Central Issues Raised by the Church in Grappling with the Adam-God Doctrine

Wayne N. Reeves

I have been reading the article from Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought by David John Buerger. The purpose of the article that I write here is to consider some preliminary issues before analyzing this article and to examining its implications.

But rather than arguing for or against the Doctrine (or "theory" as some would call it), I would just like to point out the obvious dichotomies and oxymorons that this Doctrine has created in Church History, no matter how you view this controversial issue.

First, Brother Buerger establishes that Brigham Young, in fact, did teach this doctrine, albeit it was not generally well received by Church Membership nor by a portion of General Authorities contemporary to Brother Brigham's time. This is directly contradictory of what Joseph Fielding Smith had to say in his book, Doctrines of Salvation, where he expresses the view that Brigham Young was misquoted and never taught any such doctrine. It would seem that Brother Smith was either misinformed about the matter, or he was telling something he would be unable to defend in a Court of Law. Assuming that it was the latter option, I can only assume that he felt that the Ends justified the Means, meaning that to lie about what Brigham Young actually said justified the Ends of keeping the Church members, "safe from apostasy" as he defined the term.

Second, if Brigham Young did actually teach false doctrine, then it destroys the idea that "the prophet can never lead the Saints astray", as it is readily apparent, that in explaining the nature of God, Brigham Young badly missed the mark. The Scriptures teach that "this is life eternal, to know thee, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." Thus, Brigham Young, by teaching very plainly the Adam-God Doctrine, was by, operation of logic, teaching the Saints something that would NOT lead them to life eternal. Following this logic further, this would make Brigham Young a false prophet and the whole Restoration movement a failure, and Mormonism a dead letter, during his administration. I believe enemies to the Church and anti-Mormons, bent on destroying the story of Mormonism and the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel, apply such logic.

Thirdly, even if you say, "well, what Brigham Young taught, has been corrected 'by the Lord' through 'other servants'", you must still conclude that what was taught over the Pulpit by him, regarding the Adam-God Doctrine was incorrect and false doctrine. Even if it was "corrected" later, it begs the question:

"If the Second Prophet of this Dispensation could be 'wrong' about some doctrine or policy, could the Current Living Prophet also be subject to error as well? And if he does err, what is our responsibility in light of the error we perceive he has committed?"

It is interesting to note that Orson Pratt took strong exception to the President of the Church, and publicly disagreed with him. Yet, he retained his calling as an Apostle and of course, his membership in the Church. This is not what happens in the Modern Church today. Orson Pratt disagreed with Brigham Young, and President Young allowed Brother Pratt the freedom to have his own opinions and to even express those opinions publicly, without sanction or punishment. If Orson Pratt had been the Prophet and Brigham Young the Apostle, I believe that the same pattern would have held sway. However, in today's Church, if I hold to Orson Pratt's views on Adam-God, which were, in turn, adopted by Joseph F. Smith and then Joseph Fielding Smith, down until today, I will be considered in "good standing" in the Church. Holding to the Prophet Brigham Young's views on the matter, and those who followed his line of reasoning down until the present time, and I am excommunicated. There has been a changing standard on how to deal with this issue in favor of greater repression and control, which causes discussion of the issue to be silenced or muted, and to remain shrouded in Darkness. The lies which say that Brigham Young NEVER taught such a Doctrine, and that it was a creation of Church enemies, even adds more confusion to the issue. Many, upon discovering what the Prophet Brigham Young really did say, and finding that current Church Leaders have attempted to cover up the controversy, grow suspicious, and eventually reject Mormonism, believing our enemies' claims that Mormonism has been a fraud from the beginning.

It is time we come face to face with the issue and answer the questions without prevarication and slipshod cover up work, which usually backfires in the long run, in favor of our enemies. If the Doctrine is true, then Brigham Young was a True Prophet. If it is false, he is a false prophet, and the Church's Doctrine, "that the Prophet can NEVER lead you astray" goes out the window. Then, we must seriously consider the possibility that the claims of our enemies regarding Mormonism's foundation are correct and what we have is another fraudulent religion. This religion then becomes a religion NOT with the Fullness of Truth, but with many wonderful truths and programs, the result of many decades of distillations of the speculations and thoughts and ideas of Men who were groping to find answers to the major theological questions of their day, but fell short of the full measure of the Truth that would have answered their questions. We have a religion, then made of "the philosophies of men" mingled with scripture, the Adam-God Doctrine being one of those "philosophies of men" which contradicts the scripture and which has finally been discarded in favor of the Scriptures.

