Heavenly Father

The very first Article of Faith of the Mormon church is very definitive and quite simple in stating our belief concerning God:

We believe in God, the eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Joseph Smith offered a doctrinal clarification of this belief, which has been canonized in the Church's scriptures:

"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22)

Mormons believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and that His Spirit can be felt by all people, everywhere. He possess an absolute perfection of all good attributes; He is merciful, loving, patient, truthful, and no respecter of persons. While Church members look to the scriptures for instructive information about God, their primary knowledge concerning His nature is evidenced in Joseph Smith's First Vision and can be made even more individual through personal revelation from God Himself. Through such personal revelation, individuals can move beyond debate and uncertainty to an absolute knowledge of God's existence and Being, as Joseph Smith did.

Father of us all

Mormons believe that God, the Father, is literally that—the Father of all of us. We are His children, and as such we can learn of Him and from Him. We can strive to know Him and to be like Him. He loves us and knew us before we came to earth, desires our happiness in this life, and wants us to return to live with Him in the next life. (Mormons believe that our earth life is only a small portion of our eternal existence. Mormons believe that we lived with God before we were born and we can return to live with God after we die. This concept is often referred to as the Plan of Salvation.)

God's Relationship to Jesus and the Holy Ghost

Mormons believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct beings. Together they constitute what is referred to as the Godhead. The idea that all three members of the Godhead are separate and distinct was confirmed by Joseph Smith's [First Vision], but is also scriptural in nature. For example, at the baptism of Jesus, while He was in the water, the Father's voice was heard from heaven, and the Holy Ghost descended "like a dove" and rested upon Jesus. (Matthew 3:13-17) In this instance all three members of the Godhead were manifested separately and simultaneously. Jesus also stated his distinctness from God when He taught, "My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) In another place Jesus declared, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." (John 5:22) On the Mount of Transfiguration God identified the mortal Jesus to Peter, James, and John as "my beloved Son." (Matthew 17:5) These are but a few of the many instances in the Bible where the God and Jesus are shown to be separate and distinct from each other.

Despite their individuality, Mormons believe that the members of the Godhead are perfectly united (one) in mind and purpose. The way in which the Godhead is one is illustrated by Jesus' prayer that his disciples would be one, even as he and the Father are one. (John 17:21-22) Here Jesus was praying for his disciples' unity of mind, purpose, and testimony, not for the merger of their identities into a single indistinguishable being. He prayed that they would be one in desire, purpose, and objective, exactly as exists between Jesus and God.

History of God

It is a common Mormon belief that God, the Father, was once a mortal, even as we now are. Some believe that He was once a man like us; others believe that He was once a man like Jesus Christ. This is found in Joseph Smith's teachings:

[F]or I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. [That he was not is an idea] incomprehensible to some. But it is the simple and first principle of the gospel-to know for a certainty the character of God, that we may converse with him as one man with another. God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did..." (King Follett Discourse)

This quote is taken from a sermon Joseph Smith gave shortly before his death. The premature end of his life stopped him from discussing this theological idea in any greater detail. Others leaders and members have expressed much the same concept at other times, however. The belief that God was once as we are (or as Jesus was) is common among Mormons, but it is not a "litmus test" of being a Mormon. In other words, some members of the Church may hold differences of opinion on exactly what Joseph Smith meant in teaching this, or some may reject the idea completely; that does not preclude them from being Mormons.

Some critics complain that believing God was once mortal means that Mormon theology teaches that "God has not always been God," but such is not true. Why? Because Mormons inherently believe that God and man are of the same race and of the same nature. God may be perfect and man imperfect, but they are of the same race nonetheless. Thus, God has always been God; His nature and His essential being have not ever changed.