The Virgin Birth Part 4

If the LDS Church is not true, which church is?

Didn't the Bible predict the apostasy of the Christian faith? These and 34 other questions often posed by Latter-day Saints are addressed in Answering Mormon's Questions, published by Kregel. Written by MRMs Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Answering Mormon's Questions includes a glossary of Mormon terms and questions for group discussions. Answering Mormon's Questions can be ordered online at MRM.org or at your favorite Christian bookstore.

Be ready to give an answer! What have Mormon leaders taught regarding the virgin birth? Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me is Aaron Shafowaloff, my colleague at MRM. And we have been discussing the teaching regarding the incarnation of Jesus and how the teachings of the LDS Church, and I do say that purposely. I know Mormons will argue it wasn't official or anything like that, but these are leaders that Mormons believe are called by God to expound on doctrinal issues, and these are things that they actually said regarding the issue of the incarnation of Jesus. In review, Mormon leaders have taught that God the Father had sexual intercourse with Mary in order to conceive Jesus. Now, when we see some of the statements from some Mormon apologists, and particularly we're going to be looking at a statement that was put out by the foundation for apologetic information research, FAIR, what did they say regarding a certain brochure that was being handed out?

You can get it at their pharaohds.org website. It's this document that actually mocks us for even engaging this issue, but they say typically critics either take statements from non-authoritative books or take an innocent phrase and make it sound like it says something it doesn't. An example is a statement from the 1972 Family Home Evening Manual, and they put part of it and say what the statement doesn't do is specify the, this word kills me, it doesn't specify the mechanics of his conception. Now the statement they're referring to in this manual, I happen to have the manual in front of me, I'm reading from the manual, a 1972 Family Home Evening Manual. When you look at the title page, it actually says Family Home Evenings number one, published by the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Well here's the issue though, what does FAIR try to tell people on their website? This is some kind of non-authoritative book, even though as I've read it comes out from the first presidency of the Church. We would have to assume for them to have the name of the first presidency on the title page that at least the first presidency is at least responsible for knowing what was in this manual. FAIR might not take it seriously, but I guarantee you the average Mormon teaching their children on a Monday night, they are.

They are taking it seriously. And what this manual does, this 1972 manual does on page 125 and 126, which is referenced here, is it tries to give away or a method for Mormon parents to explain how it is that Jesus is God's Son. In fact, this is what it says. In what way, this is a subheading, in what way is Jesus God's only Son? And it tells the parent read or tell the following story.

I'm going to read it. It was called Jenny's Question. The Markham family had been to Sunday school and was driving home. Brother Markham asked each of his four children what they had learned that day. Each of the children related a story or a teaching that he had learned. When Jenny was asked what she had learned, she replied, Daddy, I'm confused. The teacher talked about Jesus as being God's only Son. I thought all of us were God's children. Then it goes on to say, ask, have you ever wondered about this question? How would you answer Jenny? Discuss this with the family, letting each have a chance to express himself. Now read to the family how a modern prophet answered Jenny's question.

So here's the instruction. You as a parent are supposed to ask your kids, what are your thoughts? What are your ideas on this? And now I'm going to tell you what a modern prophet said about this very question, how he answered it. Substitute for how a modern Mormon prophet gives his speculative non-binding, non-official opinion, right? Well, that's the way you would think if you're listening to some of these Mormon apologists or even some lay members. But of course, we know that many Mormons take this very seriously. And folks, we are taking this very seriously. The question is, are people being impacted?

That's a very good way to put it. Are they being impacted? Are they walking away from reading these type of manuals, believing exactly what it says in the manual?

That's what's important. Now, this is why you probably wonder why do we have a problem when some of these Mormon apologists make these unfounded statements, which really they have no authority to say that against a church manual. They don't have any priesthood authority against that.

But here they make the comment. And unfortunately, a lot of Mormons who, well, maybe not unfortunately, maybe fortunately, are uncomfortable with this are trying to look for some kind of an out. But let me read this to you, folks, because this is very important. This is a modern prophet's answer.

And this modern prophet that they are referring to is Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the Mormon Church. This is what he says. I want the little folks to hear what I am going to tell you. I'm going to tell you a simple truth. Yet it is one of the greatest truths and one of the most simple facts ever revealed to the children of men. You all know that your fathers are indeed your fathers, and that your mothers are indeed your mothers. You all know that, don't you?

