As clearly explained here with annotations, Mormonism teaches that Jesus, Lucifer and all mortals on this earth were originally born as spirit children to God the Father and his wife in a pre-mortal life. Angels, devils, mortals and gods are regarded as the same species but in different stages of advancement or judgment. The two oldest sons were Jesus and Lucifer. Lucifer convinced one-third of his brothers and sisters to join him in rebellion and were expelled from Heaven.Christians consider this blasphemous.
The Mormon Church teaches: “God had sexual relations with Mary to conceive Christ.” ... that is a lie, we believe in the virgin birth and always have. The BoM testifies of it as well, that Marry conceived by miracle and gave birth as a virgin.
As clearly explained with annotations here (beginning at the bottom of p. 179), and here (beginning in the section titled LITERAL SON OF GOD), Mormon theology teaches that God is a man and that Christ was conceived through a sexual act between Mary and God the Father. In other words, the birth of Christ is considered a natural, rather than a miraculous occurrence.Putting the two doctrines together: according to Mormon theology, since Mary was the spirit daughter of God the Father, and since God the Father had physical sexual relations with Mary, God the Father essentially committed incest when He begat Jesus. Christians also consider this blasphemous.Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., 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" (Religious Truths Defined, p.44). The late President Joseph Fielding Smith declared: "Christ was begotten of God. He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God!" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p.18).
Christians also consider this blasphemous.
You wrote: The BoM testifies ...
As you can see HERE, there are many important LDS doctrines which are not found in the Book of Mormon.In fairness to you: It has been my experience in talking with Mormons over the years that many LDS members are not aware of all their church's teachings. This is due in part to the practices of progressive revelation as one "matures spiritually" and/or "progresses" in Mormonism.Moreover, as explained with annotations HERE, there are many key doctrines found in Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price which clearly contradict Book of Mormon scripture.
It has also been my experience Mormons are often troubled when they discover some of the their church's doctrine.
Both Mormonism and Christianity teach the eternal future of your immortal soul depends on the decisions you make during your lifetime. It is therefore essential for us to "get things right." With this in mind, I encourage you to study and above websites and let me know if you find any of their statements in error.
I wish you the best in your quest for the truth.
“Christians consider this blasphemous.”
And why is that? Was Abel’s righteousness somehow tainted because his brother Cain choose evil? What does the actions or status of one person have to do with the standing of their siblings? Lucifer was called a ‘son of the morning’, so then who was his father? Where did he come from?
From http://en.fairmormon.org/Jesus_Christ_is_the_brother_of_Satan
Since God was possessed of the greatest foresight for planning, and of the greatest skill for carrying out in action, before He commenced this business of the world,—inasmuch as there was in Him, and always is, the fountain of full and most complete goodness,—in order that goodness might spring as a stream from Him, and might flow forth afar, He produced a Spirit like to Himself, who might be endowed with the perfections of God the Father... Then He made another being, in whom the disposition of the divine origin did not remain. Therefore he was infected with his own envy as with poison, and passed from good to evil; and at his own will, which had been given to him by God unfettered, he acquired for himself a contrary name. From which it appears that the source of all evils is envy. For he envied his predecessor, who through his steadfastness is acceptable and dear to God the Father. This being, who from good became evil by his own act, is called by the Greeks diabolus: we call him accuser, because he reports to God the faults to which he himself entices us. God, therefore, when He began the fabric of the world, set over the whole work that first and greatest Son, and used Him at the same time as a counselor and artificer, in planning, arranging, and accomplishing, since He is complete both in knowledge, and judgment, and power... [Lactantius, Divine Institutes 2.9. in Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (1885; reprint, Peabody: Hendrickson, 2004), 1:52–53.]
Many things he here taught are not considered “orthodox” by today’s standards. However, Lactantius was definitely orthodox during his lifetime. Amazingly, many things here correspond to LDS doctrine precisely in those areas that are “unorthodox.”
“As clearly explained with annotations here (beginning at the bottom of p. 179), and here (beginning in the section titled LITERAL SON OF GOD), Mormon theology teaches that God is a man and that Christ was conceived through a sexual act between Mary and God the Father. In other words, the birth of Christ is considered a natural, rather than a miraculous occurrence.”
Oh here we go again, somebody who thinks they know the theology of my church better than I do after living it and studying it for over 30 years.
The Pratt writings were disavowed by the church very soon after he published them, and Pratt was censured for it and realizing he was in error also disavowed his work. They don’t tell you that in those web pages because that ruins the story they want to sell you and leaving that out is very dishonest IMHO.
Our doctrine is that Mary, a virgin, conceived by a miracle brought about by the power of the Holy Ghost. Everything that happened after that took place as naturally as any other pregnancy. She literal carried a child, she literally delivered him as with any other birthing, and that child was literally the son of our Heavenly Father. Mary was a virgin throughout the pregnancy. Did the Holy Ghost play a role? Yes, so in that sense you can say the Holy Ghost bears some responsibility in her being pregnant, but not in terms of being the father of her child. The Bible often cites God the Father, not the Holy Ghost, and being Christ’s father.
All the other quotes fit perfectly with the doctrine I have described above and those same sources also assert that Christ was born of a virgin, but again they leave that out. The literalness of Christ’s sonship is a RESULT of the miracle that his conception was. Reverse engineering it to claim there was a sexual relationship is reading into their words things contrary to what they actually said.
“Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., said: “The birth of the Savior was a natural occurrence unattended with any degree of mysticism, “
I trust you understand the difference between BIRTH and CONCEPTION. His conception was a miracle, after than things proceeded naturally, morning sickness, stretch marks, cravings, contractions, moving down the birth canal, cutting the cord and entering the world just like you and I did. It was not a metaphor, it was not some event that didn’t really take place in the real world and that is what he is saying. As I said before, that same source also asserts the virgin birth, but the people writing the website leave that part out because it ruins their story. Stop falling for the lies.
“there are many important LDS doctrines which are not found in the Book of Mormon.”
So what? The BoM contains the fullness of the gospel, but the gospel is only a part of the plan of salvation. Nobody ever claimed the BoM to contain the fullness of LDS theology.
“Moreover, as explained with annotations HERE, there are many key doctrines found in Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price which clearly contradict Book of Mormon scripture.”
Because you do not have a full or accurate understanding of our theology you perceive a contradiction where there is none. For example, those verses in Alma that say God is a Spirit were said BEFORE the birth of Christ, and at that time in our theology, Christ was in fact a spirit. The verse saying that Christ has a physical body was given after Christ’s resurection, hence both are true in their historical context. Likewise the other supposed contradictions only display the ignorance of the writers.
“It has been my experience in talking with Mormons over the years that many LDS members are not aware of all their church’s teachings.”
What you are talking about isn’t our teachings in a lot of cases, they are cleverly designed lies crafted to fool people. Most members don’t bother wading through all the lies spread about us, they focus on studying what our theology REALLY is and I’ve not seen any other Christian church do more to educate it’s members on their beliefs than ours does.
“With this in mind, I encourage you to study and above websites and let me know if you find any of their statements in error.”
I’ve done so in a brief fashion. I hope your reaction will demonstrate your commitment to truth, intellectual honesty and fairness. If it does than I’ll be happy to discuss things further with you.