Why is God the Father referred to as "Eternal Father" in LDS writings when He is not believed to be eternal?
Upvote:0
Upon close examination of this website, God the Eternal Father is God the Father or Elohim.
Latter-day Saints commonly refer to God the Eternal Father as Elohim, a Hebrew plural (elohim ) meaning God or gods, and to his Son Jesus Christ as Jehovah (see Elohim; Jehovah, Jesus Christ). Distinguishing between the persons of the Father and the Son is not possible with more ambiguous terms like "God"; therefore, referring to the Father as "Elohim" is a useful convention as long as one remembers that in some passages of the Hebrew Bible the title elohim does not refer exclusively to the person of God the Father. A less ambiguous term for God the Father in LDS parlance might be "Ahman" (cf. D&C 78:15, 20), which, according to Elder Orson Pratt, is a name of the Father (JD 2:342).
In Mormon theology, although God the Father is not intrinsically eternal and self-existing, God the Father did exist in a pre-mortal state prior to the creation of the universe in which humans live, and to humans, God seems eternal.
Upvote:0
David Stratton's answer is helpful. Some references to LDS scripture answering this questions can be found in the Index to the Triple Combination under God, Eternal Nature of. Here is a sample:
God is same yesterday, today, forever: Morm. 9:9
God knows all things, being from everlasting to everlasting: Moro. 7:22
God’s course is one eternal round: D&C 3:2
God is endless: D&C 19:4, 10
God is infinite, eternal, unchangeable, from everlasting to everlasting: D&C 20:17
Endless and Eternal is God’s name: Moses 7:35
Upvote:5
This is relatively straightforward.
From the LDS article on Eternal Life:
Eternal life is the phrase used in scripture to define the quality of life that our Eternal Father lives. The Lord declared, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Immortality is to live forever as a resurrected being.
Think for a moment of a ray and a line. A ray goes on forever in one direction. A line goes on forever in both directions. Each has infinite length.
Mainstream Christianity teaches that God is eternal in that He has always existed and will always exist, and LDS theology teaches that he is eternal because he will always exist.
It's a different definition of the term, but not one that's not reasonable from their point of view. After all, we are promised eternal life as Christians, are we not?
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