Father ( Mother)

In the play my turn on Earth, there is a song entitled it isn't good to be alone. It has one line that says "You've never heard about a father without a mother."

So I choose here to define the role of God as our Father and include in that understanding that all we say about Father includes our Heavenly Mother.

Lesson 2 in Preach My Gospel begins:

God is the father is the Father of our spirits. We are literally His children, and He loves us... He wants us to become like him."

This statement is basic to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly parents love us and want us to become like them. So who are they and what are they like? What kind of person are we supposed to become?

Joseph Smith himself taught this: "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. And to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another..."

The statement from Preach My Gospel teaches the basics:

• In relationship God is our literal parent - we have Divine DNA
• In-character He is Love.

I have had to work my whole life to understand and to know in my heart that 

God = Love

In all honesty, the scriptures do not make that clear. I have come to accept that often the scriptures reflect a historical period of time and a certain people's beliefs of who God is. Those accounts don't always reflect truth itself but only the author's belief of what is true.  In Moroni 10:5 it says "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."  It is my conviction that the Spirit will also help us discern those things in our scriptures that do NOT convey truth about who God is.  We must exercise wisdom in reading scripture.

I spent too many too much of my life afraid of God the Father while finding great joy in loving His Son Jesus.

In the book The God Who Weeps by Terryl and Fiona Givens, the authors suggest that while it may be possible to believe in the wrathful God we see portrayed in some scriptures and in some religions, we must ask ourselves "Is that God worthy of our worship?".

I say no! He is not. 

The clues to the real character of God are taught by Jesus. It is Jesus who taught us that God is our Father. Jesus taught us to call God Father and to pray to Him with those words. And Jesus himself addressed God as Father.

And Jesus taught that he and the Father are one.

John 14:9 
Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet thou has not known me Philip? He that has seen me has seen the father semicolon and how say is now then, show us the father?

How could the Father Tell The World of love and tenderness? 

He sent his son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness. 

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go? 

He sent his son to walk with men on Earth, that we may know. 

How could the Father Tell The World of sacrifice, of death? 

He sent his son to die for us and rise with living breath? 

What does the father ask of us? What do the scripture say? 

Have faith, have hope, live like his son. Help others on their? his way. 

What does he ask? Live like His Son.

Our Heavenly Parents and Jesus are the same in character. Jesus life is a reflection of His Parents. We are to use that model to guide our lives!

So what then are these characteristics that we want to emulate?

This is who God - our Heavenly Parents - are!