Is God our Father metaphorically or literally?

Are we "stuff that He made" or is our relationship with Him different from the one that He has with lions and mountains and stars.

2008-08-12T06:43:19Z

So far no one seems to see themselves as different from mountains and stars. To be "only created" and not His child would be too sad for me to bear.

strplng warrior mom2008-08-12T07:25:15Z

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He is the literal father of my spirit. As such, I am a joint heir with my elder brother [Jesus Christ] to the blessings and potential of all that my Father hath.

I have a close friend a who confided in me some time ago that she struggled to feel close to her Savior - she'd always felt closer to her Father in Heaven. I chuckled and told her there was nothing wrong with being a 'Daddy's girl'.

One other interesting thing is that as I have sought a greater relationship, I have noticed a difference between the comfort & influence of the Holy Ghost, the strength, comfort and Light of my Savior, and the occassional touch of Love and concern coming from my Father. We can reform these relationships we had in our pre-existance with God here on earth. Isn't it marvelous!

Yoda's Duck2008-08-12T13:04:51Z

To me, all God's creations have a dual nature- us, lions, mountains, stars, everything- a spiritual nature and a physical nature. Obviously, some spirits are of a greater intelligence than others (How much intelligence does it take to be a rock or a mountain, really?).

My physical nature has a father and a mother- they met in Idaho, married, and I was born about a year and a half later, followed eventually by 4 more- all boys.

My spiritual nature also has a Father-- God. He is the creator of all the "lesser" intelligences- animals, plants, planets, etc. He is the literal father of the greater intelligences- us human beings- the firstborn of these greater intelligences was/is known by the name of Jesus Christ (Most of humanity's physical nature is strictly that- physical. Jesus had an interesting factor to His physical nature- that also was dual and allowed Him to do what His spiritual AND physical Father (God) had asked Him to do.).

To me, this doesn't diminish our Father in any sense, although it lengthens the measure by which He will judge us. If we are His literal offspring, then we have the capacity to be like Him, and He could reasonably expect greatness from us.

Ace2008-08-12T09:47:56Z

Pesonally I believe that His intention was for us to understan that He wants us to be His literal children.

I know it is difficult if not impossible to comprehend this, especially when all we have as an example of a Father are our earthly Fathers.

My earthly father was a very selfish and prideful man, that thought little or nothing of his children, His way of showing love was to physically abuse, yell and scream almost constantly, to the point where eventually, his kids wanted nothing to do with him.

This being MY example of a loving father, tended to push me away from anything even resembleing fatherhood.

Our finite minds tend to go for things as they are, not as they should be. My example of my father also was my example of the father that I turned out to be. Just someone fathering children, and far from being a dad.

I always promised myself that I would never turn out like my father, but I did. Now I pray that I will turn out to be even remotely close to what my Father in Heaven is.

LDS~Tenshi~2008-08-12T08:11:00Z

We are his Children. He is the Father of our spirits the say way that our earthly fathers are the fathers of our bodies. We are not the same as the lions, the mountains, or the stars.

misma2008-08-12T06:38:40Z

Our soul is a Part of God. God Moved, as He Moved He left Portions of Himself behind, hence the First Souls Came Into Being. Animals to not have the Same Soul as we have, man alone is capable of Becoming Like God.

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