This post is in response to just one of the several misleading and downright erroneous points that Jake made in the comments section of this post regarding the comments left by Four Pointer.

I’ve copied and pasted part of Jake’s comment here:

fourpointer, It is reckless “half-truths” such as these that make your position seem so weak to anyone that has a few moments to study both sides of the arguement. Let me go point-by-point:

“…do you believe in a Jesus that was begotten by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35, Matthew 1:18)? Or was He conceived by physical, literal, sexual intercourse between God the Father and Mary (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 7)?”

The problem here is a lack of resources. You can claim that Benson taught such things, but who really knows? Who can check your sources? [I can, and so can you Jake, and anyone else who wants to “study both sides of the argument”] Do you personally have a copy of ETB’s writings? I doubt it: yet you pass on the quote like a game of “telephone” from one “evangelical scholar” to another. [I can’t speak for Foupointer, but I can tell you that I do. I have a myriad of LDS publications and writings.] I have been a member of the LDS faith for ~30+ years, and I have never once seen verifiable proof that your claim is true… that ANY Mormon prophet has claimed that Christ was “conceived by physical, literal, sexual intercourse between God the Father and Mary.” It is NOT LDS doctrine, nor is it preached anywhere in the church. To use this point as your FIRST “proof” of the LDS church’s fallibility? Not a good start…

Well Jake, I am so glad that you have challenged us “Evangelical Scholars” to provide you with proof of your own church teachings to prove to you that LDS has indeed taught the very thing you deny they teach. But do me a favor, don’t just take my word for it, I strongly urge you to research it for yourself.

First look at what the Bible says: “…the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit“ Matthew 1:20 and “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…“ Luke 1:35.

Now let’s see what genuine LDS prophets have said. We’ll start with none other than Brigham Young who said in Journal of Discourses (JOD) 1:50-51 and the Millennial Star (MS) volume 15, pages 769-770, that Jesus “was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.” And “Jesus our elder brother was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven.” Young continued “Now remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.“

Young’s unbiblical statements didn’t end there. He went on to say “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 to be palmed upon the Elders…” What? Young ignores the clear text of the Bible to forward his view and then attempts to support his view by saying that if Jesus was begotten by the Holy Ghost then females who are baptized (in the Holy Ghost I presume) would become pregnant. What an incredible TWIST of scripture and reasoning.

But Brigham Young’s blasphemy didn’t stop there. Speaking of God the Father in JOD 4:218, he says, “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.“

And who could forget this teaching by Brigham Young found in JOD 8:115? “The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are 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.” Wow. Not only is Young blaspheming the Holy Spirit by attributing this miraculous act to that of just a “natural action” but he’s also saying that Jesus was conceived in the same way we conceive children.

Mormon prophet Ezra Taft Benson said on pages six and seven of the the book Teachings of 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.“

In volume 1, page 18 of Doctrines of Salvation, Mormon prophet Joseph Fielding Smith said, “[Jesus] did not teach [the disciples] that he was the Son of the Holy Ghost, but the Son of the Father. . . . He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God!“

On page 19 he continues, “Reorganites claim that Brigham Young went astray and apostatized because he declared that Jesus Christ was not begotten of the Holy Ghost. Reorganites claim that he was begotten of the Holy Ghost, and they make the statement that the scriptures so teach. But they do err not understanding the scriptures. They tell us the Book of Mormon states that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost. I challenge the statement. The Book of Mormon teaches no such thing! Neither does the Bible. It is true there is one passage that states so, but we must consider it in the light of other passages with which it is in conflict.“

Smith also made this teaching very clear in the book Religious Truths Defined where on page 44 he said, “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.“

Smith also said in the Message of the First Presidency, volume 4, page 329, “The Christian denominations believe that Christ was begotten not of God but of the spirit that overshadowed his mother. This is nonsense.“

Mormon theologian and member of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Bruce R. McConkie, in his book Mormon Doctrine, said on page 547 (1966 edition), “Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers.” On page 742 of that same book, McConkie writes, “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.”

Then there’s Orson Pratt. Brace yourself for this blasphemy. Pratt, one of the original members of the LDS Quorum of Twelve Apostles, had this to say about the relationship between our Heavenly Father and the virgin Mary in his book The Seer on page 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 Saviour unlawfully.” Did you catch that? LDS wouldn’t dare say that God the Father and the virgin Mary had sex out of wedlock to begat Jesus because that would be “blasphemous in the highest degree.” However, they they teach that God the Father and the virgin Mary were married when they had intercourse to begat Jesus. But he’s not done. He continues on the same page, “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 . . . . 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.” Bet the Mormon missionaries on your doorstep won’t tell you that!

Even the 1972 LDS published Family Home Evening Manual said on pages 125-126 “How are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father. . . . We must come down to the simple fact that God Almighty was the Father of His Son Jesus Christ. Mary, the virgin girl, who had never known a mortal man, was his mother.“

This warped doctrine of demons has even been promoted as late as the 1997 publication of the LDS produced book Gospel Principles. On page 380 it says, “ Jesus Christ, the only person who had God the Father as the father of his mortal body.“

I could go on but I think I’ve shown conclusively what LDS teaches in this area. So in conclusion, Fourpointer was absolutely correct in what he said and Jake, you’ve either been ill informed all these years or you purposely lied in this public forum to defend your organization from its own teachings. I like to believe the former.

Oh, and two last things Jake. I plan on addressing in later posts all the things you commented about (so stay tuned). However, I wanted to quickly respond to two other “personal” comments you made. You said “I just wish that everyone could be more open and loving with each other, instead of condemning another’s beliefs simply because we don’t understand them.” That’s the whole point Jake. I completely understand your beliefs (maybe even better than you in some areas) and that is why I confidently stand here and condemn these winds of doctrine that the LDS organization teaches. But please do not confuse (as is commonly done) my condemnation of LDS doctrine with that of its members.

You also said “But the fact that “evangelical scholars” such as yourself try to twist and stretch words and argue semantics really speaks volumes about your motives. Are you really trying to speak the truth about LDS teachings? Or make them look foolish for your own personal, selfish reasons?” Yes, I am really speaking the truth about LDS teachings. And what are those personal, selfish reasons you accuse us of? You are making a big leap to imply that Fourpointer and myself are benefiting from this somehow. Has it ever dawned on you that perhaps there are those out there (in spite of what LDS says) that actually do care about you and your eternal soul. Those who care enough to be slandered and called names but still proclaim the true Gospel? I love the Mormon people. I’ve known and still know many Mormons and it grieves me that they following a path that does not lead to life but to death. And so long as God gives me breath, I will tell you the truth, even in the midst of the bad things Mormons say about people like me.

You can read Fourpointer’s response to Jake by clicking here.