"God is a Spirit" and Other Objections

On my second night in the Missionary Training Center we had a branch meeting.  At one point during the meeting the branch president turned to John 4:24, which says that God is a spirit.  This is a common scripture raised by contacts and investigators and the branch president was about to teach us something.  He called on us to answer and one of the sisters in the branch turned to Genesis 1:26-27, which says we were created in God’s image.  The branch president replied that he believed we were in God’s image but that God did not have a body.

I then raised my hand and turned to Genesis 5:3, which has the same wording as Genesis 1:26-27 in describing when Adam begat Seth.  I, of course, had been taught in eight months of missionary prep to answer this challenge with Genisis 5:3.  The branch president was not expecting my response and was not able to refute it – score one for the missionary prep program of the Bountiful Central Stake.

The branch president recovered and shifted gears by suggesting that we should read more into John 4:24: “They that worship him must worship him in spirit.”  Then the branch president asked, “Must we step out of our bodies to worship?”

I think what I learned from this is to think about these kinds of challenges and concerns logically.  Consider also John 17 where Jesus offers the intercessory prayer for the 12 Apostles as well as those would accept their teachings.  The Savior prayed that the twelve would become one, even as He and the Father are one. "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." How can 12 individuals become one?  How can men become one with God?

Often when answering the concerns of those we teach what we are really seeking to do is open their minds.  When I used John 17 one day to answer the concern of a gentleman we had tracted into he responded by saying that he would look more into it.  While he did not become one of our investigators that day, it is entirely possible that a seed was planted that would someday bear fruit.

Probably the challenge raised most often to LDS missionaries is a verse in Revelations which says that man cannot add to the revelations given to John.  This passage is used to argue that the Book of Mormon cannot be true because "man cannot add to the Bible."  I had been out on my mission for about a year, and had heard this challenge many times, when it suddenly hit me that if the Book or Mormon is what it claims to be, then it was God who gave it to us, not man.  Surely God can do whatever he wishes to, and if he chooses to give us more of his word, then certainly he can do so.  The passage in Revelations does not say that God cannot or will not give us more of his word..

Still, I found that I had to be very clear and make sure that the contact or investigator understood that it was God doing the adding, and not man, in this scenario.  Of course most people who raised the issue of that verse in Revelations were not persuaded by my response.  They had the Bible and, as far as they were concerned, they did not need more of God's word.  I confess that I don't really understand the complacency demonstrated here.  If you love something, wouldn't you want more of it?  If you love the word of God, would you not want more of His word?

Presidents of the LDS Church, particularly President Ezra Taft Benson, have taught that we will not get more of God's word (for example, the sealed portion of the Gold Plates) until we make proper use of the word we have already received.  Therefore we need to study the scripture, with emphasis on the Book of Mormon, as well as teach out of the Book of Mormon and to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon.  If a prospective missionary has not yet read the Book of Mormon they should start doing so immediately.  Those who have read the Book of Mormon should consider reading it again before they enter the MTC.