I am not one to forward emails, but my Mom sent me this today and It really hit home.  Elder Packer is in her ward and yesterday asked the bishop if he could speak in place of testimony meeting.  Someone in her ward took notes and emailed his talk to her.  I was amazed at his frankness and inspired to really take a look at our priorities in our family.  We, like so many others, have felt the economic struggle personally.  I was grateful that my mom passed this on, so I figured I would do the same and hopefully someone else will be touched by it as well.  Feel free to pass it on, I think it is truly worthwhile.

Jen

You gotta love how people who forward things they shouldn’t always start out with “I usually don’t forward things but…” I’ve already received this email twice, once from my bishop’s wife, and again from our neighborhood emergency preparedness team. Both of them sent it to a hundred or more email addresses. It’s a shame General Conference talks don’t get read and forwarded this much.

FAIR contacted LDS headquarters regarding the talk and received a statement back. I’d recommend checking it out, and people, look into things before you forward them. I bet 99% of the people forwarding this haven’t even tried to verify whether the talk is legit or not. For all they know they could be forwarding false doctrine.

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh. And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.

Mormons do believe is that Christ is literally the Son of God, but there is no official statement nor any common belief as to the means by which the conception of Christ was effected, although the above statement would seem to make it clear that God did not have sex with Mary seeing as how she is referred to as still being a virgin even after the birth of Christ.

So why do people say that Mormons believe that God had sex with Mary? By taking statements by LDS Church members out of context, as usual. None of these statements say that God had sex with Mary nor did those from whom the quotes are taken intend to communicate such a concept. The full intent of their statements is to declare that Jesus is literally the Son of God. None of them make statements as to how Mary got to be pregnant, other than that it was of God and not of man. What they do affirm is that God is literally the father of Jesus Christ. That Christ had a mortal mother and an immortal father. That Christ is God incarnate, or the offspring of God in the flesh.

For more information read Does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Teach that God had Sex with Mary? and a letter from Harold B. Lee, President of the LDS Church, on the matter.

“No”

“Nothing?”

“No”

“Not even a little stupid?”

But in all seriousness, I searched for a whole five minutes online and I couldn’t find out where the idea that Mormons have horns originated. I’m not even sure anyone outside of Mormons have ever heard of this. It could be an urban legend that gets passed around within Mormon circles and in reality nobody has ever claimed Mormons have horns. But I have no clue, do you?

One other question, if Mormons do indeed have horns, does that mean if you have horns you’re a Mormon?

Ok, that said, some critics of the Mormon church try and say that parts of the Book of Mormon condemn polygamy, that therefore the LDS Church doesn’t even obey it’s own scriptures, and therefore Mormons are a bunch of sneaky monkeys who shouldn’t be trusted to manage your 401k.

For example, critics use the scriptures Jacob 1:15; 2:23,24,27,31;3:5; Mosiah 11:2,4; and Ether 10:5,7. But what do these scriptures say?

Jacob 1:15 – “And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines, and also Solomon, his son.”

However, this scripture doesn’t actually condemn polygamy, but rather the “desiring of many wives and concubines…” Polygamy amongst Mormons was never intended to be a “Hey, I need more sex so I’m going to get me some more wives…” type of thing. Rather, it was God commanding men to take additional wives, which in many, if not most cases, the men were quite reluctant to do. Plural marriages were an assignment, not a personal choice or privilege. I know that’s hard to believe in our current sex-crazed culture, so you can believe that or not, but it’s true.

But in addition, this single verse of scripture needs to be taken in context with the scriptures around it and the situation in which these words were being delivered. They were being spoken by Jacob, a Book of Mormon prophet, who was rebuking his own people for their wickedness in committing adultery, unlawfully marrying additional wives, and justifying it by their misunderstandings about David and Solomon. Here are some follow up verses from the prophet Jacob which are part of the same rebuke (see Jacob 2:27-30).

27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;

28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.

29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.

30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.

The key is verse 30. God is saying that if he wants to use polygamy to increase the population of his chosen people, then he will institute polygamy by way of commandment (with the understanding that commandments are delivered through a prophet, not directly to individuals). Otherwise, no polygamy.

Moving on, Jacob 3:5 states “Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not aforgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father-that they should have save it were bone wife, and cconcubines they should have none, and there should not be dwhoredoms committed among them.”

This verse does not condemn polygamy. It states that the Lord gave a commandment “unto our father” (Jacob’s father was Lehi) that they should not practice polygamy. Therefore it was against God’s commandment for the descendants of Lehi to practice polygamy, unless otherwise commanded as stated previously.

The same explanation can be applied to the scriptures in Mosiah. As for the verses in Ether, this is an entirely different people than the Nephites/Lamanites who were descendants of Lehi, therefore they were not subject to the same, specific commandments Lehi’s descendants were, but it can be assumed that, as in every other case we know of, polygamy was strictly forbidden unless God commands it, and that the condemnation of the practice is not a condemnation of polygamy itself, but a condemnation of practicing it incorrectly, in order to satisfy sexual desires rather than in obedience to God’s commands.