What Child Is This? The LDS Christmas Story

It was long ago, two thousand years, when sweet baby Jesus was born. Although every baby is cherished by his parents and grandparents and siblings and cousins, this little boy was precious to all the world. The story began in Nazareth…

The Old Testament patriarch Noah, who had died long ago and been resurrected as an angel named Gabriel,1 was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth. There he appeared to one of the noblest and greatest of all the spirit offspring of God the Father,2 a young virgin girl whose name--Mary--had been foretold in 124 B.C.3 Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David.

The angel Gabriel said to Mary, "Hail, you virgin, who are highly favored of the Lord, the Lord is with you: for you are chosen and blessed among women."4 But Mary was troubled and pondered about this salutation. Gabriel told her not to be afraid; she had found favor with God. He said, "Behold, you will conceive and bear a son,5 and shall call his name, in the 'pure language,' Son Ahman.6 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest. And you, Mary, will be the mother of God."7

Gabriel answered and said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you and sanctify you, and make you holy, and prepare you to endure the presence of 'the Highest.'8 Then shall your Heavenly Father, who was your literal father in the pre-existence, overshadow you. For you know that He is a Holy Man and Adam is His name. He is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. A personage of flesh and bone, He shall beget this Son in the same manner as Cain and Abel and all the other sons and daughters of Adam and Eve were begotten.9 The Christ Child shall be the result of 'natural action'--flesh and blood, begotten of his Father as we were of our fathers.10 A miracle--though not in violation of natural law--the literal offspring of this 'celestial Sireship'11 shall be called the 'Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh.'"12

Mary was concerned because of her betrothal to Joseph. The angel explained, "You and the Father will associate together in the capacity of Husband and Wife; hence, you will be, for at least a time, the lawful wife of God the Father. After He is finished with you, the Father will give you to Joseph. God will be your first husband.13 Then shall it be said, '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.'"14

And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

Before Mary and Joseph came together Mary was found to be with child by God the Father. Joseph, not wanting Mary to be disgraced, planned to 'divorce' her quietly. But an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a vision15 and said, "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been conceived in her, while it was not done without the aid of Man, that Man was God!16 And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will, by his perfect example, show the people how to fulfill the plan of salvation."17 Now all this took place that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "A God with us."18 The angel said, "Mary will still be called a virgin both before and after she gives birth19 because the Father of her child is immortal."20 Therefore, Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

It came about in those days that Caesar Augustus required a census be taken of all the earth and everyone was proceeding to each their own city to register. Joseph and Mary journeyed together to the land of Jerusalem,21 to the city of Bethlehem, in order to fulfill the requirement.

While they were at Jerusalem, on the 6th day of April,22 it was time for Mary's baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son, who had been her elder brother in the pre-existence,23 and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was none to give room for them in the inns.24

Now, this was the second birth of Jesus, for He was already the firstborn spirit child of Heavenly Parents.25 He had attained unto the status of Godhood while yet in the premortal existence.26 Whereas, at the time of His mortal birth Jesus was no longer an infant spirit, it was necessary that His spirit be compressed, or diminished in size, so He could be enclosed in His infant body.27 As a result, Jesus forgot everything about His former life.28 Nevertheless, He was the Son of God and the sign which had been promised came to pass: the sun set in America on the night of Christ's birth, but there was no darkness; it was light as though it was mid-day even until the rising of the sun the next morning.29

But around Jerusalem/Bethlehem it was dark and there were some shepherds out in the fields keeping night watch over their flock. An angel of the Lord appeared to them causing them to be very frightened. The shepherds desired to determine what manner of being this was, therefore they requested he shake hands. For they knew they would feel the flesh and bone of a true angel's hand; if they could not feel it they would know he was the devil posing as an angel of light.30 Thereby detecting that this was a messenger from God, the shepherds allowed the angel to proceed.

And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you the God of this world.31 He will be called 'the Prince of Peace, who is also the Prince of Glory and the Prince of Eternal Progress.'32 He will atone for the sins of all mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane,33 and through His gift will come resurrection for the dead for all, and a greater and more enlarged opportunity for eternal life for those who will walk in obedience to His commandments.34 And no one will do a greater work than Jesus until the advent of the Prophet Joseph Smith.35 But take care that you not be led astray. For the time will come when much that is believed and taught about the cleansing power of Christ's blood will be such utter nonsense and so palpably false that to believe it will be to lose your salvation. In that day many will believe or pretend to believe that if we confess Christ with our lips and avow that we accept Him as our personal Savior, we will thereby be saved. They will say that His blood, without any other act than mere belief, makes us clean.36 Be not deceived. Each of you will have to work very hard to qualify for your eternal potential."37 Suddenly there appeared a heavenly host of persons who had been resurrected from the dead38 praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest." And it came to pass when the angels had gone away that the shepherds hastily found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the Christ Child as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known everything which had been revealed to them about the babe. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.

