What Do Mormons Think of the Virgin Mary?

12 December

Eighty-three.

Number of citations you’ll find in our list for ‘What Do Mormons Think of the Virgin Mary?’

One.

The number of unpardonable sins.

Mark 3:28-29; “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.”

Many Christians worry they may have committed the ‘unpardonable sin’, but the mere fact they’re worried is usually a good indication they’re not guilty! The unpardonable sin, sometimes referred to as the unforgiveable sin, is the willful disregard, and rejection of Jesus Christ.

The willful disrespect and disregard for Christ Jesus seen in this article today is a good example of ‘the unpardonable sin’. The hardness of hearts, and the focus of what they deem most holy (sex), has darkened their minds from top to bottom.

One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, I’ve chosen to highlight our subject matter about the Virgin Mary isn’t for the shock value of what it obviously means. It’s because it sickens me to my very core that an organization I once dearly loved would behave in such a willful, disrespectful way towards our dear sweet Lord Jesus.

The shock for many ex-Mormons is realizing just what they were involved in, and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I was shocked upon realizing the seriousness of how depraved it is.

It’s no exaggeration to say that for every reference listed here there are a dozen or more, lurking in the dark shadows waiting to be unearthed. While there are a fair share of inexcusable comments they’ve made, there really isn’t one that stands out as the absolute worst. They all qualify.

Our intro article yesterday (Did God Have Sex with Mary?) we highlighted a comment from the book ‘How Wide the Divide’, and as promised, you’ll see in our references today the Church didn’t stop teaching these horrific things back in the 19th century as they claimed.

As of today, December 11, 2015, the LDS Church is still using the teachings of the older prophets in their manuals. These manuals are used in their universities, and classes for young people, or new converts. This isn’t a by-gone teaching from long ago, oh no, this is a core doctrine the Church utilizes even today.

As always, we’re asking the Christian community to come alongside us in prayer! And we ask this with as much fervency as we do for the Mormons to denounce these wretched doctrines!

To even think of Mary, or Jesus, with the topic of sex in the same thought is just unfathomable!

If you’re LDS, ask yourself:

Is this something you’d be willing to bring up if you were in God’s holy presence?

 

Melvin J. Ballard

God the Eternal Father is Real Father of Jesus

Melvin J. BallardDeseret News, 23 Dec 1923; Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, 166-167; Crusader for Righteousness, 144; “…if God the Eternal Father is not the real Father of Jesus Christ, then are we in confusion; then is he not in reality the Son of God. But we declare that he is the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh.

 

Adding insult to injury, Mr. Ballard went on with the claim that Mary referred to the event and told people ‘God hath done wonderful things unto me.’.

“Mary told the story most beautifully when she said that an angel of the Lord came to her and told her that she had found favor in the sight of God, and had come to be worthy of the fulfilment of the promises heretofore made, to become the virgin mother of the Redeemer of the world. She afterwards, referring to the event, said: ‘God hath done wonderful things unto me.’ ‘And the Holy Ghost came upon her,’ is the story, ‘and she came into the presence of the highest.’ No man or woman can live in mortality and survive the presence of the Highest except by the sustaining power of the Holy Ghost. So it came upon her to prepare her for admittance into the divine presence, and the power of the Highest, who is the Father, was present, and overshadowed her, and the holy Child that was born of her was called the Son of God.

Procreation the Greatest Power of God and Man

Men who deny this, or who think that it degrades our Father, have no true conception of the sacredness of the most marvelous power with which God has endowed mortal men—the power of creation. Even though that power may be abused and may become a mere harp of pleasure to the wicked, nevertheless it is the most sacred and holy and divine function with which God has endowed man. Made holy, it is retained by the Father of us all, and in his exercise of that great and marvelous creative power and function, he did not debase himself, degrade himself, nor debauch his daughter. Thus Christ became the literal Son of a divine Father, and no one else was worthy to be his father.”  

This is taught to students by BYU-Idaho professor Robert L. Marriott. The name of the class handout is ‘The Begetting of Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father’.

Ezra Taft Benson

Jesus Sired by God

The two references for this entry are pretty much the same, albeit a couple of additions were made to the first one. They seemed to like what Mr. Benson said so much, they reprinted it in the December 2001 Ensign, seven years after his death.

Ezra Taft BensonEnsign, ‘Five Marks of the Divinity of Christ,’ December 2001; “From a fireside address given at the University of Utah Special Events Center on 9 December 1979. … I am bold to say to you … Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. He was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father!” – Ezra Taft Benson

Come Unto Christ, pg. 4; “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father!” – Ezra Taft Benson, 1983

Matthew 1:23; “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

He makes Jesus sound like he came from a lineage of horses.

Mary’s Divine Attributes Preserved Jesus’ Godhood

Come unto Christ, p. 128; “Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He came to this earth at a foreappointed time through a royal birthright that preserved His godhood. Combined in His nature were the human attributes of His mortal mother and the divine attributes and power of His Eternal Father. As the Son of God, He inherited powers and intelligence that no human has ever had before or since. He was literally Immanuel, which means “God with us.” – Ezra Taft Benson

Jesus Created in Image of His Father

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.6-8; “The strangest part of this modern doctrine of God is the fact that Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God the Father, was born in Bethlehem, grew to manhood, mingled among men for thirty-odd years and was seen of men. … In most of the churches he is recognized as God. He was sent into the world for the definite purpose of redeeming men from the power which death had obtained over them through the transgression of Adam. The reason this mission was given to him by his Father is that no one else could perform it. It required an infinite sacrifice, that of a God. This is quite generally conceded. Throughout the scriptures he is spoken of as the Son of God. The story of his birth is plain and free from mystery, insofar as the fact is made that he is in very deed the Son of God. We are emphatically informed that he was begotten by the Father. He recognized God as his Father. He referred to himself as being the Son of God. This is not a mystery. But strange to say, because of the great spiritual darkness which has covered the earth and blinded the minds of men, these simple, plainly stated truths are turned into a mystery without warrant or reason. It is true of Jesus Christ, as it is of any other son, he was begotten in the image of his Father and in his case his Father is the Eternal God, and the scriptures inform us that Jesus was the express image of his Father. And why not? Other sons are frequently in the express image of their fathers. So it is recorded of Seth. Naturally it would be true of Jesus Christ.”

