The Master Mechanic

I have read a lot of questions recently about the relationship of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost and and the meaning of Oneness in the Godhead. So to clear up any misconceptions as best I can I have written the following post.

Here is the basic fundamental definition of what we believe the Godhead to be:

 D&C 130:22 The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

So we believe that there are three separate beings that are members of the Godhead.  They are Heavenly Father (Elohim), Jesus Christ (Jehovah) and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, etc.)  Here is a more detailed description from Elder Bruce R. McConkie

“Three glorified, exalted, and perfected personages comprise the Godhead or supreme presidency of the universe. … They are: God the Father; God the Son; God the Holy Ghost. …
“Though each God in the Godhead is a personage, separate and distinct from each of the others, yet they are ‘one God’ … , meaning that they are united as one in the attributes of perfection. For instance, each has the fulness of truth, knowledge, charity, power, justice, judgment, mercy, and faith. Accordingly they all think, act, speak, and are alike in all things; and yet they are three separate and distinct entities. Each occupies space and is and can be in but one place at one time, but each has power and influence that is everywhere present” (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 319)

So in a scripture that says that They “are one” (here are a bunch: John 10:30, 1John 5:7, John 17:22-23, 3 Nephi 11:27, D&C 93:3, D&C 20:28) they are saying that they are completely united in all They do.  It does not matter which one is speaking because all three would say and do the EXACT same thing.

There is a oneness in the Godhead as well as a distinctness of personality. This oneness is emphasized in the sayings and writings of prophets and apostles in order to guard against the erroneous idea that these three may be distinct and independent deities and rivals for our worship” (Joseph F. Smith, “Answers to Questions,” Improvement Era, Jan. 1901, 228).

So what is our relationship with Members of the Godhead between the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost?

Bruce R. McConkie answers this question in a talk he gave at BYU on March 2, 1982 (click to read the whole talk)

 First, be it remembered that most scriptures that speak of God or of the Lord do not even bother to distinguish the Father from the Son, simply because it doesn't make any difference which God is involved. They are one. The words or deeds of either of them would be the words and deeds of the other in the same circumstance. 

Further, if a revelation comes from, or by the power of the Holy Ghost, ordinarily the words will be those of the Son, though what the Son says will be what the Father would say, and the words may thus be considered as the Father's. Thus any feelings of love, praise, awe, or worship that may fill our hearts when we receive the divine words will be the same no matter who is thought or known to be the author of them. 

And yet we do have a proper relationship to each member of the Godhead, in part at least because there are separate and severable functions which each performs, and also because of what they as one Godhead have done for us. 

Our relationship with the Father is supreme, paramount, and preeminent over all others. He is the God we worship. It is his gospel that saves and exalts. He ordained and established the plan of salvation. He is the one who was once as we are now. The life he lives is eternal life, and if we are to gain this greatest of all the gifts of God, it will be because we become like him. 

Our relationship with the Father is one of parent and child. He is the one who gave us our agency. It was his plan that provided for a fall and an atonement. And it is to him that we must be reconciled if we are to gain salvation. He is the one to whom we have direct access by prayer, and if there were some need—which there is not!—to single out one member of the Godhead for a special relationship, the Father, not the Son, would be the one to choose. 

Our relationship with the Son is one of brother or sister in the premortal life and one of being led to the Father by him while in this mortal sphere. He is the Lord Jehovah who championed our cause before the foundations of the earth were laid. He is the God of Israel, the promised Messiah, and the Redeemer of the world. 

By faith we are adopted into his family and become his children. We take upon ourselves his name, keep his commandments, and rejoice in the cleansing power of his blood. Salvation comes by him. From Creation's dawn, as long as eternity endures, there neither has been nor will be another act of such transcendent power and import as his atoning sacrifice. 

We do not have a fraction of the power we need to properly praise his holy name and ascribe unto him the honor and power and might and glory and dominion that is his. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. 

Our relationship with the Holy Spirit is quite another thing. This holy personage is a Revelator and a Sanctifier. He bears record of the Father and the Son. He dispenses spiritual gifts to the faithful. Those of us who have received the gift of the Holy Ghost have the right to his constant companionship.

So putting this in simple terms that I can understand I picture this as a father that is a master mechanic who owns an auto repair shop that has an adult son who is not officially certified to work but knows all that his father knows and is being certified as a master mechanic by fixing us, the broken down cars.  By doing all the work the Son is becoming like the Father.  The Father is ALWAYS looking over the Son’s shoulder and is intimately involved with the repairs but He is letting the Son be hands on and do the work for His Son’s benefit.  So the Son can become like his Father.

In this scenario, the world and everything in the world are the cars that are being fixed, so to us both the Father and the Son are the mechanics (Gods) because they are both working on us.  To us when one speaks of the mechanic it does not make much of a difference if we are talking about the Father or the Son because they are both working on us and both are performing exactly how the other would act if they were to act alone. 

