Who Is God?

God is our loving Heavenly Father.  That is one of the first things we missionaries teach people. Out of all the names we could give to Deity, God has asked us to call Him our Father.  And why is this?  Because we are his literal spirit children.  We each have earthly parents, but our Heavenly Father is the Father of our spirits. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God"(Romans 8:16).

God loves us more than our parents or anyone else on Earth could possibly love us.  1 John 4:7-8 reads: "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."  God is love. Everything He has ever done for us has been done out of pure love.  

Heavenly Father's ultimate act of love for us was to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.  "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved"(John 3:16-17). Jesus Christ was literally the Son of God, a demi-god.  His earthly mother was Mary but His biological father is Heavenly Father.  It must have been absolutely horrific for Heavenly Father to watch His only begotten Son suffer until He bled from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane and then die a torturous and humiliating death on the cross.  How could any father possibly stand to watch his son go through that?  But Heavenly Father did, because He knew that it was necessary and that it was the only way that men can be saved. 

God is perfect.  Jesus Himself said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"(Matthew 5:48).  Heavenly Father is a perfect being, as is Jesus Christ. They are both perfect.  And through our obedience to Them, we can one day be perfect just as our "Father which is in heaven is perfect."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints refers to what other Christians would call the "Trinity" as the "Godhead."  We believe that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit, Spirit of God) are three separate beings who are one in purpose but are not physically one person.  Our first Article of Faith says, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." Nowhere in the scriptures does is say that they are all three the same being.  It says that they are one, yes, but it means one in purpose. Here are a few biblical examples of them being separate beings.

The first is the baptism of Jesus.  I love this scripture.  Jesus, the most perfect man to walk the earth, asks to be baptized by an imperfect man, John the Baptist.  Why?  Because Jesus Himself taught in John 3:5 that "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter in the kingdom of God."  Jesus was our perfect example and so was baptized to "fulfill all righteousness" and to let us know that if the Son of God needs to be baptized, so do we.  I'll talk about that more in a future post.  So let us read together the account found in Matthew 3:16-17 of Jesus' baptism: "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."  

I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like one being right there.  Why would Jesus' spirit descend on Himself, and why would he also be in heaven praising Himself but calling Himself His Son?  No.  That sounds like someone with a problem.  This is a perfect example of the three separate personages of the Godhead all in one place.

Finally, Acts 7:55-56 reads: "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 man who saw God and Jesus Christ was Stephen.  He saw this vision right before he was stoned to death.  Pretty sad.  But a super solid guy who had to be really righteous to see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and then be stoned to death as a martyr.  

In conclusion, God is our loving Heavenly Father.  He is the Father of our spirits and He loves us.  He hears and answers our prayers and is actively involved in our individual lives.  Even if we can't see it or aren't looking, He is always there helping us and blessing us.  I love Him.  I am so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father who knows and loves me personally.  I'm also grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, who was willing to do the Father's will even when it was hard.  We should all follow Jesus Christ's example and be submissive to our Heavenly Father's plan for us. 

"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"(Hebrews 12:9)

Amen.