Understanding the true character of God
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In a BYU devotional Feb. 8, Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. of the Seventy taught two principles to the BYU audience: understanding the true nature of God, and understanding one's own relationship with Him.
Nature of God
The first, a correct understanding of God.
Elder Golden commented on the different concepts and ideas that have been misunderstood by many in the world over the past 2,000 years.
"To many, God is mystical and distant; to others, He is nothing more than a manifestation of nature around us," Elder Golden said. "To others, He is a Spirit Who reigns in terrible power and judgments; while to a few, God is the invention of a childlike, unimproved mind."
He emphasized the importance of having a correct understanding of God, especially in the world today.
"The existence and mission of Jesus Christ is being diluted every day, but the Church's theology stands fast as a beacon of undiluted testimony in the living reality of God, our Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ," Elder Golden said.
To better understand God, it is important to realize that the restoration of the true knowledge of God preceded the restoration of any laws, ordinances or principles that had to be restored in connection with the dispensation of the fullness of times.
To illustrate this point, Elder Golden spoke of the experience Joseph Smith had when he went with faith to a grove of trees to pray.
He said that from the record of the First Vision, the earnest reader is drawn into the event very personally.
One is able to sense something of the glorious appearance of God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
"In the First Vision, we see that The Father called Joseph by name, while turning to His Beloved Son, and also hear the Son address Joseph," Elder Golden said.
He taught that throughout this account, one can sense the reality, nearness and approachableness of our Heavenly Father and His Son, and have a renewed testimony that God is real and has the power to save.
The Book of Mormon came forth after the First Vision, as well as the necessary priesthood authority, covenants and ordinances.
"All of the power and knowledge necessary for gaining eternal life was once again restored to mankind," Elder Golden said. "But, only after the true nature of the Father and the Son had been revealed."
He quoted Joseph Smith when he testified, "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know (with) a certainty the character of God, and to know that we (can) converse with Him as one man converses with another."
Our Relationship with God
Second, our relationship with God.
Elder Golden referred to the doctrine of predestination, which was expanded upon by the fifth century Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo. To those who believe in predestination, it means that the destiny of any soul is predetermined by God before any good or evil act has been committed.
"I will only say here, that there is a terrible logic to a belief in a God who prejudges us, even when His judgment is always perfect," Elder Golden said. "It is therefore not surprising that much of mankind over the ages have approached God with great fear and trepidation.
He spoke of the reformer, Martin Luther, and how he embarked as a young man on a ministry to be a monk. During this time Luther had two life-threatening experiences and when near death he did not call upon God for help; he called out to two saints.
Elder Golden recounted that in later years, Luther regretted not calling upon the Lord in such trying situations. He quoted Luther who said, "If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I could stand on my head for joy."
In contrast, the Restoration provides a correct understanding of one's relationship with God.
To consider one's relationship with God, Elder Golden shared the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves."
He spoke of the vital understanding that God is literally our Heavenly Father; just as Christ is His first-born Son and our Elder Brother, and quoted from the gospels of Matthew and John which use possessive adjectives to show that He is our Father, and we are His children (Matthew 6:9, 5:48 and John 20:7).
"Because of the Restoration and because of a true and fuller understanding of mankind's origin and destiny, we know that we are not predestined to anything," Elder Golden said. "Each one of us is in fact foreordained unto salvation and exaltation."
He taught that the principle of foreordination is simple: every soul who has been born into this world has already earned certain privileges, on account of faithfulness in the first estate.
These privileges include an unconditional right to receive an immortal and resurrected body one day, and a conditional blessing of eternal life and felicity.
This blessing is dependent on one's faith and obedience to God.
Elder Golden invited the audience gathered to turn to the Lord's sweet invitation to, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest," he quoted the Savior.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. 11:28-30).
