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Probably the defining moment of the Restoration was what we Latter-day Saints call "The First Vision". A serious young man, Joseph Smith Jr. had explored all the religious faiths available to him, but he found confusion and contention where he expected the peace spoken of in Holy Scripture. Troubled by the disparity between expectation and reality, he turned ever more seriously to the Bible, and was strongly impressed one evening on reading James 1:5 to take his questions directly to God. On a lovely spring morning in 1820 the young man knelt in a woods near his parents farm, and so started the most remarkable spiritual adventure in modern history, for the answer to his prayer was the miraculous appearance of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
I know that sounds far fetched, and even unbelievable, but please read on. Consider for a moment that this young man was not yet 15 years old, and that he never completed even an elementary education in any formal sense, and yet was responsible for the publication of three volumes which today are accepted as Holy Scripture by over ten million people. If you really think that one so young and unschooled could produce such a volume of writings and a whole religious movement, all in complete harmony with existing scripture, without the direct help of God, then you've got more faith in man than you do in God. In Joseph's own words "... I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation." (Joseph Smith History 1:25) The point here is that Joseph Smith found out about the nature of God by direct revelation, not by some intellectual effort of his own. Let's see how this accords with the scriptures that the world already had, namely the Bible.
The first, and perhaps most troubling issue for the "traditional" Christian is the separateness of these members of the Godhead. Over the centuries, scholars have arrived at a whole lot of what I call slippery words to describe the nature of God - words that don't really fit with our own notions of any "beings" we're familiar with. Perhaps their purpose was to honor Deity by building a gulf between God and man, but all those slippery words don't fit the simple words of the Bible. Look for example at the baptism of Jesus as told in Matthew 3: 16-17. We see the Lord Jesus in the water, the Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and the voice from heaven proclaiming "This is my beloved Son". This was a sacred moment. One where mere mortal men were privileged to observe the Father and the Holy Spirit proclaim unmistakably the divinity of the Son. They also became, and remain for us today, witnesses to the separateness of the three members of the Godhead. This was not one being, but three. Claiming otherwise makes this sacred moment nothing more than the illusions performed by stage magicians, complete with hidden birds and thrown voices. When Jesus prayed, did he pray to himself? Of course not! In every prayer he ever uttered, he addressed his Father. Look especially at the prayer recorded in the 17th chapter of John. Praying for his disciples, he said "..., keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are]." (John 17:11) The same thought is repeated in verses 21 and 22. If we are to suppose that the Godhead actually consists of one being with three "manifestations", then we must believe that here Jesus is not only praying to himself, but he's asking that his disciples, a group of very distinct individuals, be likewise rolled up into a single being. That of course makes no sense at all. Jesus, in his own words, was teaching us that the unity of the Godhead consists of unity of purpose, not some mystical unity of actual being. The resurrected Christ reaffirmed this for us when he spoke with Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb, saying "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father..." (John 20:17) Clearly, the Father and Son are separate beings, else how could the Son have need to ascend to join the Father?
I've always wondered at how theologians through the ages could make this simple concept so complicated and incomprehensible, while the common man grasps it so easily. Anyone today who follows any kind of team sports knows well those wonderful times when everything just sort of clicks into place for a team and they actually function as one. Even the terminology used (i.e., "defensive unit") bespeaks a full understanding of how a group of individuals can cooperate as one, working toward a common goal. A recently coined phrase, "There is no 'I' in 'team'," echoes a modern revelation: "...I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (D&C 38:27)
Now that we've shown Joseph Smith's vision of the Father and Son as separate beings is fully consistent with ancient scripture, what about the physical characteristics of the members of the Godhead? Having just noted references to the resurrected Christ, it seems pretty clear that the Son has a physical body. Certainly it's different from our mortal bodies, for it is glorified and no longer subject to death. Still though, his body is one of flesh and bones just as he told his marveling disciples "...it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."(Luke 24:39) Did you ever hear, or find reference in scripture, to the Lord having died again or having somehow become separated again from that glorious resurrected body that he made such a point of showing to the faithful? Of course not, the thought is absurd! It ought to be pretty plain then, that he is yet today in possession of his body, and is of the same physical nature that he showed to those faithful disciples (and many others). Modern revelation informs us that God the Father, likewise has a body of flesh and bones. It seems logical that the Son of God would "grow up" to be just like his Father, so it makes sense that God the Father has a glorified body of the same nature that the Son attained. Ancient scripture isn't definitive on this issue, so we can "only" point to modern revelations as well as common sense. Many argue that God (whether speaking of the Father, the Son or the whole Godhead) is spirit only, citing scriptures that seem to support that theory, most notably John 4:24 which says "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth." By the same token, man is also spirit, but nobody would claim that man is only spirit. The fact that man is spiritual (the body is inhabited by the spirit that gives it life) does not preclude him from also being physical. The same logic applies to the spiritual and physical nature of the Father and the Son.
The Holy Ghost, on the other hand, is a personage of spirit, that is, he does not have a physical body of flesh and bones. Another essay will deal with the special mission of the Holy Ghost. Suffice it to say here that his role in the Godhead brings him into more direct and frequent contact with mankind, which may account for the commonly held notion that "God" isn't a physical being.
Volumes have been written on the nature of God, and many more could yet be written and not fully cover the topic. This though, is intended as a short essay, so I must conclude. God the Father is a glorious, loving, all powerful, all knowing personage of flesh and bones who oversaw the creation of the whole universe for the benefit and "schooling" of his spirit children (you and me). Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh, who by virtue of having lived a perfect life and through the power within himself accomplished the atonement and the resurrection, thus becoming the Savior of all mankind and opening the gates of heaven for those who will but accept him as their Savior and abide by his commandments. The Holy Ghost, a personage of Spirit, is the messenger of the Godhead, the comforter, the communicator, and by his influence all mankind may receive a spiritual witness of the reality of God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is a glorious Godhead. A marvelous team whose whole purpose is to extend the blessings of the eternities to all mankind: "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)