God, the Eternal Father

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost

-The First Article of Faith of the LDS Church

“God is a perfected, saved soul enjoying eternal life.”

-Marion G. Romney^[16]

There have been divisions and disputes among professing Christians since New Testament times. In fact, many Pauline letters in the Bible directly address and attempt to correct communities who were straying from the Gospel. Today is no different, and it could be argued that it is worse, with thousands of denominations all claiming to be Christians, some with widely varying beliefs, and all claiming the Bible as a base. Even with all of the current divisions, few who claim to be Christian would resort to calling those with similar beliefs cultists; but most professing Christians have heard at least a few rumors about what is often called the “cult” of “Mormonism”. From an LDS perspective, slander and libel are to be expected; Satan fights against the truth, and any words against the LDS Church must be Satan’s words against the True Church of God.

In traditional Christianity, the Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; one God in three Divine Persons. Speaking of the relationship between the Father and the Son, the opening verse of St. John’s Gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”^[17]

The so-called “traditional” view should not be confused with Modalism/Sabellianism/Patripassionism, which said that God the Father, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit are one single person. The orthodox belief is that the Trinity is composed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit- three separate persons comprising one single God.^[18]

According to the book The Christian Faith, “In God there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit[, T]he three are one undivided Godhead[, e]ach person is fully God: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit: The divine persons are distinct from one another: they are distinct through mutual relationship[.]”^[19]

The Trinity doctrine is not explicitly spelled out in the Bible, and remains the most difficult concept to grasp in all of Christianity. Richard Dawkins observed, “Do we have one God in three parts, or three Gods in one? The Catholic Encyclopedia clears up the matter for us, in a masterpiece of theological close reasoning:

In the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these Three Persons
being truly distinct one from another. Thus, in the words
of the Athanasian Creed: ‘the Father is God, the Son is
God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not
three Gods but one God.’^[20]

LDS Theology currently offers what is probably the most lucid definition of the Trinity: There is one God, God, and he has a Son, Jesus, and there is also a Holy Spirit. When they speak of God, they are talking about God the Father. Three separate entities, all of which are easy to understand. This was not always the case.

Originally, Joseph Smith’s teachings of the Godhead varied from orthodox Protestant beliefs to what seemed to be Modalism/Sabellianism/Patripassionism. In the Book of Mormon, the Testimony of Three Witnesses (discussed in greater detail in Chapter Eight) says, “And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God.”^[21] The same book also speaks of “the only true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end.” Elsewhere we read the following confused discourse:

…I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in the flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son- The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son- And they are
one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth. And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.^[22]

The original Doctrine and Covenants, the second volume of latter-day Mormon Scripture^[23] printed in 1835, contained a section entitled Lectures on Faith. These lectures basically comprise a question-and-answer catechism, and were the “doctrine” section of the Doctrine and Covenants^[24]. They taught that the Holy Spirit was the “mind” of the Father and the Son:

The Father… [is] a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fulness: The Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle, made, or fashioned like unto man, or being in the form and likeness of man…And he being the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and having overcome, received a fulness of the glory of the Father- possessing the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit…^[25]

Joseph Smith’s concepts of God evolved throughout his lifetime, and many changes were made in LDS Scriptures to reflect this evolution. Curiously, the Lectures on Faith sections in the Doctrine and Covenants survived intact until 1921, when they were removed from the book entirely. The Book of Mormon, however, has been significantly altered since the original edition. Most of these alterations were made when the second edition was published in 1837, but it has been edited continually, with the most recent changes appearing in the Church’s latest, 1981, edition. The 1830 (first) edition of the Book of Mormon mixes traditional orthodoxy with Modalism/Sabellianism/Partipassionism, and seems to betray Joseph Smith’s confused understanding of the Holy Trinity. For an example of orthodoxy we’ll turn to page 25 of the 1830 edition, which reads^[26]:

Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh.

Page 25 of the original edition displays apparent Modalism:

And the angel said unto me, behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!

Compared with the 1981 edition, 1 Nephi 11:21, which has been altered to read:

And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father

Page 26 of the 1830 edition again presents the Patripassionist view:

And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, even the Everlasting God, was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.

Compared with the 1981 edition, 1 Nephi 11:32:

And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.

