Book of The Law of The Lord - Monotheism and The Vocation of Jesus Christ

Monotheism and The Vocation of Jesus Christ

Some of the teachings in the Book of the Law differed substantially from those held by other Mormon sects. For instance, in his "Note on the Sacrifice of Christ" and "The True God," Strang rejected both the traditional Christian doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ and the Mormon doctrine of plurality of gods. He insisted that there was but one eternal God, the Father, and that progression to godhood (a doctrine allegedly taught by Joseph Smith) was impossible. God had always been God, said Strang, and He was one Person (not three, as in the traditional Christian Trinity).

Jesus Christ, said Strang, was the natural-born son of Mary and Joseph, who was chosen from before all time to be the Savior of mankind, but who had to be born as an ordinary mortal of two human parents (rather than being begotten by the Father or the Holy Spirit) to be able to truly fulfill his Messianic role. Strang claimed that the earthly Christ was in essence "adopted" as God's son at birth, and fully revealed as such during the Transfiguration. After proving himself to God by living a perfectly sinless life, he was enabled to provide an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of men, prior to his resurrection and ascension.

Furthermore, Strang denied that God could do all things, and insisted that some things were as impossible for Him as for us. Thus, he saw no essential conflict between science and religion, and while he never openly championed evolution, he did state that God was limited in His power by both the matter He was working with and by the eons of time required to "organize" and shape it. He spoke glowingly of a future generation who would "make religion a science," to be "studied by as exact rules as mathematicks." "The mouth of the Seer will be opened," Strang prophesied, "and the whole earth enlightened."

Musing at length on the nature of sin and evil, Strang wrote that of all things that God could give to man, He could never give him experience. Thus, if "free agency" were to be real, said Strang, humanity must be given the opportunity to fail and to learn from its own mistakes. The ultimate goal for each human being was to willingly conform oneself to the revealed character of God in every respect, preferring good to evil not out of any fear of punishment or desire for reward, but rather "on account of the innate loveliness of undefiled goodness; of pure unalloyed holiness."