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Are Jesus and Satan Brothers?

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When I joined the LDS church I was confronted with various charges that I had left biblical Christianity.  As I studied those statements by well-intentioned friends and family I found them to be quite misinformed about what the LDS really believed and to be very short on knowledge of what they actually believe as far as their own biblical theology.  


The discussions revolve around assertions and fallacies that the participants unwittingly use to discredit the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its doctrines.  

 It may not make much sense but that is how they would like people to feel when they hear a statement such as "Satan and Jesus are brothers."

How did Jesus and Satan come to be?   This seems to be hot topic when Mormons and Christianity are discussed.   The intent of these misinformed statements seems to portray an image of thinking that this relationship is somehow two teenagers of equal capacity fighting over who is the strongest.   
The fact that Jesus and Satan are brothers doesn't mean they are equals in their realm of the pre-mortal life or ever at any time.  

 Jesus is the firstborn of all of God’s children in the pre-mortal life and he has always been the pre-eminent child of the Father.  His spiritual intellect is eternal without beginning or end.  His capacities exceed those of all of the Father's spirit children combined and none of us knows those bounds.  He was a God before he was born and is God and always will be.  

The idea of a pre-mortal existence is taught in the New Testament and by some early church bishops after the apostles were deceased.  As the early church without the leadership of apostles and prophets fell into apostasy, doctrinal decisions were made through councils of men acting on their own wisdom.   

 They discarded the doctrine of a pre-mortal existence of the souls of men and of a relationship to God through a spiritual pre-mortal birth.  They taught instead that God created souls out of nothing at their birth.

Latter Day Saints teach that in the pre-mortal life we had freedoms of thought and expression.  As the time for the creation of this earth was planned the concept of mortality, was explained.  The necessity of a savior was made clear. Jesus was the chosen by the Father to be the savior of mankind.

The fact that Satan was a being of some stature in the pre-mortal time seems to be accorded by most Christian theologians.  He was known as Lucifer, a being of light or Son of the Morning or morning star.  The scriptures speak of a war in heaven where he was cast down.

 As such he was able to gather the attention of the Father and the host of the pre-mortal world. Traditional Christian teachings hold that Lucifer did exist in the pre-earth time and was created by God the Father. Such teaching is an interesting contradiction in and of itself.

According to LDS theology we at that time had our freedom to choose.   Satan through his freedom of thought and choice decided that he could be a savior to mankind on the earth. His method of doing so contradicted God's eternal law.  

He never really had the power or the potential to be a savior as Jesus did.  He had deceived himself into thinking so. From the limited information we have he evidently was a very proud and arrogant personality because of his personal beauty.  As such he then wanted the glory if he was able to organize such a creation and salvation.   


He was cast out to earth for his rebellion. The war in heaven was for the most part about freedom of choice or moral agency and a battle about truth and error. 

What is taught in modern orthodox Christianity?  We see that they do actually teach that Jesus and Satan are brothers.  God is the father of all men is what they say. Humans are "children of God", at least that is what they would have us think.

Satan was created by God. By this standard God is therefore considered the father of Satan in the same manner as mankind according to the concept of creation ex-nihilo or out of nothing, that they teach.

 They describe creation and celibate fatherhood.  Since God is also the father of Jesus and the father/creator of Satan, that would still make them brothers.  The discussion is simply the semantics of terminology.

 While critics of the church try to make some of our doctrines seem non-biblical, they fail to point out that Christian scholars don't even agree on what the Bible says or means in many cases.  

 Why do you think there are so many different denominations?  
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