From saving doctrine to “false doctrine”
In 1852, Church President Brigham Young publicly identified Adam as “our Father and our God” and warned that the doctrines he had taught would prove his listeners’ salvation or damnation. In 1976, Church President Spencer W. Kimball labeled Adam–God a theory and denounced it.
The contrast
Doctrine proclaimed. Theory denounced.
The difference is not only theological. The later statement also changes the category of the earlier teaching—from consequential doctrine to a theory members were warned not to teach.
“Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body…”“He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do.”
“Such, for instance, is the Adam-God theory. We denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this…”Kimball then grouped it with other kinds of false doctrine.
“Now, let all who may hear these doctrines, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation.”Journal of Discourses, volume 1, page 51
The documentary tension
More than a change in conclusion
Young did not introduce the teaching as a tentative possibility. In the published sermon, he called the ideas “doctrines,” placed them within an explanation of God and the parentage of Jesus, and attached consequences of salvation or damnation to how listeners received them.
Kimball’s later statement did more than reject the teaching. It recategorized Adam–God as a “theory,” placed it among teachings attributed to past General Authorities, and warned Church educators and members against disseminating it.
Primary sources
Read the record
The comparison relies on the published nineteenth-century sermon and the Church’s own current archive of Kimball’s conference address.
The 1852 wording comes from the contemporary published sermon, not an audio recording. The page is attributed to Brigham Young in Brigham Young University’s digital collection.