Recently I have been hearing a lot of people trying to tear
down the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints using many different
tactics. Some have used historical
facts/fiction, some doctrinal concerns, and some trying to tear at some of the
LDS truth claims. I came in contact with
one individual personally who was attacking the faith through my younger
brothers, who had this random individual somehow “randomly” get their phone
number and “randomly” know that my brothers are LDS. They started receiving texts from this person
that started out very friendly, but rapidly turned into attacks on their most
deeply held religious beliefs. This post
is a simple (but certainly nowhere near comprehensive), effort to bring about a
greater understanding of the faith that I recognize as being the truth of God. This will be the first post in a string of
three related posts. The objective of
this post is to attempt to explain the LDS view of the Godhead (or the Trinity
as it is commonly called). This is not
an official statement of the church, but rather my views on what I understand
to be the truth about God. I will follow
with two additional posts regarding God’s plan for us and then finally with the
role of Jesus Christ in that plan.
Jesus taught, “And this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John
17:3, KJV). Jesus begins the beautiful
intercessory prayer with this beautiful teaching regarding the importance and
even necessity of coming to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. This knowledge of God, Elder Neil L. Andersen
teaches, is “absolutely essential” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/its-true-isn-t-it-then-what-else-matters?lang=eng
).
If we are to understand the true God, let’s begin with the
first Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. These articles constitute 13 short paragraphs
explaining church doctrine. Article of
Faith number one states that, “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in
His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”
Our first goal is to understand the Godhead (see Colossians 2:9 as a
reference to the term of “Godhead”) as explained in this Article of Faith. As stated in this Article, the Godhead
consists of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (as I mentioned before, most
Christians understand the Godhead in the term of “the Trinity” or “the Holy
Trinity”. Because Godhead is the term
used in scripture, I will use this term more often than that of the Trinity.).
Lets start at the beginning.
Genesis 1:26-27: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them.” One of the first things to understand is that
we are created (as the Hebrew word for “image” indicates) in the resemblance of
God, our Heavenly Father. Indeed, we are
His children (Hebrews 12:9, Romans 8:16-17).
If we are created in resemblance of God, what would God look like? Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father” (John 14:9). Latter Day Saint scripture teaches this doctrine
clearly, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s, the
Son also, but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a
personage of spirit. Were it not so, the
Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.”
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost are three separate,
distinct beings. Allow me to offer a few
Biblical references to support this doctrine.
I will try to go in order of their appearance in the New Testament. There are certainly more references than I
will provide, but hopefully this will establish without question the true nature
of God. The first would appear in Matthew 2:15, where Jesus is referred to as
God’s “son”. The second, and a bit more
telling, is found in the following chapter where the three beings in the
Godhead are well-distinguished. Jesus
had gone to find John, to be baptized of him in order to “fulfill all
righteousness.” As Jesus is baptized in
verse 16, we see the following: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
As you can clearly see, the Father is in Heaven (where His
voice descends from), the Son is in the river Jordan where John is baptizing
Him, and the Holy Ghost shows His separate and distinct personage with the sign
of the dove. Unless we infer that God is
mutating from one form to another, it appears that there are three separate,
distinct beings.
A few other examples in Matthew would be in 6:9 where Jesus
prays to the Father, in 19:17, where Jesus clearly distinguishes Himself from
the Father and then the clear example of the heart-wrenching scene on the
cross, where Jesus feels the Father withdraw His immediate presence (27:46). Certainly as Jesus cries out on the cross,
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”, He is not forsaking himself, as
His body remains on the cross.
The gospel of John is also clear on this doctrine. In John 5:19-23, Jesus teaches a readily
apparent distinction between Himself as the Son and the Father, explaining that
He can only do the things that He has seen His Father do, that the Father won’t
judge anyone but has committed all judgment to the Son, and that the Father
sent Christ as the Son. There are also
clear examples in John 14 (lest we think that the aforementioned reference
where Jesus informs Philip that “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father
means something other than what it really does).
Jesus teaches of the Holy Ghost in verse 26, explaining that
the Father will send the Holy Ghost to teach and comfort the disciples. He then clearly explains in verse 28 that “my
Father is greater than I.” The doctrine
is expounded upon again in John 20:17 when the resurrected Jesus (in a
glorified, immortal physical body) appears to Mary Magdalene and says, “touch
me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father:
but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father, and
your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
There are countless others, but allow me to offer just one
more from the New Testament that sheds light on this important doctrine. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen is offering what
will be his final testimony to Jewish leaders.
