An Open Letter to Detractors of the LDS Church everywhere: Part 1, The Godhead, or The Holy Trinity

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!