Topic: The Doctrine of Heavenly Father Part One Heavenly Father Reading Assignment No. 2 the Object of Our Worship Introduction Speaking of the years following the apostasy of the early Church established by Jesus Christ in the meridian of time, Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, observed that both the doctrines of God the Father and the Godhead were greatly 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 said: Among all doctrines, beliefs, and principles revealed to His children, the truths related to His being [i.e., what kind of being He is] and nature should stand as the preeminent focus. We acknowledge His existence and true nature in order to join with ancient believers and prophets in true worship (see Mosiah 4:9). The purpose of all that the Father has revealed, commanded, and initiated for the inhabitants of earth is to help us come to know Him, emulate Him, and become like Him so we can return to His holy presence. ( The Doctrine of the Father, Ensign, Feb. 2012, 32-36) The focus of this reading assignment concerns the doctrine of Heavenly Father. His desire is that His children become as He is, to share equally in all that He has, and to join in the work that He does. He has devised a plan, called by Amulek, the great plan of the Eternal God (Al. 34:9), by which this may be accomplished. Our first objective in studying this great plan is to learn about Heavenly Father: the object of our worship. Each of the following concepts and teachings are of great importance to understanding the big picture. Please invite the Spirit to be with you as you study each of these key concepts that you might comprehend their importance in your own life. Key Concepts and Teachings Heavenly Parents Mankind is the offspring of Heavenly Parents. The Family: A Proclamation to the World declares: All human beings male and female are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. (Ensign, Nov. 1995, pp. 101-2) Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught: Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them. (Ensign, May 1995, 84) The great plan of the Eternal God is a plan whereby the offspring of Heavenly Father and Mother may become as they are. Heavenly Father is the Object of Our Worship If Our theology begins with heavenly parents, and that Our highest aspiration is to be like them, then it follows that the object of our worship is Heavenly Father. Indeed, we should say, our Heavenly Parents. This is why marriage and family is a central feature in the gospel plan. Read D&C 20:17-19, 29 What are we taught about the object of our worship? Other passages of scripture testify of this same truth: D&C 18:40; 93:11-19; 2 Ne. 25:16; Jacob 4:5; John 4:21-23; 14:1-6; and Ephesians 3:14-15. The following is a First Presidency statement explaining the statement found in Moses 1:6 that says: but there is no God beside me : 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...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.) ( Only One God to Worship, 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, 1965-75, 4:270-271; emphasis added) Appropriate Worship of Jesus Christ We learn in the scriptures that the overarching role of Jesus Christ in Heavenly Father s plan is to make
possible the full attainment of our worship of the Father, that we may become even as He is. The Savior, declared: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) So crucial is Christ s role in God s eternal plan that He is constantly emphasized both in scripture and by Church leaders. Indeed, we learn in the Book of Mormon that not only should we worship the Father but also we should appropriately worship the Son (e.g., 2 Ne. 25:16, 29). Modern prophets have taught this. For example, President Gordon B. Hinckley declared, that Jesus Christ is the central focus of our worship (Ensign, May 2002, 90). On another occasion, he stated that other Christians must know that the central figure in all of our worship is the Lord Jesus Christ (Ensign, Nov. 1999, 4). 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 this manner. Speaking of our relationship with the Lord, Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915-85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke of appropriate worship of Jesus Christ: 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. (See Our Relationship Wi t h t h e Lord, B YU S p e e c h e s at speeches,byu,edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie_relationship-lord/). This talk can be found in the For Further Studies section associated with this reading assignment. The Nature of God The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-44) taught that in order exercise faith sufficient to gain exaltation in the celestial kingdom, one must have both an idea that [God] exists and a a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes (Lectures of Faith, 3:2-4). By character, perfections, and attributes, he means the nature of God. The key sources for learning the nature of God are the scriptures, latter-day prophets, the temple, and personal prayer and revelation. For example, some of the characteristics and attributes that make up the nature of God are found in the following verses of scripture. Read and record what we know of God s nature: Exodus 34:6-7 Moses 1:1-6 D&C 38:1-3 2 Nephi 26:24 These are merely examples of what scriptures reveal about the nature of Heavenly Father (and, obviously, Heavenly Mother). Likewise, latter-day prophets have disclosed much regarding the nature of God. Joseph Smith (1805-44) President While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [Matthew 5:45.]... The purposes of our God are great, His love unfathomable, His wisdom infinite, and His power unlimited; therefore, the Saints have cause to rejoice and be glad, knowing that this God is our God forever and ever, and He will be our Guide until death. [Psalm 48:14.] (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 39) Thomas S. Monson (1927-2018) President 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 (1876-1972 ) 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, which means from eternity to eternity. