It is pure vanity for anybody who has not seen and spoken with God in the manner that the prophets have done to attempt to describe His nature. Even for the prophets, I expect there are many aspects of God that remain unknown and even unknowable. How well do any of us even know one another? Even husbands and wives, after years of loving and living together, can be surprised by new discoveries about one another. So who am I to profess to know God? No one. And I don't really. Well, I do know some things. I know what I have experienced of His presence, His light, His comfort, His guidance, His instruction, and His sorrow. But those experiences are mine. They aren't easily shared, and they have no authority for anyone but me. So instead, I will offer here... What I have been taught. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have been given the following information about God: |
ONE. When we speak of “God” we are generally referring to the being also known to us as Elohim. Although Elohim is an ancient word for God, which literally means “the Gods”, this is the word we use to name the chief God of all the Gods, of which we know there to be three: God the Father (Elohim), God the Son (Jesus Christ, also known as Jehovah), and God the Holy Ghost (also sometimes referred to as the Holy Spirit). These three together constitute what we call the Godhead: three eternal beings, separate in their substance, yet united in their purpose, character and power. THREE. God is, as the traditional theologians say, omnipresent and omniscient, these two words denoting that there is no place where God is not, and that there is nothing that He knows not. So we can say that God has always been everywhere present and aware of all things. Being omniscient means that all facts, figures and fantasies are known to God, and He is the author of all we know to be true. There is nothing you can think of that He has not already imagined; there is nothing you can learn that He does not already comprehend: “he comprehendeth all things.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:41) This means not only intellectual knowledge, but also that there is nothing you can feel or experience that is beyond His understanding. Accordingly, if we ask if there is anything in life in respect of which He cannot be a source of comfort, knowledge and understanding, the answer is a clear "no," there is nothing beyond the reach of His mind and intellect. Therefore, we can take comfort that whatever we struggle with, He can help to solve it. Being omnipresent means that there is also nowhere to hide from Him, and nowhere that He cannot reach you. In the darkest pit below the deepest crevice in the most unfathomable depths of the ocean, God is there. So wherever you are, whatever you do, whomever you are with and whatever circumstances you are in, God is with you. FIVE. God the Father, to our limited knowledge, may have a wife or wives – a Heavenly Mother to be companion to our Heavenly Father – a feminine perfection which, in combination with masculine perfection, forms the parentage of all spirits of the entire human race, providing one of the reasons that we are all called brothers and sisters and the primary reason that we call him, “the Father”. That is, because He is the Father of our spirits. | TWO. God is an eternal being. To the extent we can know, there has never been a time without that God who is the Father, and there never will be. We will always be subject to His presence. FOUR. God is in form like a man, possessed of body and spirit. Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 states, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s”. And we also read in the Bible that Jesus taught, “God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24.) In the Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith states that “the Father [is] a personage of spirit, glory, and power, possessing all perfection and fullness.” (Lecture 5, paragraph 2.) More than simply being in the same form as man, however, we are also taught that in fact God is a man – but not a man as we know one another to be. Rather, a perfect and exalted man. As I just read from the Lectures on Faith (Lecture 5, paragraph 2): “possessing all perfection and fullness.” God is everything man can be. SIX. We also are taught that God is “light” – 1 John 1:5. This, I think, is a difficult doctrine. I think we can understand the words, but I am not sure we can be fully certain we know what this means. Here is some of what Joseph Smith taught us in Doctrine and Covenants 88: |
…truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the llight of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made…And…the light of the moon…As also the light of the stars…And the light which shineth, which giveth you light…Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space – The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. |
I don’t really understand all that. Perhaps modern physicists grasp it. But in any event I find hope in the idea that God is the source of life and intelligence, regardless of what these have to do with light. This gives me hope that both life and learning may be as eternal as God is eternal.
I can also attest from my own knowledge and experience that the light attributed to God is real, tangible, and visible. But of that sort of experience, little can be shared, in part because...
God is holy. In Doctrine and Covenants 88:5, God is described as “the holiest of all”.
“Holy” is such an overused word. What does it mean?
There are different definitions of “holy” in various sources, but for my purposes I turned first to the Bible Dictionary contained in the Latter-day Saint edition of the scriptures. There we read in the definition of “holiness” that in ancient times things or places were described as holy when they were set apart for a sacred purpose. In this regard, God's holiness might be seen not solely as something He has, but as a condition we place upon Him.
We can each ask ourselves – have I set God apart, as sacred, from other things in my life? I dare say many people do not. God is just another category of idea, or of epithet, an artistic, education or persuasive device, and sometimes even a punchline; but "sacred"? "holy"?
The definition goes on to say that the term “holy” also refers to people who hold a sacred office. Amongst us are so many holy people. There are people set apart to sacred roles within the Church: bishops, branch presidents and their counselors, the Relief Society presidency, Young Mens, Young Womens, and Sunday School leaders; every deacon, teacher and priest, is set apart to an especially sacred office, exemplified in their reverent administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and each Church member holds the sacred office of one who has covenanted with Jesus Christ through baptism and has received the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
Within families, the roles of spouse, parent and child should each be considered sacred callings, sacred opportunities to share the various gifts we have been given, and even the grace of Christ and goodness of God, with one another.
Ultimately, all are holy, or potentially so. And God is the holiest of all. His office is the highest of all. He is, as Joseph Smith said, the supreme governor of all things, and the Father of us all. (cf. Lectures on Faith, Lecture 5, paragraph 2.) This is not holiness He earns or that we give Him, but that He has by virtue of who He is.
Finally, the definition concludes that “holiness” ultimately has reference not merely to positions of power or respect, but to the character of the person deserving of the same. God is holy, above all things, because of his perfectly righteous and moral character.
In this regard, we read various statements in the scriptures to this effect:
- God is love (1 John 4:8).
- Jesus compares God to a parent who knows how to give good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11). He said that there is none good except for God (Matthew 19:17; Luke 18:19).
- In First Samuel, we are told God will not lie (1 Samuel 15:29). The Apostle Paul later says it is impossible for Him to do so (Hebrews 6:18).
- In Proverbs it is said that His words are pure (Proverbs 30:5).
- Alma states that God cannot walk in crooked paths (Alma 7:20).
- Scriptures generally refer to God as wise and merciful.
- Again in Alma he is referred to as “a perfect, just God, and a merciful God” (Alma 42:15).
All this taken together suggests that God’s nature involves the perfection not only of bodily frame and of spiritual substance, of intellect and awareness, but also the perfection and fullness of moral character, having and demonstrating perfect integrity, honesty, kindness, compassion, fairness, equity, mercy, and, overarching and undergirding all of those, love.
Knowing that God has a body does not in and of itself give hope of anything other than the possible value of flesh.
Knowing that God resides in heaven does nothing other than make you look up.
Knowing that God is your Father, in and of itself cannot give you cause to rejoice, because we all know how terrible some fathers are or can be.
It is, above all, because God’s loving character is perfect, that you can have faith in and trust Him.
Knowing that God is love, that his character involves a constant outpouring of compassion, understanding and help to each of us, that may strengthen our faith, hope and resolve to be better human beings and more true disciples of his Son, Jesus Christ, who in His character exemplified the Father here on earth. It is my testimony that God lives. He is our Father in Heaven. And, as such, each of us also has the basic elements of His nature, glory and power within us. We should never sell ourselves short. We should never limit our potential for happiness and perfection. We can, if we choose, become as He is. But that is a subject for another day.