Monday, November 20, 2023

Brigham Young Distinguishing the God and Father of Jesus from Adam (July 8, 1863)



We believe in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our elder brother. We believe that God is a person of tabernacle, possessing in an infinitely higher degree all the perfections and qualifications of his mortal children. We believe that he made Adam after his own image and likeness, as Moses testifies; and in this belief we differ from the professedly Christian world, who declare that "His center is everywhere, but his circumference is nowhere." Their God has no body nor parts; our God possesses a body and parts, and was heard by Adam and Eve "Walking in the garden in the cool of the day." They say that their God has no passions; our God loves his good children and is "Angry with the wicked every day," "And him that loveth violence his soul hateth;" and he reveals his will as familiarly to his servants in all ages as I reveal my thoughts to you this evening.

 

Brigham Young, "Advice to California Emigrants—the Principles of the Gospel, Etc.," July 8, 1863, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: Daniel H. Wells, 1865), 10:230-231