They determine to stone him because of his “blasphemous” preaching. Just before Stephen is brought out of the
city to be stoned, he sees a glorious vision which teaches much about our
Heavenly Father and His Son. The vision
is described in these words in verses 55-56: “But he, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened,
and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” The vision is described clearly enough, that
it is easy to discern that God and His Son are separate and distinct beings,
and that the Holy Ghost is also separate and distinct as He fills Stephen while
the vision of the Father and the Son are opened to him.
At this point many might be asking, “but what about John
10:30 where Jesus says ‘I and my Father are one’?” There are other verses you may be thinking of
as well. In fact, many would say that
the Book of Mormon teaches a Trinitarian doctrine of the oneness of God as in 3
Nephi 11:27 and several other places as well.
Clearly these verses must be understood and taken into the
discussion. Fortunately, Jesus himself
expounds clearly what is intended when He uses the word “one.” This explanation is found where we started;
in John 17 where Jesus has just invited all of us to come to know Him as well
as His Father.
To understand the intent and the true definition of the word
“one” in this discourse, it is essential to understand the audience and who
Jesus intends to hear and understand it. It is clear that in the beginning of the
discourse He is referring to the 11 apostles who remain with Him (Judas has
just left to carry out his betrayal of the Lord). Verses 6-9 clearly explain that these 11 are
who He is referring to. In verse 11,
Jesus then prays to the Father (again an apparent distinction), asking that his
disciples be one with Him even as Jesus is one with Him. We can hopefully agree that the disciples are
not the same being as God the Father, and so the definition of Jesus’ term “one”
must be describing a unity of purpose and doctrine rather than a physical
uniting into one conglomeration. To take
this idea even further, Jesus then begins praying not only for His 11 remaining
apostles, but for EVERYONE WHO WILL BELIEVE IN THEIR WORDS! This could very conceivably include not only
those who directly heard the apostles in the former days, but also those who
would feel the power of their words and believe in our day. Surely “one” refers to a unity of goals,
desires and purposes and not in physical nature!
Elder D. Todd Christofferson explains how we might become
“one” with God and Christ in the way that I believe Jesus is describing in both
John 17 and anywhere else where the “oneness” of the Godhead is taught: “Jesus
achieved perfect unity with the Father by submitting Himself, both flesh and
spirit, to the will of the Father. His
ministry was always clearly focused because there was no debilitating or
distracting double-mindedness in Him.
Referring to His Father, Jesus said, ‘I do always those things that
please him’ (John 8:29)… Surely we will not be one with God and Christ until we
make Their will and interest our greatest desire. Such submissiveness is not reached in a day,
but through the Holy Spirit, the Lord will tutor us if we are willing until, in
process of time, it may accurately be said that He is in us as the Father is in
Him.” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/10/that-they-may-be-one-in-us?lang=eng
).
To wrap up this portion of the discussion, I will refer to a
wonderful address by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, where he clearly teaches the
truth about the Godhead:
“We know thereby that he is a personal Being in whose image
man was made. We know that he has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as
man’s; that he is a resurrected, glorified, and perfected Being; and that he
lives in the family unit. We know that we are his spirit children; that he
endowed us with the divine gift of agency; and that he ordained the laws
whereby we might advance and progress and become like him.”
“We know that God is the only supreme and independent Being
in whom all fullness and perfection dwell and that he is omnipotent,
omniscient, and, by the power of his Spirit, omnipresent.”
“We know “the Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son”
(D&C 20:21), as the scriptures attest, to ransom man from the temporal and
spiritual death brought into the world by the fall of Adam and to put into
operation all of the terms and conditions of the Father’s plan.”
“We know that the Holy Ghost, as a “personage of Spirit,” is
both a Revelator and a Sanctifier and that his chief mission is to bear record
of the Father and the Son.”
“Thus there are, in the Eternal Godhead, three persons—God
the first, the Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the
Testator. These three are one—one God if you will—in purposes, in powers, and
in perfections. But each has his own severable work to perform, and mankind has
a defined and known and specific relationship to each one of them. It is of
these relationships that we shall now speak.” (for the full text, see this link
http://speeches.byu.edu/index.php?act=viewitem&id=602
)
When we better understand God, we better understand
ourselves!
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