My Beloved Brethren And Sisters Seen And...

My beloved brethren and sisters, seen and unseen — for I include you all in this salutation. I hope the Spirit will bear witness that I mean it, for I know that we are all brothers and sisters. ¶

The Concept of God Taught by the Church Under the title "The Living and True God," I purpose this morning to set forth the concept of God as known and taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fact that one's understanding of God is the basis of his religion tends to make the subject itself somewhat controversial. This fact will, I hope, to your satisfaction account for any seeming intolerance in what I say. ¶

I don't want to be intolerant, and I don't think that I am. I do, however, earnestly desire to convey to you a clear explanation of the "Living and True God." And, although I remember reading of the furor raised by Paul when he attempted to do this same thing in Athens, and that they charged him with being "... a setter forth of strange gods . . ." (Acts 17:18), still I feel somewhat as did Peter and John when they were commanded by the rulers of the Jews not to preach or teach any more in the name of Jesus. You will remember that they answered and said unto them, ". . . Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. ¶

"For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." {Ibid., 4:19-20.) I have sought, and I now seek and invite each of you to join with me in a prayer for guidance and for communion between the living and true God and you and me that we may all be edified. ¶

The church's doctrine of the living and true God is based upon the experiences and teaching of its prophet founder, Joseph Smith, Jun. Speaking on this most important subject he once said: ¶

The Prophet Speaks of God ". . . we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them; "And that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, . . . ¶

"And gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship." (D&C 20:17-19. Italics added.) This scripture was given in 1830. It is, therefore, modern scripture. However, the teachings in it are not new. That there is a God in heaven who created the heaven and the earth is taught in the first verse of the first chapter of the first book in the Bible. That he created man, male and female, iHiis own image is taught in the same chapter. That men should love and serve him and that he should be the only being whom they should worship is the substance of the first of the Ten Commandments. ¶

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exod. 20:3.) What is new and distinctive in this modern scripture is the knowledge claimed by Joseph Smith for himself and for them for whom he spoke. ". . . we know," said he, "that there is a God in heaven. . . ." (D&C 20:17. Italics added.) In making this declaration the Prophet spoke from personal experience. ¶

Jesus Speaks of God, His Father Jesus had described God when he said to Philip, ". . . he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9), and Paul confirmed this truth when he wrote to the Hebrews that Jesus was the express image of his Father's person. (See Heb. ¶

1:3.) The voice of God had been heard at the baptism of Jesus. It had also been heard by Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. But it remained for the boy Prophet Joseph Smith to both see and hear him at the same time. This he did in the great vision which opened this last dispensation. ¶

About the living and true God whom he saw and heard in that vision he wrote: ¶

"... I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other — This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" ¶

(Joseph Smith 2:17.) Later the Prophet said of these two personages: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; . . ." (D&C 130:22.) The Prophet Joseph Smith learned that the Father, whom he saw in the Sacred Grove at Palmyra, New York, in the spring of 1820, and of whom he claimed such certain knowledge in 1830, is the Father of the spirits of all men. ¶

This was made known to him in a revelation in which the Lord said that the inhabitants of the worlds, including this earth, ". . . are begotten sons and daughters unto God." (Ibid., 76:24.) Through this and other modern revelation Joseph came to fully comprehend what Paul was talking about when he said to the Hebrews: ". . . we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Heb. 12:9.) Knowledge of God Through the Prophet Joseph Smith This knowledge of God opened up to Joseph Smith, as it does to all of us, a vision with infinite promise. We all know that like begets like and that for the offspring to grow to the stature of his parent is a process infinitely repeated in nature. We can therefore understand that for a son of God to grow to the likeness of his Father in heaven is in harmony with natural law. We see this law demonstrated every few years in our own experience. Sons born to mortal fathers grow up to be like their fathers in the flesh. This is the way it will be with spirit sons of God. They will grow up to be like their Father in heaven. Joseph taught this obvious truth. ¶

As a matter of fact, he taught that through this process God himself attained perfection. From President Snow's understanding of the teachings of the Prophet on this doctrinal point, he coined the familiar couplet: "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." This teaching is peculiar to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

The Prophet Joseph considered a knowledge of God to be of such importance that, in setting forth the beliefs of the Church, he placed it at the head of the list— "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, . . ." (Articles of Faith.) One with such a knowledge is in the way of eternal life, for, according to the teachings of Jesus, ". . . this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3.) Having such knowledge, one is assured that God, although infinite and eternal, the framer of heavens and the earth and all things that in them are, being the possessor of all power, all wisdom, and all understanding, being more intelligent than all other beings, is, nevertheless, an individual — an understanding, kind, and loving parent ready to hear and minister to the needs of his children — that he is not merely some unthinkable, unknowable, indefinable, far-off, distant force. When one with such a knowledge prays, he knows that he is praying to some one and not just to some thing. ¶

For Want of Knowledge of God the World is Dying For want of a knowledge of the true and living God, this world is today dying. And please do not be deceived. ¶

Such a knowledge is not widespread. It is true that, in their great concern about world conditions, men are almost frantically proclaiming from the pulpit, the platform, over the air, and through the press that a return to God is the only way out of our difficulties. The tragedy is their cries, like Paul's trumpet of uncertain sound, are unheeded. Now the obvious reason is that neither the trumpeters nor the hearers know the God to whom we must return. They use the familiar term with which we are all so well acquainted. But when they attempt to define the God to whom they would have us return, they reveal a woeful lack of knowledge concerning the living and true God. Frequently they actually deny him. ¶

