The supreme Governor of the universe and the Father of mankind.
There are three separate persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Father and the Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bone, the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit
without flesh and bone (D&C 130: 22-23).
When one speaks of God, it is generally the Father who is referred to; that is, Elohim. All mankind
are his children. The personage known as Jehovah in Old Testament times, and who is usually identified
in the Old Testament as LORD (in capital letters), is the Son, known as Jesus Christ, and who is also a
God. Jesus works under the direction of the Father and is in complete harmony with him. All mankind
are his brethren and sisters, he being the eldest of the spirit children of Elohim. Many of the things
that the scripture says were done were actually done by the LORD (Jesus). Thus the scripture says that
God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1: 1),
and was actually the LORD (Jesus) who was the creator (John 1: 3, 10),
or as Paul said, God created all things by Christ Jesus (Eph. 3: 9). The Holy
Ghost is also a God and is variously called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit of God, etc.
Although God created all things and is the ruler of the universe, being omnipotent, omniscient, and
omnipresent (through his Spirit), mankind has a special relationship to him that differentiates man
from all other created things: man is literally Gods offspring, made in his image, whereas all
other things are but the work of his hands (cf. Acts 17: 28-29).
The God of the scriptures is a holy being. Man is commanded to be holy because God is holy (Lev. 11: 44-45;
Lev. 19: 2). God can be known only by revelation.
He must be revealed, or remain forever unknown (cf. Mosiah 4: 9).
God first revealed himself to Adam (Moses 5; 6) and has
repeatedly made himself known by revelation to chosen patriarchs and prophets since that time. The
present translation of John 1: 18 and
1 Jn. 4: 12 is misleading, for these say that no man
has ever seen God. However, the scriptures state that there have been many who have seen him. The JST
corrects these items to show that no sinful man has ever seen God, and also that Jesus Christ is the only
Way to God. God the Father and his Son have been manifested by voice, sight, or otherwise at various times,
as at the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3: 16-17); the
Transfiguration (Matt. 17: 1-8); to Stephen
(Acts 7: 55-56); and to the Nephites
(3 Ne. 11: 7). The Father and the Son personally
visited Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove, in the spring of 1820, near Manchester, New York, in the opening
of the dispensation of the fulness of times (JS-H 1: 11-20).
God is the literal father of the human family. He is a being who is concerned for the welfare of mankind,
and a Personage who hears and answers prayers.
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