(cont'd) And this is life eternal...

Continuing with Elder Holland's talk from my previous post:

We agree with our critics on at least that point—that such a formulation for divinity is truly incomprehensible. With such a confusing definition of God being imposed upon the church, little wonder that a fourth-century monk cried out, “Woe is me! They have taken my God away from me, . . . and I know not whom to adore or to address.” How are we to trust, love, worship, to say nothing of strive to be like, One who is incomprehensible and unknowable? What of Jesus’s prayer to His Father in Heaven that “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”?

For me, a key point is in the following sentence:

How are we to trust, love, worship, to say nothing of strive to be like, One who is incomprehensible and unknowable?

Jesus gave the following command in the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5:48:

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

It is impossible for the disciple of Jesus Christ to obey this command if the God they worship is "incomprehensible and unknowable".

Elder Holland continues:

It is not our purpose to demean any person’s belief nor the doctrine of any religion. We extend to all the same respect for their doctrine that we are asking for ours. (That, too, is an article of our faith.) But if one says we are not Christians because we do not hold a fourth- or fifth-century view of the Godhead, then what of those first Christian Saints, many of whom were eyewitnesses of the living Christ, who did not hold such a view either?

It is ironic that traditional christians, believing they have the same understanding of the nature of God as the Twelve Apostles, think Mormons do not have a correct understanding of the true nature of God.

The next post will continue with Elder Holland's talk, discussing the nature of God as represented in the New Testament.