Doctrine & Theology
Doctrine & Theologyinfinite regressionfirst causeking follettheavenly father

Infinite Regression of Gods

If God the Father had a Father, doesn’t that mean an infinite chain of gods and no First Cause?

Bible

They quote this

Bible · Isaiah 43:10

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

NRSVUE

You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

Our explanation

They hang a chain on Isaiah. The verse is Israel’s Lord with no rival idol — not a King Follett footnote.

How we read it

They hang a chain on Isaiah. The verse is Israel’s Lord with no rival idol — not a King Follett footnote. Keep reading. The rest of the Bible is still in the room.

The Bible answers

Bible · 1 Corinthians 8:6

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

NRSVUE

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Our explanation

To us there is but one God, the Father. That is who we pray to, chain or no chain.

Bible · John 5:19

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version

The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

NRSVUE

The Son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.

Our explanation

The Son does what He sees the Father do. That is the King Follett verse. It does not settle the hallway.

Modern Revelation

Doctrine and Covenants 121:32

According to that which was ordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was, that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof, when every man shall enter into his eternal presence and into his immortal rest.

Our explanation

The Eternal God of all other gods. Canon has a Head. The chain is the extra inference.

Abraham 3:19

These two facts exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.

Our explanation

I am more intelligent than they all. The God of this world is not one turtle in a stack.

Doctrine and Covenants 132:20

Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue.

Our explanation

Then shall they be gods. Exaltation is the doctrine. The infinite past is not in the verse.

Faithful answers

FAIR

Infinite regress of Gods

FAIR Latter-day Saints

Not doctrine. Not a baptismal interview. Not a temple recommend question. FAIR lays out the live faithful readings and leaves them live. One: Joseph in the King Follett Discourse and the Sermon in the Grove (the Father did what His Father had done) plus Lorenzo Snow’s couplet extended into a chain. Strongest case: that is a straightforward reading of Joseph’s last weeks of teaching. Two: no chain — the Father is the Head God of all other gods (D&C 121:32), Blake Ostler’s monarchical reading, the couplet about mortality and exaltation not genealogy. Strongest case: that is what the Standard Works actually say. Three: we have not been told. President Hinckley said we accept the couplet, do not completely understand it, and do not emphasize it. Strongest case: living prophets have not bound a cosmology here. All three stay inside the Church. The cartoon of a pagan infinite tortoise-stack is none of them. We still pray to the Father of Jesus Christ.

Speculation is allowed. A required infinite chain is not. No hymn, ordinance, or missionary lesson makes you pick.

  • Chain reading: King Follett + Sermon in the Grove. Possible. Not canon.
  • No-chain reading: D&C 121:32, Abraham 3:19, Ostler. Possible. Closer to the books we sustain.
  • Default: we have not been told. Hinckley already said that out loud.
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Gospel Topics Essays

Becoming Like God

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

What is set in stone: we may become like the Father through Christ — joint-heirs, not rivals. His identity as our God does not get replaced if His children grow. The essay will not draw you a family tree behind the Father. That silence is the point. Fill it with a theory if you want. Do not call the theory the gospel.

Latter-day Saints believe that God’s children will always worship Him. Progression does not dethrone the Father.

  • Exaltation is the doctrine. The chain is a maybe.
  • King Follett is a funeral sermon. See that page for the couplet. This page is the chain they infer from it.
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Further reading

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