DiscussMormonism.com

In the fourth century St. Jerome was assigned by the Bishop of Rome (back then only one bishop among thousands--had one equal vote in Catholic councils--not then considered the successor of Peter and sole Vicar of Christ on Earth) to translate the Greek Bible (Septuagint) into Vulgar Latin so that Christians in the Western Roman Empire could read it. St. Jerome knew Greek, but he was not fluent in Greek. He made a few major blunders. One blunder he made was translating MONO GENES into "ONLY BEGOTTEN". That's NOT what it means. The Greek words MONO GENES mean literally ONLY KIND (unique) and correspond perfectly to the Latin word UNIQUS (unique). St. Jerome thought that GENES means BEGOTTEN. It doesn't. The Greek word for BEGOTTEN is GENAO. But GENES means "kind, type". So, in Latin, St. Jerome wrote "Only Begotten" and that MIStranslation continued in all Bibles that descended from the Latin Vulgate (and this includes the King James Bible).

Nowhere in the original Greeks does it say that Jesus is the "Only Begotten" of God. Nowhere! In the Peshitta (Aramaic Bible) it calls Him the EHEHDAH Son (i.e. firstborn/pre-eminent/most importatn). In the Greek Gospels it calls Him the MONO GENES (only king/unique) Son. Neither EHEHDAH nor MONO GENES has "any" connotations of begetting or begotten! None.

This MIStranslation eventually led to the unique Mormon doctrine that God the Father "literally begot" Jesus with Mary; that he "stepped down from his throne" and "joined" with his spirit-daughter-wife Mary and "begot" Jesus just as any mortal man begets a son and that Mary was a "virgin" in the same sense that any woman is a virgin who has sex with her husband. I've been told by older Mormon men (some of them Institute Directors) that THEY were conceived in a virgin birth too, because their mothers were legally married to their fathers when they where conceived!!!!!

I was told many MANY times by many older Mormon men in the 1980s (when I was doing research) that they fully intended to "go down" and "beget" saviors for the worlds they create with their most beautiful spirit-daughters, just as God the Father did with His Spirit-daughter Mary. They told me this was "the most BEAUTIFUL doctrine in the Gospel of Jesus Christ". I was told that many, many, many times!

I have always considered the "Heavenly INcest" doctrine to be UTTER BLASPHEMY.

Neither Joseph Smith, nor Olivery Cowdery, nor Sidney Rigdon, nor Solomon Spaulding, nor Ethan Smith, would have known that "Only Begotten" was a mistranslation.

How many times does "Mine Only Begotten" appear in the Book of Mormon and also the D&C? I would say probably over 100 times. What is a MIStranslation of St. Jerome doing in the Book of Mormon and in the D&C?????????

Had the Book of Mormon and D&C referred to Jesus as "the Firstborn Son" or "the Unique Son" or even "the Pre-eminent Son" that would be strong evidence that both were truly inspired of God, but since they both contain a MIStranlation by a fourth century Italian Christian named St. Jerome, that is DEVASTATING evidence that the Book of Mormon and D&C are NOT inspired of God in any way, shape, or form.

MONOGENES is translated "one and only son" by the NIV, which is really the same thing as only begotten.

MONOGENES does not necessarily mean, "no other sons" (for whatever weird reason expressed in Greek; I don't defend it.) In Hebrews, MONOGENES is used to refer to Isaac who, of course, post-dated Ishmael. It seems MONOGENES means more along the line of heir, sole heir or only heir.

My Greek Interlinear renders it "only begotten."

I've never heard MONOGENES as being used as justification for the doctrine that God had physical sex with Mary. Perhaps some people in the Church, as you say, have said that but I've come across lots of weird statements in the Church by uninformed people. We only have to read what BCSpace has to say about politics and the church.

Yahoo Bot wrote:
I've never heard MONOGENES as being used as justification for the doctrine that God had physical sex with Mary. Perhaps some people in the Church, as you say, have said that but I've come across lots of weird statements in the Church by uninformed people. We only have to read what BCSpace has to say about politics and the church.

So true. If only the brethren would officially endorse BCSpace's and Droopy's ideologically hysterical revisioning of Christ into the form of Rand, then the the falsity of the church would be immediate and obvious.
But alas....

Rand is the idol of the mentally weak (oops, I'm sounding like Rand herself) and the college sophomore.

daheshism wrote:I've been told by older Mormon men (some of them Institute Directors) that THEY were conceived in a virgin birth too, because their mothers were legally married to their fathers when they where conceived!!!!!

BS

I was told many MANY times by many older Mormon men in the 1980s (when I was doing research) that they fully intended to "go down" and "beget" saviors for the worlds they create with their most beautiful spirit-daughters, just as God the Father did with His Spirit-daughter Mary.

You went around asking older LDS guys about their future sex lives and they responded that they intended to "go down" (quotes mean they were exact words) on them?

Right...........

I have always considered the "Heavenly INcest" doctrine to be UTTER BLASPHEMY.

There is no LDS doctrine with that name.

I've never heard MONOGENES as being used as justification for the doctrine that God had physical sex with Mary. Perhaps some people in the Church, as you say, have said that but I've come across lots of weird statements in the Church by uninformed people. We only have to read what BCSpace has to say about politics and the church.

I've never said that LDS doctrine is that God had sex with Mary, though I certainly don't preclude it. And speaking of uninformed, a typical christian lexicon, with no LDS origins, supports the view that that Jesus is the only literal son of God:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3439&t=KJV

As to my political views, they are in harmony with the Church. All one has to do is go down the list of issues to see that to be a liberal, "progressive", or Democrat is to put oneself in opposition to the Gospel of Jesus Christ (as preached by the LDS Church).

Your histrionics aside, I noted the meaning of monogenes back when I was a FAIR apologist in 2003.
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Brochures/I ... _Jesus.pdf

About the virginal vs sexual conception, you might want to read my following blog post:
http://culturalmormoncafeteria.blogspot ... gamos.html

Old Testament: What the heck is that agreement that comes up on the FAIR website?

As for only kind or only son...this is not a problem for those who believe Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, such as St. Jerome.

God begets God, and so Jesus is the only true God from true God. Light from Light. Humans are created, not begotten. It's fairly simple.

Peace.