Heavenly Father The Object of Our Worship

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1 Reading Assignment No. 2 Heavenly Father The Object of Our Worship And we know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and worship the Father in his name (D&C 20:29) Guiding Questions for this Reading Who is the object of our worship? What part(s) does Jesus Christ play in helping us worship the Father? Why is knowing the eternal pattern of the family essential to understanding God the Father? Why is it important to understand that God once was a man as we are now living on another world? What is the nature, the characteristics, and the attributes of Heavenly Mother? Introduction In the April 1844 General Conference of the Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith ( ) gave what has become one of the greatest doctrinal sermons of his prophetic career. It is often called as the King Follett Discourse. Joseph was greatly impressed to speak about the nature of God the Father. In it he declared: If a man learns nothing more than to eat, drink and sleep, and does not comprehend any of the designs of God, the beast comprehends the same things. It eats, drinks, sleeps, and knows nothing more about God; yet it knows as much as we, unless we are able to comprehend by the inspiration of Almighty God. If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves. If any man does not know God, and inquires what kind of being he is-if he will search diligently his own heart-if the declaration of Jesus and the apostles be true, he will realize that he has not eternal life; for there can be eternal life on no other principle. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 40) Recently, Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, observed that because of the apostasy of the original church established by Jesus Christ during his ministry, and the years that followed, the doctrine of God the Father was distorted and misshaped. Among the first principles lost in the Apostasy was an understanding of God the Father. It is not surprising, then, that among the first principles revealed in the Restoration was an understanding of God the Father. By priority, the first declaration of faith by Latter-day Saints is We believe in God, the Eternal Father (Articles of Faith 1:1). He further declared: Among all doctrines, beliefs, and principles revealed to His children, the truths related to His being and nature should stand as the preeminent focus. ( The Doctrine of the Father, Ensign, Feb. 2012, 33) The focus of this reading assignment is on certain aspects of the doctrine of God the Father that are critical to the understanding of the big picture. 1. Heavenly Father is the Object of Our Worship In the April 1995 general conference of the Church, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has declared a fundamental aspect of worship in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them. (Ensign, May 1995, 84) As we shall see in a future lesson, the desire to be like God is planted in our eternal makeup when we were organized as spirit offspring of our Heavenly Parents. In the premortal realm, our first estate (Abr. 3:26) we began our journey of becoming like our Heavenly Parents of evolving into a God, a process taking ages and aeons (First Presidency Statement [Joseph F. Smith, Pres.], The Origin of Man, Ensign, Feb. 2002, p.??). However, while here in the second estate (Abr. 3:26), our mortal probation, it is easy to get distracted from our divine goal and begin to worship other people, or things, or even ideas, a problem beginning in the days of Adam. *Read D&C 20: According to the verses, who is the object of our worship? And what is the process of reorienting our worship if misdirected? Other scriptural passages attesting to Heavenly Father being the object of our worship are: D&C 18:40; 93:11-19; 2 Ne. 25:16; Jacob 4:5; John 4:21-23; 14:1-6; and Ephesians 3: The following is a First Presidency Statement (Joseph F. Smith, President) entitled: Only One God to Worship, issued in April 1912 : Moses was reared in an atmosphere of idolatry. There were numerous deities among the Egyptians. In commencing the work which the Lord said he had for Moses to do, it was necessary to center his mind and faith upon God the Eternal Father as the only Being to worship.... This was repeated in substance, and for the same reasons, in the first of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," that is, beside me, above me, or equal to me, or to be an object of worship, (Exodus 20:2-5).... It should be remembered that it was Christ before he was in the flesh who gave the law and the commandments to Moses, and who spoke for the Father, as He explained to the Nephites when he appeared to them after his resurrection. (3 Nephi 15:5.) He

