Hello,

I have a question about the Mormon belief that God is “all-powerful” and “all knowing”. How can a being who is actively engaged in eternal progress by definition be in possession of “all-power” and “all knowledge”, since no limit is implied by the terms.

Chelsea from Melbourne, Australia

Dear Chelsea,

All the information that we have about God is given to us in the Holy Scriptures and in the words of his prophets. We always get into trouble if you use man’s logic to challenge what the scriptures say. For instance, our finite minds cannot comprehend the concept of eternity, nor even the related mathematical term, infinity. So it very dangerous to judge God by the little we know.

We read in the Book of Mormon,

O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it (2 Nephi 9:20).

That is the unchallenged fact. God is also both omniscient and all powerful, according to the words of Nephi—

But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen. (1 Ne 9:6)

And we learn again from the Doctrine and Covenants that God is all powerful—

Behold, and hearken unto the voice of him who has all power, who is from everlasting to everlasting, even Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. (D&C 61:1)

The manner is which God progresses is succinctly given by Elder Goaslind, of the First Quorum of Seventy in the Mormon Church, as follows—

“The life of God, the eternal, exalted life we all seek is inherently concerned with the salvation of souls. It is the work and glory of God to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39.) It is by bringing about the conditions necessary for the salvation of his children that God glorifies himself, progresses, and expands his dominions. (See D&C 132:31.)” (Elder Jack H Goaslind, Jr., “Our Responsibility to Take the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth,” Ensign, November 1983, p.32)

Gramps