Spiritual Fatherhood

There is one aspect of fatherhood found in the scriptures that I call “spiritual fatherhood.” This concept is essential because it is how we are connected to God. I will enlarge the definition of “father” to mean any man I follow, who helps me to grow up by engendering new life.

Choosing Fathers

In many religions throughout history, terms for “father," such as "Padre," and "Pope,” are used to recognize those who assist in spiritual growth, or bring one to God.  They teach spiritual lessons: to see what cannot be seen with the eyes, to hear what cannot be heard with the ears, to feel what cannot be touched, and to understand the mysteries of eternal life. They teach faith, hope, and charity, helping to grow to spiritual maturity. But these are not fathers in the physical sense, they are chosen by their acolytes.  

Everyone has both a mother and a father of the flesh to thank for their mortal life on Earth, but the physical father of our bodies is not the same as our spiritual fathers. Spiritual fatherhood is more of the child choosing whom they will follow, as Jesus insinuated, when the Pharisees said, “Abraham is our father.  Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”  (John 8:39) He went on to say, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” (John 8:44) They had a physical heritage from Abraham, but he was not their spiritual father. They had chosen wickedness so Jesus said Satan was their father.

There is also a choice to follow the father of my body -- or not. In fact, within the choice to follow Jesus Christ, one must at least be willing to leave earthly fathers. For example, when the Lamanites were converted to the Lord, their king said, “I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers.” (Alma 24:7) They chose not to follow their fathers when they chose Christ, even changing their name from “Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites” to Anti-Nephi Lehis. They wanted to be known as children of Lehi (a righteous father) who were not Nephites, rejecting their fathers Laman, Lemuel, and Ishmael. 

It is the children, then, in the process of growing up, who choose their spiritual fathers by choosing whom they will follow. So, those fathers who engender mortal bodies are in a tenuous position. If they teach  wicked traditions, they will be rejected. It is always a choice as to who will be a spiritual father, thus it is essential for all who would be fathers to live an exemplary life. 

Multiple Fathers

One can choose any man, living or dead, to be a spiritual father.  As a young man in college, I chose Benjamin Franklin.  After reading his autobiography, which is his instruction to his own son, I decided I would do as he did to become mature, trying to improve myself every day. Ben Franklin didn’t choose to be my father, and I wasn’t born into his family, but I certainly owe him a debt of gratitude for nurturing my growth. I adopted him. Likewise, I have chosen Abraham to be my father. Abraham wanted greater knowledge, and desired the priesthood. I want what he had, to inherit his fortune, which is treasures in heaven. Mormon is my father. He had charity for all, and I desire his inheritance. Isaiah is my father. He knew the heart of God, and I want his heritage. I also have many literal ancestors whom I have chosen, including the father of my body, who heeded the call of Zion, and sacrificed all for it. I choose their legacy. They are both physical and spiritual fathers, by choice. 

The Apostle Paul beseeched the Corinthians to choose him to be their father by following him:

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. (1 Corinthians 4:15-16)

A father is not just an instructor, but one I follow. The father does not choose his children, rather the children choose their father. I chose Paul to be my father by following him to Jesus Christ, which means I choose the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  

The Father of our Salvation

Everyone ever born on the Earth has chosen Jesus Christ to be their Father. The gospel isn’t new to any spirit because the requirement for coming to earth to receive a body was a promise of obedience and sacrifice, much like the covenant of baptism. Those who would not agree to follow Christ were cast out, and are never born on the earth. Those who did, were promised a body -- forever. It is the promise of resurrection given to every person who is ever born on the earth. 

He lives. The tomb was empty because He is alive. They went to “seek the living among the dead,” (Luke 24:5) but He wasn’t there. And, because He was resurrected, we shall all likewise live again, our souls are saved from death forever. In the resurrection, He is the Father of our souls, EVERY SOUL, no matter what. This is no longer a choice because the choice was made before we were ever born.

