Category: continuing revelation

Blacks, Mormons, Priesthood, Racism, Answers

First: Are there racist Mormons?

Answer: Yes. Sadly.

Second: Is the LDS Church a racist organization?

Answer: NO. From the Book of Mormon, “[The Lord] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Nephi 26:33).

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Racism in all its forms is disgusting. It is an evil wholly at odds with the gospel of Jesus Christ and has a pernicious effect on society. Those members of the LDS Church and other faiths that have race-superiority issues (which they often try to base on scripture or statements of church leaders) are in sin.

However, such people in the Church are few and far between. My personal experience in the Church has been a wholly positive one. I have attended church services in Brazil, China, Mongolia, Germany, and in various congregations in the United States and have witnessed firsthand the unity that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings as people of varying ethnicity worship together. Growing up I had a black foster sister. Admittedly, Mikayla was in the minority attending church with my family in the predominantly white state of Utah. Naturally, Mikayla would ask questions about it. But not once in the years I sat beside her in the chapel pews did I witness any form of racism against her. I love that. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a multicultural church (more members live outside the U.S. than within) welcoming sons and daughters of God of all ethnicities.

I am willing to admit there are problems. Racism is a resilient poison that people in the U.S. and elsewhere have had difficulty purging. Just because overt acts of racism don’t occur publicly often doesn’t mean it isn’t present beneath the surface. And yet I think the Church is doing well. Plus, we can hardly point a finger at others; are any of us truly free of hurtful prejudice of any sort? Let’s pray we all continue to do better. Do better together.

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Next topic: Why was priesthood denied to black male members of the church prior to 1978?

Our age of click-and-publish internet ramblings has brought with it a barrage of ill-supported commentaries which force the modern reader to be a skeptic of everything he or she reads. In light of this, I have tried hard to cut through the haze and get an accurate answer to this controversial and sensitive question. The answer I found: there is no satisfactory answer.

Some clamor that the priesthood ban was a product of traditional racism in early America; that it was a church policy based on unrighteous social norms. They have their evidences. Some insist that it was a divinely inspired command from God. They have their evidences. Still others claim it was a policy implemented by the Church based on correct doctrinal principles. Likewise, they have their evidences. The Church itself hasn’t said anything official and definitive on the subject. A paucity of facts invites a diversity of opinion. As far as I am concerned, it also makes any opinion on the subject mere speculation.

What I do know is that a prophet of God received a revelation on Thursday, June 1st, 1978 that enabled all worthy male members of the Church to receive the priesthood. History shows that it was a day of rejoicing. And it wasn’t the first of its kind. It was reminiscent of the New Testament scene where Peter told the new members of the Church that God had revealed to him that the gospel of Christ was now to be preached to the Gentiles. It was a policy change in the church: a policy change God gave (as He often does) without explanation. Acts 11:18 gives their reaction to Peter’s news, “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God.”

In closing I say to white members of the church: Be careful in how you explain the priesthood ban to yourself and others. Perhaps Alma Allred in his essay “The Traditions of Their Fathers: Myth versus Reality in LDS Scriptural Writings” (found in the book Black and Mormon cited below) was near the truth when he urged white members to, instead of looking for what blacks did to receive the ban, look at themselves to make sure they were not the cause.

And to all members of the Church and other curious truth seekers: if it really bothers you, do the research. Come to your own conclusions. But remember that there aren’t always definitive answers. God moves in mysterious ways. Our Old Testament friend Naaman was confused when he was commanded to go wash in Jordan seven times to be made clean (2 Kings 5:10). God didn’t explain but he had faith and did it anyway. There are plenty of things I don’t understand, yet I can get by with the limited light I have. I do try to learn all that I can-I am not satisfied with ignorance. But I recognize that the ignorance and incomplete understanding that remain with me are mine and not God’s.

This takes you to an official church site touching on the subject.

Suggested further reading:

Bringhurst, Newell G. and Smith, Darron T. Black and Mormon. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.

Bringhurst, Newell G. Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People within Mormonism. Westport Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981.

Embry, Jessie L. Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1993.

Lund, John Lewis. The Church and the Negro: A Discussion of Mormons, Negroes and the Priesthood. Salt Lake City: Paramount Publishers, 1967.

Taggart, Stephen G. Mormonism’s Negro Policy: Social and Historical Origin. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1970.

