A Correct Idea of the Godhead
READ LoF 5:1-3
Why
does Joseph Smith say there are “two personages” who constitute the supreme
power over all things? Aren’t there
three personages - what about the Holy Ghost?
Joseph Smith knew, from first-hand
experience, how many personages constitute the supreme power over all things –
he saw them in the Sacred Grove, in countless visions in heaven including
D&C 76 and in the School of the Prophets in Kirtland; if his knowledge
continued to expand past 1835 (when the Lectures on Faith were canonized), he
had opportunities to update this scripture based on new revelation but he never
did and we have no information suggesting that he ever considered it. So the question really could be – did Joseph
Smith understand the government of heaven or not? And if not, which subsequent Church
leaders/prophets understood it so much better?
The Holy Ghost
is not a “personage of spirit” in the way we have been taught (see discussion
of Orson Hyde’s doctrinal error in the post on D&C 130 – July 25, 2021 post
“Question and Answer Session with Joseph Smith”).
When Joseph created what we now call the
temple endowment ceremony and performed it with select individuals in the Red
Brick Store, he did not introduce a character named the Holy Ghost but instead
featured Michael/Adam, who was symbolic of all mankind; Michael is not the Holy
Ghost as we would think of the HG (in the same way that Jehovah was born as
Jesus of Nazareth), but Michael had the opportunity, through sanctification, to
become holy as God is holy – to be one with God and a joint heir with Christ;
he was given the promise that his spirit or ghost could become holy like
Christ’s is; and we are all to consider ourselves as if we were Adam and Eve –
so we should all be seeking to become holy and one with God.
If
God the Father was once a Savior on another planet (see TPJS 390-392; John
5:19), how can Joseph say that the Father and Son are the supreme power over
all things and have created all things throughout the immensity of space, as
the Father must have been a Son to another God?
They are the supreme power in this cosmos
and eternity; within the dimension and epoch that we exist, there are none
greater!
However, since
becoming a God requires being one and co-equal with all other Gods, the fact
that other Gods exist in other cosmoses and eternities means that while none
are greater than the Father, they are all equal to Him (see LoF 3:19).
With regards
to the progression of mankind and the building and redeeming of earths and the
children of God who come to reside on them for a season, there are always “two”
personages – a Father and a Son; that is not to say that there are only two
Gods in all the dimensions of the heavens but that there are only two who
constitute the supreme power over all things in that cosmos, dimension and
eternity in which any given probation will take place; in the heavens where the
Gods dwell in everlasting burnings, there are many mansions – many Gods and
Sons of God.
What
does it mean that the Father is a personage of spirit, glory and power,
possessing all perfection and fullness but is not a personage of tabernacle?
There is no such thing as immaterial
matter - all spirit is matter but it is more fine or pure and can only be
discerned by purer eyes (D&C 131:7) - so the Father’s body is composed of physical
matter.
However, that matter is so refined - is
resonating at such a high frequency and is composed of element or energy so
glorious and powerful, that it would dwarf the sun billions of times over in
its intensity.
He is an inseparably connected soul or
spirit and body; they are one entity now – He does not live in a temporary abode
or tabernacle of clay.
What
does it mean that the Son is described as a personage of tabernacle?
A tabernacle was a temporary structure;
it was a portable “temple” and was required for worship in the wilderness but
not when the Israelites finally arrived at their destination, the promised
land. In the same way, these mortal
bodies are temporary abodes or “tabernacles” while we reside in the wilderness
that is this fallen, mortal sphere.
Christ came to earth to inhabit a
temporary structure - a mortal body of corruptible element or “clay” - to do a
job.
When He was resurrected, His physical
body could pass through the ceiling of an upper room in Jerusalem and could
ascend to heaven through a conduit of light!
But could also be handled by mortals and eat fish - it is a “physical”
body now but not like ours. It is not
bound by the laws governing a mortal tabernacle. Again, it is made of more refined matter; for
additional scriptures, see: Mosiah 3:5; Alma 7:8; D&C 93:4 & 35.
Why
are the bodies of the Father and the Son compared in this way?
What is being laid out here is the
difference between a god who has previously attained to the resurrection of the
dead and a fullness of glory (the Father or Ahman) and a “Son of God” whose
mission it was to attain the resurrection of the dead and a fullness of glory
during this eternity (the Son or Jehovah/Jesus).
To us in this eternity, the Father is the
“personage of glory” while the Son is the one who left His glory in heaven and
condescended to earth to live in a mortal “tabernacle” so He could work out the
atonement.
Since the
Father loves the Son with a perfect love and because a God of Light will always
sacrifice to save His children, the fact that the Father sent the Son to be
sacrificed implies that the Father could no longer perform that specific role –
He could no longer lay aside His glory to condescend to take upon Himself a
tabernacle of clay; since we know He (the Father) had previously attained to
the resurrection of the dead Himself (see TPJS 390-393), we can imply that once
a God attains to this level of glory via this kind of infinite and eternal
sacrifice, that they can no longer lay aside their glory (their body), even if
they wanted to because their spirits and bodies are permanently welded together
(see D&C 93:33); within this context it makes sense to describe the Father
as a personage of “glory” and the Son a personage of “tabernacle” (see Mosiah
3:5; Alma 7:8).
What
did Christ do before the foundation of this world to qualify to perform the
role of Savior here?
Christ had proved Himself able to work
out the atonement and attain to the resurrection in some “first place” before
this world was ever designed, let alone created (see Alma 13:3-5) – and because
of this, He was ordained to be called a Son of God. That being said, He’d never performed the
work as He was expected to do here (which might be why He asked the Father to
remove the “cup” from Him, when it came down to the moment He had to actually
perform it – but to His everlasting credit, He did it regardless).
