Godhead

Mormons believe, as other Christians, in one Supreme Being who governs the universe. However, Mormons don't believe that he works alone but as the presiding member of what they call a godhead. The LDS Bible Dictionary (p. 681) says that God is “The Supreme Governor of the universe and the Father of mankind. We learn from the revelations that have been given that there are three separate persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From latter-day revelation we learn that the Father and the Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bone, and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit without flesh and bone (D&C 130:22-23).” Latter-day Saints believe that these three gods--”separate in personality {but}. . . united as one in purpose, in plan, and in all the attributes of perfection” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 317)--are the partnership which rules the universe, with God the Eternal Father the controlling and governing power. LDS Apostle James E. Talmage states it this way: “These constitute the Holy Trinity, comprizing three physically separate and distinct individuals, who together constitute the presiding council of the heavens” (Jesus the Christ, p. 32). This belief is distinct from the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which generally maintains that they are three persons but one in essence. All three members of the Godhead are eternal and equally divine, but play somewhat different roles.

Mormonism posits most of the same attributes to the members of the Godhead that Trinitarian Christianity posits to the Trinity: omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence, eternal, immutable, immortality, and immanence in the universe but not transcendence of it. However, the meaning held for some of these attributes differ significantly. For example, Mormons believe that God, as creator, is actually the organizer of the universe because they believe that all matter (including humans) have always existed and will always exist. God's omnipotence does not transcend logic or the basic laws of physics, though mankind may not necessarily understand those laws fully, and God's immutability concerns primarily His creations and His future status, not His status prior to that time. God is “the framer of the heaven and earth, and all things which are in them” (D&C 20:17). Mormons believe that Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to form the earth on which we live. In that sense, both the Eternal Father and Christ created this world, though Christ is believed to have done the actual act.

Joseph Smith points to the New Testament as one proof of the physical separateness of the members of the Godhood. “Peter and Stephen testify that they saw the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Any person that had seen the heavens opened knows that there are three personages in the heavens who hold the keys of power, and one presides over all” (Documentary History of the Church 5:426). The prophet Joseph F. Smith explains how these three work as one. He says, “This oneness in the sayings and writings of prophets and apostles in order to guard against the erroneous idea that these three may be distinct and independent deities and rivals for our worship. The stress is laid upon this unity in the Bible has led to the error. . .that there is only one personage, manifesting himself in three different ways” (Improvement Era, 4:228).

Also called Heavenly Father or Elohim, he stands in the exalted position above all beings. However, Joseph Smith says that “. . . he is an exalted man,and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! . . . .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, form, and image of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked, and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another” (Documentary History of the Church, p. 305). The prophet Template:Brigham Young told Latter-day Saints: “If we could see our Heavenly Father, we should see a being similar to our earthly parent, with this difference, our Father in heaven is exalted and glorified. . . .While he was in the flesh, as we are, he was as we are. But it is now written that our God is as a consuming power, that he dwells in everlasting burnings, and this is why sin cannot be where he is” (Journal of Discourses 4:54).

“We believe God to be a person. We believe absolutely that we are made in the image of God. We believe that Jesus Christ was actually the son of his Father, as I am the son of my father, and as you are of your father, and we believe they are personages” ” (Heber J. Grant, Deseret News Church Section Sept. 3, 1938). So while some non-members view God as a stranger who is distant, cold, and foreign, Mormons do not think of him that way at all. Mormons believe we will know him when we see him. Brigham Young voices it this way: “If any of us could now see the God we are striving to serve—if we could see our Father who dwells in the heavens, we should learn that we are as well acquainted with him as we are with our earthly father; and he would be as familiar to us in the expression of his countenance and we should be ready to embrace him and fall upon his neck and kiss him, if we had the privilege” (JD 8:30).

Christ

Latter-day Saints solemnly avow that Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, was and is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, and Savior of Mankind. They claim him as the literal head of their Church, the one who directs its functions on an on-going basis by revealing to its prophet and apostles (also prophets) what he wants. Mormons believe that Jesus was born to a mortal mother and an immortal Father, begotten in the same way that all children are begotten. They believe that one way his entry into the world differed is that he was born to a mother who was a virgin because she had never known a mortal man. They believe that Jesus obtained the mortal quality of being able to die from his mother and godly quality of being able to take up his life again from his Father. They believe He atoned for their sins, giving them the opportunity to do two things: be resurrected after death, that is, regain their physical body, though in an altered state according to their obedience in this life, and to live with Christ and Heavenly Father eternally and to progress further to be like them. They believe that Jesus was and is a God. They also believe that their debt to him can never be repaid and that their only hope lies in following his commandments. He is known as the Second Comforter.

The Holy Ghost

Less is known about the Holy Ghost, also a God, but Mormons know that he has no physical body, only a spirit body, and that he, like God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, is male. He is known as the Comforter or First Comforter, which Christ promised to send to his disciples after his death. He is a testator of Christ, as evidenced by his appearance (symbolized by the dove) at Christ's baptism by John the Baptist. He also testifies to modern man when they hear Christ's words and is the principal reason the LDS Church has grown so much and so quickly. Joseph Smith taught that “No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator.” Since Christ's church has always been built on revelations, the Holy Ghost is very vigorous and active in it today. The present prophet, Gordon B.Hinckley, says that “The Holy Ghost is a Testifier of Truth, who can teach men things they cannot teach one another” (Ensign, Nov. 1986, p.51). The Holy Ghost testifies to those considering joining the Church that it is, indeed, Christ's church.

Even though Mormons believe in three members of the Godhead, they still view such belief as a belief in a single God. Though the existence of other gods or divine beings is acknowledged by the Church and its members, this fact is considered almost irrelevant to salvation: the other gods--which Latter-day Saints would refer to as exalted beings--have no impact on this earth, are not worshipped by members, nor is their eternal role defined.