2 "was in the beginning with God and was God," according to John 1:1. The Father was represented by Him and He acted and spoke for the Father, in the creation and from that time forward in all the divine dispensations.... But the sole object of worship, God the Eternal Father, stands supreme and alone, and it is in the name of the Only Begotten that we thus approach Him, as Christ taught always. "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods." (Psalms 82:1.) (Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. comp. James R. Clark, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, , 4: ) Appropriate Worship of Jesus Christ. Some verses in the Book of Mormon state that we should worship Jesus Christ (e.g., 2 Ne. 25:29). In fact, in the April 2002 General Conference of the Church, President Gordon B. Hinckley declared that Jesus Christ is the central focus of our worship. ( We look to Christ, Ensign, May 2002, 90) The 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language the dictionary in use at the time of Joseph Smith defines the verb worship as to adore; to pay divine honors; to respect. Certainly, there is no disrespect to Heavenly Father for His children to worship Jesus Christ in the way. In a talk given in a devotional at Brigham Young University held on March 2, 1982, entitled, Our Relationship With the Lord, Elder Bruce R. McConkie spoke of appropriate worship of the Son: We worship the Father and him only and no one else. We do not worship the Son and we do not worship the Holy Ghost. I know perfectly well what the scriptures say about worshipping Christ and Jehovah, but they are speaking in an entirely different sense the sense of standing in awe and being reverentially grateful to Him who has redeemed us. Worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God the first, the Creator. Our revelations say that the Father "is infinite and eternal," that he created mankind, "and gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship." (D&C 20:17-19) Jesus said "True worshippers shall" note that this is mandatory "shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. For unto such hath God promised his spirit. And they who worship him in spirit and in truth." (JST, John 4:25-26) There is no other way, no other approved system of worship. *Read D&C 93: What do these verses teach about who Jesus Christ worshiped? What was the process by which He worshiped the Father? What are we to learn from this? Of these verses, Elder McConkie taught: Christ worked out his own salvation by worshiping the Father. After the Firstborn of the Father, while yet a spirit being, had gained power and intelligence that made him like unto God; after he had become, under the Father, the Creator of worlds without number; after he had reigned on the throne of eternal power as the Lord Omnipotent-- after all this he yet had to gain a mortal and then an immortal body. After the Son of God "made flesh" his "tabernacle," and while he yet "dwelt among the sons of men"; after he left his preexistent glory as we all do at birth; after he was born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea--after all this he was called upon to work out his own salvation. Of our Lord's life while in this mortal probation the scripture says, "He received not of the fullness at the first, but received grace for grace; and he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness." Finally, after his resurrection, "he received a fullness of the glory of the Father; and he received all power both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him." (D&C 93:12-17) Note it please, the Lord Jesus worked out his own salvation while in this mortal probation by going from grace to grace, until having overcome the world and being raised in immortal glory, he became like the Father in the full, complete, and eternal sense. All men must worship the Father in the same way Christ did in order to gain salvation. Thus saith the Lord: "I give unto you these sayings"-- those we have just quoted which tell how Christ gained his salvation by worshipping the Father--"I give unto you these sayings," saith the Lord, "that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due course receive of his fullness." What a wondrous concept this is. We too can become like the Father "For if you keep my commandments," the Lord continues, "you shall receive of his fullness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace." (D&C 93:19-20) (See BYU Speeches at speeches,byu,edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie_relationship-lord/). 2. The Eternal Pattern of Family Important to understanding the correct nature of God is the eternal nature of family. Elder Quentin L. Cook explained: Central to knowing the Father is understanding the revealed pattern of family. The family is the most important unit in time and in eternity and is ordained of God. Living in loving family relationships not only brings us great happiness, but it also helps us learn correct principles and prepares us for eternal life. In addition, family relationships help us know, love, and understand the Father. This is one reason Latter-day Saints have always emphasized the importance of marriage and family both in the Church and in society. God s plan provides a way for family relationships to extend beyond the grave. We can return to the presence of God, eternally united with our families. We believe that Heavenly Father is our literal Eternal Father. Elder Cook declared: Members of the Church understand that God the Father is the Supreme Governor of the universe, the Power that gave us spiritual being, and the Author of the plan that gives us hope and potential. He is our Heavenly Father, and we lived in His presence as part of His family in the premortal life. There we learned lessons and prepared for mortality (see D&C 138:56). We came from our Heavenly Father, and our goal is to return to Him. ( The Doctrine of the Father, Ensign, Feb. 2012, 33) A number of scriptural passages speak of Heavenly Father as the father of our spirits including Moses 3:5; 6:51; Numbers 16:22; Psalms 82:6; Malachi 2:10; Romans 8:16; Acts 17:25-29; Hebrews 12:9. 3. God Once Was a Man An important declaration made in Joseph Smith s King Follett Discourse referred to in the introduction was centered on the truth that God once was a man as we are now. What follows is part of that sermon. Important statements to this reading assignment are highlighted in blue.