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith [2013], 39) Jesus Christ Exemplifies the Nature of God A major source of understanding Heavenly Father comes from what we learn of His Son, Jesus Christ. A crucial aspect of the Savior s mortal ministry was to exemplify the nature of Heavenly Father to mankind. Read the following passages of scripture and record the what they teach of this important truth? Colossians 1:15 Hebrews 1:3 Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught in a general conference address: 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 Matt. 22:37-38; Deut. 6:5). (From The Grandeur of God, Ensign, Nov. 2003, 70) To learn of Jesus Christ is to learn of the Father. That is another for the emphasis of Jesus Christ in the gospel plan. As Offspring of God, the Nature of God is also Our Own Nature There is a second reason for learning of the true nature of God. As offspring of Heavenly Parents, we are endowed with the same nature as our divine parents; the same characteristics and attributes, though not in perfected form. In November 1909 the First Presidency, with President Joseph F. Smith as President, issued a statement that among other things said: Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undeveloped offspring of celestial parentage is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God. ( The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75-81; Reprinted Ensign, Feb. 2002, 26-30; emphasis added) President Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901) declared: We were born in the image of God our Father; He begot us like unto Himself. There is the nature of deity in the composition of our spiritual organization; in our spiritual birth our Father transmitted to us the capabilities, powers and faculties which He Himself possessed--as much so as the child on its mother's bosom possesses, although in an undeveloped state, the faculties, powers, and susceptibilities of its parent. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow [2012], 84) In learning of the nature of God, we are learning of our own nature. We have the same characteristics and attributes but in undeveloped state. Of this, President Ezra Taft Benson said: As God s offspring, we have His attributes in us. We are gods in embryo, and thus have an unlimited potential and attainment. (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 21). The Eternal Pattern of Family Important to understanding the doctrine of Heavenly Father, is understanding the eternal nature of family. Elder Quentin L. Cook spoke of the centrality of The Eternal Pattern of Family within Heavenly Father s plan: 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.... Our Heavenly Father has chosen not to reveal many details of our premortal life with Him. Perhaps this is because we can learn many things simply by observing the pattern for righteous families He established on the earth. Carefully observing and conscientiously living in accordance with righteous family patterns on earth is at the core of our quest to know the Father. Heavenly Father and family are inseparably connected. When we understand the many dimensions of this connection, we can begin to comprehend more completely how personal and individual are Heavenly Father s love for and relationship to each of us. Understanding how He feels about us gives us the power to love Him more purely and fully. It is through the opportunity given us in this mortal estate the second of three estate s in Heavenly Father s plan that the Lord designed a way for us to learn more about the nature of our Heavenly Parents. In God s revealed pattern for righteous families, the birth of a child is the result of a conscious and loving choice. It is the miraculous result of caring and deliberate actions taken by parents to participate with Heavenly Father in the sacred process of creating a mortal body for one of His spirit children. Knowing that our life is the result of a loving choice and a deliberate act can give us a sense of our great personal worth in mortality. That sense of worth can reassure us of our potential and protect us from temptations. ( The Doctrine of the Father, Ensign, Feb. 2012, 33; emphasis added) Elder Cook s full talk can be found in the For Further Studies associated with this reading assignment. God Once Was a Man In the April 1844 conference of the Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith delivered one of the most important discourses ever given on Heavenly Father. It is known as the King Follett Discourse. In this sermon, the Prophet made the following important declaration about the reality of God: Joseph Smith (1805-44) President 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, was to make himself visible, --I say, if you were to see him today, you would 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.... 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. ( King Follett Sermon, Ensign, Apr. 1971, pp. 13-17; continued in May, 1971, pp. 13-17; emphasis added) The following quotations add insight and testimony to the truths taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith: Brigham Young (1891-77) 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 (1814-1901) 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) Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) President The whole design of the gospel is to lead us, onward and upward to greater achievement, even, eventually, to godhood. This great possibility was enunciated by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the King Follet sermon (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 342-62) and emphasized by President Lorenzo Snow. It is a grand and incomparable concept: As God now is, man may become! (See The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, comp. Clyde J. Williams, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984, p. 1) (From Don t Drop the Ball, Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 48). Mother in Heaven The following is from Gospel Topics found in LDS.org regarding Mother in Heaven : 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 132:19 20. [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 Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven, BYU Studies 50, no. 1 (2011): 70 97. [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], 15 16.) [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 (1996 97), 84 126. [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.