Denial Adam-God Was Taught

As we consider Brigham Young's claim that Adam is God, it becomes clear that he was a false, uninspired prophet. This teaching not only runs counter to what has been revealed in the Bible, but it is also branded as false doctrine in modern Mormonism. LDS Apostle Mark E. Petersen, one of Mormonism's doctrinal authorities, stated:

Some dissidents would have us believe that Adam is our God and that we have nothing to do with any other God, which, on the face of it, is ridiculous. To say that Adam is God is, of course, opposed utterly and completely to the scriptures as well as to our Articles of faith,.(13)

Spencer W. Kimball, Mormon Prophet, also denounced the teaching that Adam is God:

We warn you against the dissemination of doctrines which are not according to the scriptures and which are alleged to have been taught by some of the General Authorities... Such, for instance is the Adam-God theory. We denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this and other kinds of false doctrine (14).

These and most other Mormon General Authorities, while denouncing the doctrine that Adam is God, avoid or deny the fact that Brigham Young himself was the major exponent of this doctrine. In his book, _Adam_Who_Is_He?_, Mark E. Petersen tries to rescue Mormonism's second prophet from teaching false doctrine by maintaining that Brigham Young was misquoted in the address in question. On pages 16-17 of his book, Petersen sets forth as evidence for his defense as reference in which C. C. Rich supposedly stated that Brigham was misquoted in this sermon. Petersen claims that Rich was present on the ninth of April and was therefor in a position to note the misquotation which later crept into the published account of the discourse:

Elder Charles C. Rich, of the Council of the Twelve, was present on a day when President Young gave an address that was wrongly reported as saying that Adam was Deity. In the copy of the Journal of Discourses that he had, Elder Rich referred to the misquotations as it appears in the Journal of Discourses,and in his own hand he wrote the following as the correct statement made by President Young: "Jesus our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character who talked with Adam in the Garden of eden, and who is our heavenly Father." (This signed statement is in the hands of the Church Historian.) Some of the reporters at the Tabernacle in those days were not as skill as others, and admittedly made mistakes, such as the misquotation of President Young as above, which was corrected by Brother Rich and which has caused some persons in the Church to go astray. The erroneously reported statement has been mistakenly made to read: "Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the Garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven." (JD, 1:51) On the face of it the mistake is obvious and was quickly noted by Elder Rich, who was present and heard the sermon. Hence the correction that he made.

What seems to be a good case made by Petersen crumbles, however, upon cross examination. C. C. Rich, who Petersen claims "was present and heard the sermon," was in reality not even in Salt Lake City on that day! Rich left San Bernardino, California, on March 24, 1852, for the Great Salt Lake (15). He did not reach his destination until April 21. Under this date, the LDS Journal History records:

April 21, 1852: Elder Chas. C. Rich and thirteen others arrived today in G.S.L. from California (16).

In the May 1, 1852, issue of the Mormon _Deseret_Weekly_ the following announcement was made:

Elder C. C. Rich arrived on Wednesday, the 21 of April, in company with 13 others...direct from San Bernardino (17).

Hosea Stout, in his journal, also noted the event:

Wednesday 21st April 1852 Engaged as yesterday. Gen Rich and some 15 others arrived today from California by the South rout all well.

Furthermore, not only was C. C. Rich absent on the ninth, but the reference which Petersen claims was written by C. C. Rich "in his own hand" was in reality written and signed by his son, Ben E. Rich, many years after the sermon was delivered! (18).

Whether Mr. Petersen was deliberately seeking to suppress the facts or not, the truth is that there is no evidence whatsoever that Brigham Young was misquoted. As we shall see, Young came under much criticism from outside and from within the Mormon Church for teaching that Adam was God the Father. If he had merely been misquoted, Brigham simply could have corrected his hearers and accusers. Instead, however, Young continued to affirm and preach this doctrine against all opposition (19).

These facts have forced other Mormon writers to maintain that Brigham was quoted correctly, but that he has been misinterpreted by his hearers and readers. Realizing the implications of one of their prophets teaching false doctrine on such an essential matter as who God is, these LDS apologists insist that Brigham Young did not mean to say that Adam was deity. Characteristic of this argument are the following statements made by the tenth Mormon President, Joseph Fielding Smith:

In discussing the statement by President Brigham Young that the Father of Jesus Christ is the same character who was in the garden of Eden, I maintain that President Young was not referring to Adam, but to God the Father, who created Adam, for he was in the garden of Eden, and according to Mormon doctrine Adam was in his presence constantly, walked with him, talked with him and the Father taught Adam his language. It was not until the fall, that the Father departed from Adam and from the Garden of Eden (20).

In regard to Brigham's statement that Jesus was begotten by "the First of the human family", Smith states that this is referring to the God and creator of Adam, who was the "first of the human family", being its "progenitor" (21).

Brigham's statement that Adam is "our Father and our God and the only God with whom we have to do" is interpreted to mean that Adam, being the first man, is the patriarchal head of the human race, and in this regard he could be considered a god. In no way would these later Mormon writer believe that Brigham is identifying Adam as God their heavenly Father and the Father of Jesus in the flesh. (22).