1830 edition, page 32:

…the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Saviour of the world…

1981, 1 Nephi 13:40:

…the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world…

LDS apologist^[27] Robert L. Millet argues that these changes were made “to make certain that no reader – member or nonmember – would confuse the Latter-day Saint understanding of the Father and the Son with that of other Christian denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic Church^[28].

This is an insufficient explanation for several reasons. First of all, the Catholic Church teaches that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three separate personages that exist as one God. Therefore, changing “Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh,” to “…the mother of the Son of God…” would be appropriate in Millet’s explanation, and would differentiate between a distinctly LDS teaching and that of the Catholic Church. However, changing, “…the Lamb of God…yea, even the Everlasting God, was judged of the world…” to read, “the Son of the Everlasting God,” would be inappropriate because the Catholic Church does not teach that God the Father died on the cross.
Noted LDS scholar Hugh Nibley gives this explanation for the Son of interpolations:

[In 1 Nephi 11:21] the declaration of the angels, “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!” has been augmented in later editions to “even the Son of the Eternal Father!” to avoid confusion: in this passage the Eternal Father is possibly in apposition not to “Lamb” but to “God” — he is the Lamb of God-the-Eternal-Father. But that might not be obvious to most readers, and so to avoid trouble, and without in the least changing the meaning of the text, the Lamb of God is made equivalent to the Son of the Eternal Father. Both ideas are quite correct, and there is no conflict between them.^[29]

This explanation might suffice if the change had been made to read, “Behold the Lamb of the Eternal Father,” or, “Behold the Lamb of God the Eternal Father.” They were not, and Nibley’s explanations seem to be attempts to provide answers where no real answers can be provided.
In studying the evidence- the Book of Mormon (1830), and the Lectures on Faith (written in 1834, published in 1835)- it is logical to conclude that Joseph Smith modified the Book of Mormon in 1837 to conform to his then-new, and purely polytheistic, view of the Trinity (which will be discussed momentarily).
Latter-day Saints today may be confused by some of these early teachings because, as they understand it, Joseph Smith reported having a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ- two separate bodily persons- in 1820. Why, if he had actually seen God the Father and Jesus in 1820, would he have taught in the early 1830’s that they were the same being, and that God did not have a body of flesh and bone?
The text of the First Vision, as known today, was written around 1838. It was first published in the Times and Seasons, a Church periodical, in 1842, and appeared in the third official volume of LDS Scripture, The Pearl of Great Price, in 1851. The importance of this text cannot be overstated; many General Authorities have explained that upon it lies the very foundation of Mormonism. Apostle Bruce R. McConkie has written, “This transcendent vision was the beginning of latter-day revelation; it marked the opening of the heavens after the long night of apostate darkness; with it was ushered in the great era of restoration…Through it the creeds of Christendom were shattered to smithereens, and because of it the truth about those Beings whom it is life eternal began again to be taught among men…With this vision came the call of that Prophet who, ‘save Jesus only’ was destined to do more ‘for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.’ This vision was the most important event that had taken place in all world history from the day of Christ’s ministry to the glorious hour when it occurred.” The Introduction to the 1952 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants agrees, “[T]he first and of all most glorious [of Joseph Smith’s revelations] was the visitation in which, in answer to the young man’s prayer for guidance as to which of the numerous and opposing sects of the day he should join, the Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, personally manifested themselves, and the Father, pointing to the Christ, thus affirmed and commanded: This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”^[30]

For the sake of clarity, here in its entirety, is the official, canonized version of the First Vision:

…I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom that I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was sized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction- not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other- This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)- and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home.^[31]

The first account- and the only one in Joseph Smith’s handwriting- was written in 1832:^[32]

… thus from the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the situation of the world of mankind the contentions and divi[si]ons the wicke[d]ness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the of the minds of mankind my mind become exceedingly distressed for I become convicted of my sins and by searching the scriptures I found that did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ …
marvilous even in the likeness of him who created him (them) and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath the wise man said the (it is a) fool (that) saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclaimed all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotant and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in their bounds who filleth Eternity who was and is and will be from all Eternity to Eternity and when I considered all these things and that (that) being seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and to obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in (the) attitude of calling upon the Lord (in the 16th year of my age) a piller of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the (Lord) opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph (my son) thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy (way) walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life (behold) the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the gospel and keep not (my) commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to th[e]ir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which (hath) been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud (clothed) in the glory of my Father and my soul was filled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but [I] could find none that would believe the hevnly vision nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart … ^[33]

