Divine Nature and the Book of Mormon: Part 0

“I have inherited divine qualities, which I will strive to develop.”

These are the words to help describe the purpose of the value Divine Nature in the Personal Progress program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The emphasis throughout the whole program is on goal-setting, developing, and growth in a number of areas—“divine nature” being one of them.

Divine Nature is the category that I have always had the hardest time with. It’s part of a very complicated relationship I have with gender roles and what aspects of gender roles are actually a part of God’s divine plan for us and what aspects are just culture. There’s a lot that could be said on that, but I’m not going to delve into that.

Instead, I will tell you of the “wrestle which I had before God” (Enos 1:2). Or really, I will tell you how I decided to try to understand divine nature better.

To try to learn more about divine nature and what attributes and qualities we have inherited from our Heavenly Parents, I decided to re-read the Book of Mormon last Oct/Nov/Dec with a sole focus on seeking out qualities of divine nature and its examples in the scripture.

The process, honestly, was illuminating. I saw so many attributes that I would not have noticed before, but when I pondered and really asked the question, “Does this count as a godly quality that we have gained by being children of a Heavenly Father and Mother?” the Spirit said, “Yes.”

I kept a list, and it grew a little larger than I expected (as you will see). And then I tried to organize and sort them so that I could really look at and see them in myself and others.

Do I think we all have these traits equally? Of course not. For example, I feel like I lack a lot of the natural talent for nurturing and motherhood that some women seem to have in spades. But I think all of these traits are seeds that can be planted, if we choose, and that can grow into powerful traits that manifest the Divine Nature in all of us.

Because I found so many, I’ll be posting them in batches over the next few weeks. I’ve tried to categorize them, as I said, but obviously this is neither a comprehensive list nor a perfect one. This is just the way I’ve seen it as I’ve studied over the last few months.

And now, without further ado, Part 1!