One example that we have of spiritual intervention in human insemination
is the conception of the Savior’s body. The angel Gabriel told Mary, “And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call
his name JESUS.” She responded, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”
(Luke 1:31, 34). Gabriel explained, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). This “explanation”
has spawned a plethora of theories and debates concerning the nature and origin
of Christ Himself. Modern prophets have rejected all of the “Son of the Holy
Ghost” theories and have assured us that Christ is the literal Son of the
Father—a physical being. Yet Mary was a virgin. Nephi explains that Mary was “carried
away in the Spirit” at the time she conceived (1 Nephi 11:19). Modern prophets
say, without elaboration, that she conceived just like any other woman
conceives. How was it done? Is any confusion eliminated by all of these clarifications?
I believe that modern fertilization techniques enlighten us how it occurred. We
are now capable of taking physical seed from a man and artificially implanting
it in the ovum of a woman. I would not think that this would be too arduous a
task for the Holy Ghost—to take a small seed of DNA from the physical, glorified
body of Heavenly Father and place it in the ovum of a mortal woman. So doing,
all of the known facts regarding the conception of Christ are undisturbed.
Although this conclusion leaves room in the world for numerous virgin births,
there is only One Begotten Son of the Father. (J. L. Thompson, Worlds Without
Number [Springville, Utah: CFI, 2022], 468-69)