The Bible: A Testimony of Jesus Christ

Q. Do Mormons believe in the Old Testament?

bible1Yes, we do believe in the Old Testament.  The Old Testament is full of symbolism and prophecies that support the New Testament’s testimony of Jesus Christ and point to our days as well.  It may be difficult to understand at times, but with careful study, the whole of the Bible has been a wonderful source of inspiration in my life.  It has a long history of inspiration and continues to inspire people today.  I’d like to address a bit of its history and content as well as what we believe concerning the Bible.

The Bible (from the Greek biblia, meaning “books”) is a collection of writings by many authors collected and compiled over the course of a many centuries.  The two parts, the Old and New Testaments, are separate and distinct from one another.  The Old Testament is comprised of histories and personal writings of prophets and the New Testament is a collection of some of the writings of early Christian leaders.  A prophet of the Old Testament such as Isaiah, for example, would have a vision, write it down and it would be eventually compiled with his other writings.  Isaiah had a vision of the throne of God and His glory which became Isaiah chapter 6.  Isaiah had many visions, teachings and life experiences, some of which make up the 66 chapters in his book in the Bible.  Jeremiah had his visions and teachings as did Ezekiel, Amos, Habakkuk, Nahum, Malachi and other inspired men, including prophets mentioned in the Bible whose books are not available to us.  All of those teachings were given to the people living at the time for the purpose of reminding them of the Lord their God.  As often as they forgot, the Lord sent prophets to remind them of His will toward them.  This was usually to persuade the people to abandon the worship of false gods and return to obedience and service to the only true and living God.

isaiahThe New Testament picks up chronologically over 400 years after the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi.  It begins with a book written by a man named Matthew, whom we later learn to be an apostle personally chosen by Jesus.  Matthew gives us his testimony concerning the gospel (a word meaning “good news,” which is the good news of Christ’s atonement) and the coming of Jesus Christ, His ministry, teachings and death.  Matthew quotes scripture from the Old Testament many times to support his testimony that Jesus was truly the Messiah and Savior of all mankind.  The next book, authored by Mark, offers another testimony of the same Jesus Christ.  As does Luke and also John, the beloved.  Those four books make up everything we know about the life and ministry of the mortal Jesus Christ and they are all testimonies of His divinity, His life and His Atonement.  After the book of Acts, which tells a small amount about the early church and the missionary effort put forth by those early Christians, we have a collection of letters sent by church leaders, mostly Paul, to the scattered congregations.  The last book, Revelation or Apocalypse, is a vision received and recorded by John.  All these testimonies, books and letters, as well as many others that existed then, were circulating among the people.  Which of these documents were valid and doctrine were defined to be canon around the fourth century A.D., leading to the particular collection we have today.

Is the Bible itself perfect?  Unfortunately, no.  There are many variations and translations of the Bible, some of which are vastly different from others.  And if it were perfect, wouldn’t we all understand it to mean the same thing?  How could there be so many different opinions on what the truth of God really is?  This is precisely why God did not cease with revelation.  He did not give up on us.

So then, what is the Bible?  In a nutshell, it is the testimony of prophets among the Jewish people.  It is a record.  It is a description of Jesus Christ and a testimony that He is the way to eternal life.  It describes a perfect being, His perfect gospel and His perfect way.  All the prophets since Adam have given their testimonies concerning Christ and His gospel.  To receive anyone’s testimony of Christ is surely a great blessing.  The Book of Mormon is also a blessing like that.  It is another such description or testimony of Christ written by prophets not among the Jews, but among other peoples across the world.  With both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, we can gather a clearer image of what the Lord truly desires of us.

The Restoration

The Lord follows every apostasy with a new dispensation and a restoration of authority. Here is a short film produced by the Church which shows how the current dispensation was opened through the young man, Joseph Smith.

This is the second half of the same film.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).

Heavenly Father will answer your prayers, too.  Ask Him whether Joseph Smith was a prophet.

General Conference

If you’ve been reading this blog much, you’ve probably heard us raving about how great it is to have a modern-day living prophet. We think it’s pretty cool. It’s the connection to God that sets our religion apart.

Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's mouthpiece on earth today.You too can learn what all the hullabaloo is about: this weekend is the semiannual, world-wide broadcast of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over the course of two days, our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson (along with his two counselors and the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ) will gives us the guidance that the Lord wants us to receive about issues that matter to us,today.

