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Criticism of Mormonism/Video/The God Makers/Cartoon
The Godmakers: Cartoon
This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.
Question
I’ve seen a video circulating on the Internet that claims to be a cartoon which was banned by the Mormon church. Does this cartoon accurately represent the beliefs of the church?
Answer
The cartoon is an excerpt from the 1982 anti-Mormon film ‘’The God Makers.’’ The cartoon takes elements of certain LDS beliefs and distorts them in an attempt to make them appear ridiculous. (see Logical fallacies:appeal to ridicule). In some cases, the cartoon takes statements made by early church leaders and attempts to portray them as official church doctrine. For every point made, the cartoon attempts to convey its points using crude, offensive and mocking terms in order to shock the viewer.
Specific points made in the cartoon include the following claims:
- Mormons believe that God the Father was born on a distant planet to an “unidentified god and one of his goddess wives.” This claim is designed to shock the viewer through the mention of plural wives in association with the Father.
- ”Goddess wives” are again mentioned with a reference to “endless celestial sex” producing “billions of spirit children.” This is again intended to shock the viewer by associating crude terminology with an alleged Mormon belief regarding the Father.
- Jesus Christ is always referred to as the “Mormon Jesus,” in order to drive home the idea that Mormons worship a different Jesus than the rest of Christianity.
- Those who were neutral in the war in heaven were born with black skin. The cartoon illustrates this change in appearance. Church doctrine states explicitly that there were no “neutrals” in the war in heaven – if we received a body, we made the correct choice.
- Those who were valiant in the war in heaven were born in the Mormon families with light skin.
- The film again tries to crudely promote the idea that God the Father came from “Starbase Kolob” to visit the Virgin Mary in order to provide Jesus with a physical body.
- Joseph Smith is depicted as sitting in judgment between the Father and the “Mormon Jesus,” implying that Joseph Smith rather than Jesus Christ is the focus of the final judgement.
- The film states that Joseph Smith claimed that he did more for us than any other man, including Jesus Christ, and that Joseph Smith shed his blood for us in order for us to become gods. The implication is that Mormons worship Joseph Smith as their savior rather than Jesus Christ.
Endnotes
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