Father connotes a loving, protecting figure, kind and caring and one who is easily recognized by His children. But both the Father and His son Jesus Christ have gotten a little irritated with us from time to time. In Luke 9:44, The Lord rebuked his disciples for not exercising faith sufficient to cast out an evil spirit from a young man. He said to them, ”Let these sayings sink down into your ears.” In reading the scriptures we should always, ”Let these sayings sink down into our ears.” The scriptures tell us that God is our Father, the all powerful creator of heaven and earth. When we pray we are to address Him as “Our Father”. Why then did the church, referred to as the Universal church, change what Jesus Christ taught about our Father, while He walked the earth? Saying such as; “I do only what I have seen the Father do”. “If ye have seen me you have seen the Father.” The Apostles indicated that even before they were killed they had realized that grievous wolves had entered in, that the apostasy had already begun. Historically there were many changes in the organization as well as in the spiritual nature of the early church. The apostasy from the truth, the gospel as taught by Christ, was predicted by Paul and others and is as plain as day in the Epistles to the various churches, epistles that are revered today as holy scriptures. Scriptures that are read by any and all every day. Why is the truth not sought after when we know what is now taught universally is wrong? The Savior never ascended into heaven without first instructing his Apostles as to what the organization of his church should look and be like. That instruction is primarily found in Ephesians 4:11. The organization of the Universal church of today looks nothing like the one Christ instructed His apostles to organize. In the third century A.D. the self proclaimed leaders of the young church were confused as to who God was and how he should be addressed, so Constantine made a decision to have all the heads of the various churches decide together once and for all the nature of God and deity. In the year 325 A.D. Constantine (Emperor and Pope) called the council in Nice, to establish a declaration of Christian beliefs that would be authoritative and it would be the means of arresting the dissension among theologian. The Creeds as described below were the first of the tares (bad seed) spoken of by Matthew (Matthew 13:3 paraphrased) that contaminated the early church as Christ had established it. Behold a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside and some fell among thorns, etc. and when the blades sprang up and brought forth fruit the tares (weeds) sprang up also and choked the good seed. The council, in Nice, promulgated what is known as the Nicene Creed.
This was followed and superseded by what is known as the Athanasian Creed. It reads; “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one Eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one Uncreated, and one Incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet not three lords, but one Lord. For as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge each Person by Himself to be both God and Lord, so we are also forbidden by the catholic religion to say that there are three gods or three lords. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. And in the Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another, but all three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must think thus of the Trinity.”
I do not believe that I have ever read anything as confusing, nonsensical and nondescript as that is. I can envision a wise and loving Father in Heaven but I cannot envision what was described above. It must have been a terrible time for our Father in Heaven to hear Himself being described in such a confusing and inhuman way. The creeds were definitely tares.
I am a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If, in my introduction to the church, the Athanasian Creed or the description of God as described in it, were expressed as their belief, I would definitely have gone a different direction. A prominent non-Mormon visitor to Nauvoo asked the following question of the Prophet Joseph Smith, “What is the most distinguishing feature of the Latter Day Saint faith? His answer; “The most prominent feature is this: Sectarians all are circumscribed by a peculiar creed, which deprives them of the privilege of believing truths not contained therein. The Latter Day saints on the contrary, have no creed, but stand ready to believe all true principles that exist, as they are made manifest from time to time.”
In the New Testament there are few, if any, of Jesus sermons that do not refer to ‘His Father’. In fact his first recorded words were, “I must be about my Father’s business.” The simple definition of the father is, a man who has sired children and Jesus Christ is and claimed only to be the Son of God. Jesus is the Jehovah of the old testament; His Father is known as Elohim. Jesus is the Son but not His equal, He Prayed (plead) in the Garden of Gethsemane, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” If they were on a totally equal plain, Christ’s ‘will’ would have been sufficient to cease the terrible suffering that he knew was coming. God the Father is a glorified, immortal man, the most intelligent one of all, the most ‘just’ of all. We are His spirit offspring and He created this earth for us to dwell on while we progress and learn, that we may become, in all ways, more like Him through our experience and obedience. Is there a father who does not want his children to grow and advance and one day become a mature and responsible adult. Jesus Christ is His first born and the one who volunteered to be sacrificed to satisfy justice so that we may one day return to the Father’s presence. We are all on earth as pilgrims wandering in the wilderness of life, trying to find our way. How sad it is for those of us who have not found our Father, who will give to all men liberally and who upbraideth not. He will send us the comforter (Holy Ghost, a separate being)) to enlighten us, to help us along our way but first we must call upon our Father and simply ask for His help and guidance. God, our Father, will not force us to love Him. Nor would He destroy all who will defy His will. There are many who are prodigal sons and daughters and His hope is that one day we will all “Come to ourselves,” as did the prodigal one, referred to in the New Testament. Christ did not tell that story to entertain us, it was told as instruction with a promise. He has given us freedom, referred to in the scriptures as agency, we can choose to be faithful or we can choose to be wayward, our choice. Whatever we do while we sojourn here, we will have to account for one day. It would be wise to follow Christ’s admonition and strive to advance our own causes in a positive direction. Having a spiritual nature is a very positive thing, as we can contemplate the Father and the Son, as they really are. This earth was fashioned for our benefit and patterned after others that came before. Yes, we have a Father in Heaven and He loves us, as do our fathers on earth. A loving Father is also a forgiving person, yes, He may spank or in some other way punish disobedience, but a repentant person can be forgiven, by a forgiving Father in Heaven, at some point in the eons of time and in eternity. Our Father would never agree to the heading of that creed that said; “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith. Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.” Besides being contrary to a loving Heavenly Father’s nature, such a statement is considered ‘recruitment by fear’. Nearly all of the Christian faiths of today have their doctrine based on the above or some likeness of it. The God whom it was once ‘Life eternal to know’ (John 17:3) has been discarded in favor of one that is completely unknowable. The true knowledge of the nature of God, our Heavenly Father, has been restored through a latter day prophet named Joseph Smith. Man was truly created in the image of our Father, just as the scriptures have testified (Genesis 1:26) What father does not want his children to progress and at some point become as he is? Man is a progressive being. He was given dominion over all things on earth. We were placed here to learn and to progress that we might return to the Father enlightened and ready for the next phase of our eternal progression. He is very displeased when we sin or transgress as opposed to moving forward as He desires that we do. Sin is a form of retrogression, a moving backwards and away from the Father as opposed to progressing or moving toward the Father. Christ proclaimed and bare record that man should, “Become therefore perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect.” For, “As man now is, God once was, and as God now is, man may be.” Dr. Gordon Allred described our relationship with the Father this way: He is; “Instead of an ephemeral essence, modern revelation offers us a substantial personage, instead of some vast indescribable, a dedicated teacher; instead of a deity manipulating men for no known reason, the most devoted of all fathers, bent upon sharing every blessing he enjoys or will enjoy with his children.” Through the eons of time as we progress in eternity, we can assume that at some point man (the Father’s children) can become perfect, even as the Father and the Son (the Gods) are perfect.