Only Begotten Son of Heavenly Father

Ensign, ‘Joy in Christ,’ March 1986, pp. 3-4; “He was the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father in the flesh—the only child whose mortal body was begotten by our Heavenly Father. His mortal mother, Mary, was called a virgin, both before and after she gave birth. (See 1 Nephi 11:20.)” – Ezra Taft Benson

Testimony of Jesus = Knowing He was Literally Begotten of God

First Presidency Message, ‘Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus,’ February 1987;“To have a testimony of Jesus is to possess knowledge through the Holy Ghost of the divine mission of Jesus Christ. A testimony of Jesus is to know the divine nature of our Lord’s birth—that He is indeed the Only Begotten Son in the flesh.” – Ezra Taft Benson

Also see:

Ensign, ‘Jesus Christ: Our Savior & Redeemer,’ October 1983, p. 6

Ensign, ‘Come Unto Christ,’ October 1987

Hugh Brown

 

The Only-Begotten Son in the Flesh
God as the Literal Father of Jesus Christ in Latter-day Saint Sources since 1960

Hugh-B.-BrownConference Report, October 1960, Third Day—Morning Meeting, p. 93; “Yes, we testify of the First Begotten of the Father in the spirit, the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, a member of the Holy Trinity, the Creator of the world. To prove he was the Creator we quote the words of John, the Apostle: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3.) That the Word referred to was none other than the Christ becomes evident when one reads the fourteenth verse: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (Ibid., 1:14.)” – Hugh B. Brown (1960)

J. Reuben Clark

Mary’s Child Begotten of Elohim

J Reuben ClarkBehold the Lamb of God, p. 356; “His message delivered, Gabriel departed, leaving the chosen Virgin of Nazareth to ponder over her wondrous experience. Mary’s promised Son was to be “The Only Begotten” of the Father in the flesh; so it had been both positively and abundantly predicted. True, the event was unprecedented; true also it has never been paralleled; but that the virgin birth would be unique was as truly essential to the fulfillment of prophecy as that it should occur at all. That Child to be born of Mary was begotten of Elohim, the Eternal Father, not in violation of natural law but in accordance with a higher manifestation thereof; and, the offspring from that association of supreme sanctity, celestial Sireship, and pure though mortal maternity, was of right to be called the “Son of the Highest.” In His nature would be combined the powers of Godhood with the capacity and possibilities of mortality; and this through the ordinary operation of the fundamental law of heredity, declared of God, demonstrated by science, and admitted by philosophy, that living beings shall propagate — after their kind. The Child Jesus was to inherit the physical, mental, and Spiritual traits, tendencies, and powers that characterized His parents — one immortal and glorified — God, the other human — woman. Jesus Christ was to be born of mortal woman, but was not directly the offspring of mortal man, except so far as His mother was the daughter of both man and woman.” – J. Reuben Clark, Jr.

Elohim is the Literal Parent of Jesus

Messages of the First Presidency, ‘The Father and the Son: A Doctrinal Exposition by The First Presidency and the Twelve,’ June 1916, Vol.5, p. 26-27; “The scriptures plainly and repeatedly affirm that God is the Creator of the earth and the heavens… 1. “Father” as Literal Parent. Scriptures embodying the ordinary signification—literally that of Parent—are too numerous and specific to require citation. The purport of these scriptures is to the effect that God the Eternal Father, whom we designate by the exalted name-title “Elohim,” is the literal Parent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and of the spirits of the human race. Elohim is the Father in every sense in which Jesus Christ is so designated, and distinctively He is the Father of spirits. … Jesus Christ is the Son of Elohim both as spiritual and bodily offspring; that is to say, Elohim is literally the Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and also of the body in which Jesus Christ performed His mission in the flesh, and which body died on the cross and was afterward taken up by the process of resurrection, and is now the immortalized tabernacle of the eternal spirit of our Lord and Savior. No extended explanation of the title “Son of God” as applied to Jesus Christ appears necessary.” – James Reuben Clark

Only Begotten of Deity, in the Flesh

Messages of the First Presidency, ‘A Christmas Greeting From The First Presidency’, Vol. 4, p. 318 – 319; “The Latter-day Saints unite with the people of every creed and tongue and race in the general commemoration of the day observed throughout Christendom as the anniversary of the God-Man’s earthly birth. … We bow to Him as the veritable Son of the living God in the fullest sense of the hallowed term. As Mary was His saintly mother, so the Mighty God was His everlasting and literal Father. He was “the only begotten” of Deity, in the flesh, to die that man may live. This we once more affirm and declare as a glorious truth and a fundamental of “Mormon” faith.” – James Reuben Clark

Encyclopedia of Mormonism

Jesus and Holy Spirit Offspring of God

Daniel Ludlow EOM EditorEncyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 548; “Yet God the Father is not one in substance with the Son or the Holy Spirit, but is a separate being. The Father existed prior to the Son and the Holy Ghost and is the source of their divinity. In classical terms, LDS theology is subordinationist; that is, it views the Son and the Holy Ghost as subordinate to and dependent upon God the Eternal Father. They are his offspring. Thus Joseph Smith referred to the Father as “God the first” to emphasize his priority in the Godhead (TPJS, p. 190).”

Colossians 1:15-16; “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”

Like the ugly truth of BP’s mistake in the Gulf is evident all around, so is the disparity of Mormon teachings alongside biblical truths.  The two will never mix.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 729

“Jesus Christ: Birth of Jesus Christ

Author: SKINNER, ANDREW C.

For Latter-day Saints, the paternity of Jesus is not obscure. He was the literal, biological son of an immortal, tangible Father and Mary, a mortal woman (see Virgin Birth). Jesus is the only person born who deserves the title “the Only Begotten Son of God” (John 3:16; Benson, p. 3; see Jesus Christ: Only Begotten in the Flesh). He was not the son of the Holy Ghost; it was only through the Holy Ghost that the power of the Highest overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:35; 1 Ne. 11:19).”

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 739; “There is no lack of clarity about Christ’s sonship. Jesus is the Son of God in at least three ways. First, he is the firstborn spirit child of God the Father and thereby the elder brother of the spirits of all men and women as God the Father, known also by the exalted name-title Elohim, is the father of the spirits of all mankind (Num. 16:22; Heb. 12:9; John 20:17). Thus, when Christ is called the Firstborn (e.g., Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15; D&C 93:21), Latter- day Saints accept this as a possible reference to Christ’s spiritual birth. Second, he is the literal physical son of God, the Only Begotten in the Flesh (e.g., John 1:14; 3:16; 2 Ne. 25:12; Jacob 4:11; D&C 29:42; 93:11; Moses 1:6; 2:26). Third, spiritually he is also a son by virtue of his submission unto the will of the Father (Heb. 5:8).”

“He is the Son of God. All men (Christ included) were born as the sons of God in the spirit; one man (Christ only) was born as the Son of God in this mortal world. He is the Only Begotten in the flesh. God was his Father; Mary was his mother. His Father was an immortal man; his mother was a mortal woman. He is the Son of God in the same literal, full, and complete sense in which he is the son of Mary. There is nothing symbolic or figurative about it. He is God’s Almighty Son and as such is distinguished from the Father in the same way any son is a separate person from his father.”

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 724; “Jesus was more, however, than sinlessness, goodness, and love. He was more than a model and teacher, more than the embodiment of compassion. He was able to accomplish his unique ministry—a ministry of reconciliation and salvation—because of who and what he was. President Ezra Taft Benson stated, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was fathered by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father!” (Benson, p. 4). From Mary, a mortal woman, Jesus inherited mortality, including the capacity to die. From his exalted Father he inherited immortality, the capacity to live forever. The Savior’s dual nature—man and God—enabled him to make an infinite Atonement, an accomplishment that no other person, no matter how capable or gifted, could do (cf. Alma 34:9-12).”

