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What Is God Really Like? |
God As A Spirit
318
See APOSTASY, CREEDS, GOD. False creeds teach
that God is a spirit essence that fills the immensity of space and is everywhere
and nowhere in particular present. In a vain attempt to support this doctrine,
formulated by councils in the early days of the great apostasy, it is common
for apologists to point to the statement in the King James Bible which
says, "God is a Spirit." (John 4:22-24.) The fact is that this passage
is mistranslated; instead, the correct statement, quoted in context reads:
"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers 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, must
worship in spirit and in truth." (Inspired Version, John 4:25-26.)
319
However, it is true that God may be said to be
a Spirit, but this statement must be understood to mean that he is a Spirit
in the same sense that a resurrected man is a spirit. When the apostles,
beholding the resurrected Lord, "were terrified and affrighted and supposed
that they had seen a spirit" (Luke 24:36-43), there was not the slightest
intimation that the "spirit" was a vaporous nothingness that filled immensity.
Spirits are personages. God the Father is a glorified and perfected Man,
a personage of flesh and bones (D. & C. 130:22) in which tangible body
an eternal spirit is housed. It is in this sense that God is a Spirit.
God
317
See ALMIGHTY GOD, CHRIST, CONDESCENSION OF GOD,
CREATOR, CREEDS, ELOHIM, ENDLESS, ETERNAL, EXALTATION, FALSE GODS, FATHER
IN HEAVEN, FATHER OF LIGHTS, GOD AS A SPIRIT, GODHOOD; GOD OF ABRAHAM,
ISAAC, AND JACOB; GOD OF BATTLES, GOD OF GODS, GOD OF ISRAEL, GOD OF NATURE,
GOD OF SPIRITS, GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH, GOD OF TRUTH, GRACE OF GOD, HIGHEST,
HOLY FATHER, HOLY GHOST, IDOLATRY, LORD, MAN OF COUNSEL, MAN OF HOLINESS,
MOST HIGH, MOTHER IN HEAVEN, OMNIPOTENCE, OMNIPRESENCE, OMNISCIENCE, ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON, PERSONIFICATION, PLURALITY OF GODS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SALVATION,
SON OF GOD, THEOPHANIES, UNKNOWN GOD. There are three Gods -- the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost -- who, though separate in personality, are united
as one in purpose, in plan, and in all the attributes of perfection. Thus
anything, in these fields, which is revealed with reference to any of them
is equally true of each of the others; and hence no attempt need be made
in these fields to distinguish between them.
317
By definition, God (generally meaning the Father)
is the one supreme and absolute Being; the ultimate source of the universe;
the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of
all things. Of him, when considering the object upon which faith rests,
the Prophet observes "that God is the only supreme governor and independent
Being in whom all fulness and perfection dwell; who is omnipotent, omnipresent,
and omniscient; without beginning of days or end of life; and that in him
every good gift and every good principle dwell; and that he is the Father
of lights; in him the principle of faith dwells independently, and he is
the object in whom the faith of all other rational and accountable beings
centers for life and salvation." (Lectures on Faith, p. 9.)
318
"There is a God in heaven, who is infinite and
eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the
framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them." (D. &
C. 20:17.) He is not a progressive being in the sense that liberal religionists
profess to believe; he was not created by man; and he was not a God of
vengeance and war in Old Testament times and a God of love and mercy in
a later New Testament era. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
318
God is known only by revelation; he stands revealed
or remains forever unknown. He cannot be discovered in the laboratory,
or by viewing all immensity through giant telescopes, or by cataloging
all the laws of nature that do or have existed. A knowledge of his powers
and the laws of nature which he has ordained does not reveal his personality
and attributes to men in the true gospel sense. Certainly a knowledge of
these laws and powers enables man to learn truths which are faith promoting
and which help him to understand more about Deity; but saving knowledge
of God comes only by revelation from the Holy Ghost as a consequence of
obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
318
Man's purpose in life is to learn the nature
and kind of being that God is, and then, by conformity to his laws and
ordinances, to progress to that high state of exaltation wherein man becomes
perfect as the Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:48; Teachings, pp. 342-362.)
To me it is such a comfort and a strength to know beyond any shadow of doubt that God is in every real and literal sense my "Father in Heaven". It is of immense comfort to know that he is personable in the sense that he has a body of flesh and bones. A "Father" who I can love and be loved by. He knows me by my name, as he know you by your name. This I know because the Holy Ghost has born witness to me of its truthfulness. That which has been born unto me by the power of the Holy Ghost is sacred and eternal. I know it's true. God knows I know it's true. What God has seen fit to give unto me by personal revelation I cannot deny nor will I. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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