Replies

The Son IS the flesh and bones THAT the Father DWELLS in.

The fact that your organization claims that the Father has a flesh and bones body, separate from the Son’s flesh and bones body, shows error in their very foundation. They are denying the words of Christ, John, and Paul.

No, what it denies is your interpretation of those scriptures.

The Father and Son are one in purpose.

On the cross Jesus proclaimed:

Mark 15:34
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

This alone is undeniable proof that the Father and Son are two different and separate people. If not, how could one forsake the other?

Stephen looked into heaven and saw God sitting on His throne and Jesus standing at His right hand.

John 17:
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Jesus wants His Apostles to share the same relationship as Jesus does with His Father. One in purpose and mind.

God showed Himself to Joseph Smith in order to clear up these false concepts of God that have come from the imaginations of men. Therefore we don't have to debate the subject. God has a body, Joseph saw it.

Heavenly Father is the literal Father of our spirits. He is not mystical or magical. We are made in His image. Children grow up to be like their parents. Jesus took His body up and went to our Father and so can it be with us.

**No, what it denies is your interpretation of those scriptures.**

No, they are denying the words of Jesus Christ: “..Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape”. Jn 5:37.

They are denying the words of John: “No man hath seen God at any time”. Jn 1:18; 1Jn 4:12

They are denying the words of Paul, who said that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God”. Col. 1:15

They are denying the words of the writer of Hebrews, speaking of Moses: “for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible”. Heb. 11:27

All of those quotes are from testamonies WRITTEN well AFTER Stephen witnessed seeing Jesus Christ “standing on the right hand of God”.

The ‘right hand’ is symbolic of the power of God. Jesus Christ said that ALL POWER is GIVEN him “in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). Think that that is my private interpretation?....read the ‘right hand’ usage in the OT; the same OT scriptures that Stephen AND the Pharisees were VERY familiar with:

“thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: the right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.” Ex. 15:6

“Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.” Ex 15:12

“Shew thy marvelous loving kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.’ Ps. 17:7 (there are a lot of ‘right hand’ passages in Psalms).

“That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm...”. Isa. 63:12

**The Father and Son are one in purpose.**

Read this reeeeeelly slow: “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been SO LONG WITH YOU, and yet HAST THOU NOT KNOWN ME, Philip? he that hath seen me HATH seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou NOT that I am IN the Father, and the Father IN me? the words I speak unto you I speak NOT of myself: but the Father that DWELLETH IN ME, HE doeth the works.” Jn 14:8-10

**Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
This alone is undeniable proof that the Father and Son are two different and separate people. If not, how could one forsake the other?**

God the Father (a Spirit. see Jn 4:24. defined by the ONE who would know better than Joseph Smith EVER could), dwelled in Jesus Christ, took his power from him so that he WOULD die.

Otherwise, the same Spirit that multiplied the loaves and fishes, and turned water into wine, could have kept an endless supply of blood flowing through his body, and tissues reparing themselves endlessly as well. Do you believe that God could have done that if he had so desired?

**Stephen looked into heaven and saw God sitting on His throne and Jesus standing at His right hand.**

You added: “sitting on his throne”. That helps your interpretation, in an inaccurate fashion.

**God showed Himself to Joseph Smith in order to clear up these false concepts of God that have come from the imaginations of men. Therefore we don’t have to debate the subject. God has a body, Joseph saw it.**

Joseph Smith was a false prophet, and saw no such thing. Yes, that my opinion. But, the whole of the scriptures tell the facts.

Thanks for the reply, though!