He had already become a God – in the
express image or likeness of the Father, through His obedience to God’s
commandments or eternal law, up to that point; implied is that there are
various levels of godhood.
He had gained the ability to suffer all
that a god can suffer, even though He had not yet done it.
What
did Christ’s role as the Son of God require of Him?
To descend below all things or experience
more suffering and temptation than any mortal man could experience and live
(while being mortal Himself).
While keeping the Law of God/Eternity and
remaining without sin.
To show that it is possible to condescend
to leave heaven, take upon oneself mortality, alienation, and the fall of man
with its veil of forgetfulness and corruption (the flesh) and still remain
connected to heaven by keeping ALL of the eternal laws of the universe (God’s
commandments) perfectly.
To set the standard of judgement against
which all the rest of mankind will stand condemned.
And THEN, to suffer the guilt of all the
sins and afflictions of the world and die unjustly (as death is the wage of
sin, and yet He was sinless), to win the victory over death and save all who
would come unto Him.
When
did Christ receive a fullness of the glory of the Father and what does this
mean?
After He had overcome all things in this
world and attained to the resurrection of the dead (see D&C 93:12-14; 3
Nephi 12:48; Matthew 5:48).
Christ now possesses all the fullness of
the Father or the same fullness with the Father; Christ is one with the Father
and shares a fullness of His (the Father’s) intelligence (mind or Holy Spirit
or glory or light), character and attributes.
He received this after He had performed or
experienced the eternal and infinite atonement and attained to the resurrection
of the dead Himself, as His Father had done before Him (see TPJS 390-393).
What
is the Holy Spirit?
The “mind of
God”.
The “Spirit of
the Father”.
The
intelligence, light, glory, truth or Spirit of God; it is part of God and
extends from Him to fill the immensity of space; it is the “unified field” of
super-refined energy which is in and through all things and holds them together
because it is the energy or element of which all things are created.
It is not a
personage – of spirit or anything else (see post on D&C 130:22-23).
If
the Holy Spirit is not a personage but is the mind or intelligence or light of
God, why does Joseph Smith describe these “three” as composing the Godhead?
The godhead is
composed of the Father, the Son, and any who accept their invitation to rise up
and reconnect with them as a god themselves via receiving a fullness of the
mind of God or Holy Spirit -to become Holy, a “Holy Spirit” or “Holy Ghost” or
a Holy Personage with a celestialized body of spirit, power, and glory.
This is the “great
secret” = that we can become gods ourselves, part of the (or a…) Godhead.
If we keep
God’s commandments (abide by eternal law – i.e. become precisely as Christ is),
we have the opportunity to rise up and, by that same Spirit, be partakers of
the same fullness and enjoy that same glory.
We can become
one with the Father and the Son as they are with each other; possessing the
same mind, being transformed into the same image or likeness, even the express
image.
Our spirits or
“ghosts” can become holy like Christ’s is; and the Holy Spirit (which is the
light and glory of God which fills the immensity of space) is the element that
binds us all together if we will welcome it into our bodies and become one with
it in our spirits.
We can become
part of the “Godhead” by submitting completely to the mind of God or Holy
Spirit, so that it truly becomes our mind; this is not a matter of assimilation
and loss of identity but of transformation so that through understanding the
will and mind of God, one agrees with it so completely that they adopt it – it
becomes their way of thinking and being; at that point it is not submission to
a higher power but rather choosing to be perfectly aligned because you ARE
perfectly aligned – it that makes sense.
Why
is the Lord, through Joseph Smith, going to the trouble of describing doctrines
which most people feel are unnecessary for our salvation?
Because we cannot exercise faith unto
salvation in a God that we do not correctly understand; you can’t have saving
faith in something that is not true; so in other words, understanding these
things IS necessary to our salvation, whether most people understand that or
not.
If we don’t know who we really are and
where it is God would have us go and be, we will never consider taking the
journey which leads to true salvation.
Joseph is laying out how it was that
Christ (and God the Father Himself) came to be God; when we get to section 7 we
will learn that to be saved we must be precisely like Christ; and in section 6
we learn that we must sacrifice all things to transcend this earth and be one
with God (doing the same things that those who came before us did, see TPJS
390-393); Joseph is giving us a hint of who we really are and what the path is
to fulfill the measure of our creation; and when he says we must descend below
all and ascend to the highest heaven, he wasn’t using hyperbole – you think you
have to exercise faith now, think about what it will take for sinful, weak you
to become precisely like Christ! If
Christ makes you a promise of your exaltation, He is promising you that, as
crazy as it sounds now, you will accomplish the climb back to heaven to become
as God is – that is exercising faith in Christ and His promises.
How
do we become One with the Father and the Son?
We become one when we receive the Holy Spirit
or mind of God, the record of heaven, the Comforter, the truth of all things,
that which quickens all things, and has all power
Receiving a fullness of the Holy Spirit
means being transformed into the same image or likeness, even the express image
- it is the Holy Spirit that does this – sanctification (see Moses 6:61).
But remember that it already abides in
you; the kingdom of God is within us – we must tap in to and embrace the light
that is already there – and be open to receiving more and more until we receive
it all.
What
should you do if you are confused by the doctrine taught by Joseph here (who
had seen the Father and the Son AT LEAST twice by this point, and more likely
many more times) when compared with the doctrine taught other places (D&C
130:22) or over the pulpit in General Conference?
Find out for yourself FROM GOD! This is a
perfect opportunity to go to God to understand something that He said is
critical to our exercising faith unto salvation! He wants you to know the truth and will make
Himself known unto you (see LoF 2:54-56).
Or be damned by our careless indifference
(2 Nephi 32:4 and 7).