James E. Faust

Jesus Inherited Divine Attributes

James FaustEnsign, ‘The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope,’ October 2001, p. 18; “What He did could only be done by Deity. As the Only Begotten Son of the Father in the flesh, Jesus inherited divine attributes. He was the only person ever born into mortality who could perform this most significant and supernal act. As the only sinless Man who ever lived on this earth, He was not subject to spiritual death. Because of His godhood, He also possessed power over physical death. Thus He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He broke the cold grasp of death. He also made it possible for us to have the supreme and serene comfort of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” – James E. Faust

Heber J. Grant

Jesus, the Literal Son of God

Heber GrantDoctrines of the Gospel: Institute Student Manual, (2000), Chapter 4, ‘Jesus Christ, the Son of God,’ p. 9;“Jesus Christ is literally the son of God the Eternal Father. … Among the spirit children of Elohim, the first-born was and is Jehovah, or Jesus Christ, to whom all others are juniors (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 70). …

…That Child to be born of Mary was begotten of Elohim, the Eternal Father, not in violation of natural law but in accordance with a higher manifestation thereof; and, the offspring from that association of supreme sanctity, celestial Sireship, and pure though mortal maternity, was of right to be called the ‘Son of the Highest.’” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 81). …

…We believe absolutely that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten of God, the first-born in the spirit and the only begotten in the flesh; that He is the Son of God just as much as you and I are the sons of our fathers” (Heber J. Grant, “Analysis of the Articles of Faith,” Millennial Star, 5 Jan. 1922, 2). …

…There cannot be any doubt in the heart of a Latter-day Saint regarding Jesus Christ’s being the Son of the living God, because God Himself introduced Him to Joseph Smith . . . . Any individual who does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, has no business to be associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, 23–24).”

Gordon B. Hinckley

Christ the Only Begotten in the Flesh

GordonBHinckleyEnsign; “Come and Partake,” May 1986, p. 46; “ Such knowledge is the very foundation of spiritual strength. This is the great basic purpose of the restoration of the gospel in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times—to declare the living reality of God the Eternal Father and of His Beloved Son, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. To know them, to love them, to obey them is to have life eternal. It is our mission to declare with words of soberness and truth that God is our Eternal Father, the God of the universe, the Almighty One; and that Jesus Christ is his firstborn, the Only Begotten in the flesh, who condescended to come to earth; who was born in a stable in Bethlehem of Judea, lived the perfect life, and taught the way of salvation; who offered Himself a sacrifice for all, enduring pain and death on the cross; and who then came forth in a glorious resurrection, the first fruits of them that slept. (See 1 Cor. 15:20.) Through Him, and by Him, and of Him, all are assured salvation from death and are offered the opportunity of eternal life.” – Gordon B. Hinckley

Literally Born of Mary & the Father

Ensign, ‘The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,’ Mar. 1998, 2; “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal, living God. I believe in Him as the Firstborn of the Father and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. I believe in Him as an individual, separate and distinct from His Father. I believe in the declaration of John, who opened his gospel with this majestic utterance:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1–2, 14).

I believe that He was born of Mary of the lineage of David as the promised Messiah; that He was in very deed begotten of the Father, and that in His birth was the fulfillment of the great prophetic declaration of Isaiah:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).” – President Gordon B. Hinckley

He was in Very Deed Begotten of the Father

Ensign, ‘The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,’ Nov 1986, p. 49; “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal, living God. I believe in Him as the Firstborn of the Father and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. I believe in Him as an individual, separate and distinct from His Father. I believe in the declaration of John, who opened his gospel with this majestic utterance: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-2, 14).

I believe that He was born of Mary of the lineage of David as the promised Messiah, that He was in very deed begotten of the Father, and that in His birth was the fulfillment of the great prophetic declaration of Isaiah: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).” – Gordon B. Hinckley

Milton Hunter

Jesus Created Spiritually by a Heavenly Father and Mother 

Milton HunterGospel Through the Ages, p. 21; “Jesus is man’s spiritual brother. We dwelt with Him in the spirit world as members of that large society of eternal intelligences, which included our Heavenly Parents… In that spirit-creation, when we became children of God, Jesus was the “first-born,” and so He is our eldest brother.”

 

 

Orson Hyde

Marriage Relations in the Hereafter

orson hydeJournal Of Discourses 2:85 – 86; “When the servants of God and their wives go to heaven there is an eternal union, and they will multiply and replenish the world to which they are going.” – Orson Hyde, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1854

 

 

Heber C. Kimball

 Jesus the First Begotten in the Flesh

Heber C KimballJournal of Discourses 8:211-212; “In relation to the way in which I look upon the works of God and his creatures, I will say that I was naturally begotten; so was my father, and also my Saviour Jesus Christ. According to the Scriptures, he is the first begotten of his father in the flesh, and there was nothing unnatural about it.” – Heber C. Kimball, Salt Lake City, September 2, 1860

Colossians 1:15; “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.”

The transliteration for firstborn is prōtotokos.  In Colossians 1:15 this word is an adjective, not a noun. It doesn’t mean Jesus was created, rather it means He was the creator of all things. In Jewish law the firstborn inherited the majority of the father’s wealth and in this verse firstborn is referring to that estate. He will inherit His father’s creation.

Another verse that refutes Jesus was created is found in John 1:3 – “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.”

If Jesus was created how could He be the creator? Also see John 1:1; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The created Jesus of Mormonism is not the Jesus that Christians worship at all.

Harold B. Lee

The link for ‘Jesus Begotten by HS…’ is part of a PDF teaching manual. A link is provided directly afterwards in ‘The Parentage of Jesus Christ’.

Jesus Begotten by Holy Spirit vs. not Begotten by Holy Spirit

Harold B. LeeTeachings of Harold B. Lee, p. 14; “You asked about the birth of the Savior. Never have I talked about sexual intercourse between Deity and the mother of the Savior. If teachers were wise in speaking of this matter about which the Lord has said but very little, they would rest their discussion on this subject with merely the words which are recorded on this subject in Luke 1:34-35…Remember that the being who was brought about by [Mary’s] conception was a divine personage. We need not question His method to accomplish His purposes. Perhaps we would do well to remember the words of Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Let the Lord rest His case with this declaration and wait until He sees fit to tell us more. (1/2/69).”

Luke 1:35; “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Yes Mr. Lee, your thoughts are not God’s thoughts so keep your mind out of the gutter.

Mary had Sex with God to Beget Jesus

The Parentage of Jesus Christ

As you teach this portion of the lesson, please keep in mind this caution from President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973):

“If teachers were wise in speaking of [the parentage of Jesus Christ] about which the Lord has said but very little, they would rest their discussion on this subject with merely the words which are recorded on this subject in Luke 1:34–35. …

“Remember that the being who was brought about by [Mary’s] conception was a divine personage. We need not question [Heavenly Father’s] method to accomplish His purposes. Perhaps we would do well to remember the words of Isaiah 55:8–9: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’

“Let the Lord rest His case with this declaration and wait until He sees fit to tell us more” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 14).

