Replies

I suppose some did. Some will say it isn’t “doctrine”, but it was taught by several of their leaders (Prophets and Apostles), and all of the LDS I knew (both in Utah and not) believed it and discussed it.

And it is a bit of a logical outcome, God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are separate and distinct Gods who are one only in purpose, and since Jesus is the Son of God the Father (not the Holy Ghost), and God has a body of Flesh and Bone, then it would be logical that Jesus is the LITERAL son of God, concieved in the same way we are.

Here are some quotes on the subject:

This peculiar doctrine stems from Joseph Smith’s teaching that God the Father is an exalted, resurrected man. Smith boldly asserted: “First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves, that is the great secret.” (Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 613) The Mormon leaders believe that since God is an exalted man, he continues to have sex with his wife or wives to procreate the spirits who are to be born on the worlds which he creates. Mormon writer Carlfred B. Broderick frankly stated:

“There are two basic elements in the Gospel view of sexuality as I interpret it from the scriptures. The first is that sex is good — sexuality, far from being the antithesis of spirituality, is actually an attribute of God... In the light of their understanding that God is a procreating personage of flesh and bone, latter-day prophets have made it clear that despite what it says in Matthew 1:20, the Holy Ghost was not the father of Jesus.... The Savior was fathered by a personage of flesh and bone, and was literally what Nephi said he was, ‘Son of the Eternal Father.’ “ (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn, 1967, pp. 100-101)

Brigham Young, the 2nd prophet of the Mormon Church, boldly asserted: “Now, remember from this time forth and for ever, Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p. 51)

In spite of these plain statements, Joseph Fielding Smith, the 10th prophet of the church, declared: “They tell us the Book of Mormon and the Bible teach that Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost. I challenge that statement. The Book of Mormon teaches no such thing! Neither does the Bible.” (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p. 19)

Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., the son of the 10th prophet of the church, made this plain in his book, Religious Truths Defined, p. 44: “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.” 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)

“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.” (Mormon Doctrine, 1979, pp. 546-47)

“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.” (Ibid., page 742)
President Brigham Young had this to say concerning the birth of Christ: “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, Oct. 10, 1866) Apostle Orson Pratt also taught that Mary was God’s wife:

“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. It would have been unlawful for any man to have interfered with Mary, who was already espoused to Joseph; for such a heinous crime would have subjected both the guilty parties to death, according to the law of Moses. 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. It was also lawful in Him, after having dealt with Mary, to give her to Joseph her espoused husband. Whether God the Father gave Mary to Joseph for time only, or for time and eternity, we are not informed. 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.” (The Seer, Oct. 1953, page 158)

President Brigham Young maintained that “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.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 8, p. 115) In a sermon delivered in the Tabernacle on April 9, 1852, President Young climaxed his teaching with the following explanation:

“...remember from this time forth, and for ever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. I will repeat a little anecdote. I was in conversation with a certain learned professor upon the subject, when I replied, to this idea — ‘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 by the people, bringing the Elders into great difficulties.” (Journal of Discourses vol. 1, p. 51)

In The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, a book published in 1988, President Benson steadfastly maintains that God was the father of Christ “in the most literal sense”:

“A fundamental doctrine of true Christianity is the divine birth of the child Jesus. This doctrine is not generally comprehended by the world. The paternity of Jesus Christ is one of the ‘mysteries of godliness’ comprehended only by the spiritually minded....

“Thus the testimonies of appointed witnesses leave no question as to the paternity of Jesus Christ. God was the Father of Jesus’ mortal tabernacle, and Mary, a mortal woman, was His mother. He is therefore the only person born who rightfully deserved the title ‘the Only Begotten Son of God.’...

“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 Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pages 6-7)