Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Richard D. Gardner on the Question of the Holy Spirit being a Spirit Son of God the Father

  

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)