New Testament Teacher Manual diagram-mother-father-youDraw the following diagram on the board:

Ask a student:

What is a physical trait you inherited from your father, and what is a physical trait you inherited from your mother?

Add the student’s response to the diagram on the board (see example):

New Testament Teacher Manual diagram-mother-father-traitsInvite the students to read Luke 1:30–35 and identify key words or phrases that teach of the parentage of Jesus Christ. (These include “thou shalt conceive in thy womb,” “shall be called the Son of the Highest,” “that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”) Discuss what the students found and why particular words and phrases were significant to them in describing the birth of the Savior.

Erase the previous diagram and draw this one on the board:

New Testament Teacher Manual diagram-mary-heavenly-father-jesusHave students read the student manual commentary for Luke 1:31–35. Then ask:

What important traits did the Savior inherit from His parents?

As students respond, on the diagram above, list under “Mary” the traits Jesus Christ inherited from His mother, and list under “Heavenly Father” the traits inherited from His Father. (Under “Mary,” you could list mortality and the ability to die physically. Under “Heavenly Father,” you could list the powers of godhood, immortality, and the power to live forever.)

Why did the Savior need the powers of both mortality and immortality to complete the Atonement?

As a result of this activity, be sure students understand that if Jesus Christ had been born of two mortal parents He could not have overcome death or endured the infinite pain and suffering of the Atonement. Because Jesus Christ was born of one divine Parent (Heavenly Father) and one mortal parent (Mary), He had the ability to suffer infinitely, to allow Himself to die, and then to overcome death through His Resurrection.

Victor L. Ludlow

Jesus is Elder Brother and Only Begotten Son
victor ludlowPrinciples and Practices of the Restored Gospel, p. 52;“He is the Firstborn Son of God in the spirit, and thus is the Elder Brother of us all. He is the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh-actually, literally, physically, and biologically-and from his immortal Father he received power to conquer physical death. He is the Beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased because he speaks and does the will of the Father, submitting his desire to that of his Divine Parent. He is separate from God the Father in both spirit body and physical body, but is one with the Father in witness, testimony, truth, ideals, and goals; the work and glory of the Father is also the work and glory of the Son, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39.)” – Victor L. Ludlow (1992)

Bruce R. McConkie

Literal Son of God

bruce mcconkie1966 ed. Mormon Doctrine, p. 742; “SON OF GOD: God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal Personage. And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the son of God, and that designation means what it says.”

Jesus’ Father is a Holy Man

1966 ed. Mormon Doctrine, p. 742; “SON OF MAN: Christ is the Son of Man, meaning that his Father (the eternal God!) is a Holy Man. “In the language of Adam, Man of Holiness” is the name of God.”

Jesus the Son of Mary & Eternal Father

1966 ed. Mormon Doctrine, p. 743; “…SON OF MARY: …but the Holy ghost is not the Father of Christ and when the Child was born, he was “the Son of the eternal Father.”

Jesus Literally Begotten Son

1966 ed. Mormon Doctrine, p. 546; “…ONLY BEGOTTEN SON: These name-titles all signify that our Lord is the only Son of the Father in the flesh. Each of the words is to be understood literally. Only means only, begotten means begotten, and Son means son. Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers.”

Jesus Was the First Begotten in the Spirit and the Only Begotten in the Flesh

The following teaching manual used in the Church today (2015) is taken from the writings of McConkie’s book, ‘The Promised Messiah’, pp. 466-473.

The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, Chapter 2: ‘The Promised Messiah,’ pp. 15-19; “For our present purposes, suffice it to say that our Lord was born of a virgin, which is fitting and proper, and also natural, since the Father of the Child was an immortal Being” (The Promised Messiah, pg. 466).

Bruce R. McConkie The Promised Messiah, p. 468 – 469; “And so it is with the Eternal Father and the mortal birth of the Eternal Son. The Father is a Father is a Father; he is not a spirit essence or nothingness to which the name Father is figuratively applied. And the Son is a Son is a Son; he is not some transient emanation from a divine essence, but a literal, living offspring of an actual Father. God is the Father; Christ is the Son. The one begat the other. Mary provided the womb from which the Spirit Jehovah came forth, tabernacled in clay, as all men are, to dwell among his fellow spirits whose births were brought to pass in like manner. There is no need to spiritualize away the plain meaning of the scriptures. There is nothing figurative or hidden or beyond comprehension in our Lord’s coming into mortality. He is the Son of God in the same sense and way that we are the sons of mortal fathers. It is just that simple. Christ was born of Mary. He is the Son of God—the Only Begotten of the Father.” –  Bruce R. McConkie

Jesus’ Conception the Same as Human Conception

Promised Messiah, p. 468; “There is no need to spiritualize away the plain meaning of the scriptures. There is nothing figurative or hidden or beyond comprehension in our Lord’s coming into mortality. He is the Son of God in the same sense and way that we are the sons of mortal fathers. It is just that simple.” – Bruce McConkie

Matt. 1:18; “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”

Why can’t they just accept the fact that what God does is always beyond our comprehension?

Jesus’ Conception Taken Care of by God Himself

Mormon Doctrine of Deity, p. 264; “When the time came that his first-born, the Savior, should come into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came himself and favored that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it. The Savior was begotten by the Father of his spirit, by the same Being who is the Father of our spirits, and that is all the organic difference between Jesus Christ and you and me.”

Luke 1:37-38“For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

What a degrading pictorial of God.

Jesus, Conception of Through Holy Spirit

Mormon Doctrine, pg. 822; “Our Lord is the only mortal person ever born to a virgin, because he is the only person who ever had an immortal Father. Mary, his mother, “was carried away in the Spirit” (1 Ne. 11:13-21), was “overshadowed” by the Holy Ghost, and the conception which took place “by the power of the Holy Ghost” resulted in the bringing forth of the literal and personal Son of God the Father. (Alma 7:10; 2 Ne. 17:14; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38.) Christ is not the Son of the Holy Ghost, but of the Father. (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp. 18-20.) Modernistic teachings denying the virgin birth are utterly and completely apostate and false.” [Note: Link above is from online version, page 576.]

Isaiah 7:14; “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Someone is lying.  They’ve told us that Mary had sex with God and now they’re telling us that it was through the Holy Spirit so how could you ever trust anything they say?

Virgin Mary, the Lord’s Mother

Mormon Doctrine, p. 471; “Mary, See ANNUNCIATION, CHRIST, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION THEORY, MAGNIFICAT, VIRGIN BIRTH. Our Lord’s mother, Mary, like Christ, was chosen and foreordained in pre-existence for the part she was destined to play in the great plan of salvation. Hers was the commission to provide a temporal body for the Lord Omnipotent, to nurture and cherish him in infancy and youth, and to aid him in preparing for that great mission which he alone could perform. Certainly she was one of the noblest and greatest of all the spirit offspring of the Father.

