Imago Dei in Mormonism

July 11, 2006 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
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About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)

One of the more controversial beliefs in the history of
Mormonism is that of Exaltation- that man has the potential to be like God in
every way. LDS President Lorenzo Snow famously put it this way (on September,
18 1898): “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be.” Despite
public belittling of this doctrine, it is still very much part of the official
teaching of the Church.

Current President Gordon B. Hinckley has downplayed the
doctrine: “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 that 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.” (Time, 1997)

However, in the most recent issue of the Church’s magazine Ensign,
President Hinckley seems to a bit more about it than he’s let on in the past
(HT: Reformed Baptist Thinker):

In the account of the Creation of the earth,
“God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

Could any language be more explicit? Does it demean
God, as some would have us believe, that man was created in His express image?
Rather, it should stir within the heart of every man and woman a greater
appreciation for himself or herself as a son or daughter of God.

President Hinckley clarifies his idea of Imago Dei by relating our bodies to
God’s physical body:

I remember the occasion more than 70 years ago
when, as a missionary, I was speaking in an open-air meeting in Hyde Park,
London. As I was presenting my message, a heckler interrupted to say, “Why
don't you stay with the doctrine of the Bible which says in John, 'God is a
Spirit'?”

I opened my Bible to the verse he had quoted and
read to him the entire verse:

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

I said, “Of course God is a spirit, and so are
you in the combination of spirit and body that makes of you a living being, and
so am I.”

Each of us is a dual being of spiritual entity and
physical entity. All know of the reality of death when the body dies, and each
of us also knows that the spirit lives on as an individual entity and that at
some time, under the divine plan made possible by the sacrifice of the Son of
God, there will be a reunion of spirit and body. Jesus's declaration that God
is a spirit no more denies that He has a body than does the statement that I am
a spirit while also having a body.

I do not equate my body with His in its refinement,
in its capacity, in its beauty and radiance. His is eternal. Mine is mortal.
But that only increases my reverence for Him. I worship Him “in spirit and
in truth.” I look to Him as my strength. I pray to Him for wisdom beyond
my own. I seek to love Him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. His
wisdom is greater than the wisdom of all men. His power is greater than the
power of nature, for He is the Creator Omnipotent. His love is greater than the
love of any other, for His love encompasses all of His children, and it is His
work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His
sons and daughters of all generations (see Moses 1:39).

The explicit teaching here is that God is composed of
physical and spiritual, and thus so are we. But it is the underlying principle
that’s key. Though President Hinckley notes a number of differences between God
and himself, these differences are not of kind but of personality. It would be
much like comparing two oak trees of different ages. They both grow green
leaves and provide shade, but the older is taller and stronger than the other.
Likewise, in Mormon theology, God and man are of the same specie- man is simply
less developed than God. Whether it’s acknowledged or not, this doctrine is
still fundamental in the teachings of Mormonism.

Related posts:

1. This Week: Mormonism
2. Should We Critique Mormonism? (Part 2)
3. Should We Critique Mormonism? (Part 1)
4. Gordon B. Hinckley Dies at Age 97
5. In the Scope 8/22/07- On Mormonism
6. We Support Dr. Craig Hazen

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