Editing Mormonism (section)

===Nature of God===
{{main|God in Mormonism}}

In orthodox Mormonism, the term ''God'' generally refers to the biblical [[God the Father]], whom [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saints]] refer to as ''[[Elohim]]'',<ref name="Davies 2003">{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Douglas J. |author-link=Douglas Davies |year=2003 |chapter=Divine–human transformations |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fw8DIziwEDsC&pg=PA65 |title=An Introduction to Mormonism |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=65–90 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511610028.004 |isbn=978-0-511-61002-8 |oclc=438764483 |s2cid=146238056}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author1=First Presidency|author-link=First Presidency (LDS Church)|author2=Quorum of the Twelve Apostles|author2-link=Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|title=Gospel Classics: The Father and the Son|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/04/the-father-and-the-son?lang=eng|magazine=[[Improvement Era]]|publisher=Intellectual Reserve, Inc.|date=April 2002|access-date=February 10, 2019|archive-date=September 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924201430/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/04/the-father-and-the-son?lang=eng|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="EoM">{{citation |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/God_the_Father |contribution=God the Father |pages=548–552 |author1-last=Robinson |author1-first=Stephen E. |author2-last=Burgon |author2-first=Glade L. |author3-last=Turner |author3-first=Rodney |author4-last=Largey |author4-first=Dennis L. |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |year=1992 |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=0-02-879602-0 |oclc=24502140 |via=[[Harold B. Lee Library]] |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507004350/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/God_the_Father |url-status=live }}</ref> and the term ''Godhead'' refers to a council of three distinct divine persons consisting of God the Father, [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] (his firstborn [[Son of God (Christianity)|Son]], whom Latter Day Saints refer to as ''[[Jehovah]]''), and the [[Holy Spirit (Christian denominational variations)#Latter Day Saints|Holy Ghost]].<ref name="Davies 2003"/><ref name="EoM"/> Latter Day Saints believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct beings, and that the Father and Jesus have perfected, glorified, physical bodies, while the Holy Ghost is a spirit without a physical body.<ref name="Davies 2003"/><ref name="Mason 2015">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Mason |author-first=Patrick Q. |author-link=Patrick Q. Mason |date=2015 |title=Mormonism |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-75 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.75 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |doi-access=free |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130060403/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-75 |archive-date=November 30, 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{citation |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Godhead |contribution=Godhead |pages=552–553 |last=Dahl |first=Paul E. |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |year=1992 |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=0-02-879602-0 |oclc=24502140 |via=[[Harold B. Lee Library]] |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=May 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512223038/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Godhead |url-status=live }}</ref> Latter Day Saints also believe that there are other gods and goddesses outside the Godhead, such as a [[Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)|Heavenly Mother]]—who is married to God the Father—and that faithful Latter-day Saints may attain godhood in the afterlife.<ref>{{citation |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Godhood |contribution=Godhood |pages=553–555 |last=Carter |first=K. Codell |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |year=1992 |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=0-02-879602-0 |oclc=24502140 |via=[[Harold B. Lee Library]] |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=May 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509152103/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Godhood |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Joseph Smith]] taught that God was once a man on another planet before being [[Exaltation (Mormonism)|exalted]] to Godhood.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-47-exaltation?lang=eng|title=Gospel Principles Chapter 47: Exaltation|website=ChurchofJesusChrist.org|access-date=October 17, 2017|archive-date=January 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112212746/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-47-exaltation?lang=eng|url-status=live}}</ref>

This conception differs from the traditional Christian [[Trinity]] in several ways, one of which is that Mormonism has not adopted or continued to hold the doctrine of the [[Nicene Creed]], that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are of the [[Homoousion|same substance]] or being.<ref name="Davies 2003"/> Also, Mormonism teaches that the intelligence dwelling in each human is coeternal with God.<ref>{{citation |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Premortal_Life |contribution=Premortal Life |pages=1123–1125 |last=Brown |first=Gayle O. |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |year=1992 |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=0-02-879602-0 |oclc=24502140 |via=[[Harold B. Lee Library]] |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=May 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509062022/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Premortal_Life |url-status=live }}</ref> Mormons use the term ''omnipotent'' to describe God, and regard him as the creator: they understand him as being almighty and eternal but subject to eternal natural law which governs intelligences, justice and the eternal nature of matter (i.e. God organized the world but did not create it from nothing).<ref>{{citation |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Omnipotent_God;_Omnipresence_of_God;_Omniscience_of_God |contribution=Omnipotent God; Omnipresence of God; Omniscience of God |page=1030 |last=Paulsen |first=David L. |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |year=1992 |title=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |isbn=0-02-879602-0 |oclc=24502140 |via=[[Harold B. Lee Library]] |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=May 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513142627/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Omnipotent_God;_Omnipresence_of_God;_Omniscience_of_God |url-status=live }}</ref> The Mormon conception of God also differs substantially from the [[Mormonism and Judaism#The nature of God|Jewish tradition]] of [[ethical monotheism]] in which ''[[Elohim#Hebrew Bible|elohim]]'' ({{lang|he|אֱלֹהִים}}) is a completely different conception.

This description of God represents the Mormon [[orthodoxy]], formalized in 1915 based on earlier teachings. Other currently existing and historical branches of Mormonism have adopted different views of god, such as the [[Adam–God doctrine]] and Trinitarianism.{{cn|date=February 2025}}