“Joseph Smith Said He Saw Two Personages,” Friend, Oct. 2000, 40
“Joseph Smith Said He Saw Two Personages”
I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description (JS—H 1:17).
My sisters and I attend a Christian school at Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii. We are one of only two LDS families who go to the school, so we have many opportunities to share our beliefs with our classmates and teachers. Since we have Bible class every day, we learn about God and Jesus Christ and study the stories from the Bible. Our teachers are good Christian people who love Jesus Christ very much, but sometimes they teach us things that we don’t believe in our church. Whenever we learn things about God that are not what our church teaches, we tell our mom and dad and we discuss them at family home evening.
Last year, the whole school was studying the nature of God and what He is like. Our teachers taught us that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all one being without “passion or form” (feelings or a body). We knew that that was not correct, and we talked about it with our parents. When it came time for me to take the test on what we had learned that week in Bible class, one of the questions asked was, “Name the three parts of God.” Although I knew the answer they wanted me to give, I refused to write it because I knew that God was not made of three parts and that I should not give an answer I did not believe.
Later in the day, my teacher called me to her desk and asked why I had left the question blank. I told her that our church teaches that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct personages, that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ both have bodies, and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit. She said that she would give me full credit for my answer because I know what I believe, even though it differs from what the school teaches.
My younger sister, Hannah, was also studying about the Godhead that week. She said that when her teacher talked about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost being one person, she knew that it was not true. She tried to shut out what was being said by not listening. After Bible class, she went up to her teacher and said, “Joseph Smith said he saw two Personages.” Her teacher was taken aback and asked her to explain what she meant. Hannah explained our church’s teaching about the Godhead, and her teacher listened and was respectful. Afterward, the teacher told our mom that she was proud of Hannah for sharing her beliefs with her. Her teacher even came to watch Hannah get baptized at the beach later that year.
We know that people at the school watch the way we act because we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and so we try to set a good example by being good Christians and by standing up for what we believe.
Covey, Hannah, and Christine on their first day of a new school year
Illustrated by Paul Mann