But when we have issues and when we want to talk to the mechanic (pray in this case) we pray to Heavenly Father, because not only is He the master mechanic, he is our Father, He created us, just like He created His Son.

I hope this helps.  I know this scenario does not include an example of the Holy Ghost but I have never had that hard of a time to understand His role.  But it took me some time to wrap my head around the idea of the roles of Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.  By knowing the true nature of God and our relation to each member of the Godhead we know more about ourselves.

20 Things I Love About My Wife!

1.     She loves the Lord.
2.     She loves me and has always loved me no matter what!
3.     She loves our kids.
4.     She has a Hart of Gold.
5.     She has forgiven me so many times for all my stupid mistakes that I could not even try to count them.
6.     She is patient.
7.     She teaches our kids and helps them grow both mentally and physically.
8.     She is thoughtful of others (for instance while at a family reunion she did all the dishes while every one else sat around and talked).
9.     She is humble.
10. She trusts the Lord. When He asks her to do something, she does it.
11. She is willing to learn and grow.  She takes classes in her spare time to improve herself and her family.
12. She serves others.  Once when she thought no one was looking, I watched her give money to a beggar on the street. She is always willing to serve at church or anywhere else that she is asked to serve.
13. She has a wonderful sense of humor and I love the sound of her laugh
14. She is extremely smart. She speaks two languages fluently
15. She is very courageous. She left every thing and came to immigrate unknown country.
16. She is so brave.
17. She is fun!
18. She loves animals.  She is allergic to cats and dogs but she still loves to pet and play with them, even though it means having a skin irritation for days afterwards.
19. She is a great daughter to her parents.
20. She is so good with money.  She is my voice of reason whenever we go shopping. 

Called to Work in His Vineyard

My son, like all five year olds, has a short attention span.  If I ask him to clean up his toys, he will start and put a few away until he gets distracted and start playing with some or doing something else.  Pretty much every five minutes I will have to remind him to put away his toys.  To be honest it would be a lot easier to put them away myself but then he will not learn the valuable lesson about cleaning up after himself.  Dinner is the same way,  I will have to keep reminding him to “eat your food”.  It has actually started to become a joke at the dinner table because of the number of times I have to remind him to keep eating.

But I have realized that he is not the only one with a short attention span. I was listening to a talk by ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND from the April 2012 General Conference entitled: The Laborers in the Vineyard  He starts out by saying:

I wish to speak of the Savior’s parable in which a householder “went out early in the morning to hire labourers.” After employing the first group at 6:00 in the morning, he returned at 9:00 a.m., at 12:00 noon, and at 3:00 in the afternoon, hiring more workers as the urgency of the harvest increased. The scripture says he came back a final time, “about the eleventh hour” (approximately 5:00 p.m.), and hired a concluding number. Then just an hour later, all the workers gathered to receive their day’s wage. Surprisingly, all received the same wage in spite of the different hours of labor. Immediately, those hired first were angry, saying, “These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.”1 When reading this parable, perhaps you, as well as those workers, have felt there was an injustice being done here. Let me speak briefly to that concern.First of all it is important to note that no one has been treated unfairly here. The first workers agreed to the full wage of the day, and they received it. Furthermore, they were, I can only imagine, very grateful to get the work. In the time of the Savior, an average man and his family could not do much more than live on what they made that day. If you didn’t work or farm or fish or sell, you likely didn’t eat. With more prospective workers than jobs, these first men chosen were the most fortunate in the entire labor pool that morning.Indeed, if there is any sympathy to be generated, it should at least initially be for the men not chosen who also had mouths to feed and backs to clothe. Luck never seemed to be with some of them. With each visit of the steward throughout the day, they always saw someone else chosen.But just at day’s close, the householder returns a surprising fifth time with a remarkable eleventh-hour offer! These last and most discouraged of laborers, hearing only that they will be treated fairly, accept work without even knowing the wage, knowing that anything will be better than nothing, which is what they have had so far. Then as they gather for their payment, they are stunned to receive the same as all the others! How awestruck they must have been and how very, very grateful! Surely never had such compassion been seen in all their working days.It is with that reading of the story that I feel the grumbling of the first laborers must be seen. As the householder in the parable tells them (and I paraphrase only slightly): “My friends, I am not being unfair to you. You agreed on the wage for the day, a good wage. You were very happy to get the work, and I am very happy with the way you served. You are paid in full. Take your pay and enjoy the blessing. As for the others, surely I am free to do what I like with my own money.”

I have heard this parable many of times before but this time it has taken a special meaning.  I realized that some of the laborers that the Savior call each hour were the SAME people.  They were called to the work and then after a while got distracted and started to do other things.  I realized that I was one of these Laborers.  The Lord has been very very patient with me.  He has called me again and again and will keep calling me back to the work.  I just need to listen and follow Him.

Just like my five year old son, I am doing the best I can right now--even if I do get distracted sometimes and I am still making a lot of mistakes. Just like my son I have a loving Father who cares enough for me to let me do the work so that I can grow and develop and become more like my Father.