Comparison of the Nicene Trinity and the LDS Godhead
📝 Note: Before reading this list, please read the Nicene Creed and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's official website to understand the nuances of each concept.
Similarities
- There are three persons who share divine attributes.
- They compose one entity which is referred to as "God" generically; they are united in their collective action, thoughts, and intents.
- They presently share in the same power and glory.
- Each member's influence is imminent to all spacio-temporal locations.
- Each member is co-eternal.
- They are identical to each other in the sense that each is of the kind "God".
- The divine persons are not three separate gods.
- They are God by virtue of their essential unity.
- They aided in the bringing about of the order of all the universe.
- The Word (the Son) became incarnate and lived a mortal life, died, and was resurrected.
- There was never a moment in each of their existence where they were not of the kind "God".
How the LDS Godhead Differs
- The Father and the Son are super-physically corporeal, meaning they have glorified, resurrected bodies; the Holy Ghost presently lacks one.
- Each member's body has a spacio-temporal location.
- Like the Son, the Father took on a mortal body, died, and resurrected at some prior time.
- Only the Father is to be worshiped.
- The Son and the Holy Ghost are in subordination to the Father.
- Human bodies are theomorphic; that is, they have the general appearance of Their bodies.
- The members of the Godhead are species-alike but non-identical in essence or substance (ousia).
- Human spirits are also species-alike with the divine persons and can become part of the unity they enjoy.
- The Three are distinct beings.
- The Three organized the universe from already existing entities and materials rather than out of nothing (ex nihilo).