Jehovah, one in purpose with the Father

After my post on "Biblical Proof that Jesus is Jehovah," a reader wrote to agree but ask something along the lines of, “What proof do you have that Jehovah is not the Father?" Gladly, we have proof in Stephen’s testimony: For he testified, as found in Acts 7:55-56: "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

Here is my personal testimony, along with the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that indeed the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are one in purpose, but three separate beings. Many of you know that on my father’s side of the family, we are Jewish, and Chilean on my mother’s side. I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic school. When I was about fourteen, our religion teacher at Saint George's College in Santiago, Chile, taught us that the Trinity was a mystery. That the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were one and three in a way that could not be explained. In fact, that it would be easier to empty the Pacific Ocean with a bucket into the sand than to understand this great mystery. Even if we could empty the Pacific, putting the water in the beach would just mean it would go right back into the ocean.

As I rode the trolley bus back home I pondered this teaching. As I did so I was inspired by the Holy Ghost, whose words came to me something like this: "It is really a simple thing. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct beings but one in purpose, just like your father and mother are two distinct beings but one in purpose." Indeed, even though they are distinct beings, they are one in purpose. There is no envy or jealousy between them, but they are moved by perfect love and harmony. At this point I remembered how I would go and ask my father a question and he would say, "such and such, but go and ask your mother." There was no point asking my mother as she had spoken the same words only moments earlier. This pattern was typical regardless of who I asked my question to first. Even though my parents have since separated, there was no better example for me as a young boy that could have illustrated the principle.

I was so excited I could not wait to share this with my parents. My father sat in a rocking chair and was in my mother's room, by her bed, chatting with her. "If I told you this was a blasphemy against the Catholic Church, would you still say this?" my father asked. As much as I looked up to my father and mother and I did not want to offend them I could not deny what I had felt. Later I came to know that I had received a witness from the Holy Ghost. It was one of the great keys that helped me recognize the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth. After reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1974. For a more complete conversion story see “On Sacred Ground,” in the LDS.org website.