Mary’s name and mission were revealed to holy prophets centuries before her mortal birth. Nephi saw her as, “A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.” (1 Ne. 11:13-21; 2 Ne. 17:14; Mosiah 3:8; Alma 7:10; Isa. 7:14.) As such a virgin she gave birth to a Son whose Father was the Almighty God. (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38.) While the Holy Ghost rested upon her, she gave forth one of the greatest songs of praise in the scriptures. (Luke 1:46-55.) “She was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit,” she became, “the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.” (1 Ne. 11:18-20.) As the wife of Joseph, she was the mother of other sons and daughters. (Matt. 13:55-56; Mark 6:3; Gal. 1:19.) She beheld the crucifixion of her Son, and on that dread occasion, by his command, she turned to John the Beloved for her continued support and care. (John 19:25-27.)”

[Note: Link above is from online version, page 338.]

“As far as this life is concerned, [Jesus] was born of Mary and of Elohim; he came here as an offspring of that Holy Man who is literally our Father in heaven. He was born in mortality in the literal and full sense as the Son of God. He is the Son of his Father in the same sense that all mortals are the sons and daughters of their fathers” (Bruce McConkie, Mortal Messiah 1:330).

The Promised Messiah, pg. 355; “The Father had a Son, a natural Son, his own literal Seed, the Offspring of his body.” – Bruce McConkie

Conference Report, April 1966, Afternoon Meeting, p. 80; “In this holy writ, in these gospel accounts, in these testimonies of the life of our Lord-
“We see Jesus-the Almighty, the Creator of all things from the beginning-receiving a tabernacle of clay in the womb of Mary.
And now what shall we say more of Christ? Whose Son is he? … he is the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, the promised Messiah, the Lord God of Israel, our Redeemer and Savior, that he carne into the world to manifest the Father, to reveal anew the gospel, to be the great Exemplar, to work out the infinite and eternal atonement, and that not many days hence he shall come again to reign personally upon the earth and to save and redeem those who love and serve him.” – Bruce R. McConkie

Are We the Literal Spirit Children of God?

Conference Report, October 1954, Afternoon Meeting, pg 123-124; “We believe that he is our Father in heaven, literally; that we are his spirit offspring; that we dwelt with him in the pre-existent eternities, were taught by him, saw his face, knew of the terms and conditions that apply to the plan of salvation, and desired with an overwhelming longing that we, his spirit offspring, might progress to the state where we would have glorious bodies, and would attain the state of exaltation he then had.” – Bruce McConkie

Alma 5:48;  “I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is to come, is true; and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father…”

Perhaps the lesson to be learned in all of Joseph Smith’s contradictions and lies is that he can’t be trusted about anything – ever.

The best thing to do is always rely upon the Lord for truth in His word and this example is case in point. How can we be adopted by God while being the literal sons and daughters of God?

More importantly why does the Church use the phrase “Only Begotten” when referring to Jesus when in fact he can’t be?  Lucifer is Jesus’ younger brother who also presented a method of salvation (Abraham 3:27-4:1).

The next time you see an ad on television or the sides of a bus with the Church touting their belief in Jesus you can rest assure they’re not telling you the truth! The Jesus of the Bible isn’t the brother of Lucifer, nor is He your elder spirit brother.

Furthermore, why does the Book of Mormon say Jesus is the Only Begotten, except to be used as a ruse to pull the unknowing in and trick them with the lies of Satan?

Jesus Procreated by Eternal Sire

Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 141; “Begotten] Begotten means begotten; it means Christ’s mortal body was procreated by an Eternal Sire; it means God is the Father of Christ, “after the manner of the flesh.” (1 Ne. 11:18.)” – Bruce R. McConkie

Joseph Fielding McConkie

Craig Ostler & Joseph Fielding McConkie (1964);

Jesus’ ‘Sonship’ & Only Begotten Son
Joseph Fielding McConkie 1Revelations of the Restoration, D&C 19:13-24
Christ was uniquely qualified to offer grace through the atoning sacrifice because as a member of the Godhead he condescended to become the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh. His divine sonship as the Only Begotten Son of God enabled him to suffer “more than man can suffer, except it be unto death” (Mosiah 3:7). …

The Only Son Begotten with Blood

… Revelations of the Restoration, D&C 38:3
All things came by me: In the pre-mortal realm Christ was the firstborn of all the spirit children of our eternal Father. In mortality he is the Only Begotten of the Father, meaning the only Son begotten of God in the flesh, or with blood.

Mary, the Literal Mother of Jesus Christ

Here We Stand, p. 166 – 167; “Our revelations … affirm that Christ was the first of his children born in our spirit or pre-mortal state (D&C 93:21). In the pure and undefiled language of Adam, God was known as Man of Holiness and Jesus Christ, his Only Begotten Son (meaning his only son begotten of a mortal woman), is known as Son of Man or Son of Man of Holiness (Moses 6:57). We believe that Mary was the literal mother of Jesus Christ in the flesh and that God was his father. In testifying of Christ, we do not use language in a deceptive or metaphorical sense. Our scripture declares Christ to be the Son of God “after the manner of the flesh” (1 Nephi 11:18). President Ezra Taft Benson explained: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father!” We claim ourselves competent witnesses of the reality of his resurrection and of his divine Sonship. In bearing such a testimony we stand alone, for historical Christianity has branded us heretical.” – Joseph Fielding McConkie

Robert L. Millet

Jesus Sired by an Eternal Father

Robert MilletThe Power of the Word: Saving Doctrines from the Book of Mormon, p.11; “The “condescension of God” described in 1 Nephi 11 seems to be twofold: the condescension of God the Father (verses 16-23) and the condescension of God the Son (verses 24-36). “Without overstepping the bounds of propriety by saying more than is appropriate,” Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “let us say this: God the Almighty; the Maker and Preserver and Upholder of all things; the Omnipotent One . . . elects, in his fathomless wisdom, to beget a Son, an Only Son, the Only Begotten in the flesh. God, who is infinite and immortal, condescends to step down from his throne, to join with one who is finite and mortal in bringing forth, ‘after the manner of the flesh,’ the Mortal Messiah.” In the words of President Ezra Taft Benson: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father!”

THE ONLY BEGOTTEN IN THE FLESH

Joseph Smith: The Choice Seer, p. xxx; “THE ONLY BEGOTTEN IN THE FLESH: Modern revelation certifies that Jesus of Nazareth is literally the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is not the Son of the Holy Ghost, nor is he the Son of the Father in some mystical, metaphorical sense; he is the Son of Almighty God. Indeed, he is the “Son of Man,” meaning the Son of the “Man of Holiness” (Moses 6:57). From Mary, his mother, a mortal woman, he inherited mortality, the capacity to die. From Elohim, his exalted Sire, he inherited the powers of immortality, the power to atone for the sins of mankind, to rise from the dead, and to initiate the rise from the grave of all other mortals. That dual inheritance qualified and equipped him to work out the infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice. Truly, as Helaman taught, “He hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance” (Hel. 5:11). John the Baptist testified: “And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us” (D&C 93:11).” – Robert L. Millet & Joseph F. McConkie (1996, 2002)

Thomas S. Monson

Son the Only Begotten of the Father in the Flesh

Thomas MonsonConference Report, April 1966, Second Day—Morning Meeting, p. 63; “With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony today as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is his Son the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; he is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the first fruit of the resurrection. Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” and may the whole world know it and live by that knowledge, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Amen.” – Thomas S. Monson

Daniel Petersen

Jesus Conceived by Mortal Man NOT Official Doctrine

daniel petersenDaniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, Offenders for a Word, 129-131; “We will ignore the fact that these scattered nineteenth-century speculations were never canonized by the Mormon Church, and that no comparable statements occur in Latter-day Saint scripture. . . . While certain early Mormon leaders may occasionally have interpreted the concept of “virgin birth,” they never for a moment suggested that Jesus was begotten by a mortal man, nor that his father was any other personage than God. . . . And for a denial, it cannot be repeated too often, that the Latter-day Saints have never accepted as official doctrine.”

