The Godhead (Bonus study material)

WEEKEND BONSU: Here are some quotes and scriptures that you can use to deepen your understanding of the Godhead and specifically God, the Father.  Once you are caught up in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 1-16), I would encourage you to dig deep into this material and get to know your Heavenly Father better.
GOD THE ETERNAL FATHER
AF-1 WE BELIEVE IN GOD THE ETERNAL FATHER…

Joseph Smith teaches that we can't truly exercise faith in God unless we come to know His character, perfections, and attributes.
                                                           
"Let us here observe, that three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. 

First, the ideas that He actually exists.

Secondly, a correct idea of His character, perfections, and attributes.

Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which [you] are pursuing is according to His will.  For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but with this understanding it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding in righteousness, unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Joseph Smith Jr., Lectures on Faith 3:2-5).

"Without the idea of the existence of the attributes which belong to God, the minds of men could not have power to exercise faith in him so as to lay hold upon eternal life" (Joseph Smith Jr., Lectures on Faith 4:2).

Father's familiar face-Pres. Benson

"…Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.  He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace.  Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.

 …Try as you may, you cannot put the Lord in your debt.  For every time you try to do his will, He simply pours out more blessings upon you.  Sometimes the blessings may seem to be a little slow in coming-perhaps this tests your faith-but come they will, and abundantly.

…We once knew well our Elder Brother and His and our Father in Heaven. We rejoiced at the prospects of earth life that could make it possible for us to have a fulness of joy. We could hardly wait to demonstrate to our Father and our Brother, the Lord, how much we loved them and how we would be obedient to them in spite of the earthly opposition of the evil one.

Now we are here. Our memories are veiled. We are showing God and ourselves what we can do. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us.

God loves us. He is watching us. He wants us to succeed. We will know some day that He has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each of us. If we only knew it, heavenly hosts are pulling for us-friends in heaven that we cannot now remember who yearn for our victory. This is our day to show what we can do-what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly make for God. If we give our all, we will get His all from the greatest of all" (Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ-Gifts and Expectations," Ensign, Dec. 1988, 6).


God is patient and honors our agency

"God's chief way of acting is by persuasion and patience and long-suffering, not by coercion and stark confrontation. He acts by gentle solicitation and by sweet enticement. He always acts with unfailing respect for the freedom and independence that we possess."
(Howard W. Hunter, "The Golden Thread of Choice," Ensign, Nov. 1989, 18)

KNOWING GOD
Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Grandeur of God,” Ensign, Nov 2003, 70
Of the many magnificent purposes served in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, one great aspect of that mission often goes uncelebrated. His followers did not understand it fully at the time, and many in modern Christianity do not grasp it now, but the Savior Himself spoke of it repeatedly and emphatically. It is the grand truth that in all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in His atoning suffering and sacrifice, He was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven.
He did this at least in part because then and now all of us need to know God more fully in order to love Him more deeply and obey Him more completely. As both Old and New Testaments declare, “The first of all the commandments is … thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first [and great] commandment” (Mark 12:29–30; see also Matt. 22:37–38; Deut. 6:5). 

(New Testament | John 17:3)
3  And this is alife beternal, that they might cknow thee the only true dGod, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast esent.

The scriptures are primary sources for discovering the true nature of God.

SCRIPTURES THAT HELP US TO KNOW GOD
  • Proverbs 5:21
  • 2 Ne. 2:24
  • D&C 101:16
  • Proverbs 3:5-6
  • Alma 26:35-37
  • Gen. 1:26-27
  • D&C 59:18-20
  • D&C 76:92-95
  • Psalms 103:8
  • D&C 35:8
  • Ether 3:12
  • 1 John 4:8-9,16
  • Deut. 31:6
  • Isa. 40:28-31
  • 2 Ne. 4:20-23, 35

SEE ALSO- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, Nov. 2003, 70; James E. Faust, Ensign, May 1984, pp. 67-69.