Huckabee's "Cheap Shot"

So, certain of the usual bloggy suspects are in a tizzy about one of Mike Huckabee's comments about Mormon (LDS) doctrine. Mitt Romney is, as I'm sure you'll all be shocked to know, a Mormon; therefore, this comment has been taken as an attack against Romney. Here's what Huckabee said, from Time:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

The article, to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the LDS Church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Some have jumped on this, notably Paul Mirengoff at the bit-right-o'-center Powerline, and dubbed it a "cheap shot." Mirengoff goes on the attribute it to Huckabee's "lack of class." My take is this: Huckabee's comment (a rhetorical question, really) is %100 accurate, but still a cheap shot.

After recounting Huckabee's statement, Time goes on to do some fact-checking:

The authoritative Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, does not refer to Jesus and Satan as brothers. It speaks of Jesus as the son of God and of Satan as a fallen angel, which is a Biblical account.

As far as it goes, this encyclopedia answer is correct, though it is hardly the whole story. Time next quotes an LDS Church representative, who gives us a bit more information:

A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Huckabee's question is usually raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine.

"We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the father of all," said the spokeswoman, Kim Farah. "That means that all beings were created by God and are his spirit children. Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh and we worship him as the son of God and the savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for."

Again, this is all truth, but still a bit of spin. As Farah explains it, you are left with the impression that Huckabee has made a rather boneheadedly literal interpretation of otherwise bland Christian phraseology.

Now I have my own silly question to ask Time: why are they asking church reps and digging in 15-year-old encyclopedias for an answer that's readily available on the web in the LDS Church's own current Sunday School curriculum? Why settle for answers they give outsiders when you can quote the answers they give themselves? So, let's look at the LDS.org Sunday School curriculum page, and see what we can find.

These paragraphs are from Gospel Principles, a text for LDS Gospel Doctrine courses taught to Sunday School students 14 and up. This is what more traditional Christian churches refer to as "catechism." To check the accuracy of Huckabee's rhetorical question, and the LDS rep's response, let's consult paragraphs from two chapters: "Our Heavenly Family" and "Jesus Christ: Our Chosen Leader and Savior."

God is not only our ruler and creator; he is also our Heavenly Father. “All men and women are … literally the sons and daughters of Deity. … Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body” (Joseph F. Smith, “The Origin of Man,” Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, pp. 78, 80).

Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ (see D&C 93:21), so he is literally our elder brother (see Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 26). Because we are the spiritual children of our heavenly parents, we have inherited the potential to develop their divine qualities. If we choose to do so, we can become perfect, just as they are. [...]

Our heavenly parents provided us with a celestial home more glorious and beautiful than any place on earth. We were happy there. Yet they knew we could not progress beyond a certain point unless we left them for a time. They wanted us to develop the godlike qualities that they have. To do this, we needed to leave our celestial home to be tested and to gain experience. We needed to choose good over evil. Our spirits needed to be clothed with physical bodies. We would need to leave our physical bodies at death and reunite with them in the Resurrection. Then we would receive immortal bodies like those of our heavenly parents. If we passed our tests, we would receive the fulness of joy that our heavenly parents have received. (See D&C 93:30–34.) [...]

Since we could not progress further in heaven, our Heavenly Father called a Grand Council to present his plan for our progression (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 348, 349, 365). We learned that if we followed his plan, we would become like him. We would have a resurrected body; we would have all power in heaven and on earth; we would become heavenly parents and have spirit children just as he does (see D&C 132:19–20).

We learned that he would provide an earth for us where we would be tested (see Abraham 3:24–26). A veil would cover our memories, and we would forget our heavenly home. This would be necessary so we could choose good or evil without being influenced by the memory of living with our Heavenly Father. Thus we could obey him because of our faith in him, not because of our knowledge or memory of him. He would help us recognize the truth when we heard it again on earth (see John 18:37).

At the Grand Council we also learned the purpose for our progression: to have a fulness of joy. However, we also learned that not all of our Father’s children would want to receive a fulness of joy. Some of us would be deceived, choose other paths, and lose our way. We learned that all of us would have trials in our lives: sickness, disappointment, pain, sorrow, and death. But we understood that these would be given to us for our experience and our good (see D&C 122:7). If we allowed them to, these trials would purify us rather than defeat us. They would teach us to have endurance, patience, and charity (see Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, pp. 97–98).

