Lectures - Joseph Smith's Redefinition of God

Just a view months before his death, Joseph Smith announced: “God Himself who sits enthroned in yonder heavens is a Man like unto one of yourselves — that is the great secret!” Fifteen years earlier, when dictating the Book of Mormon, Smith had espoused a trinitarian view of God. Likewise Smith’s earliest account of his “First Vision” of Christ fit into a kind of “Born Again” experience common to contemporary Christian revivals. The later version of the story that describes “two distinct personages,” reflects Smith’s later theological speculation, which seems to reject Western monotheism itself. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at Smith’s Nauvoo-era redefinition of God and its theological implications. A Q&A and discussion will follow the presentation. Please send your questions on the live chat. #lecture #cofchrist #lds