The LDS Christmas Story was gathered and compiled from the teachings of Mormon Church leaders. It speaks of a Father and Son who are not found in the Biblical narrative of Christ's birth. It brings the sad news that our salvation depends upon our own righteousness instead of the perfect righteousness of Jesus. The gift God gave that night, according to the LDS Christmas story, provided resurrection to judgement for all the world and an example to follow in order to make oneself worthy of the highest heaven.

Yet God tells a different story. He says it is impossible for us to be worthy of heaven on our own merit; all have sinned and our righteousness is as filthy rags before Him. But the blessed Gift God gave to us on that marvelous holy night was no less than His Promise fulfilled. Jesus Christ--God incarnate--had come, not to show us the way, but to be the Way. He came to a world dead in sin to give us life eternal. Let all who are alive in Christ echo Mary's song, "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior."

1. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 157 2. Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 471 3. Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:8 4. Joseph Smith Translation (hereafter JST), Luke 1:28 5. JST, Luke 1:31-32 6. Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses (hereafter JD), 2:342 7. Book of Mormon, 1 Ne. 11:18, 1830 edition, p. 25 8. O. Pratt, The Seer, Washington D.C. edition, p. 158 9. Brigham Young, JD, 1:50-51. Though Young taught the Adam/God doctrine, the LDS Church officially denies it. It is not currently part of LDS theology. 10. B. Young, JD, 8:115 11. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 81 12. Gordon B. Hinckley, The Ensign, 12/94, p. 4 13. O. Pratt, The Seer, p. 158 14. B. Young, JD, 11:268 15. JST Matthew 1:20 16. Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:18 17. Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel, p. 1-6 18. LDS Bible Dictionary, p. 681, "God." 19. The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 7 20. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 822 21. Book of Mormon, Alma 7:10 22. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 104; see JD 13:127 for Pratt's calculated date of April 11. 23. Victor L. Ludlow, Principles and Practices of the Restored Gospel, p. 43 24. JST Luke 2:7 25. O. Pratt, JD, 18:290 26. What the Mormons Think of Christ, Pamphlet published by the LDS Church, 1976, p. 25 27. O. Pratt, JD, 16:334 28. Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:33 29. Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 1:19 30. Doctrine & Covenants 129 31. Ezra Taft Benson, quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley, The Ensign, 5/92, p. 89 32. Howard W. Hunter, The Ensign, 2/95, p. 77 33. Gospel Principles, 1988, p. 58. Current LDS teaching suggests the atonement was accomplished in both the Garden and on Calvary. 34. Gordon B. Hinckley, Church News, 7/1/95, p. 4 35. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 6:408-9 36. What the Mormons Think of Christ, pp. 19-20 37. James E. Faust, The Ensign, 11/95, p. 46 38. LDS Bible Dictionary, p. 608, "Angels."

Gabriel became Noah, not the other way. Just a small example of some using miss-direction.

Perhaps the article was about mormon teachings, but my question to you is well withing the normal type of questions in forums. It is a rare thread on doctrininal issues that does not stray from what the original article is "about". Besides that, it is really "about" mormon teaching of the birth of your jesus christ vs what scripture says about the birth of Jesus Christ.

You are the one who raised the issue when you said that there was "abundant scripture". I just asked for you to cite just 5 of those passages. If you had said there was abundant teaching in mormonisim, I would not have asked you for those. So, do you prefer to retract your statement, or would you rather give what you perceive as the biblical proofs that Noah became Gabriel? Either one is satisfactory to me.

The “abundant scripture” was part of the thought Mark E. Petersen was talking about before I picked up the part about Adam having been an angle.

I was trying to point out that the “He” at the beginning of the next sentence was Adam, and that it was Adam who Brother Petersen was talking about when talking about how he was an angle before he became Adam.

Please forgive me. I need to go back and learn how to do that better.

Please also remember, when a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints talk about scriptures, we believe that they are still coming today, even though not all are canonized.

Touche. You got out of that well.:)

What someone else calls scipture does not really matter to me. But if the people in that belief system, such as mormonism, want to call themselves Christian, then they must then hold to what the Christian definition of scipture is. They cannot change Christian beliefs to say that the mormon writings are sacred. So it is not at all correct to ask Christians to consider mormon writings as sacred, that is, as scripture because they are often antisciptural.

In discussing with a muslim, a Christian cannot acknolwedge the koran as scripture. To do so would be to deny Christ, at least in part. It is not that much different with the mormon writings. But then again, the muslims do not claim to be Christian and they do not claim the Holy Scriptures as their scriptures.

