Mormon Fibs

I was told by a Mormon Elder today that the idea of Heavenly Father having sexual relations with Mary to produce Jesus was not taught by Brigham Young, that Jesus was “begat” by the Holy Ghost. Please see the following references from LDS sources as evidence that many General Authorities from the Church did indeed subscribe to this view, including Brigham Young.

• The Seer by Orson Pratt, pages 158-159;
• Family Home Evening Manual (1972) pages 125+126;
• Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce McConkie, pages 546-547 and 742; The Promised Messiah, pages 467-468;
• Doctrines of Salvation, by Joseph Fielding Smith - Vol. 1:18-20;
• The Journal of Discourses Vol. 1:50-51,238; 2:210; 4:218; 8:115,211; 11:268.

There is ample evidence to show that Brigham Young, the Second President of the LDS church, most certainly claimed he knew how the conception of Jesus occurred. ln the Journal of Discourses, Brigham Young made the following statements (emphasis mine):

• “I believe the Father came down from heaven, as the Apostles said he did, and begat the Savior of the World; for He is the Only Begotten of the Father which could not have been if the Father did not actually beget him in person.” (Journal of Discourses Vol. 1 page 238)
• “When the time came that His first-born, the Savior, 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 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.” (Journal of Discourses Vol. 4 page 218)
• “The birth of the Savior 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” (Journal of Discourses Vol. 8 page 115)
• “...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.... That very babe that was cradled in the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our Heavenly Father.” (Journal of Discourses Vol. 11 page 268)

In the above statements there can be absolutely no doubt that Brigham Young believed and taught that Heavenly Father came down from Heaven and appeared on earth with a body of flesh and bones and had sexual intercourse with Mary in order to produce the body of Jesus.

Joseph Fielding Smith, stated:

“The birth of the Savior was a natural occurrence unattended with any degree of mysticism, and the Father God was the literal parent of Jesus in the flesh as well as in the spirit.” (Religious Truths Defined, p. 44).

“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.” (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, page 19)

Bruce McConkie, who was a member of the First Council of the Seventy stated:

“Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers,” (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, page 547.)

“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,...Christ is the Son of Man, meaning that his Father (the Eternal God!) is a Holy Man.” (Mormon Doctrine, page 742.)

Heber C. Kimball who was a member of the first presidency said,

“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.” (Journal of Discourses, v. 8, p. 211)

“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” (Deseret News, October 10, 1866).

What conclusions can we draw from the words of the leaders of the Mormon church regarding Jesus’ birth?

1. It was the result of natural action, (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 8, p. 115).
2. Jesus was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, page 51); (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, page 19).
3. The Father came Himself and favoured that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 218, 1857.)
4. The birth was the result of natural action, (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, p. 115).
5. The Father God was the literal parent of Jesus in the flesh as well as in the spirit. (Religious Truths Defined, p. 44)
6. Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers, (Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce McConkie, 1966, page 547.)
7. There is nothing figurative about his [Jesus’] paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events (Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce McConkie, page 742.)