The Holy Ghost
Is Probably a Spirit Son of Our Heavenly Father
There is,
unfortunately, no official doctrine as to the origin of the Holy Ghost, and
precious little unofficially spoken on the subject by Church leaders, although
it is thought by some noted Latter-day Saints (such as Joseph Fielding McConkie
[Joseph Fielding McConkie, “Holy Ghost” in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism])
that the Holy Ghost is a son of our Heavenly Father.
The most direct
Church-leader statement that I can find on the subject . . . is from Heber C. Kimball:
The Spirit that is on
me this morning is the Spirit of the Lord; it is the Holy Ghost, although some
of you may not think that the Holy Ghost is ever cheerful. Well, let me tell
you, the Holy Ghost is a man; he is one of the sons of our Father and our
God; and he is that man that stood next to Jesus Christ, just as I stand by
brother Brigham. (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:179 [August
23, 1857])
In another
non-official source, Elder Bruce R. McConkie apparently implied that all
spirits associated with Heavenly Father’s realm are His spirit offspring:
Jehovah and Michael are
both spirit children of Elohim. They are both, therefore, along with all the
spirit hosts of heaven, subject to Him whose offspring they are. (I obtained
this quotation—which I cannot independently verify—from an Interpreter blog
post about Elder McConkie’s comments [some in private letters] on the Adam-God
theory. https://interpreterfoundation.org/blog-elder-bruce-r-mcconkie-and-the-adam-god-theory-part-2/)
It is felt by many
that the Holy Ghost is a son of our Heavenly Father (as opposed to, say, the
son of another exalted being), and I agree that this conclusion is most
consistent with our knowledge of Heavenly Father and His plan, . . . (Richard
D. Gardner, “Who is the Holy Ghost? The Adam/Michael Hypothesis Compared with
the Conventional Stance,” in Who is the Holy Ghost? [Eborn Books, 2024],
25)
Could the Holy Ghost
be not a spirit son of our God? Perhaps He is a spirit son of another God.
But I disfavor this because it implies that a god is assigned to this earth who
really belongs to another earth, and it seems odd for Heavenly Father to
require the assistance of a god from another realm. What about the theory—based
on Franklin Richards’ transcription of a Joseph Smith speech—that the Holy
Ghost is preparing to be the savior of another plant? Our Savior was God’s firstborn;
but this theory would mean that another savior is not, unless he was the firstborn
of another “set” of offspring—perhaps each earth has its own “firstborn.” These
ideas leads to questions of how many planets is Christ the Savior of, which is
beyond the scope of this essay—except to say that D&C 76:23-24 suggests
that Christ is the Savior of other worlds, but Brigham Young thought that each
earth had its own firstborn-Savior—and if Young was correct, it is hard to see
how the Holy Ghost could yet be a savior:
Every world has had
an Adam and an Eve, named so simply because the first man is always called Adam
and the first woman, Eve. And the oldest son has always had the privilege of
being ordained, appointed and called to be the heir of the family if he does
not rebel against the Father, and he is the Savior of the family. Every world
that has been created has been created upon the same principle.
Brigham Young, “For This
Is Life Eternal,” in Elden Watson (editor), Brigham Young Addresses 1982),
2:230 . . . But if our Holy Ghost is to become the savior of another world,
then He would become associated with that earth, not ours, which may contradict
his assignment to minister to the inhabitants of this earth who are destined for
the telestial kingdom. It strikes me as odd that He may perform both roles, but
it is formally possible. (Ibid., 52-53 n. a)