Ignore historical documentation all you want Mr. Petersen, the fact remains the Church considered the writings (Journal of Discourses, for one) as solid LDS scripture of the day.

Furthermore, virtually all of the early leaders, and even those today, have espoused the doctrine that God had sex with Mary to beget Jesus.

Orson Pratt

Gods Must Have Wives

Orson PrattThe Seer, p. 158; “If none but gods will be permitted to multiply immortal children, it follows that each God must have one or more wives. God, the Father of our spirits, became the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.” – Orson Pratt

 

 

Mary was the Daughter and Lawful Wife of God the Father

The Seer, p. 158; The fleshly body of Jesus required a Mother as well as a Father.  Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus, according to the flesh, must have been associated together in the capacity of Husband and Wife; hence the Virgin Mary must have been, for the time being, the lawful wife of God the Father: we use the term lawful Wife, because it would be blasphemous  in the highest degree to say that He overshadowed her or begat the Savior unlawfully

God had Lawful Right to Overshadow Mary in Capacity of a Husband

The Seer, p. 158;….But God having created all men and women had the most perfect right to do with His own creation, according  to His holy will and pleasure: He had a lawful right to overshadow the Virgin Mary in the capacity of a husband, and beget a Son, although she was espoused to another, for the law which He gave to govern men and women was not intended to govern Himself, or to prescribe rules for his own conduct.” 

God Will Take Mary as Wife in Eternity

The Seer, p. 158;..Inasmuch as God was the first husband to her, it may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in this mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his own wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity.

Eph. 3:9; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

The Seer, pp. 158-9; cf. B. H. Roberts, Defense of the Faith and the Saints, Vol. 2, p. 270;

“As God the Father begat the fleshly body of Jesus, so He, before the world began, begat his spirit. As the body required an earthly Mother, so his spirit required a heavenly Mother. As God associated in the capacity of a husband with the earthly mother, so likewise he associated in the same capacity with the heavenly one; earthly things being in the likeness of heavenly things; and that which is temporal being in the likeness of that which is eternal; or, in other words, the laws of generation upon the earth are after the order of the laws of generation in heaven” – Orson Pratt

Robert A. Rees

Christ’s Mortal Conception was Sexual

Speech adapted from a sacrament meeting talk given on 29 April 1990 in the Los Angeles First Ward, where he was serving as bishop.

Robert A ReesBearing Our Crosses Gracefully: Sex and the Single Mormon.

Mr. Rees’ speech was published in Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought, Volume 24, No. 4, Fall-Winter 1991, pp. 98-111;

“Mormons differ from other Christians in our literal belief that we are begotten of God spiritually and that Christ was begotten of him physically. Paul says in Acts that we are God’s offspring (17:28-29). We believe that our spiritual conception was sexual just as we believe that Christ’s mortal conception was. Elucidating the latter, James E. Talmage says, “That child to be born of Mary was begotten of Elohim the Eternal Father, not in violation of natural law, but in accordance with a higher manifestation thereof” (1986, 81).”

Stephen Robinson

19th Century Teachings on Jesus’ Conception are Only Opinions

Stephen_E_RobinsonHow Wide the Divide? p. 135; “In regard to the virgin birth, Latter-day Saints believe everything that the Bible has to say on the subject. However, the Bible has less to say on this subject than many seem to wish it did. Certainly the gynecological expositions of the medieval church are as extra-biblical as they are tasteless and indelicate. Unfortunately, popular speculations on the LDS side have sometimes also been tasteless and indelicate. Still, on this subject official Mormonism makes four assertions:

Mary was a pure virgin (Alma 7:10; 1 Nephi 11:13-20).

Mary was in some unspecified manner made pregnant by God the Father, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Lk. 1:32-25), “not in violation of natural law but in accordance with the higher manifestation thereof” [Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 1915, p. 81]. Hence Jesus is not a metaphorical Son, but a begotten Son.

Jesus of Nazareth, divine father, God. Jesus is not the son of the Holy Ghost, but of the Father through the Holy Ghost. Jesus’ divine the offspring of the divine conception, is in his biological being the son of a mortal mother, Mary, and a paternity was necessary in order for him to have power over death and therefore to accomplish his saving mission (Jn. :26; 10:17-18) and perform his atoning sacrifice. Only one with the power to live could truly die voluntarily.
The exact details of how Jesus’ conception was accomplished have not been revealed, either in the Bible or in modern revelation.

While it is true that certain LDS leaders (mostly in the nineteenth century) have offered their opinions on the conception of Jesus, those opinions were never included among the official doctrines of the church and have, during my lifetime at least, not appeared in official church publications – lest they be taken as the view of the church. Yet those who would misrepresent the LDS Church (and also a vocal minority of its own eccentrics) continue to insist on the unofficial speculations of nineteenth-century members rather than on the official views of the church then or now.” – Stephen Robinson (1997)

God the Immediate Cause of Mary’s Pregnancy

How Wide the Divide? p. 139; “If Jesus was truly a human being, then he had forty-six chromosomes, a double strand of twenty-three. If he was truly human, he got one strand of twenty-three chromosomes from his mother. Where did the other strand come from, if not from his Father? I am not talking about a sexual conception (see n.13), only a divine conception and a divine sonship.

I would be shocked to learn that Evangelicals believe Joseph or somebody else to have been Jesus’ father – that the Father was not the Father of the Son.

There can be no doubt that Mary was pregnant and that God caused her pregnancy (Mt 1:18; Lk 1:34-35). Latter-day Saints believe that this makes the mortal Jesus the “begotten” Son of God. For me it means God was the immediate cause of the conception of Jesus in the flesh, that is, as a physical, mortal, and biological being.

Exactly how God caused Mary to become pregnant is unknown (perhaps that is what Blomberg is getting at), but that God did indeed cause her to become pregnant is in my view a fundamental belief of historic Christianity. If Evangelicals do not believe that God was the Father of the mortal Jesus, the cause of his coming into biological existence, then Latter-day Saints would have misgivings about Evangelicals being truly Christian!

