Race and the Priesthood - Why this essay did me in

On 12/8/2013 the LDS church came out with the Race and the Priesthood essay - found here:

https://www.lds.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng

I read this essay the summer of 2014.

A little bit of history.  The LDS church, as well as other churches, taught for many, many years that Blacks were from the seed of Cain, cursed with black skin.  Cain is considered to be the most evil man on Earth - as he introduced murder to the world.   He was cursed by God with black skin and the church has also taught that he would roam the Earth forever and not be able to die as a curse as well. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_and_mark_of_Cain).  When the flood came to the Earth in the time of Noah - Cain's seed remained because, according to Mormon Doctrine, the wife of Ham was of that lineage.

When the church was founded or "restored" by Joseph Smith -  Joseph allowed blacks to have the priesthood.  When Joseph Smith died and Brigham Young became the prophet he would not allow blacks to have the priesthood any longer and made some very, very harsh statements about the black people (see below) pretty much stating that they would never have the priesthood. If they were to ever receive it - it wouldn't be until AFTER every other single person on the planet had received it first, because they were filthy, unintelligent and evil people.  This ban on blacks being able to have the priesthood continued until 1978 when the prophet Spencer W Kimball received the "revelation" that God was now ready for blacks to have the priesthood....despite modern apostles (Bruce R McConkie) having the "revelation" that Blacks will never have the priesthood in this lifetime....a revelation that later had to be denounced.

In the essay put out by the church, the church claims that “all are alike unto God.”¹
The church then defends the racism by going into a long history of the Unites States and slavery and stating everyone was doing it: "Those realities, though unfamiliar and disturbing today, influenced all aspects of people’s lives, including their religion.
Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form."²⁴

SO WHAT??

Why does it matter that the church USED to be racist? All the other churches were racist as well!

WHY DID THIS ESSAY SHATTER MY WHOLE WORLD AND FAITH AND BELIEF IN MY RELIGION?

The problem comes from the truth claims of the church.

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claims to be the restored gospel of Jesus Christ - the same gospel/church that Christ established when He was on the Earth.  
2. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claims to be THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH on the face of the Earth.
3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claims to be led by prophets and apostles who speak DIRECTLY TO GOD.  
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claims that GOD will NEVER allow the Prophet to lead the church astray.
5. God is unchanging.  He does not change his mind.

When I believed in the Mormon Church and subscribed to its teachings I believed all of the truth claims.  ALL OF THEM! I TRUSTED THEM!  When the church has to come out and say that they were wrong - that they were, essentially, led astray (by their own racist opinions) - that the prophets and apostles of the only true church on the face of the Earth - the same prophets and apostles who claimed to speak with God directly for the church - WERE WRONG - that means I have to reject every single truth claim, made above, by the church.

THE WHOLE POINT OF HAVING A PROPHET ON THE EARTH IS TO KNOW GOD'S WILL. IF THEY GOT GOD'S WILL WRONG.....THAT MEANS THEY DO NOT REALLY SPEAK TO GOD!

1. Was Jesus' church exclusionary?  Does the Bible ever talk about not allowing certain people in?  NO! Jesus' church was inclusive.  Jesus wanted everyone to feel welcome....the Saint and the Sinner. EVERYONE!
2. If teachings of the church are later disapproved or changed in any way that tells me that the church never actually had the TRUTH.
3. The apostles in the church are just mere mortals, fallible like all the rest of us.  Sometimes they teach good stuff....sometimes they don't.  The church tells us to cut them some slack - that they don't always speak from God.   Problem is that when they SAY they are speaking from God - how are we supposed to decipher whether they really are or not?  This should not be required from us.  If they say "God said so" we should be able to rely on those words. Alas - we cannot - because they don't actually talk to God.  They really, truly are just like all the rest of us and they are doing their best to imagine what God would want to tell us. THEY ARE NOT PROPHETS NOR APOSTLES BECAUSE THEY DO NOT SPEAK GOD'S WORDS. THEY ARE ONLY SELF PROCLAIMED APOSTLES AND PROPHETS.
4. God will never allow the prophet to lead His church astray....oh except for those 130 years when the blacks weren't allowed to have the priesthood and we were taught that blacks were evil people. 
5. Apparently GOD DOES CHANGE HIS MIND!!  Surprise!!  Sometimes God will just pretend to have a policy....and then later - when it suits the church's purposes (the church was about to baptize tons of tithe payers in Brazil - ie: lots of black people) and becomes so intolerable amongst the congregations - GOD WILL CHANGE HIS MIND!  Guess what Black people of the Earth?!?  God has now deemed you smart enough, couth enough, tamed enough, comely enough and agreeable enough to......wait for it......HOLD THE PRIESTHOOD! All of a sudden - after all these years of being so evil - you get to have the mighty priesthood.   Don't worry---the prophet didn't make the decision because there was so much pressure from the outside world.  Don't worry - the prophet didn't make the decision because the church had baptized thousands of black people but they would never be able to go to the temple....or be bishops in their own countries....yeah, you get the point.  The church - which would grow larger outside the United States than within it - would have to be led by all white people....unless this change were made.  

Disgusting. Disgusting.   I can't think of many things more disgusting.  I can't think of many things more untrue.  

I REJECT THE CHURCH AND ALL OF ITS TRUTH CLAIMS AND I WILL NO LONGER SUBJECT MYSELF TO THE CULT-LIKE REQUIREMENTS OF SUCH A DAMAGING CHURCH. 