Sad that you missed Moses’ great sermons? Disappointed that the preaching days of Peter, James, and John are through? Those eras are past and gone, but there is revelation now and you can take advantage of this opportunity this Saturday and Sunday!

If you live near Utah, tune your TV or radio to KSL. Satellite and cable stations generally carry the BYU channel, and you can always watch live online in streaming video. (Streaming audio is also available in just about any language you like). If you’re in Salt Lake City on either day, you can also try to get tickets to the conference center. They are always free, so you’ll need to act fast to find some. Contact your local missionaries, or the sisters on temple square.

The schedule is as follows (Mountain Daylight Time):
Saturday October 4, 2008
10 am – noon ~ First session
2 pm – 4 pm ~ Second session

Sunday October 5, 2008
10 am – noon ~ Third session
2 pm – 4 pm ~ Fourth session

And please, share with us what you thought of it.

Truth

Q. I’ll throw a quick question at you. How can you claim your church tells “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” if historically they have changed their beliefs because of social pressure? (i.e. polygamy, blacks receiving the priesthood, and even changing the Book of Mormon from “cursed” to whatever they changed it too.)

Good question. The essence of what you’re saying is “if you say you belong to the TRUE church of Jesus Christ, then why isn’t that truth unchanging?” Right?

We’ll get to the “social pressure” in a minute.

Well, the thing is, God commands and His servants obey. Sometimes God tells His servants to do one thing, and then tells someone else to do the opposite. Both things are commandments, though, and both things are right in their context.

Examples?

sermonHow about when Jesus came and overturned the ENTIRE system of Mosaic law? It must have really made some people mad when Christ started saying,
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time. . .
don’t commit adultery,
don’t kill,
divorce is okay with the proper documents,
don’t swear by your own self–swear oaths in the Lord’s name,
an eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth,
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say unto you . . .
don’t even lust,
don’t even get angry,
divorce isn’t okay unless the reason is fornication,
don’t swear oaths at all,
resist not evil and turn the other cheek,
love your enemies.

Talk about changing policy!

You would respond (as I would) that it was the necessary evolution of the religion–that Jesus came to FULFILL the Law of Moses, as part of the grand design of the earth and our salvation. You would say that it is God’s will that Jesus came and taught us the Higher Law. I agree. I also agree that God can keep doing that. When we tell God that He can’t keep giving us higher instruction, we damn ourselves.

How about the revelation that Peter received on the housetop that he should start preaching the gospel to Gentiles? That shook some people to the core. It was such a departure from the way it had been before! But God’s timing was (of course) infallible and the church grew.
You ask about changing beliefs because of social pressure, which I think is an important point to examine. Plural marriage was introduced in the church by Joseph Smith and then discontinued by Wilford Woodruff, the 4th president of the Church. This was the scene in the Church after the Edmunds-Tucker Act was passed in 1887:

“The church was disincorporated, the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company was dissolved, and all property belonging to the Church, with the exception of buildings used exclusively for religious worship, was escheated to the government. Hundreds of men who had contracted plural marriages were heavily fined, and imprisoned. All persons who could not subscribe to a test oath which was provided especially for those who practiced or believed in the practice of plural marriage, were disfranchised [lost political power, voting, etc.]”. (Clark, James R., ed. Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 5:320. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-1975).

It seems to me that if social pressure was going to sway him to change course, he would have done it before the Church fell down around him.

saltlakeWoodruff said, “I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write”

The same kind of scenario was repeated with the Priesthood being made available to all worthy male members of the Church. The fact is, not until God said go, did the church go. This is not to say that the Church didn’t uphold the Civil Rights movement, or believe that all people should be given equal rights. This just means that God hadn’t told the Prophet to extend the Priesthood to everyone yet (see the Peter example, above). But it was time to extend it to a broader population. He still hasn’t given the Priesthood to everyone, though. Women still don’t hold the Priesthood and there is plenty of social pressure currently to make that happen, but it hasn’t. And it most likely won’t. The Church doesn’t do things because “everyone is doing it”. We do things when God commands.

So I end this post with a question to you: People may accuse us of “flip flopping”, but can you find a church that is honestly more consistent with the church that Christ formed when He was on the earth? With prophets, apostles, teachers, priests, elders, missionaries, miracles, healing, continued revelations, fasting, tithing, temples, ordinances and priesthood ordained from God?

The only way to really know is to pray about it.