3 In the first place, I wish to go back to the beginning -- to the morn of creation. There is the starting point for us to look to, in order to understand and be fully acquainted with the mind, purposes and decrees of the Great Elohim, who sits in yonder heavens as he did at the creation of this world. It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong, we may go wrong, and it be a hard matter to get right. There are but a very few beings in the world who understand rightly the character of God. The great majority of mankind do not comprehend anything, either that which is past, or that which is to come, as it respects their relationship to God.... I want to ask this congregation, every man, woman and child, to answer the question in their own heart, what kind of a being God is?... I will go back to the beginning before the world was, to show what kind of being God is. What sort of a being was God in the beginning?... and why He interferes with the affairs of man. God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, wasto make himself visible, -- I say, if you were to see him today, youwould see him like a man in form -- like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another.... [I]t is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did; and I will show it from the Bible.... Here, then, is eternal life -- to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.... These are the first principles of consolation. How consoling to the mourners when they are called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative, to know that, although the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved, they shall rise again to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more; but they shall be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. [see Romans 8:14-17] What is it? To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God, and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before. What did Jesus do? Why; I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds come rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself. So that Jesus treads in the tracks of his Father, and inherits what God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all his children. It is plain beyond disputation, and you thus learn some of the first principles( King Follett Sermon, Ensign, Apr. 1971, pp ; continued in May, 1971, pp ; emphasis added) The following add testimony to the truths taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith: Brigham Young ( ) President The great architect, manager and superintendent, controller and dictator who guides this work is out of sight to our natural eyes. He lives on another world; he is in another state of existence; he has passed the ordeals we are now passing through; he has received an experience, has suffered and enjoyed, and knows all that we know regarding the toils, sufferings, life and death of this mortality, for he has passed through the whole of it, and has received his crown and exaltation and holds the keys and the power of this Kingdom; he sways his scepter, and does his will among the children of men, among Saints and among sinners, and brings forth results to suit his purpose among kingdoms and nations and empires, that all may redound to his glory and to the perfection of his work. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 30; emphasis added) How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds, and when men were not passing through the same ordeals that we are now passing through. That course has been from all eternity, and it is and will be to all eternity. (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel.john A. Widtsoe [1998], 22-3; emphasis added) Lorenzo Snow ( ) President [I]n Nauvoo while talking upon a principle of the gospel, the Spirit of God rested powerfully upon me and showed me more clearly than I can now see your faces a certain principle and its glory, and it came to me summarized in this brief sentence: "As man is now, God once was; as God is now man may be." The Spirit of God was on me in a marvelous manner all that day, and I stored that great truth away in my mind. I felt that I had learnt something that I ought not to communicate to others. