Thursday, July 19, 2012

Brigham Young's Adam-God

     The Adam-God doctrine is not found in the standard works.  Brigham Young was the only Mormon prophet that taught this obscure belief.  In 1852 he said, "...When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him.  He helped to make and organize this world.  He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy men have written and spoken - he is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do" (Journal of Discourses 1:50).  Brigham Young said, "What a learned idea!  Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven.  Now, let all who may hear these doctrines, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation" (Journal of Discourses 1:51).  In 1861 Young said, "...some years ago, I advanced a doctrine with regard to Adam being our father and God, that will be a cause to many Elders of Israel because of their folly.  With regard to it they yet grovel in darkness and will.  It is one of the most glorious revealments of the economy of heaven, yet the world holds it dirrision" (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Spring 1982, p. 29).  In 1873 Brigham Young said, "How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which is revealed to them, and which God revealed to me - namely that Adam is our father and God" (Brigham Young, Deseret News, June 18, 1873, p. 308).
     Here is the question:  Was Brigham Young teaching the God of the Bible?  Did he describe the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?  In the Bible, Adam was a man that was created by God.  Brigham Young's Adam was God of this earth!  Deuteronomy 13:1-6 says, "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in.  So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee."

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