You cannot deny it. Now, we are told in Scripture 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. The difference between Jesus Christ and other men is this. Our fathers in the flesh are mortal men who are subject unto death. But the Father of Jesus Christ in the flesh is the God of heaven. Therefore, Jesus, as he declared, received the power of life from his Father and was never subject unto death, but had life in himself as his Father had life in himself. Because of this power, he overcame death and the grave and became master of the resurrection and the means of salvation to us all. 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 mortal man, was his mother. God, by her, begot his Son Jesus Christ, and he was born into the world with power and intelligence like that of his Father. Now, my little friends, I will repeat again in words as simple as I can, and you can talk to your parents about it, that God, the eternal Father, is literally the Father of Jesus Christ. Two things that just really scream out to me is the part, one is the part that is for the benefit of the older children. Jesus was begotten in the same way that, you know, other children are begotten.

It speaks for itself. Two, they're continuing the traditional Mormon redefinition of virgin as Mary never had relations with a mortal man. Right, and that's important because they will use that kind of language, and you have to listen carefully when these guys are talking.

You want to listen very carefully to what they're saying. Now, to make sure we understand what Joseph F. Smith was trying to get across, and of course the fair argument was it doesn't talk about the mechanics. Well, do you really think a person living in the early 20th century is going to come right out and say something as blunt as, God had sex with Mary.

Mormons do believe that God has body parts and passions, and yes, he uses all his parts. They're not going to say something like that. That's just way too blunt.

They don't have to. It's clear enough. It's sufficiently clear, and I mean, it's even encouraging these children to talk to their parents about it.

So it goes on. There's an illustration on page 126, an illustration and discussion to help further answer Jennie's question, and this is what Mormon parents were instructed to do. It said, at this point, discuss in your own words how Jesus was the only begotten Son of God. You might do this by using the following illustration on a chalkboard or piece of paper. Now, I know this is not television, so people can't see this illustration, so let me explain what it shows. It shows the figure of a man. Looks like he's dressed in a suit, and there's a woman standing next to him in a dress, and it's Daddy plus Mommy. Daddy plus Mommy, with lines going down to what we assume is someone like Jennie, a young girl, who's asking this question. It looks like a girl, and so what we have here is Daddy plus Mommy equals you. Daddy plus Mommy equals you, and then below it, it says Our Heavenly Father plus Mary, with lines going down to the word Jesus.

How else would you take this? You know, what strikes me is that this manual is historically situated within a larger tradition of a Mormon denial of the virgin birth. It goes on to say, All boys and girls have a mother and father on earth. Your mother and father, of course, are mother and I. Jesus is the only person ever born on this earth that is different. Jesus had a mother on earth.

What was her name? And then in parentheses, it says Mary. But who was his real, real as in italics, father? And then in parentheses, Heavenly Father.

This paragraph ends by saying, So you see, Jesus is the only person who had our Heavenly Father as the Father of his body. Now, we've kind of made light of this notion that it had to be artificial insemination. Does that sound like that's what being implied here? It doesn't to me. No, I mean, in fact, you know, like like I said earlier, you know, for the benefit of the older children, you know, it suggested that this was the normal process of begetting. Exactly. And I guess what troubles me, Aaron, is when you have apologetic groups like FAIR make comments like that as if this isn't supposed to be believed. This is speculation, according to what they're saying.

If you don't take your manuals seriously, why should we? What really upsets me, Bill, is the public in, for example, wanting to learn about the faith of a candidate running for president. You know, he's Mormon. What does he believe? What does the Mormon Church believe and teach? Well, they come out in the Fox News statement like they did years past and they said that we believe in the virgin birth, but they didn't specify that they mean something very different.

It's like this. Well, we believe in the virgin birth just like you. We just happen to define it the exact opposite way. That's really what they're saying. And unfortunately, as we've said many, many times that when you're talking to a Latter Day Saint, it's imperative that you define the terms. If they use an expression that sounds very familiar to you, you might want to ask them specifically, what do you really mean by that? When you say that you believe, for instance, in the virgin birth, what do you really mean?

Most of the time when they give an honest or an authoritative answer to that, an informed answer, you're going to find that it is very different than what you've come to believe. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism. All of us at Mormonism Research Ministry want to reach out and thank you for your kind support, a viewpoint on Mormonism. We hope that the information coming your way has been a help and encouragement as you share the hope we all have in Jesus Christ. During this holiday season, would you prayfully consider a year-end donation to MRM to help give us a much needed financial boost into the new year? Your tax-deductible gifts are much appreciated and will be used to further our efforts at Mormonism Research Ministry.