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow [2012], 83) Man can possess the same glory as God. Through a continual course of progression, our Heavenly Father has received exaltation and glory, and He points us out the same path; and inasmuch as He is clothed with power, authority, and glory, He says, "Walk ye up and come in possession of the same glory and happiness that I possess." (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow [2012], 85) 4. The Nature of God Thomas S. Monson President of the Church Our Father to whom we earnestly pray is not an ethereal substance or a mysterious and incomprehensible being. Rather, He has eyes with which to view our actions, lips with which to speak to us, ears to hear our plea, and a heart to understand our love. (Teachings of Thomas S. Monson, comp.by Lynne F. Cannegieter. Published by the Church [2014], 260) Joseph Fielding Smith ( ) President God is our Father; he is the being in whose image man is created. He has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man s (D&C 130:22), and he is the literal and personal father of the spirits of all men. He is omnipotent and omniscient; he has all power and all wisdom; and his perfections consist in the possession of all knowledge, all faith or power, all justice, all judgment, all mercy, all truth, and the fullness of all godly attributes. If we are to have that perfect faith by which we can lay hold upon eternal life, we must believe in God as the possessor of the fullness of all these characteristics and attributes. I say also that he is an infinite and eternal being, and as an unchangeable being, he possesses these perfected powers and attributes from everlasting to everlasting,

4 which means from eternity to eternity. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church [2013], 39) Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke of the role of Jesus Christ in Heavenly Father s plan: Of the many magnificent purposes served in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, one great aspect of that mission often goes uncelebrated. His followers did not understand it fully at the time, and many in modern Christianity do not grasp it now, but the Savior Himself spoke of it repeatedly and emphatically. It is the grand truth that in all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in His atoning suffering and sacrifice, He was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven. He did this at least in part because then and now all of us need to know God more fully in order to love Him more deeply and obey Him more completely. As both Old and New Testaments declare, "The first of all the commandments is... thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first [and great] commandment" (Mark 12:29-30; see also Matthew 22:37-38; Deuteronomy 6:5). Little wonder then that the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God." "I want you all to know Him," he said, "and to be familiar with Him" (History of the Church, 6:305.). We must have "a correct idea of his... perfections, and attributes," an admiration for "the excellency of [His] character" (Lectures on Faith (1985), 38, 42.). Thus the first phrase we utter in the declaration of our faith is, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father" (Articles of Faith 1:1.). So, emphatically, did Jesus. Even as He acknowledged His own singular role in the divine plan, the Savior nevertheless insisted on this prayerful preamble: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God" (John 17:3). After generations of prophets had tried to teach the family of man the will and the way of the Father, usually with little success, God in His ultimate effort to have us know Him, sent to earth His Only Begotten and perfect Son, created in His very likeness and image, to live and serve among mortals in the everyday rigors of life. To come to earth with such a responsibility, to stand in place of Elohim-speaking as He would speak, judging and serving, loving and warning, forbearing and forgiving as He would do-this is a duty of such staggering proportions that you and I cannot comprehend such a thing. But in the loyalty and determination that would be characteristic of a divine child, Jesus could comprehend it and He did it. Then, when the praise and honor began to come, He humbly directed all adulation to the Father. ( The Grandeur of God, Ensign, Nov. 2003; also Conference Report, Oct., 2003, 73-75) 5. Mother in Heaven It goes without saying, that was is true of Heavenly Father is equally true of Heavenly Mother. She is a goddess possessing in perfect form all the character and attributes of a god. When Philip asked the Savior, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us, the Savior answered: he that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14:8-9). Surely, this is true of Heavenly Mother. As Jesus is the exemplar Heavenly Father s nature, He also is exemplar of the Mother s. The following is from Gospel Topics found in LDS.org The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all human beings, male and female, are beloved spirit children of heavenly parents, a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother. This understanding is rooted in scriptural and prophetic teachings about the nature of God, our relationship to Deity, and the godly potential of men and women.[1] The doctrine of a Heavenly Mother is a cherished and distinctive belief among Latter-day Saints. [2] While there is no record of a formal revelation to Joseph Smith on this doctrine, some early Latter-day Saint women recalled that he personally taught them about a Mother in Heaven.