Jesus Christ/Divinity without a body

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Question

Critics charge that since LDS doctrine teaches that a body is required for exalatation, the pre-mortal Jesus cannot be fully God, because he did not have a physical body.

Source(s) of criticism

• Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 241. ( Index of claims )
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• Contender Ministries, Questions All Mormons Should Ask Themselves. Answers FAIRWiki link

Answer

Having a body is necessary for a fullness of joy (DC 93꞉33). It was necessary for the Savior to receive a body at some point, but the timeframe in which He did so is not particularly important. (To travel overseas to another country, one needs both a passport and an airplane ticket. It doesn't matter in which order one gets the passport or the ticket, but one must eventually have both in order to reach one's destination.)

If correct sequence is vital, then critics must explain how Christ's atonement could be efficacious to those who were born, lived, and died prior to His crucifixion. The fact that it was effective should blunt any feigned requirement for sequence concerning the Jesus' receipt of a physical body.

Critics ignore that the gospel teaches us what we' must do to fulfill God's commandments and purposes. It does not spend much time telling us what Jesus was required to do—clearly, he had many duties and abilities which far outstripped ours. That is why he was God and Savior before we came to this earth, and why we must rely upon his grace for salvation.

Endnotes

None

Further reading

FAIR web site

FairMormon articles on-line on Jesus Christ

• Cooper Johnson, "Mormons—Can They Be Considered Christians?" FAIR link