Dear John,

I believe that every Mormon Church leader beginning with the Prophet Joseph Smith has at least declared, if not published, the fact the our Heavenly Father is indeed the literal father in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. The phrase "the only begotten son" which indicated that the Savior was the only person whose earthly father was the Eternal God of heaven and earth, is mentioned, for instance, six times in the New Testament. In the Gospel of St. John we read the Apostle John's familiar and touching statement

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(John 3:16)

.(John 3:16)Below are three published statements, picked at random, by modern Mormon Prophets that declare that God the Father is the literal Father in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"To Peter, Jesus says, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona. (Matt. 16:17.) How carefully and aptly Jesus preserves the distinction between him and all men. He is the Son of God; Peter is the son of Jonah. The Father of Jesus is the Immortal Man of Holiness; Peter's sire is a mortal man." (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, Upon This Rock, Ensign (CR), May 1981, p.75)

‘I likewise believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ. With all my soul I believe in him, and I put my hope of peace in this life and of exaltation and happiness in the life to come in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe he was a Son of God in the same sense that we were sons and daughters of God in the spirit, and I believe that he was and is the Son of God in the flesh. I do not believe that Joseph was the father of Jesus Christ, although I do believe that he was a good and great man. I believe that Mary was the mother of Jesus as my mother was my mother, and I believe that the father of Jesus Christ in the flesh was Elohim, my Eternal and Heavenly Father." (Elder Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1948, Second Day Morning Meeting, p.77)

"It seems to me that if men would study these things as they are written, and not spiritualize them, they could not help but admit the fact that we are in the image of our Father; that as He is the father of our spirits He is also the Father of Jesus, the Christ. And more, that He was the Father of Jesus, the Christ, in the flesh, the only begotten in the flesh." (Elder Rulon S. Wells., Conference Report, October 1905, Afternoon Session., p.97)

The concept that God is the literal father of the Son is fundamental and essential to a true understanding of the great atoning sacrifice of the Savior. Having been born of a mortal woman, he inherited the ability to die a mortal death, and having been sired by a God, who is the Eternal Father of the spirits of all mankind, and who is the God of the entire universe, who is without beginning of days or end of years, Jesus inherited the power to live forever. By this great power he overcame his mortal death in that he resurrected himself after three days in the tomb, and came forth a perfect immortal being. Because God was his literal Father, he had the power, while yet in mortality, to withstand the infinite pain and suffering that was required to satisfy the demands of justice in payment for the sins of all mankind.