Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Church of Jesus Christ ) view the mainstream Christian belief in God's incorporeality as being founded upon a post-Apostolic departure from what they claim is the traditional Judeo-Christian belief: an anthropomorphic, corporeal God. This concept of a corporeal God is supported by Biblical references to his face, mouth, finger, feet, back, and right hand; as well as various references to God creating man his own image and likeness. Examples of physical manifestations of God include where the prophet Jacob declared, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved"; and in , which reads: "...the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." Other scriptural references consisting the Latter-day Saint canon include , which tells of the brother of Jared seeing Jesus in the flesh. Mainstream Christianity has always interpreted anthropomorphic references to God in Scripture as non-literal, poetic, and symbolic. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that when the Church's foundation of revelation (, ) crumbled with the martyrdom of the Apostles, doctrine gradually began to shift as a result of the speculation and reasoning of theologians who took it upon themselves to continue the development of Christian doctrine despite not being authorized receivers of revelation for the body of the church. The writings of many of these post-Apostolic theologians show that they were influenced in varying degrees by the prevailing Greek metaphysical philosophies of that era, which strongly rejected the idea of a corporeal, material God. For example, in "Confessions" Book 7, Augustine of Hippo attributed his conception of God as incorporeal substance to Neoplatonism: "I no longer thought of thee, O God, by the analogy of a human body. Ever since I inclined my ear to philosophy I had avoided this error". Origen's preoccupation with the philosophers' concept of God is apparent in this quote from “Homilies on Genesis and Exodus”: "The Jews indeed, but also some of our own people, supposed that God should be understood as a man; that is, adorned with human members and human appearance. But the philosophers despise these stories as fabulous and formed in the likeness of poetic fictions".Ronald E. Heine, translator; "Origen: Homilies on Genesis and Exodus", The Catholic University of America Press, Washington D.C., 1981 In addition, asserts that immaterial matter does not exist, and is instead a finer substance which "can only be discerned by purer eyes".%DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% This Hellenistic rejection of anything material in the "metaphysical" world caused the resurrection to be one of the most hotly debated doctrines. This was apparent in the Greek's skeptical reaction to the doctrine of the resurrection in , and is what prompted Paul's defense of the resurrection in . In “Expositions on the Psalms” Augustine wrote, “Nothing has been attacked with the same pertinacious, contentious contradiction, in the Christian faith, as the resurrection of the flesh...many Gentile philosophers have...written that the soul is immortal: when they come to the resurrection of the flesh...they most openly deny it, declaring it to be absolutely impossible that this earthly flesh can ascend to Heaven.”"Exposition on Psalm 89", Translated by J.E. Tweed. From "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 8". Edited by Philip Schaff. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888, URL Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that the truth about God's corporeal nature was first restored to the earth when the Father and the Son appeared to the fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith in 1820 to begin the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith–History, Pearl of Great Price (1981). See also: Joseph Smith–History
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( see also Mormonism ) view the mainstream Christian belief in God's incorporeality as being founded upon a post-Apostolic departure from what they claim is the traditional Judeo-Christian belief: an anthropomorphic, corporeal God. Mainstream Christianity has always interpreted anthropomorphic references to God in Scripture as non-literal, poetic, and symbolic. %DIFDELCMD < %DIFDELCMD < %%% 
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Church of Jesus Christ
see also Mormonism
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This concept of a corporeal God is supported by Biblical references to his face, mouth, finger, feet, back, and right hand; as well as various references to God creating man his own image and likeness. Examples of physical manifestations of God include where the prophet Jacob declared, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved"; and in , which reads: "...the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." Other scriptural references consisting the Latter-day Saint canon include , which tells of the brother of Jared seeing Jesus in the flesh.
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Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that when the Church's foundation of revelation (, ) crumbled with the martyrdom of the Apostles, doctrine gradually began to shift as a result of the speculation and reasoning of theologians who took it upon themselves to continue the development of Christian doctrine despite not being authorized receivers of revelation for the body of the church. The writings of many of these post-Apostolic theologians show that they were influenced in varying degrees by the prevailing Greek metaphysical philosophies of that era, which strongly rejected the idea of a corporeal, material God. For example, in "Confessions" Book 7, Augustine of Hippo attributed his conception of God as incorporeal substance to Neoplatonism: "I no longer thought of thee, O God, by the analogy of a human body. Ever since I inclined my ear to philosophy I had avoided this error". Origen's preoccupation with the philosophers' concept of God is apparent in this quote from “Homilies on Genesis and Exodus”: "The Jews indeed, but also some of our own people, supposed that God should be understood as a man; that is, adorned with human members and human appearance. But the philosophers despise these stories as fabulous and formed in the likeness of poetic fictions".Ronald E. Heine, translator; "Origen: Homilies on Genesis and Exodus", The Catholic University of America Press, Washington D.C., 1981
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In addition, asserts that immaterial matter does not exist, and is instead a finer substance which "can only be discerned by purer eyes".
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This Hellenistic rejection of anything material in the "metaphysical" world caused the resurrection to be one of the most hotly debated doctrines. This was apparent in the Greek's skeptical reaction to the doctrine of the resurrection in , and is what prompted Paul's defense of the resurrection in . In “Expositions on the Psalms” Augustine wrote, “Nothing has been attacked with the same pertinacious, contentious contradiction, in the Christian faith, as the resurrection of the flesh...many Gentile philosophers have...written that the soul is immortal: when they come to the resurrection of the flesh...they most openly deny it, declaring it to be absolutely impossible that this earthly flesh can ascend to Heaven.”"Exposition on Psalm 89", Translated by J.E. Tweed. From "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 8". Edited by Philip Schaff. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888, URL Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that the truth about God's corporeal nature was first restored to the earth when the Father and the Son appeared to the fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith in 1820 to begin the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith–History, Pearl of Great Price (1981). See also: Joseph Smith–History