In the above account, written by Smith at least five years before the official published version, Joseph mentions only the Lord appearing to him. There are not two “Personages,” there is no evil power attempting to destroy him, and there is no voice which says “This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!” And, though it does mention “none doeth good no not one,” and “they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me,” the condemnations from the mouth of the Lord that all existent Christian creeds were an “abomination” in His sight is notably absent. The reason for the Lord’s appearance in the 1832 account seems to simply be to forgive Joseph his sins, admonish him to walk in His path, and let him know that He is coming soon. And, very importantly, Joseph’s age in this account (“in the 16th year of my age”) is quite different from the fourteen years old he claims to be in the official version.

But what of his claim that he was ridiculed by the Protestant ministers, as well as many acquaintances, of the Palmyra area after telling them of his vision in 1820? The only evidence of these persecutions is Joseph’s 1838 account of the First Vision. There is absolutely no evidence outside of it. In fact, there is some evidence to support the fact that no one had heard of this vision in the 1820’s.

The first “Anti-Mormon” book ever published was Mormonism Unvailed [sic], by E.D. Howe, in 1834. In contains venomous remarks by Howe on subjects ranging from the content of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith’s character. It also contains sworn statements by acquaintances of the Smith family in Palmyra, collected by Doctor Philastus Hurlburt^[34] in which “Every idle story, every dark insinuation which at that time could be thought of and unearthed was pressed into service,”^[35]. The most interesting thing about the book is what it doesn’t contain. It mentions absolutely nothing about Smith claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ and God the Father. After reading Howe’s book, one can see that if he knew anything about the Prophet claiming to have seen Jesus Christ and God the Father in a vision, he probably would have ridiculed him for it, and certainly would have mentioned it.

In The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph relates that, shortly after having the vision:

I soon found…that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects- all united to persecute me. It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself. However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision.^[36]

If he in fact had beheld a vision, and if he had related it to so many people, none of them remembered when asked by Philastus Hurlburt for sworn statements about the faulty character of the Prophet.

The second version of the First Vision was recorded in 1835 in the handwriting of Warren Parrish, Smith’s scribe:^[37]

…being wrought up in my mind, respecting the subject of religion and looking at [upon] the different systems taught the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong and I considered it of the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involve eternal consequ[e]n[c]es; being thus perplexed in mind I retired to the silent grove and bow[e]d down before the Lord, under a realising sense that he had said (if the bible be true) ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened seek and you shall find and again, if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbradeth not; information was what I most desired at this time, and with a fixed determination to obtain it, I called upon the Lord for the first time, in the place above stated or in other words I made a fruitless attempt to p[r]ay, my toung seemed to be swolen in my mouth, so that I could not utter, I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me, I strove again to pray, but could not, the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer, I sprung up on my feet, and and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking, I kneeled again my mouth was opened and my toung liberated, and I called on the Lord in mighty prayer, a pillar of fire appeared above my head, it presently rested down upon me my head, and filled me with Joy unspeakable, a personage appeared in the midst of this pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage appeared like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testifyed unto me that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; I was about 14 years old when I received this first communication…^[38]

Mormons believe in a doctrine of “pre-existence”- that is, they believe that every soul existed as a spirit before being born into this world. In the highly influential book Mormon Doctrine, under the subject “Pre-Existence” we read:

To understand the doctrine of pre-existence two great truths must be accepted: 1. That God is a personal Being in whose image man is created, an exalted, perfected, and glorified Man of Holiness, and not a spirit essence that fills the immensity of space; and 2. That matter or element is self-existent and eternal in nature, creation being merely the organization and reorganization of that substance which ‘was not created or made, neither indeed can it be.’ Unless God the Father was a personal Being, he could not have begotten spirits in his image, and if there had been no self-existent spirit element, there would have been no substance from which those spirit bodies could have been organized.^[39]