As a side note, however, I find it interesting that as a Church member, you can just about believe anything you want. You can believe in communism, socialism, or in nazi-ism. You can believe in birth control and even have an abortion, provided you qualify under the Church's policy and have such an abortion "cleared" by your Bishop. You can believe that abortion is an effective way for population control. You can believe in homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle, provided you are not "sexually active" yourself. You can believe in divorce as a way to rid yourself of a "difficult marriage". You can believe that your children should watch "R" rated movies, or receive "sex education" in the schools. You can allow your children to read pornographic materials on the Web or in "dirty" magazines. All these things, you can do. You can even smoke, drink, and drink coffee and tea, and not pay your tithing and not actively attend your meetings. All these things, which will bring "death" to your soul, are allowed in the Church today as a matter of allowing people to make mistakes and still be Church Members.. Yet, if you profess a belief in the Adam-God Doctrine as taught by that Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, Brigham Young, this is grounds for excommunication or for blocking your re-entry back into the Church. It seems so ridiculous, that if I agree with Orson Pratt, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Bruce R. McConkie, I can remain "a member in good standing". If I agree with Brigham Young, Franklin D. Richards, and Eliza R. Snow, then I must be ostracized through the process of excommunication. To me, the dichotomy and the judgements rendered by Church Leaders against those who believe in Brigham Young's doctrine, on this issue border on the absurd.

As you review the "Church disciplinary action" take against Church members for just believing in this doctrine, you can't help but come to the conclusion that "orthodoxy is being enforced" with the threat of ostracism from the society of the LDS Church. Church disciplinary councils frequently forget that the one on trial for his belief in this doctrine, did not "make up the Doctrine"... i.e., it is not a "creation" of some charlatan rogue, bent on destroying the Church by spreading pernicious false doctrine...nor is it the "creation" of "cultists" as some Church Leaders would have you believe. Such forced orthodoxy was an anathema to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and is contrary to the very spirit of Mormonism, which used to invite the free investigation and exploration of such issues. Yet, this forced orthodoxy brings the full brunt of its power against those who profess a belief in this Doctrine, by total ostracism, which makes the "guilty party" wondering what he is guilty of, as he sits silently Sunday after Sunday, and is encouraged "to repent", so "he can regain his membership in the Church."

Bruce R. McConkie, in a 1980 talk he gave at the BYU, pretty much summed up the Church's current position:

"Heresy six: There are those who believe or say they believe that Adam is our father and our god, that he is the father of our spirits and our bodies, and that he is the one we worship.

The devil keeps this heresy alive as a means of obtaining converts to cultism. It is contrary to the whole plan of salvation set forth in the scriptures, and anyone who has read the Book of Moses, and anyone who has received the temple endowment, has no excuse whatever for being led astray by it. Those who are so ensnared reject the living prophet and close their ears to the apostles of their day. "We will follow those who went before," they say. And having so determined, they soon are ready to enter polygamous relationships that destroy their souls.

We worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and Adam is their foremost servant, by whom the peopling of our planet was commenced. "

What Bruce R. McConkie is saying here, is that Brigham Young was a cultist and taught that which is contrary to the whole plan of salvation. He says that Brigham Young and those who believed what Brigham Young taught have "been lead astray by this doctrine, in spite of reading the Book of Moses and having received the Temple Endowment." He calls Brigham Young's polygamous relationships "soul destroying." Perhaps, we should not follow "those who went before", but I sincerely believe that we should at least reconcile what they taught with "the living prophet and the apostles of our day," else our religion becomes a "moving target" and the Celestial Kingdom is quite a confused place. I feel quite sure that if Brigham Young were to return to this generation as a regular Church Member, he would quickly and summarily have a Disciplinary Court which would unchurch him, for what he publicly professed during his life. Perhaps, if he were to return, he would have discovered his "false teachings" while dead, and would now be of a mind to conform his beliefs to current Church Doctrine. Knowing that he is alive, albeit, in the Spirit World, as a living spirit, I wonder what he would tell us if he could. If he taught us false doctrine, then he ought to be located in that same place where all the other "false" teachers of the Gospel reside, in the Spirit Prison awaiting the Truth to be taught to them. And assuming that Brigham Young has now accepted the Truth that is now proclaimed by the Modern Church, he is probably in Paradise, attempting to undo the damage he has done. But that is not what Bruce R. McConkie says of Brother Brigham. He seems to believe that in spite of believing and teaching this "heresy" publicly, he has still gone on to the Fullness of His Glory in the Celestial Kingdom, for the great things that he did in advancing the cause of the Kingdom. Yet, if I believe the same doctrine I am dammed as an "apostate" and a "cultist" and am cut off from the blessings of the Gospel, because of this belief. Forgive me, if I seem confused.

