Declaring "our Christianity," Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke Saturday afternoon of the Church's doctrine concerning the Godhead as evidence that it is a Christian church.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Photo by Jeffrey D.Allred/Deseret Morning News

Heidi Tice of Provo, Utah, enduring rain and cold, waits in line outside the Conference Center for Saturday conference session.

He recited the First Article of Faith: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." Elder Holland then declared the belief that the three members of the Godhead it witnesses to are united in purpose but are separate personages. He also cited Harper's Bible Dictionary: "The formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the New Testament."

Then Elder Holland said, "So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post-New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself."

Elder Holland traced the history of the Nicene Creed and other creeds and their conclusion that God is, among other things, unknowable and incomprehensible. He said, "We agree with our critics on at least that point — that such a formulation for divinity is truly incomprehensible."

He continued, "How are we to trust, love and worship, to say nothing of strive to be like, One who is incomprehensible and unknowable?"

He recounted scriptural accounts affirming the distinct Beings of the Father and the Son, such as at the Savior's baptism and Transfiguration, and cited the Savior's words, including "such anguished cries as 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,' and 'My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"'

Then he said, "To acknowledge the scriptural evidence that otherwise perfectly united members of the Godhead are nevertheless separate and distinct beings is not to be guilty of polytheism; it is, rather, part of the great revelation Jesus came to deliver concerning the nature of divine beings."

Further, Elder Holland said, "A related reason The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is excluded from the Christian category by some is because we believe, as did the ancient prophets and apostles, in an embodied — but certainly glorified — God. To those who criticize this scripturally based belief I ask at least rhetorically: If the idea of an embodied God is repugnant, why are the central doctrines and singularly most distinguishing characteristics of all Christianity the Incarnation, the Atonement and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If having a body is not only not needed but not desirable by Deity, why did the Redeemer of mankind redeem His body, redeeming it from the grasp of death and the grave, guaranteeing it would never again be separated from His spirit in time or eternity? Any who dismiss the concept of an embodied God dismiss both the mortal and the resurrected Christ. No one claiming to be a true Christian will want to do that."

Elder Holland bore testimony of the First Vision when "the Father and Son appeared as embodied, glorified beings to this, the boy-prophet Joseph Smith. That day marked the beginning of the return of the true, New Testament gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the restoration of other prophetic truths offered from Adam down to the present day."