17. Mormon Gospel Teachings

17A. What kind of being is God according to Joseph Smith?

The following Questions will be answered according to the 1978 edition of Mormon Gospel Teachings. And then compared to the Bible.

"...God is like a man in form."

Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith. p. 345.

God is a glorified and perfected man, a personage of flesh and bones. Inside his tangible body is an eternal spirit."

Doctrine and Covenants 130:22.

The Bible Teaches:

"...for I am God and not man."
Hosea 11:9

"God is not a man that he should lie."
Numbers 23:19

"God is Spirit."
John 4:24

"For I am the Lord, I change not."
Malachi 3:6

17B. Are we all literal children of our heavenly Father according to Joseph Smith?

Yes,

"...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 Smith, The Origin of Man. Improvement Era Nov. 1909 pp. 78-80.

The Bible Teaches:

Man was created out of the earth by God, he became a living soul when God breathed into him the breath of life.

"Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being."
Genesis 2:7

Man was created natural, then spiritual.

"...The first man, Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual."
1 Corinthians 15:46, 47

Men and women are not literal sons of Deity, they become sons of God when they are born again.

"Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
Romans 8:14

17C. Was Adam and Eve's fall a blessing? Because of it, would man have joy?

Yes, according to Mormon Gospel Teachings, "Great blessings resulted from the transgression."

Eve said after her transgression, "...if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created...And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
2 Nephi 2:22-25

The Bible Teaches:

Adam and Eve's sin did not bring blessings or joy, it brought pain, toil, physical and spiritual death to all generations.

"To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth."
Genesis 3:16

"The to Adam He said, "...Cursed is the ground because of you...thorns and thistles it shall grow for you...and to dust you will return."
Genesis 3:16-19

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned."
Romans 5:12-14

17D. Jesus Christ died on the cross, and rose from the dead in three days, in order for us to be saved from sin.

Please refer 7F and following, and read, how you can be redeemed from your sins.