Do Latter-day Saints Worship God?

     Do Latter-day Saints worship God? This question has an obvious “yes” answer. But this obvious answer obscures a theological nuance that makes the justification for worship in the Mormon tradition unique as compared to other Christian denominations. In particular, I will argue that Latter-day Saints do not unconditionally worship God; their worship is conditional upon God possessing certain attributes.

     To see this, we must recognize that Mormon theology envisions a contingent God. This means that God has not always existed as God. He has instead become God through a process. Joseph Smith made this point explicit in his King Follett Sermon: 

I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. . . . It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know . . . that he was once a man like us.

Many prophets and apostles after Joseph expressed similar views. Brigham Young, for example, claimed that God is “the Father of our spirits, and was once a man in mortal flesh as we are, and is now an exalted being.” (Journal of Discourses, 7:333). Similarly, Elder Melvin J. Ballard taught that “[i]t is a ‘Mormon’ truism that is current among us and we all accept it, that as man is God once was and as God is man may become.” (General Conference, April 1921).

     This process of transformation could, furthermore, run in the opposite direction. For as the book of Alma reminds us, if God attempted to rob justice, he would “cease to be God.” (Alma 42:13). Succinctly stated, God was once a man. He developed into deity. And He could, by His own volition, cease to be God. He is, therefore, contingently God, for His divine status is contingent upon His having developed into and remaining as a certain type of being.

     Why does this fact about God hold relevance to the question posed above? Because if He is contingently God, then our worship is focused on what He is, not who He is. Our worship, to phrase the matter differently, is conditional, depending on God having realized the attributes of moral perfection, almighty power, and all knowledge. If tomorrow, God ceased to be God, losing those attributes, it would be improper to worship Him. Worship is, after all, properly reserved for the deity.

     Apostle Orson Pratt—one of the original Apostles ordained by Joseph Smith—came to a similar conclusion, though based on different reasoning. Specifically, he claimed that “[w]hen we worship the Father, we do not merely worship His person, but we worship the truth which dwells in His person.” This truth, for Orson, is the Holy Spirit, the highest member of the Godhead,[1] and “[p]ersons are only tabernacles or temples, and TRUTH is the God, that dwells in them.” This move permitted Orson to defend monotheism and the omnipresence of God. For “if the fulness of truth, dwells in numberless millions of persons, then the same one indivisible God dwells in them all.” And “[a]s truth can dwell in all worlds at the same instant, therefore, God who is truth can be in all worlds at the same instant.” Orson Pratt, therefore, held that we do not merely worship our Eternal Father; we worship the Truth that dwells within him. If Truth ceased to dwell in God, we would, it seems be obligated to refrain from worshiping Him.[2]

     Contrast Mormonism’s view of God with the classical Christian view. As I use the term, classical Christian theism is the Christianity of the creeds. Classical theists believe that God exists necessarily as God. He resides outside space and time. As such, he is unchanging. He always has been and will never cease to be all powerful, all knowing, and morally perfect. Further, classical theists hold to the doctrine of divine simplicity. This doctrine, in part, teaches that the “attributes” of power, knowledge, and goodness, are not mere add-ons or properties that attach to God. They are an essential part of who He is. He is identical with these properties. Thus, classical Christians worship a being who is essentially and necessarily good, powerful, and wise. As a result, worship of God in classical theism does not depend on God coming to possess certain properties. Unconditional worship is proper as He has been and will always be the type of being who is worthy of worship.

     This contrast between Mormonism and classical Christianity reveals the distinctive theological foundations underlying worship within Mormonism. Several objections could be made to my position. Let me respond to a few. First, some may argue that my depiction of God within the Mormon tradition is inaccurate. Latter-day Saints, the objector may continue, also believe in a God that exists necessarily as God. In response, I note that some respectable scholars take this approach. But it requires a nuanced interpretation of the King Follett Sermon and other texts. For reasons I cannot defend here, I find this objection hard to defend. Joseph really did believe God has not always existed as God. And he really did teach that we too could become as God. To the extent, however, that my view of God in the Mormon tradition is incorrect, my argument above fails. 

     Second, a person could object that my argument leads one to worship not God, but His attributes. This, I believe, is mistaken. To see this, an analogy is needed.[3] When a violinist becomes a virtuoso, we do not focus our respect and honor on the attributes that person has actualized—the property of virtuosity. No. We focus our respect and honor on the violinist. For she is the person who has realized that property.

     Something similar occurs in relation to God. Our worship of God is conditional, depending vitally on his realizing certain character traits. But this does not mean that we worship His attributes. We worship Him. He is, after all, the one who realized these attributes. We laud, praise, adore, honor, respect, and love Him because He became divine. To be sure, if he ceased to be divine, our worship would no longer be proper. But insofar as it is proper, we worship Him, not His attributes. 

     Third, and finally, a person may object that the God of Mormon theism is not worthy of worship at all. This is a criticism made by classical Christians, and I do not have the ability to venture a complete response to it here. I do note, however, that notions of worship worthiness vary between peoples. I find the idea of a God who prepared the way for me to become His peer inspiring. A Christian, in response, may attempt to transform the question of what type of being is worthy of worship into a normative one, arguing that while people differ in what they personally find worship worthy, there is one standard of worship worthiness. This response will, in my judgement, beg the question as it will rest on theological notions of perfection and goodness that I, as a Latter-day Saint, do not share. 

     In the end, Latter-day Saints do worship God. But that worship rests on a different theological foundation than it does for other Christians. Some may find this foundation disturbing. But for the Latter-day Saint, it is nothing more than the proper view of deity—a contingent God who is worthy of our worship because of what he has become.

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     [1] Terryl Givens, in his recent volume Wrestling the Angel, provides a fuller discussion on how Orson Pratt placed the Holy Spirit as the Highest Member of the Godhead. See Terryl Givens, Wrestling the Angel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). p. 126 (noting that for Orson, "the original divine entity was not God the Father; rather, "the Great First Cause itself" consisted of "conscious, intelligent, self-moving particles, called the Holy Spirit."

     [2] Orson Pratt Makes these observations in "The Pre-Existence of Man," published in The Seer, Vol. I, No. 2, February 1853, paragraph 22.

     [3] I borrow this analogy from a wise friend, Benjamin Leto.