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APOLOGETICS |
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The Mortal Jesus Christ of Mormonism
By
Marvin W.
Cowan |
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On December 25 we celebrated the birth of
Christ. Both Mormonism and the Bible refer to Jesus as
the "Son of God." But Mormonism defines those words in a
very different way than the Bible does. Our last article
entitled "The Pre-mortal Christ of Mormonism," discussed
the LDS view of Christ before he came to earth.
In order to understand the LDS view of
the earthly Christ it is also necessary to
understand the LDS view of God the Father. Joseph Smith,
who founded Mormonism said, "God himself was once as we
are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in
yonder heavens… He was once a man like us; yea, that God
himself, the Father of us all dwelt on an earth the same
as Jesus Christ himself did" (Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-346). LDS scripture
also says that God "The Father has a body of flesh and
bones as tangible as man’s" (Doctrine and Covenants
[D. & C.] 130:22). And the fifth LDS Prophet, Lorenzo
Snow wrote, "As man now is, God once was; As God now is
man may be" (The Promised Messiah, p. 134).
Mormon Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie wrote,
God the
Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an
immortal Personage. 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, for he is the Son of God and that
designation means what it says. (Mormon Doctrine,
p. 742)
McConkie also said the name titles "Only
Begotten Son… 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"
(ibid. pp. 546-547).
Apostle McConkie also said,
Our Lord’s
mother, Mary, like Christ, was chosen and foreordained
in the pre-existence (pre-mortal spirit world) for the
part she was destined to play in the great plan of
salvation… She was one of the noblest and greatest of
all the spirit offspring of the Father. Mary’s name
and mission were revealed to holy prophets centuries
before her mortal birth. Nephi saw her as, "A virgin,
most beautiful and fair above all other virgins"… As
such a virgin she gave birth to a son whose Father was
the Almighty God. (ibid. p. 471)
Notice the sequence in this quotation.
God the Father begat Mary as His spirit daughter in the
pre-mortal spirit world and then He became the father of
her Son in this mortal world! Remember that LDS teach
that God the "Father has a body of flesh and bones as
tangible as man’s" and that Christ was conceived and
born on earth the same way any other mortal is born.
Brigham Young also said, "The birth of
the Savior 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 begotten of our fathers" (Journal of
Discourses, vol. 8, p. 115).
Ezra Taft Benson, the 13 th
LDS Prophet also said, "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,
pp. 6-7).
In spite of such teaching many Mormons
say they believe in the virgin birth of Jesus which
doesn’t fit with what their leaders have taught. We have
quoted some of the highest authorities in the LDS Church
because there are Mormons who deny that their Church or
their leaders teach this doctrine.
Many Mormons are offended if they are
told that Mormonism’s Jesus is not the same as the
biblical Jesus. However, their current President and
Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley said of Christ,
He is the
Son of the living God, the firstborn of the
Father, the Only Begotten in the flesh, who left
the royal courts on high to be born as a mortal… As a
Church we have critics, many of them. They say we do
not believe in the traditional Christ of Christianity.
There is some substance to what they say. Our
faith, our knowledge is not based on ancient
tradition, the creeds which came of a finite
understanding and out of the almost infinite
discussions of men trying to arrive at a definition of
the risen Christ. Our faith, our knowledge comes of
a witness of a prophet in this dispensation who saw
before him the great God of the universe and His
Beloved Son, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
They spoke to him. He spoke with Them. He testified
openly, unequivocally, and unabashedly of that great
vision. It was a vision of the Almighty and of the
Redeemer of the world, glorious beyond our
understanding but certain and unequivocating in the
knowledge which it brought. It is out of that
knowledge, rooted deep in the soil of modern
revelation, that we, in the words of Nephi, "talk
of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ,
we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our
prophecies, that we and our children may know to what
source we may look for a remission of our sins." [II
Nephi 25:26] (Ensign, May 2002, pp. 90-91)
Notice that Hinckley admitted that LDS
beliefs about Christ are different from traditional
Christianity (as taught in the Bible) because LDS
beliefs are based on "a witness of a prophet (LDS
founder Joseph Smith) in this dispensation. So,
while Mormons do believe in a "Jesus Christ," he
is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible. But it is
the Jesus Christ of the Bible who said, "I am the way,
the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father
but by me" (John 14:6).
For those who want to read more on this
subject from a Christian perspective we suggest The
Second Person, by Lehman Strauss; published by
Loizeaux Brothers, New York, in 1951. Our next article
will discuss the LDS view of Jesus as Savior. |
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