Note 13: Prof. Blomberg’s language (pp. 122-23 with notes) makes me suspect he has this bit of LDS speculation in mind, but the institutional church does NOT teach that the conception of Jesus was accomplished by a sexual act. See, e.g., Clyde Williams ed., The Teachings of Harold B. Lee (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996), pp. 13-14.” – Stephen Robinson (1997)

Marion G. Romney

Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son of God in the Flesh

marion romneyEnsign, ‘Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer’, January 1974, p. 11; “I know that Jesus Christ was the firstborn spirit child of God the Father; that he is the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh; that, as the scriptures teach, in the spirit world before this earth was created he sponsored the Father’s plan for the mortality, the death, the resurrection, and the eternal life of men; that, commissioned of the Father, he was the creator of this earth; the Jehovah of the Old Testament, “the God of Adam and of Noah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the God at whose instance the prophets of the ages have spoken, the God of all nations, and [that] He shall yet reign on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 4.)
He came to earth as the Babe of Bethlehem, begotten of the Father, born of Mary; the gospel he taught is the one and only means by which men can fulfill the full measure of their creation. “His immaculate life in the flesh” and “his voluntary death as a consecrated sacrifice for the sins of mankind,” with his victory over death, secured for all men resurrection and immortality and, upon the conditions specified by him, eternal life.” – Marion G. Romney

Richard G. Scott

Sinless, Perfect Child

richard-g-scottEnsign, ‘Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer,’ April 1997, p. 53;“Jesus Christ possessed merits that no other child of Heavenly Father could possibly have. He was a God, Jehovah, before His birth in Bethlehem. His Father not only gave Him His spirit body, but Jesus was His Only Begotten Son in the flesh. Our Master lived a perfect, sinless life and therefore was free from the demands of justice. He was and is perfect in every attribute, including love, compassion, patience, obedience, forgiveness, and humility. His mercy pays our debt to justice when we repent and obey Him. Even with our best efforts to obey His teachings we will still fall short, yet because of His grace we will be saved “after all we can do.”” – Richard G. Scott (1997)

Sterling W. Sill

Elder Brother Jesus Begotten in Image of God

Sterling_W._SillConference Report, Oct 1965, Second Day—Morning Meeting, p. 56 – 57; “Nothing is more clearly written in the scripture than the fact that the life of Christ did not begin at Bethlehem; neither did it end on Calvary. Jesus said, “I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” (John 16:28.) In his prayer in Gethsemane he said, “And now, O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5.) Jesus was the first-begotten Son of God in the spirit and the only-begotten Son of God in the flesh. (See Heb. 1:6 and John 1:14.) But God is also our eternal Heavenly Father, and it is just as certain that our lives did not begin when we were born; neither will they end when we die. Like our Elder Brother, in the spirit we were also begotten in God’s image. We were also endowed with a set of his attributes and made heirs to his glory. And the greatest idea that I know of in the world is God’s promise that through our faithfulness we may become even as he is.” – Sterling W. Sill

Eldred G. Smith

Sat in Grand Council

Eldred G SmithConference Report, April 1968, Afternoon Meeting, p. 43; “In that great council in heaven when the creation of this earth was planned, it was he who answered to the call of the Father: “Whom shall I send? . . .” (Abr. 3:27.)

It was he then who came to this earth, in the meridian of time, born of the virgin Mary. He was the literal Son of God the Father, “the Only Begotten Son.” – Eldred G. Smith, Church Patriarch

Literal Son of God

Ensign, ‘Who Is Jesus?’, May 1976, p. 67; “It was he, then, who came to this earth in the meridian of time, born of the virgin Mary—the literal Son of God the Father, “the Only Begotten Son.” – Eldred G. Smith

Joseph F. Smith

Family Home Evening Manual, 1972, pp.125, 126Family Home Evening Manual 1972; “Now, we are told in scriptures that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. Well, now for the benefit of the older ones, how are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father … Jesus is the only person who had our Heavenly Father as the father of his body.” – Joseph F. Smith

 

Joseph F. SmithTeachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, Chapter 40, ‘The Father and the Son,’ pp. 352-361; “Elohim is literally the Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and also of the body in which Jesus Christ performed His mission in the flesh …”

Also see:

First Presidency and Council of the Twelve, 1916, God the Father, compiled by Gordon Allred, pg. 150.

 

Joseph Fielding Smith

Bible Is Wrong, Jesus Born with Aid of Mankind

Joseph Fielding SmithDoctrines of Salvation 1:18; “Christ was begotten of God. He was NOT born without the aid of man and that man was God! … They tell us the Book of Mormon states that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost. I challenge that statement. The Book of Mormon teaches No Such Thing! Neither does the Bible!” – Joseph Fielding Smith

God Is A Man

The Restoration of All Things, p. 61; “Jesus was not the son of any mortal man. His biological father was God, the Father. As Son of God, Jesus represents the Father and acts as his agent in all things.” – Joseph Fielding Smith

Delbert L. Stapley

‘Like Produces Like’, Earthly Son Jesus Looks Like His Father in Heaven

Delbert_L_StapleyEnsign, ‘Easter Thoughts’, May 1976, p. 76; “Paul declared to the Corinthian saints that Christ is “the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4), and to the Hebrews that Christ is “the express image of [God’s] person.” (Heb. 1:3.) It is logical for the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal God to be in “the express image of his [Father’s] person.” Like produces like, and any earthly son we know—and the earthly is typical of the heavenly—is in the image of his father. It is true in mortal life that some sons are in the express image of their father’s person.” – Delbert L. Stapley

James Talmage

Jesus Conceived in the ‘Normal Way’

James TalmageJesus the Christ, Ch. 5, p. 43; “…to assert from a standpoint of personal knowledge that they know that Mary is his mother and God is his Father.  …Their testimony is that Mary’s son is God’s Son; that he was conceived and begotten in the normal way; that he took upon himself mortality by the natural birth processes; that he inherited the power of mortality from his mother and the power of immortality from his Father—in consequence of all of which he was able to work out the infinite and eternal atonement. This is their testimony as to his generation and mission.” – James E. Talmage

Earthly Son Begotten of Mortal Woman & Immortal Father

Jesus the Christ, Ch. 7, p. 81; “…the birth of Jesus the Christ, who was the earthly Son of a mortal mother, begotten by an immortal Father. He is the Only Begotten of the Eternal Father in the flesh, and was born of woman.” –  James E. Talmage

Henry D. Taylor

Jesus Begotten of an Immortal Sire

Henry D. TaylorConference Report, October 1967, p. 142; “Having been begotten of an immortal sire, Jesus possessed as a heritage the power to withstand death indefinitely. He literally and really gave up his life. It was not taken from him.” – Henry D. Taylor

 

 

Wilford Woodruff

Adam (God) Fathered Jesus

Wilford Woodruff 2Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, April 9, 1852“Who begat the Son of God? Infidels say that Jesus was a bastard, but let me tell you the truth concerning that matter. Our Father begat all the spirits that were, before any tabernacles were made. When our Father came into the garden, He came with His celestial body and brought one of His wives with Him and ate of the fruit of the garden until He could beget a tabernacle, and Adam is Michael or God and all the God that we have anything to do with. They eat of this fruit and formed the first tabernacle that was formed. And when the Virgin Mary was begotten with child, it was by the Father and in no other way, in no other way, only as we were begotten. I will tell you the truth as it is in God. The world don’t know that Jesus Christ our elder brother was begotten by our Father in Heaven. Handle it as you please, it will either seal the damnation or salvation of man. He was begotten by the Father and not by the Holy Ghost.” – Wilford Woodruff

You can also see that part of this selection from Woodruff’s journal is mentioned in Dialogue Journal by David John Buerger, see page 15.

