Do The Mormons Believe In The Trinity?

The LDS Church does believe in the actual doctrine of the Trinity. We Believe in something we refer to as the 'Godhead'. Hopefully what is written below may shed more light on why we believe that.

The LORD God
Who is He?

"And the LORD GOD FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND..." (Gen. 2:7)
Two Hebrew words for God are used throughout the Old Testament. These are Elohim and Jehovah.

Jehovah was the premortal name-title given to the Firstborn Son of God. He was also known as YHWH, as the Hebrews wrote without vowels.

The name JHWH is generally rendered in the English version of the Old Testament as LORD printed in all capitals.

The word Eloheim is a plural form of the Hebrew word for God, although modern scholars have agreed that it should be taken as a singular noun even though the ending "im" is plural.

Joseph Smith said that "if we pursue the Hebrew text further, it reads,...'The head one of the Gods said, Let us make a man in our own image.' The word Eloheim ought to be plural all the way through-Gods."

So the reading in the Old Testament is really Jehovah Eloheim, who is Jesus Christ.

But there is a difference if the word Eloheim is found separate. It refers to God the Eternal Father, the father of our spirits. Now many if not most people think that the members of the LDS church are not 'true' or 'real' Christians because we do not believe in the concept of the Trinity. Well let me clear this up. We do believe in the Trinity, but we have a different take on it. In fact we don't even call it the Trinity. We call it the 'Godhead'.

In 325 A.D, the Nicene Creed established the doctrine of the Trinity which states that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are the same being. It is believed by most Christians that they are mysteriously separate, yet unified at the same time. But this is incomprehensible! This misconception comes from scriptures similar to these: John 1:1, John 10:30, John 14:7-10.

But if you look in the book of Matthew it teaches us very clearly that God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate being. You have the Father introducing His Son, who is being baptized, as the Holy Ghost descends in the form of a dove.

I also have a question for everyone reading this. If Jesus Christ is God, why would he pray to himself? What! He didn't? Let's take another look shall we. John 17:1-5, Christ is praying to His Father, which is known as the great Intercessory Prayer. Similar scriptures can be found in Matt: 26:39, Matt: 27:46.

Now here is something else to think and ponder on. In John 17:21-23, Christ prays saying "that they may be one; as you, Father, art in Me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:" Now think about this for a second. Christ doesn't want us to become one big blob. He is saying we need to become 'one' in purpose, just as He and His Father are 'one' in purpose and power.

Now just summing up John 14:7-10 it states that "he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father". Now I want to ask you another question. What does John 1:18 mean? It says "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." There is no way of comprising these two scriptures! Remember in John 17:3 Christ says "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." As I said before you can't comprise these two scriptures. This is what John 14:7-10 means, "I represent the Father. You have seen Me and My power and wonders. I work wonders according to His word. Therefore you have seen God by the power and miracles of God."

Now I want to back up a bit to what Joseph Smith had once said. He said "if we pursue the Hebrew text

further, it reads,...'The head one of the Gods said, Let us make a man in our own image.' The word Eloheim ought to be plural all the way through-Gods." Now why would he say that? Gods... Makes us sound kind of polytheistic huh?

Many Christians also believe that we worship more than one God based on sayings like the one above. I will say this we don't worship more than one God. We worship one and only one God. But this concern from other denominations comes from verses in Isaiah such as 43:10-11, 46:6, 44:8, 45:5-6, 45:18, 45:21, 46:9. They are very similar in nature stating in effect "beside me there is no God". Although there are scriptures that clearly make reference to a plurality of Deity. Gen. 1:26 states "let us make man in our image", in Gen. 3:22, Jehovah declares "behold the man is become as one of us", once again the word 'us' is used in Gen. 11:7 "let us go down and confound their language".

We also have words of Christ himself from John 10:35-36, quoting Psalms 82:6 "I said ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be broken". Now finally there is this, John tells us in Revelation 1:6 that Christ "hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father", revealing that God has a father.

But in spite of all that has been said we follow the very clear teaching that Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 "For though there be many that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many and lords many,) but to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him". Remember we are not polytheistic meaning the worship of many gods, but rather we are henotheistic meaning we pay all devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. When you also have an understanding of the Godhead you know that although they are all separate (many gods) they are one in purpose (the only God with whom we have to deal with) see 1 John 5:7. For us to receive eternal life, we need to know and understand our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

Now I want to give an account of Joseph Smith. Many of you LDS members reading this know the experience as the 'First Vision'. In Joseph Smith's own words he said...

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. . . . “When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other— This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

Now this account of seeing both the Father and the Son coincide and go hand in hand with what I have been talking about. That God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are two separate and distinct individuals.

Joseph Smith gained this knowledge because he lacked wisdom. He was reading one day in the epistle of James and he came across a verse saying "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). This verse in James sound familiar to something Christ had once said...

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke 11:9).

Now I invite you the reader to do as James and more importantly as Christ directs...that is, to ask God if what I have told you here is true.