hadn't seen the Father do. If that is so, did the Father perform an atonement for someone? That can't be because Christ's atonement is suppose to be infinite. When God was a man did he have a God or was he the first? etc. . .
initially posted - 30Dec2002
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