As of Old The present world situation is not unlike that which prevailed in Athens, as portrayed in Paul's great sermon preached on Mars' hill. As he stood there, his spirit stirring within him as he beheld the city given wholly to idolatry, he cried: ¶

". . . Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. ¶

"For as I passed by, and beheld your devotion, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God. ¶

Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." (Acts 17:22-23.) Following this poignant but deserved thrust, Paul declared that God had made the world and all things therein and was therefore Lord of heaven and earth, that both he (Paul) and his hearers were the offspring of God, in whom they lived and moved and had their being. ¶

To us it seems almost incredible that in Paul's day inen could have believed that graven jjjlages of gold or silver or stone fashioned by men's device were gods. And yet, the evidence indicates that many today are as far afield in their concepts and belief in God as were the Athenian philosophers and populace in that day so long ago when Paul chided them on Mars' hill about worshiping a god whom they admittedly did not know; for instance (and now I cite these examples not by way of contention but to illustrate how the concepts of men of the world differ from the true concepts of the living and true God), in a modem V G. ROMNEY 51 book an eminent scientist, whose purpose is altogether commendable, wrote the book to prove that there is a God and in that book appears this statement: ¶

"Any effort to visualize God reveals a surprising childishness. We can no more conceive Him than we can conceive an electron." (Lecomte de Nouy, Human Destiny, p. 188.) And then to account for the birth and development of moral man, the author says that he was forced, and I quote, to admit "that the only possible logical interpretation of the facts coincided with that which recognized the existence of God; . . . We therefore," I continue to quote, "used the consecrated name (God), but avoided as much as possible any anthropomorphic idea." (Ibid., pp. ¶

201-202.) Another writer says this: "Man makes God in his own image. . . . When man believes that God is personal," he says, "he believes rightly. [But] to say that God is 'a person' is no doubt an error." ¶

(Maude Royden, The Garvin Lectures, 1949, p. 45.) These statements indicate that their authors and those who hold their views neither know nor believe in the living and true God preached by Paul and Joseph Smith. Is it not a great tragedy for men today to be walking in such darkness when they might be walking in the light if they would but look and see? This situation brings to mind the Savior's statement: "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; . . ." (D&G 88:49.) In connection with this statement the Lord adds another phrase which I love. ¶

". . . nevertheless," he says, "the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him." (Idem.) The Transforming Power of Knowledge of God This world would be, comparatively, a heaven if men could be brought to understand and know the living and true God. They who are able to receive and who do receive the restored truth concerning God are literally transformed by their knowledge of, and faith in, him. ¶

They are drawn upward from the carnal state of fallen man, as it were, and brought back, to a degree at least, into the presence of God. They develop unshakable faith in him. They seek him with certain confidence. They put thentrust in him, and he never fails them. ¶

In him are their hope and their strength. ¶

Envy, greed, hate, lust, and unrighteous ambition flee from them. They grow in virtue, patience, brotherly kindness, charity, and love, and their eyes are single to the glory of God. The principal objective in their lives becomes to keep the commandments of God, thus ridding themselves of sin, for they realize that no unclean thing can enter into his presence; and to return into that presence becomes the supreme faith and hope of their existence. ¶

Into their hearts comes a great concern for the welfare of their fellow men. They set about not to conquer them, not to take advantage of them, not to gain temporal and worldly power at their expense, but to take to them the glorious knowledge of the living and true God which they themselves possess. This they do that their fellows may experience and enjoy the transformation which has come into their lives. ¶

There is nothing other than a knowledge of the living and true God which will give men incentives strong enough to induce them to root out of their lives the wickedness which has brought us to the brink of the cataclysm on which we totter. ¶

God's Revelations of Himself Earnest attention to God's revelations of himself is of first importance to every human being. To disbelieve in him, in the light of the plain and certain knowledge he has revealed of himself and which is available to us, is a great evil for which men will be held accountable. ¶

Full acceptance of him would work in every man the same transformation it worked in the people of Enoch, in Saul of Tarsus, in Alma, in Joseph Smith and his followers — a transformation which will eventually come and which will establish peace on the earth. ¶

"I Personally Know That There is a God" ¶

Now, in conclusion, as a special witness, I want to leave my testimony with each of you, and I have in mind all of you who are present and you who are beyond the confines of this building. I personally know ". . . that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, . . . that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness . . . "; that in these latter days he has revealed himself anew; and that he is ". . . the only living and true God, . . ." (Ibid., 20:17-19.) "By the Witness of the Holy Spirit" ¶

I have obtained this knowledge and testimony through the same means that Peter, Paul, Joseph Smith, and tens of thousands of others have received it — by the witness of the Holy Spirit to my soul. I testify to each of you that you can obtain like knowledge and testimony for your individual selves if you will but humble yourselves and in faith and sincere prayer seek it. ¶

We are all the children of our Father in heaven. It is inherent in our beings to have faith in him, to believe that he is. ¶

It was this kind of faith that prompted Joseph Smith, acting upon the assurance of James — "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5.) It was this that led the Prophet to seek wisdom in prayer. As a result he received a revelation in which the living and true God appeared to him. He received that revelation not just for himself alone but for you and for me and for every living soul in this earth. ¶

God has not left us to grope in darkness. His words do not fail. If we will but ask him in sincerity and faith, he will make known to each of us the reality of himself. We can, if we will submit to his spirit, know for a certainty that he is the true and the living God. ¶

As one of the least of his humble servants, I bear this witness to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