However, now I can choose Christ to be my spiritual Father, so I can become His son in the spirit. I do this by following Him. King Benjamin explains this after his people made a covenant to follow Christ: 

And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. (Mosiah 5:7)

Being “born again” means being born into His family taking upon myself His name, as He is the Father of the family, akin to me having the name “Saunders” because I was born into the family of Frank Christofferson Saunders, my dad. 

After explaining that Christ is both the Father and the Son, Abinadi further explains how one can choose to become a child of God.  

Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea... all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.  For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed? (Mosiah 15:11-12)  

Those who believe in Christ and are saved by Him are His “seed,” or children, and He is their spiritual Father, who brings them to God, the Eternal Father.

God, the Eternal Father

While all, even Satan and all his followers, are spirit children of God the Father, those born in mortality are children of Adam and Eve, who were created from the dust of the Earth. Our flesh is of the earth so our natural being is an enemy to God. Only by choosing to follow Christ can a soul become a child of God. He is the “Only-Begotten of the Father in the flesh,” the ONLY One! There is no other option for becoming children of God except through Him. No matter what we do, we are outside the family of God unless we take upon ourselves the name of Christ. Jesus tells us how this relationship works, He said:

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. (Matthew 23:9-10)

Christ is my master, or the One I obey in all things, He is the Lord, and His Father, God the Eternal Father, is my Father. The choice to follow Christ gives me only one Father, even God, the Father. Paul says to go “boldly unto the throne if grace.” When I pray, I speak with my Father in Heaven, and nobody else, always in the name of Jesus Christ.

All the fathers of the world help me to grow up, and when I do, they become my peers, just like my grown children are my peers. Even Jesus Christ becomes a peer as Paul says: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17) Jesus Himself defined this relationship when He told Mary upon meeting her after His resurrection, to “go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;” (John 20:17) putting Himself, a perfect being, in a peer relationship with mere mortals. Ultimately, we all become siblings in eternity, and our Father is God - by choice!

So, eternally, there are only two fathers to choose from: God, the Father, and Satan, which is why Lucifer chose to be Satan, to make himself equal to the Father, being the only other father in eternity. 

God has given us the gift of agency, or the ability to choose between Him and Satan. He wants everyone to choose Him and be happy, not to choose Satan and be miserable. When Enoch saw God crying over the wickedness in the world he wondered -- 

How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations... and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?

The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency... And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood... Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? (Moses 7:29-37)

Enoch is amazed at how God can weep over a bunch of fools who refuse Him, because He is the Man who has everything -- literally! "Why cry over them when you have so much!?" Then, in the most tender moment in all scripture, God, the greatest of all, explains His love for each of His creations (they are not His children, because they have not chosen Him). “I created them. I love them so I don’t want them to suffer. I have given them knowledge and agency. I have prepared a way for them to be my children, and be saved, but they choose evil, and choose to suffer, choosing Satan to be their father instead of Me!” The heavens weep over every single soul that does not choose God to be their Father. 

Love is the Choice

In these verses God also told Enoch how to choose Him when He said: “[I have] also given commandment that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father...” Anyone can choose to become a child of God by loving others. Jesus explains further, saying, 

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:  (Matthew 5:44-45)

Love is the answer. Choosing to love makes one a child of God. Loving everyone is the key. I can know that I am a child of God if I love my enemies, doing good to those who hurt me, and blessing those who hate me. Did not Jesus do this when He said of those who crucified Him, “Father forgive them...?” As Karen Lynn Davidson tells us in the greatest verse ever written, 

No creature is so lowly,
No sinner so depraved,
But feels thy presence holy
And thru thy love is saved.
Tho craven friends betray thee,
They feel thy love’s embrace;
The very foes who slay thee
Have access to thy grace.

(O Savior Thou Who Wearest a Crown)

On this Father’s Day I would commend everyone to seek Father in Heaven, to worship the one God, and choose to come “boldly unto the throne of grace” by following Jesus Christ. He shows us how to choose God to be our Eternal Father, saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  (John 14:6)