--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Smith, Calvin S. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 20 number: 10 published: 1917-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Calvin S. Smith, "My Conception of the Nature of God," *Improvement Era* 20, no. 10 (August 1917): 910–911.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera20010unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera20010unse start_page: 910 end_page: 911 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera20010unse publication_year: 1917 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # My Conception of the Nature of God My Conception of the Nature of God By Calvin S. Smith God is a real, tangible, rational being with senses, emo- tions, feelings, and judgment. That he is real and tangible is shown by the testimony of the scriptures. The angel of the Lord who wrestled with Jacob (Gen. 34:23-32) was real and tangible enough, notably when he touched Jacob's thigh. The finger that wrote on the tables of stone (Exodus 31:18) was certainly at least as tangible as the stone upon which it wrote. It is evident that Abraham's, Jacob's, and Moses' conceptions of God were conceptions of a tangible Being. Christ said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). This is evidence to me of the tangibility of his Father. The Book of Mormon God was certainly tangible (See Ether, chapter 3:5-7). The facts concerning his possession of senses, emotions, and feelings are too well known to be questioned. As to the nature of this reality and tangibility of God we are not sure. I believe the material of his body to be somewhat different to that of ours. We know that it is incorruptible and of an exceedingly fine material, but none the less real because we cannot see it. The resurrected Christ had taken on incor- ruption and had such a body. According to Paul, (I Corinthians 11:11) "Neither is the man without the woman; neither is the woman without the man in the Lord," so, according to my conception of God, he is not without the woman. This is the conception that we get in Eliza R. Snow's, "0 My Father." The statements of Joseph Smith; namely, "God is man made perfect," "As man now is, God once was; and as God now is, man may become," adequately express my idea of the nature and purposes of God. I believe this is a part of "Mormon" doctrine (See section 132:37 of the Doc. and Cov.). According to this idea man has some of the elements of godliness in him. He knows good from evil; he has intelligence; and he has an immortal spirit. The pathetic thing about this spirit, to the sinner, is that this spirit is immortal. The man cannot help it. For instance Alma prayed that he might be relieved of his re- sponsibility for wrongdoing by extinction, but such a thing could not be. (See Book of Mormon; Alma, chapter 36:15.) MY CONCEPTION OF THE NATURE OF GOD 911 This conception of God seems to me to be the most rational that I have heard of. Scientists may question the truth of everything that is not evident to the senses, and there may be a reasonable doubt about a good many things, because the senses are limited and inaccurate; but do they question the existence of living things? birds? fish? animals? or man? Does it require more faith to believe in the possibility of the existence of God than it does to believe in the existence of man? Would it be more wonderful? I do not think so. Does it require any great stretch of imagination to think that man may be as God? With sufficient knowledge of the laws of nature, could he not prolong life indefinitely? Man has already overcome many of the forces that destroy life. Many diseases that used to be dreaded are no longer feared, and men are saved by scientific knowledge to years of usefulness in the world. With sufficient knowledge of the laws of the universe could not man control them to a certain extent? One scientist has said, "Give me a lever, long enough, and I will move the earth." The evidences of our senses show us that wonderful things do exist. Man has just attained a bucket full of knowledge from the ocean of truth. Is he warranted in prating of his science and discoveries? Where was he, "When the sons of God shout- ed for joy?" Let him read the 38th chapter of the book of With these things in mind, it is only the "fool that sayeth in his heart there is no God." To me, "The heavens declare the alory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.