Seminary President Responds to Criticism

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from the Journal of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, a Mormon lay organization, dated November 22, 2004, with a title “Response from Richard Mouw—To all who are disturbed by my comment at the tabernacle, I am pasting below the text of my actual comments at the tabernacle event. The critical concerns raised are three-fold, and I will offer at least an attempt at clarification regarding each. Some of this will be a repeat of specific things I have already written to some of you.

“First, some folks have asked who the ‘we’ is that I apologized on behalf of, when I said that ‘we evangelicals have sinned against Mormons by bearing false witness against them.’

“I certainly did not mean to imply that every evangelical has sinned, in this regard. Suppose I were to address an African-American gathering, and say that we whites have sinned against you blacks. Who would deny that this is a correct assessment? But who would think that I was speaking about, and on behalf of, all white people?

“There is no question in my mind that there has been a discernable pattern of sinning against LDS folks in this regard. I could show, for example, how Walter Martin oversimplified Mormon teachings in his much-read books.

“But, here is an obvious example of more recent vintage. When Dave Hunt writes a whole book whose main thesis is that Mormonism is satanic in its inspiration and practice, I think this is bearing false witness.

“On a more technical point, I have received emails in the past few days, where evangelicals have said that Mormonism teaches that God was once a human being like us, and we can become gods just like God now is. Mormon leaders have specifically stated that such a teaching, while stated by past leaders, is something they don’t understand, and has no functioning place in present-day Mormon doctrine.

“Bob Millet has made the same point to many of us, and Steven Robinson insisted in the book he co-authored with Craig Blomberg that this is not an official Mormon teaching, even though it can be found in non-canonical Mormon writings. The Ostlings and their book on Mormonism reported that Mormon leaders insist on the idea that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and much unlike what we are, or could ever be, is more accurate than the simple notion that we are all becoming gods, like God the Father is.

“A number of LDS writers have been formulating the ‘becoming God’ theme, in terms that are common in Eastern Orthodoxy; that ‘we shall be like Him,’ in the sense of 1 John, but that we will never ‘be’ Him.”

Tom: Dave, we can get into this Mormon revisionism for whatever motives, but I’m impressed that it’s actually you and Walter Martin that he’s apologizing to the…you know…among some others, obviously. But, you’re the ones that are named, that he’s apologizing to the Mormon people for.

Dave: Well, Tom, a number of things here—now, I know we don’t have much time. I would like to know, first of all, specifically what I ever said [in] any book or any writing about the Mormons that is not true.

Now, as to writing an entire book showing that it’s satanic in its inspiration and practice—well, where does it come from? If it doesn’t come from Satan, then it came from Joseph Smith’s imagination. And, maybe we don’t want to give Satan too much credit for this, because Joseph Smith had a lot to do with this, as well. He was a cheat….

Tom: He had a wild imagination.

Dave: …he was a fraud, a liar, and manipulator, and so forth. But, now, we come down to this thing about gods. We offer a book called The God Makers. We offer the video The God Makers. Now, I would ask Richard Mouw, “What is the purpose of the Mormon temples that they’re building everywhere on this earth?” To become gods—that is the goal, the ambition of every Mormon. You can’t say, “Oh, this was stated by some of these past leaders. Joseph Smith—that was one of his biggest sermons that he ever preached. This is the goal of Mormonism.

Now, to relegate that to the past, as a delusion, or not an official Mormon doctrine any more, is just absurd. This is the function of all of the Mormon temples that they are building around the world! What is the purpose to get baptized for the dead, trace your lineage back to Adam, be baptized and married for all of your past ancestors, to go through these rituals, to learn how to become a god? If this is not Mormonism, then what are these temples about? And, to say, well, yes, but Bob Millet, you know, and Blomberg, and people like this, they say, “Well, we don’t really understand this, and this is really not official any more.” He is relying on people who are trying to make excuses for Mormonism.

Tom: Right.

Dave: But, we know what Mormonism is. Mormons know what Mormonism is. You ask any Mormon missionary who comes to your door, what is, ultimately, your goal? Why do you go to the temple? Are you a Temple Mormon? What is this all about? Isn’t it to become, ultimately, a god; to have your own planet? There’s going to be another Jesus, another Lucifer, another fall, another Adam and Eve, another cross, one eternal round. Isn’t this what you are aiming for? And they will, if you pin them down, ultimately, they will say, yes, that’s what it’s all about.

Tom: Now Dave, this man, Richard Mouw, he’s the head of Fuller Theological Seminar, which, by the way…one of the leaders in the ecumenical movement…one of the leaders in church growth, based on ecumenism—let me quote you from the address that he gave.

He says. “I know that I have learned much in this continuing dialogue.” He’s been in a dialogue with Mormons for quite a long time now. “And I am now convinced that we evangelicals have often seriously misrepresented the beliefs and practices of the Mormon community. Indeed, let me state it bluntly to the LDS folks here this evening, we have sinned against you. The God of the Scriptures makes it clear that that is a terrible thing to bear false witness against our neighbors, and we have been guilty of that sort of transgression in things we have said about you.”

Now, finishing up his talk of friendship, he states, “In just a month and a half, we will greet the year 2005, which marks the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith. During this year there will be many occasions to pay special attention to Joseph’s life and teachings, and I hope many in the evangelical community will take part in those events.” Wow!

Dave: Well, why would you go back and pay attention to Joseph’s life and teachings, if that no longer is the current thinking in Mormonism, and it doesn’t hold true any more? It was Joseph Smith who said, “We become gods, that’s the goal.” And who said, “God was once a man.” Now, you cannot escape it, and Richard Mouw is either not being honest, or he’s being very naïve in order not to offend Mormons. But in the process, he is misleading Mormons by encouraging them to accept their false salvation.