But I return to the Central Question: "If Brigham Young taught False Doctrine, then is he not a False Prophet?" Has not Bruce R. McConkie by his very words undercut and destroyed one of the key men who is a foundation stone of this "revolution" which the world calls Mormonism?

And if Brigham Young erred and you can explain it away, then can you not at least say that his public discourses as well as the Temple Endowment which taught Adam-God, establish a precedent which flies in the face of the "prophet-cannot-lead-you-astray" doctrine?

When Adam, in the Lone and Dreary World, made the statement, in describing the False Doctrine that the false minister attempted to teach him: "To me, it is a mass of confusion...", he described well the controversy over the Adam-God Doctrine that has persisted since the day that Brigham Young first introduced the Doctrine. Mainstream Mormons who attempt to grapple with the Doctrine as well as the paradoxes in history that it created, no matter how you view the Doctrine, find themselves going North and South at the same time. They find that they are saying one thing, which totally disagrees with something else they believe, at the same time. It is an oxymoron of the first order, and yet, we are expected, as Church Members to look at the color red and say we see white, or else be unchurched for seeing the obvious and making a direct statement to that effect.

As a Protestant Christian, it was just this sort of oxymoronic reasoning by the Ministers who I questioned, which made me seek for something better, which eventually lead me to embrace Mormonism. As I rejected such contorted explanations by the Protestant Ministers then, so I reject the contorted explanations of Modern Church Leaders now, and say, "I can see the Sandwich in front of my eyes, but where is the 'beef'?" And the beef is this: THE TRUTH. Not this speculation by one Bishop and another by an Apostle speaking before a large congregation at BYU and yet another explanation by yet another Church official, and finally lies and half-truths which seem to indicate that Brigham Young never taught the Doctrine in the first place. What I seek is the Truth, and to date, the Church has been unwilling or unable to provide the Truth, of what this whole Adam-God Doctrine is really all about. I am left to figure it out for myself, with this threat hanging over my head: "Come to the 'correct' conclusion, no matter how you get there, with lots of missing pieces, or we will not extend to you, the benefits and blessings of Full Fellowship in our Church." I feel, rather, to side with the Prophet Joseph Smith, who said a man is not a bad man, because he errs in doctrine, nor should a man be tried for his membership, based on what he believes. The Savior I know and love would never condemn a man for what he believes, but would rather patiently teach him or wait forebearingly for him to finally understand the untruths which he has incorporated into his belief system. And for that reason, I am not at all worried if a man should believe the Adam-God Doctrine, and it turns out that it is false.

But here is the Final Key, to discovering the Truth for yourself. You study it out in your mind. You see if the Doctrine fits into the whole "scheme" or Truth of Mormonism. We are taught in the Temple, that "all Truth can be circumscribed into One Great Whole". Thus, we are given a Key of How to discern if a Doctrine or Concept that is presented to us, is Truth. If our thinking is clouded because we place our loyalties to the Church ahead of the possibility that we might discover a Truth which will put our loyalty into question, OR if we FEAR the consequences of learning something that might violate our traditions or our sensibilities, then we cannot get any other answer from our studies than that which we have deigned to receive we when we first embarked on the study. I fear that with most supposed Scholars of the Gospel, who place their Church loyalties above all else, this is their situation. And as one views the Current Theology as accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Adam-God Doctrine does not fit.

However, if a man will free himself from any pre-conceived loyalties or ideas and will wipe away his fear of the consequences of what he might discover, then his mind is open to find out for himself The Key of Knowledge that unwinds the whole mess, and creates order in his understanding, where chaos ruled supreme before, as outlined above. For the True Gospel can circumscribed into one great whole. All of the pieces do fit snugly together and there is no division, if one has the Key to unlock the mystery. Unfortunately, this Key does not fit into the current Church Orthodoxy. It only fits into the Fullness of Truth that was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. And it was to that End, that Brigham Young dedicated his life.

Wayne N. Reeves
Certified Public Accountant
"Taking Care of Your Tax Problems"

From: "Wayne N. Reeves" tacksman@sisna.com
Subject: Re: [aub-l] The Central Issue of the Church's Refutation of The Adam-God Doctrine

>I sure have enjoyed reading your posts. One of them… struck 
>an especially responsive chord within me. 
>I wonder if you would mind if I include it on my web site at:
>http://www.absalom.com/mormon/ponder.html 

I did an editing job on this article... let me send you the edited job…
Hey, thanks... that vote of confidence felt good.
Wayne

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