By LDS understanding, God is an exalted man. He lived on another earth, much like ours, somewhere else. He was a faithful adherent to the LDS Gospel, accepting the same doctrines that the LDS Church teach today, and accomplished all that was necessary during his own mortal lifetime to receive exaltation from his god. After being appointed as a god of his own world/universe he, along with his wives, procreated our spirit bodies to house already-existent matter (i.e. our intelligence) that had existed from all eternity. God then chose to put these spirit bodies into tabernacles of flesh, so that we could someday become gods of our own worlds/universes. Gospel Fundamentals explains:

In heaven we learned many things and improved ourselves as much as we could, but there were things we could not learn and do there. Our Father in Heaven made a plan for us to learn more. He called us to a meeting in heaven. We were all there. He explained His plan to help us to learn and told us that if we followed His plan we would become like Him. Our Father in Heaven said He would have an earth made, on which we would live for a time. On the earth, we would not remember our life with Him in heaven. We would be able to choose good things or bad things. This would be a test to see if we would obey our Father in Heaven when we were not with Him. According to our Father in Heaven’s plan, we would each receive a body of flesh and bones. We would need this kind of body to learn the things He knows and do the things He does. Later, we would die and our spirits would leave our bodies of flesh and bones. But our spirits would be joined again with our bodies, and we would never die again.^[40]

God’s plan was to give us “free agency”, which is the power to decide between right or wrong. It is up to us to live a good life; we have the gift of free will.

General Authority Bruce R. McConkie explained, “Endowed with [free] agency and subject to eternal laws, man began his progression and advancement in pre-existence, his ultimate goal being to attain a state of glory, honor, and exaltation like the Father of spirits.”^[41]

16
Salt Lake Tribune, April 3, 1977 (Marion G. Romney was, at that time, a member of the First Presidency.)

17
John 1:1-3, 14

18
See The Trinity by Karl Rahner

19
The Christian Faith, pg. 141

20
The God Delusion, pg. 34
21
This Testimony of Three Witnesses appears in every edition of the Book of Mormon.

22
Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 31:21, pg. 115 (1981 edition)

23
The LDS Church recognizes four volumes of Holy Scripture: The Holy Bible (KJV), the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

24
They were removed from the book in 1921.

25
Doctrine and Covenants, pg. 53 (1835 edition)

26
The original, 1830, edition of the Book of Mormon had fewer chapter divisions than the current version, and contained no verse numbering. When it is referred to I will include the 1830 edition page number, as well as the corresponding chapter/verse of the 1981 (current) edition. It is also interesting to note that the earliest available manuscript copies of the Book of Mormon agree with the 1830 edition, but not with subsequent editions. See The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon.

27
Apologetics are defined as the act of a formal defense or justification, and apologist is defined as “a person who defends or justifies something, such as a doctrine, policy, or institution.” (American Heritage Dictionary). The terms are of ancient origin and do not imply an acknowledgement of fault or offense.

28
The Power of the Word: Saving Doctrines from the Book of Mormon, pg. 12

29
Since Cumorah, pg. 6

30
Mormon Doctrine, pp. 284-285

31
Pearl of Great Price, pp. 48-50 (1981 edition), Joseph Smith-History 1:11-20

32
Most spelling errors are left uncorrected, though some appear with brackets for clarification.

33
An American Prophet’s Record, pp. 5-6, also see Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, UT.

34
“Doctor” was his given name, he was not a doctor. It bears mention that Hurlburt was almost certainly a man of questionable motives. According to A Comprehensive History of the Church, “Hurlburt had been expelled from the ‘Mormon’ church in Kirtland, in June, 1833, for immoralities; and because he had threatened to take the life of Joseph Smith, Jun., he was placed under bonds ‘to keep the peace and be of good behavior to all the citizens of the state of Ohio, generally, and to said Joseph Smith, Jun., in particular” (1:41)

35
A Comprehensive History of the Church 1:41

36
Pearl of Great Price, pg. 50 (1981 edition), Joseph Smith- History 1:22-24

37
Once again, spelling errors are left as in the original, though brackets are added to some words for clarification.

38
Early Mormon Documents, 1:43-45, also see Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, UT.

39
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 589 (1966 edition)

40
Gospel Fundamentals, pg. 7

41
Mormon Doctrine, pg. 238 (1966 edition)