 Hey guys wanted to spend a second today talking about the Virgin Mary and what do Mormons believe about the Virgin Mary? And what does the Book of Mormon specifically teach us about the Virgin Mary and in researching this found some really fascinating things? The first thing is that three times There were prophecies of Mary's birth and two of them specifically mentioned her by name now if you look in the Old Testament There are any prophecies that mentioned her by name, but in the Book of Mormon there are I'm going to read one of them in Mosiah 3a it says He shall be called Jesus Christ the Son of God The Father of heaven and earth the Creator of all things from the beginning and his mother shall be called Mary I know I just think it's really cool that King Benjamin one of the ancient prophets actually saw What was told by an angel what her name would be that she would be called Mary and this was approximately They give you a timeline But 125 years before the birth of Christ, so maybe 80 years or 90 years or 100 years before Mary was born There's another awesome scripture in Alma where there's a similar prophecy It says and behold he shall be born of Mary At Jerusalem, which is the land of our forefathers she being a virgin a precious and chosen vessel a precious and chosen vessel Who shall be overshadowed and conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost and bring forth the Son? Yeah, even the Son of God and I think that's really a cool verse because sometimes People think I serve my mission for two years in Panama where there's a great large Catholic population And they might have felt that cap that Mormons didn't like the Virgin Mary or didn't appreciate her But right here it says she was a precious and chosen vessel, which I think is just an awesome way to To explain it the third prophecy was from Nephi Nephi said that he saw a virgin most beautiful and fair above all other virgins, and that's again awesome like she was a he saw her and she was a very beautiful woman and it says Behold the virgin whom now see us is the mother of the Son of God After the manor 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 angels spake unto me saying look now. This is a really awesome scripture. It says and I looked and beheld The virgin again burying a child in her arms It's just really cool it in the Book of Mormon Nephi has a vision and he sees Mary holding The baby Jesus which I think is really cool So again three prophecies in the Book of Mormon before she was born that mentioned her to specifically by name and again in no other scripture that's recorded do we have a prophecy of her By name which is really cool, and that's found in the Book of Mormon Now for those of you who maybe want to learn more about Mary and understand her you really need to read Luke chapter one Which is phenomenal. I read it this morning. The reason I like Luke chapter one is it has a lot of Mary's words and She basically spells out how she was feeling after the angel Gabriel Came and announced to her that she would carry The son of God and one of the things that she said is in Luke chapter one verse 48. This is awesome. It says For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. I really wish we could hear This scripture in Mary's voice because these were her words and she was kind of overcome with the fact that you know, she was of humble birth and she was not in high society and she was thinking wow like God has recognized me in my lowest state and because Because of my willingness to bear the Son of God Generations that come will call me blessed and that's a really cool thing Anyway, I just wanted to share this little video to let you know that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mormons, we do admire and think very highly of Mary We do believe that she was a virgin when she conceived Jesus Christ we do believe that she did go on to have other Children and so did not remain a virgin her whole life. It actually speaks in the Bible of Joseph Knowing she knew Mary which is in the biblical. That's we know what that biblical terminology means But another thing some people had problems with is the fact that Mormons don't pray to the Virgin Mary But I love to think of this way We pray to the same God that Mary prayed to the same God that Mary admired and loved and Had faith in we have We pray to that same God and someone once said that the greatest Form of flattery is imitation and so we imitate Mary's example and that shows that we Really do respect her because we pray to that same God that Mary did Anyway, thanks for the few minutes guys and we'll be back soon with another video