Happy Easter! This is one of my favorite Holidays and I am so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. He lived, died, and scarified for all of us. He is the reason why I am able to bear Chron's Disease with a strong smile on my face and with faith in the future. With him, I have no reason to fear.
I have decided to share my essay that I have written recently for my class at BYU. I feel very strongly that I want to share my love of my Savior with others because he has helped me with so much, and I know he is doing the same for you!
Understanding the Nature of God
My dear friend, how grateful I am to
have the opportunity to discuss the nature of God with you! I acknowledge that
what I am about to describe appears contrary to other Christian beliefs about
who God really is and how He became God. And I realize that what I am about to
say is often why us ‘Mormons’ are often viewed as non-Christian. Please stick
with me as I attempt to honestly address some concerns and confusion that you
may have about the way that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints understand the nature of God, as well as our understanding of how we too
have the opportunity to become like God one day.
As a foundation, let me explain why
members of the LDS faith are monotheist and Christian. We, just like you
believe that we have a Heavenly Father, a Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy
Ghost to comfort and influence us. There is some debate about us worshiping
only one God, because we understand that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the
Holy Ghost are separate individuals united in one purpose. In the Book of
Mormon we learn that “…Ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father;
and the Father and I are one” (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 28:10). Scriptures such
as this often are interpreted to align with the Holy Trinity, however, members
of the LDS faith interpret these scriptures to mean that the Father and the Son
are one in purpose and not literally one being. I invite and encourage you to
learn more about the different roles of the Father (creator of our spirits),
the Son (our Savior) and the Holy Ghost (our comforter and guide). I know that
as you come to learn about their individual roles you will learn how they are
all one in purpose, “… to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of
man” (Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses, 1:39). Each person of The Holy Trinity
is actually a unique and individual person, with different and distinct roles,
united in purpose.
Now that I have explained how the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are separate individuals united in one purpose, let
me further explain how understanding this will bless and benefit you
individually. A divinely inspired source that I urge you to turn to is titled
“The King Follett Sermon” and it was given by the Prophet Joseph Smith at a
funeral of one of his close friends. Death is an interesting thing, that brings
the fragility of life into focus and it inspires one to find out where we really
go after death and propels us to come to know God. In this Sermon, the Prophet
Joseph invited the congregation (include yourself) to ask themselves what kind
of being is God? God is all knowing, all-powerful,
all-merciful, and all-comprehending. By knowing thoroughly the nature of God,
we can more closely follow him as a role model and exemplar of how we ought to
live, act, think, and become.
I hope by this point you are now
asking yourself, why do I need to know the nature of God? In the King Follett
Sermon, you will read that “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they
do not comprehend themselves.” This is where a lot of seemingly radical ideas
come into play in the eyes of other faiths. Yes, we really are declaring that
as God once was, so were we. In the very literal process of how God became God,
we are in the very same process of that right now. Just like you and me, God
was born as a baby to a mortal mother. God matured, learned through sorrow and
pain, and experienced disappointments and heartaches both personal to himself,
as well as all of ours that he felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. God gained all
of his power and knowledge “grace for grace”. You too, are becoming perfected
just one step at a time. Our divinely inherited potential is to one day become
like God, this seems like an insurmountable task. However, when you take a step
back and just take life one day at a time, you will soon be able to look back
and see how far you have come and how much you have improved. In Doctrine and
Covenants we learn that “ He (Jesus Christ) received not of the fullness at
first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness”
(Doctrine and Covenants, Section 93:13). From this passage of scripture, we can
draw conclusions that Christ proceeded forward until he received a fullness of all things. My dear friend, please
draw strength and comfort from this and realize that you must press forward in
faith, and understand that good things take time. Use the nature of God’s
character as an example of how to move forward in faith and how to continually
improve, day by day.
And now, my friend, I wish to speak
to you about a personal conversation I have had recently with another friend of
mine. No matter how badly God wants all of his children to return back to him,
we all have our own agency and it must be our choice if we choose to follow him
or not. In Doctrine and Covenants section 93 you will learn that God cannot
force us to accept our Savior. Our Savior is always there for us, rooting for
us, and will do all that he can to help us without violating our agency. One of
the most beautiful parts of Gods plan is agency, the ability to choose. As I
was speaking to my friend, she told me how God has been silent to her. She is
questioning the existence of God. This saddens me to my core because I know
with all of my heart that God lives and loves all of us. I know without a doubt
that God lives! With this being said, I bore my testimony to this friend, just
like I will to you. I have a testimony that God reaches out to us and speaks to
us in ways that we will all best recognize. This means that God does not speak
to us in all the same ways. For me, God seems to be very close to me during my
trials and it is during the hardest times of my life that I have grown closer
to God. For others, like my friend, I know that God seems to withdraw himself
during their times of trial. I do not know why he appears to speak louder to
some than to others. But I do boldly testify that Christ will personally
manifest and speak to you, through the Holy Ghost, if you will listen
patiently. God has his own timing for things. Just like God cannot force us to
do anything, we cannot force answers or timing from God.
In conclusion, I wish to summarize
my message and to bear my testimony of the nature of God. God the Father,
created our spirits and has a plan for all of us to bring us back to him and to
mold us into who we are supposed to become. Heavenly Father knows perfectly our
divine potential. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, lived and died for all of us. He
was born as a baby and learned and progressed just like you and I did. He was
tempted, and overcame all things that we are striving to overcome. Jesus Christ
perfectly understands you, this is the strongest part of my testimony because I
have been lifted up by my Savior during my darkest of days. And lastly, the
Holy Ghost is a gift given to us to help us to navigate through life. He is
there to comfort, guide, and warn us. I boldly testify that if you turn to your
Heavenly Father through prayer, the Holy Ghost will manifest both Heavenly
Father loves for you as well as your dear Savior’s. So, my friend, please take
my advice and come to know the nature of God through prayer and dedication to
come to know him. I promise you that as you do so, you will come to learn that
he is already reaching out to you.
Helpful Resources about the
Nature of God
·
Doctrine
and Covenants, Section 93
·
King
Follett Sermon
·
The
Book of Mormon, specifically 3rd Nephi (Jesus Christ in person),
Ether (weaknesses and answering prayers), and Alma 7 (how Christ personally
feels your trials and weaknesses).
No comments:
Post a Comment