Instead, I would suggest to you that you need to keep in mind when discussing with Christians that scipture means only that which is in the Old and New Testament and when you use that word, that is what is understood. And in that discussion, if you use the word scripture to mean mormon writings, you should expect correction, and rightfully so.

keep in mind when discussing with Christians that scipture means only that which is in the Old and New Testament

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How do you suggest that we solve the problem that there are so many groups that understand the words of the Bible differently. There are even a lot of sub groups in each of the groups that do not agree with each other.

How do we know which “scriptures” you or someone else is using.
You folks cannot even agree with yourselves.

You are correct, however mormons firmly believe that THEIR cannonized "scriptures" are every bit as valid as the Biblical ones accepted by Christians. They believe they have the "restored gospel" and the "restored priesthood" by virtue of the "anointing" of Joseph Smith.

Therefore, as you see, there will be arguments and misdirection, and NO acceptance of YOUR truth.

"You folks cannot even agree with yourselves." fproy

So you at least see that there is a 'we' and 'they', and you are of the they and your religious texts are not the 'our'. So why do you insist on hiding your doctrine that 'we' are not 'the' Christianity that 'you' claim 'we' must bow to for entry into Heaven? If 'we' are not up to 'your' standard, why do 'you' wrestle? Could it be that 'you' deep down realize the one directing 'your' religion is not The Lord of Heaven? Could it be that deep down 'you' realize Joe Smith was a false prophet making up a story while his face was stuck in a hat sniffing a peepstone? Is that why 'you' choose to sow doubt and question The Bible and open 'your' mind to false teaching, because 'you' choose to believe God has been slack for 1700 plus years, until the 'restoration' of His Gospel with the adulterous, liar, Joseph Smith? Would you like for 'us' to pray for 'your' deliverance from darkness?

Therefore, as you see, there will be arguments and misdirection, and NO acceptance of YOUR truth. I agree with you. That is why I do not expect to see any valid scripture come forth. They are great at dodgeball and tango (side stepping) as are other cults.

This is an anti-Mormon site being used as a truthful source of information on LDS teachings. From the beginning sentence, it is wrong and the errors are too numerous to argue here except I will point out the first and let it stand for those who are seeking truth to judge whether this source is a correct one for Mormon teachings. The first sentence of the second paragraph states: “The Old Testament patriarch Noah, who had died long ago and been resurrected as an angel named Gabriel,”

This is a false summary of someone’s unofficial talk a century or so ago. Mormons, as all other followers of Christ, acknowledge Christ as the first fruits of the resurrection. As Gabriel’s work was done before Christ’s birth, there could have been no resurrection at that point.

Would any of you listen to an opponent of your religion teach you of that religion?

You know exactly what I mean. Would you trust someone who hates your faith to interpret teachings of your faith to others? This was not a story posted by a Mormon but an anti-Mormon and many of you are now simply accepting it as truth. My compliments to those, if any, who are truly seeking information and are willing to do independent research to verify this posting. To those of you who constantly trash the Mormon faith and its founders, shame on you. If you are examples of the Christians you claim Mormons are not, perhaps it is better not to be considered Christians. For those who would want to challenge me to refute the claims, I won’t. It takes too much time to negate such blanket errors and I have seen, to this point, no poster who really is looking for the truth on this thread so it would change no one’s mind. If I have erred and someone really is looking, do your own independent research as you are unlikely to believe anything I post anyway. The information is on the web.

Pardon my rant but I am sick and tired of the vicious attacks against what I and millions of others consider sacred. If you claim to be trying to save me, you choose a most curious way to do so. You don’t trash what they treasure and then claim to be a friend.

“If you are examples of the Christians you claim Mormons are not ...” Seriously, cip, when will you sad Mormonism apologist stop using that non sequitur?... We readily say no one can know for sure what individual is or is not a Christian. Many of us at FR oppose Mormonism as not Christianity. Why do you continue to use that ‘romneyesque’ ploy?... OH! Never mind, it’s obviously a political ploy tied to the other specious ploy of calling opposition to Mormonism bigotry, from the romney campaign. Carry on ...

Well...My hope was, you would have known exactly what I meant. I'm sorry you don't. You aren't alone, unfortunately.

LOL!! Talking about sick and tired..I am sick and tired of those that ignore what the founders of mormonism taught. Their words and their actions.

If you have been and are truly seeking the TRUTH...you would truly understand what J. Smith and B. Young taught, and how they taught it.

Of course you won't try and refute anything...You will just claim bigotry, and that attacks have been made. I understand that.

I prayerfully have determined that mormonism is a cult. And like it or not...there are many millions like myself. That's a fact. .

I'm sorry you see it differently...

If, I've, as you've implied...."viciously attacked" you...I'd like you to point that out to me.

Funny thing is your prophets J. Smith & B. Young...attacked and trashed other Christian religions. But the difference is they never claimed to be their friends!

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