John 1:1, 14; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

1 John 4:3; “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

The anti-Christ isn’t some monster looking entity to look for during the tribulation.  The anti-Christ is anyone or anything that doesn’t proclaim Jesus Christ (God) has come here to earth in the flesh.  Notice it didn’t say “Jesus was begotten after the manner of the flesh”. That phrase is strictly a Mormon one meaning God had sex with Mary to create Jesus.

John’s gospel and epistle is further confirmed in Matthew 1:23; “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Mormons don’t believe this verse either.

The bottom line here is that Mormons do not believe Jesus is God incarnate, nor do they believe He was literally born of a virgin. While past prophets taught things they don’t necessarily embrace today, contemporary teachings in Mormonism reflect the same philosophy of denying the Christ.

For that reason we’re on our knees!  For that reason our hearts break for the hundreds and thousands of Mormons who love their heritage and have been tricked into believing the lies of Satan.

I still haven’t figured out why the Church likes to carry those Bibles around with them when they don’t believe it.  There’s only one reason they’d do this and we all know the answer to that – to deceive. To speak so blasphemously against our dear sweet Jesus is nothing short of shocking. I had no idea they said things like this about the Lord until after I left Mormonism – sadly this is frequently the case for most Mormons today as well.

Brigham Young

Jesus not begotten by the Holy Ghost – 

Brigham YoungJournal of Discourses 1:51; “Now remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost—” if the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children…”” – Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, April 9, 1852

Luke 1:35; “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

The Only Begotten according to the flesh…Anytime you see the phrase “after the manner of the flesh” or “according to the flesh” in Mormonism, it is code talk for “through a sexual union”.

From the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 323 it says; “Jesus Christ is the heir of this Kingdom—the Only Begotten of the Father according to the flesh, and holds the keys over all this world.”

The Father Came Down to Beget Jesus

The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young 1:321; “The Father came down and begat him, the same as we do now…” – February 16, 1849, Salt Lake City

Journal of Discourses 1:238; “I believe the Father came down from heaven, as the Apostles said he did, and begat the Saviour of the world; for he is the only-begotten of the Father, which could not be if the Father did not actually beget him in person.” – Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, July 24, 1853

Journal of Discourses 4:218; “When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came Himself and favoured that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it. The Saviour was begotten by the Father of His spirit, by the same Being who is the Father of our spirits, and that is all the organic difference between Jesus Christ and you and me.” – Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, February 8, 1857

This is taught to students by BYU-Idaho professor Ronald Dean Anderson

Jesus Begotten through Natural Laws

Journal of Discourses 8:115-116; “While brother Joseph was referring to the providences of God, I was led to reflect that there is no act, no principle, no power belonging to the Deity that is not purely philosophical. The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood—was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers.” – Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, July 8, 1860

John 1:34-36; “And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.  35 ¶ Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!”

Journal of Discourses, 11:268; “The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband.” –  Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, August 19, 1866

Gospel Principles Manual (2011)

Literal Son Born of a Virgin

Chapter 11: ‘The Life of Christ,’ 50–58;

“He Was the Only Begotten of the Father…

The story of the birth and life of the Savior is found in the New Testament in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. From their accounts we learn that Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to marry Joseph when an angel of the Lord appeared to her. The angel told her that she was to be the mother of the Son of God. She asked him how this was possible (see Luke 1:34). He told her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Thus, God the Father became the literal father of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the only person on earth to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal father. That is why he is called the Only Begotten Son. From his mother he inherited mortality and was subject to hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, and death. He inherited divine powers from his Father. No one could take the Savior’s life from him unless He willed it. He had power to lay it down and power to take up his body again after dying. (See John 10:17–18.)”

This manual is intended to be used as teaching material for the young people in Mormonism, as well as for new members.

It’s strongly emphasized without verbally stating in print that Mary and God didnot have sex.

How could Jesus be the literal son if no sexual relations took place, and why do all of the other leaders state otherwise?

Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles

Jesus is a Half-Deity

LDS Manual, The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles (1979), pp 9-31; “There was in Palestine a couple, Joseph and Mary. They lived in Nazareth. They had traveled, evidently, from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to pay a tax that had been decreed by the Roman Emperor. That was the ostensible purpose. She, heavy with child, traveled all that distance on mule-back, guarded and protected as one about to give birth to a half-Deity. No other man in the history of this world of ours has ever had such an ancestry—God the Father on the one hand and Mary the Virgin on the other.”

Jeremiah 6:13-15; “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.”

Exactly what is a ‘half-Deity’? It sounds a lot like a god, and not the God of the Bible.

Nowhere in the Bible do we find any reference such as this about Jesus. He alone is God, and He created all things and He should never be spoken of in such a lowly manner as this!

If you’re LDS, when was the last time you referred to Jesus as a half-deity?

For the record – Christians have never referred to Jesus like this.

Messages for Exaltation

Jesus the Biological Son of God

Messages for Exaltation, For the Sunday Schools of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints, Gospel Doctrine Class, pp. 378‑379; “[Jesus Christ] was willing to make payment because of his great love for mankind, and he was able to make payment because he lived a sinless life and because he was actually, literally, biologically the Son of God in the flesh.” – First Presidency, 1967

John 1:1; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Jesus was in heaven with God because.  Why you ask? Well, it’s because He is God. It’s not because He was given birth to. And it’s not because God created Him. He was there and always had been.  No sex. No other explanation needed. He’s God.

To try and explain why Jesus paid for sin with His life other than what’s already been revealed to us in the Bible is a lie; aka false prophecy!

Millennial Star

Jesus’ Paternity and Polygamous Lifestyle

The Millennial Star, Vol. 15, No. 51, December 17, 1853, p 825; “. . .we apprehend that even greater troubles than these may arise before mankind learn all the particulars of Christ’s incarnation-how and by whom he was begotten; the character of the relationships formed by the act; the number of wives and children he had and all other circumstances with which he was connected, and by which he was tried and tempted in all things like unto man…” – Samuel W. Richards

Matthew 12:36-37; “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Slandering Jesus is probably on the short list of things you absolutely shouldn’t do as a Christian.

I’m convinced this type of thinking is a result of not appreciating the magnitude of who Jesus is. Being told all your life that Jesus is merely your brother (as well as Lucifer) denigrates our Lord and drags Him down to our level; created beings.

Mankind is God’s creation who’s in desperate need of grace and mercy. With that position we should be on our knees and not postulating ‘how great we art’.

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