At this council we also learned that because of our weakness, all of us would sin. We learned that a Savior would be provided for us so we could overcome our sins and overcome death with resurrection. We learned that if we placed our faith in him, obeying his word and following his example, we would be exalted and become like our heavenly parents. We would receive a fulness of joy. ("Our Heavenly Family")

When the plan for our salvation was presented to us in the spirit world, we were so happy that we shouted for joy (see Job 38:7).

We understood that we would have to leave our heavenly home for a time. We would not live in the presence of our heavenly parents. While we were away from them, all of us would sin and some of us would lose our way. Our Heavenly Father knew and loved each one of us. He knew we would need help, so he planned a way to help us.

We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our Father said, “Whom shall I send?” (Abraham 3:27). Two of our brothers offered to help. Our oldest brother, Jesus Christ, who was then called Jehovah, said, “Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27).

Jesus was willing to come to the earth, give his life for us, and take upon himself our sins. He, like our Heavenly Father, wanted us to choose whether we would obey Heavenly Father’s commandments. He knew we must be free to choose in order to prove ourselves worthy of exaltation. Jesus said, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2).

Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came, saying, “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor” (Moses 4:1). Satan wanted to force us all to do his will. Under his plan, we would not be allowed to choose. He would take away the freedom of choice that our Father had given us. Satan wanted to have all the honor for our salvation. [...]

Because our Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be our Savior, Satan became angry and rebelled. There was war in heaven. Satan and his followers fought against Jesus and his followers.

In this great rebellion, Satan and all the spirits who followed him were sent away from the presence of God and cast down from heaven. One-third of the spirits in heaven were punished for following Satan: they were denied the right to receive mortal bodies.

Because we are here on earth and have mortal bodies, we know that we chose to follow Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Satan and his followers are also on the earth, but as spirits. They have not forgotten who we are, and they are around us daily, tempting us and enticing us to do things that are not pleasing to our Heavenly Father. In our premortal life, we chose the right. We must continue to choose the right here on earth. Only by following Jesus can we return to our heavenly home. ("Jesus Christ: Our Chosen Leader and Savior")

Let's sum up, shall we? According to this LDS Sunday School manual, all spirits, including us and "two of our brothers" Jesus ("Our oldest brother") and Lucifer/Satan, are literal children of God and someone else -- the manual refers to this other person in the bland phrase "our heavenly parents," so we'll assume it's Mrs. God.

So, Huckabee's rhetorical question is literally accurate: in LDS doctrine, Jesus and Satan are literally brothers, both literal sons of the Heavenly Father (and Mother). However, the encyclopedia and the church rep are also accurate: according to LDS doctrine, Jesus is God's "only begotten in the flesh" (Heavenly Father sired both Jesus' spirit and his body) and Satan is a "fallen angel" ("angel" is just the LDS term for a spirit child of God who does not inhabit a body).

One might say the latter two answers are lying by telling the truth: both sources know that saying Jesus and Satan are brothers is bound to cause controversy (and has), so they avoid the issue by focusing on everything else the LDS Church teaches about those two entities. On the other hand, Huckabee's rhetorical question is also precisely the same kind of lie: it presents a single part of LDS doctrine outside of the governing context, leading listeners to an impression of LDS doctrine that isn't entirely accurate. In LDS metaphysics, Jesus and Satan are in the same class of being: both offspring of God. But the defining factor in LDS theology is not metaphysics, but choice: Jesus' choice makes him the Savior, while Satan's choice makes him the Devil. To simply say "Jesus and Satan are brothers" is to leave out what, for Mormons, is the most important information: their choices and the events that occurred as a result.

Of course, to Christians who affirm the orthodox and ecumenical creeds, what the LDS Church says about Jesus and Satan is flatly wrong. Jesus is homoousios -- of one nature -- with the Father. He is not our "oldest brother" in a literal, biological sense: the human nature and the angelic natures are both different from and inferior to the Divine nature. Instead, Christians are given what Paul calls "the spirit of adoption" -- the Father calls us "children" and the Son calls us "brethren." So, the fact that the LDS Church teaches that Jesus and Satan are brothers isn't offensive to Christians because it makes Jesus look a little shady, but because it misrepresents that nature of Christ's deity. Mike Huckabee knows all this, or ought to: he's a Southern Baptist preacher. But he should also know that presenting a doctrine outside of its larger theological context will almost always result in that doctrine being misunderstood: acontextual representation is misrepresentation. Merely asserting that Mormons think Jesus and Satan are brothers could leave the impression that they also think Jesus and Satan are "bros" or allies -- which is wrong. And that's why Huckabee's rhetorical question was a cheap shot.