One comment that I have heard from several Latter-day Saints over the past year is that they can see the appeal of Protestantism, but just cannot get behind the Trinity or a view of God that does not see the Father as an embodied human being . Each of these are complicated topics that I anticipate posting about more in the future. But I realized that I have talked a lot on here and elsewhere about the impact that my changed views on several topic such as grace or the indwelling of the Holy Ghost have had on me, but very little about the impact of my changed perceptions of the Godhead.
For me the biggest change has been in elevating and exalting each member of the Godhead to a higher level of sovereignty and grandeur
- I have come to understand more fully the Holiness and glory of God
One of the biggest changes for me has been a deeper appreciation for the holiness, glory, and perfection of God. Understanding that God is incomprehensibly above me, changed how I thought about God’s perfection. I now see God as infinitely and comparably more holy, pure, loving, exalted, and perfect than I am. This makes me want to wall down on my knees and worship him. It fills me with awe and gratitude. I long to worship him with all my heart.
One of the most impactful verses for me is the declaration of the angels and the Elders in Revelation 4:
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
2. God is immanent and present in a much more direct fashion
As a latter-day Saint, I thought that believing in an embodied God made him more relatable and personal. But what I have found to the contrary is that understanding that God truly is everywhere makes him so much more intimate and close to me. This is most obvious with the Holy Ghost who dwells in me. But it is also true for the Father and the Son. They are present in a direct fashion.
I have come to much more powerfully appreciate the words of the Psalmist in Pslam 139:
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, even there Your hand will guide me. Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me”—even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.
3) I understand that God is Sovereign and in Charge
As a Latter-day Saint I had an elevated view of my own free will and agency and as a result a more limited understanding of God’s sovereignty. God created the whole universe out of nothing, and he sustains it by the power of his word. Nothing is beyond God. I can trust in him more fully and rely on him, for he is truly a God of miracles and not just an inspired scientist.
I am inspired by Job’s declaration “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2).
4) I understand the grace of God better
As a Latter-day Saint I believed that Jesus HAD to come into the world in order to himself be exalted and become fully like the Father. His birth was therefore necessary for us but also for his own progression.
In contrast, I now exalt in the words of Phil 2 that describes Christ as fully equal to God from before creation who nevertheless voluntarily chose to assume human flash for us:
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothin by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
5) I know that being with God is enough
I used to be very focused on an eternal family as the ultimate reward of this life. I longed to be with God, but at times that goal was less prominent than the importance of being with my family members. I used to not understand how I could enjoy heaven without them.
I now understand that worshiping God is the very purpose of our creation and the thing that will fill us with the most bliss and joy. I still anticipate reunions with family members and friends. But the centerpiece of eternity will be being in the holy presence of God forever.