The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote the Articles of Faith to be a summary of the beliefs of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to this day, we turn to those Articles to teach the rudiments of the gospel to those curious. Our Primary children are asked to memorize them as part of receiving their Faith in God award, and we often quote them in our Church lessons.
The first Article reads: “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”
This statement is perhaps one of the things that sets us apart from some other religions, in that we believe that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings, rather than being one being with three roles. When Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove, he was astonished to see that indeed, they were separate. He had never supposed they would be. But he not only gained new testimony as to the nature of the Father and the Son by seeing them, but he learned the nature of the Holy Ghost as well, when he felt the comforting influence of it shortly after being attacked by the adversary.
This belief—that the three members of the Godhead are separate—is called “nontrinitarianism.” There are other churches who also preach this doctrine, but none of these churches were in existence at the time of Joseph Smith and everyone thought he was crazy. However, throughout the ages of time since his vision, other prophets of the Church have testified to the truthfulness of his first vision, having learned what he did.
Believing in the true nature of God and Christ is central to understanding the doctrines of the Church, and so it’s only right that this principle is the subject of the first Article of Faith.
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How Do Mormons Perceive the Godhead?
All Human Beings are Created in the Image of God