[3] The earliest published references to the doctrine appeared shortly after Joseph Smith s death in 1844, in documents written by his close associates.[4] The most notable expression of the idea is found in a poem by Eliza R. Snow, entitled My Father in Heaven and now known as the hymn O My Father. This text declares: In the heav ns are parents single? / No, the thought makes reason stare; / Truth is reason truth eternal / Tells me I ve a mother there. [5] Subsequent Church leaders have affirmed the existence of a Mother in Heaven. In 1909, the First Presidency taught that all men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity. [6] Susa Young Gates, a prominent leader in the Church, wrote in 1920 that Joseph Smith s visions and teachings revealed the truth that the divine Mother, [is] side by side with the divine Father. [7] And in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, issued in 1995, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declared, Each [person] is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. [8] Prophets have taught that our heavenly parents work together for the salvation of the human family. We are part of a divine plan designed by Heavenly Parents who love us, taught Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[9] President Harold B. Lee stated, We forget that we have a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother who are even more concerned, probably, than our earthly father and mother, and that influences from beyond are constantly working to try to help us when we do all we can. [10] Latter-day Saints direct their worship to Heavenly Father, in the name of Christ, and do not pray to Heavenly Mother. In this, they follow the pattern set by Jesus Christ, who taught His disciples to always pray unto the Father in my name. [11] Latter-day Saints are taught to pray to Heavenly Father, but as President Gordon B. Hinckley said, The fact that we do not pray to our Mother in Heaven in no way belittles or denigrates her. [12] Indeed, as Elder Rudger Clawson wrote, We honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal Prototype. [13] As with many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven is limited. Nevertheless, we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern established for us as children of heavenly parents. Latter-day Saints believe that this pattern is reflected in Paul s statement that neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. [14] Men and women cannot be exalted without each other. Just as we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said, Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them. [15] Notes [1] Genesis 1:26 27; Moses 3:4 7; Romans 8:16 17; Psalm 82:6; Doctrine and Covenants 132: [2] See Becoming Like God ; see also Elaine Anderson Cannon, Mother in Heaven, in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow, 5 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:961. For an extensive survey of these teachings, see David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido, A Mother There : A

5 Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven, BYU Studies 50, no. 1 (2011): [3] Zina Diantha Huntington Young recalled that when her mother died in 1839, Joseph Smith consoled her by telling her that in heaven she would see her own mother again and become acquainted with her eternal Mother. (Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911], ) [4]See W. W. Phelps, Come to Me, in Poetry, for the Times and Seasons, Times and Seasons 6 (Jan. 15, 1845): 783. [5] My Father in Heaven, in Poetry, for the Times and Seasons, Times and Seasons 6 (Nov. 15, 1845): 1039; O My Father, Hymns, no. 292; see also Jill Mulvay Derr, The Significance of O My Father in the Personal Journey of Eliza R. Snow, BYU Studies 36, no. 1 ( ), [6] The Origin of Man, Improvement Era 13, no. 1 (Nov. 1909): 78. [7] The Vision Beautiful, Improvement Era 23, no. 6 (Apr. 1920): 542. At this time, Gates was the recording secretary of the Relief Society general presidency. [8] The Family: A Proclamation to the World, Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 129. [9] M. Russell Ballard, When Thou Art Converted: Continuing Our Search for Happiness (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001), 62. [10] Harold B. Lee, The Influence and Responsibility of Women, Relief Society Magazine 51, no. 2 (Feb. 1964): 85. [11] 3 Nephi 18:19 21; Matthew 6:6 9; John 17:1, 5, 21, 24 25; see also Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8; and 3 Nephi 13:9; 17:15. [12] Gordon B. Hinckley, Daughters of God, Ensign, Nov. 1991, 100. [13] Our Mother in Heaven, Latter-day Saints Millennial Star 72, no. 39 (Sept. 29, 1910): 620. Rudger Clawson was the editor of the periodical and likely author of this editorial. [14] 1 Corinthians 11:11. [15] Dallin H. Oaks, Apostasy and Restoration, Ensign, May 1995, 84.