Virgin Birth: The literal siring of Jesus via the agency of Heavenly Father and Mary. Sixth President Joseph F. Smith explained, “Now, we are told in scriptures that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. Well, now for the benefit of the older ones, how are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father. The difference between Jesus Christ and other men is this: Our fathers in the flesh are mortal men, who are subject unto death: but the Father of Jesus Christ in the flesh is the God of Heaven. …So you see Jesus is the only person who had our Heavenly Father as the father of his body” (Joseph F. Smith, Family Home Evening manual, 1972, pp. 125,126. Ellipses mine). Tenth President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “CHRIST NOT BEGOTTEN OF HOLY GHOST… Christ was begotten of God. He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God!” (Doctrines of Salvation 1:18. Italics in original. Ellipses mine). Thirteenth President Ezra Taft Benson described it like this: “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” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 7. See also the Church News, December 18, 2004, p. 16). For much more information on this important topic, see here.

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