Do you want to read some disgusting statements by the "GOD CHOSEN" prophets and apostles of the church?  Warning - you will want to throw up in your mouth multiple times after reading these statements.


Brigham Young 
"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.)

(FAIL!!!! DO YOU KNOW A SINGLE PERSON WHO HAS DIED ON THE SPOT FOR HAVING SEX WITH A BLACK PERSON?  RIDICULOUS!)






You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, un- comely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they should be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree. How long is that race to endure the dreadful curse that is upon them? That curse will remain upon them, [p.291] and they never can hold the Priesthood or share in it until all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof. Until the last ones of the residue of Adam's children are brought up to that favourable position, the children of Cain cannot receive the first ordinances of the Priesthood. They were the first that were cursed, and they will be the last from whom the curse will be removed. When the residue of the family of Adam come up and receive their blessings, then the curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will receive blessings in like proportion. - (Journal of Discourses 7:290-291, October 9, 1859)

(FAIL! LOTS OF BLACKS HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE PRIESTHOOD BEFORE THE REST OF THE LINE OF ADAM)  

"You may inquire of the intelligent of the world whether they can tell why the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degradation ...When the Lord has a people, he makes covenants with them and gives unto them promises: then, if they transgress his law, change his ordinances, and break his covenants he has made with them, he will put a mark upon them, as in the case of the Lamanites and other portions of the house of Israel; but by-and-by they will become a white and delightsome people" (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:336).


(FAIL! - THEY ONLY BECOME WHITE AND DELIGHTSOME AFTER MIXING THEIR SEED WITH THE WHITE AND DELIGHTSOME - WHICH WAS FORETOLD TO ONLY BRING ABOUT INSTANT DEATH - - - NEWSFLASH!!! NONE OF THE PEOPLE BELOW ARE DEAD!!!   BUT SOME OF THEM ARE MORE WHITE AND DELIGHTSOME.  IS IT BECAUSE OF THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS OR BECAUSE OF MIXING RACES??)

John Taylor, 3rd President of the Church

"And after the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced upon Cain was continued through Ham's wife, as he had married a wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the flood? because it was necessary that the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as God;..."

Journal of Discourses, Vol. 22, page 304

(FAIL! - IF BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE DEVIL'S REPRESENTATION ON THE EARTH WHY DO WE HAVE BLACK GENERAL AUTHORITIES LEADING THE CHURCH??)

Wilford Woodruff, 4th President of the Church

"And if any man mingle his seed with the seed of Cain the only way he could get rid of it or have Salvation would be to come forward and have his head cut off and spill his blood upon the ground- it would also take the life of his children."

(Wilford Woodruff Journal)

(FAIL!  BLACKS ARE NOW PROMISED ETERNAL LIFE AND SALVATION JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.....WITHOUT GETTING THEIR HEADS CUT OFF!!!!   AMAZING!!! )

Apostle Orson Hyde

The belief that blacks were less valiant in the pre-existence may have been started by Orson Hyde, an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This is the earliest statement we are aware of that discusses this:

At the time the devil was cast out of heaven, there were .some spirits that did not know who had the authority, whether God or the devil. They consequently did not take a very active part on either side, but rather thought the devil had been abused, and considered he had rather the best claim to the government.

These spirits were not considered bad enough to be cast down to hell, and never have bodies ; neither were they considered worthy of an honourable body on this earth : but it came to pass that Ham, the son of Noah, saw the nakedness of his father while he lay drunk in his tent, and he with " wicked joy," ran like Rigdon, and made the wonderful disclosure to his brethren ; while Shem and Japheth took a garment, with pity and compassion, laid it upon their shoulders—went backwards and covered their father, and saw not his nakedness. The joy of the first was to expose—that of the second was to cover the unseemliness of their father. The conduct of the former brought the curse of slavery upon him, while that of the latter secured blessings, jurisdiction, power and dominion. Here was the beginning of blessing and cursing in the family of Noah, and here also is the cause of both. Canaan, the son of Ham, received the curse ; for Noah wished to place the curse as remote from himself as possible. He therefore placed it upon his grandson instead of his son.

Now, it would seem cruel to force pure celestial spirits into the world through the lineage of Canaan that had been cursed. This would be ill appropriate, putting the precious and vile together. But those spirits in heaven that rather lent an influence to the devil, thinking he had a little the best right to govern, but did not take a very active part any way were required to come into the world and take bodies in the accursed lineage of Canaan ; and hence the negro or African race. Now, therefore, all those who are halting concerning who has the right to govern had better look at the fate of their brethren that have gone before them, and take warning in time
lest they learn obedience by the things which they suffer. " Choose ye this day whom you will serve." These things are among the mysteries of the kingdom, and I have told them, not by constraint or by commandment, but by permission.
(SPEECH OF ELDER ORSON HYDE, DELIVERED BEFORE THE HIGH PRIESTS' QUORUM, IN NAUVOO, APRIL 21th, 1845 ..., p. 30)

(FAIL! MAKE UP YOUR MIND!  ARE BLACKS SATAN'S FOLLOWERS OR JUST SITTING ON THE FENCE AND CAN'T DECIDE?)

 

Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Church

"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. A curse placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain. Moreover, they have been made to feel their inferiority and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning.... we will also hope that blessings may eventually be given to our negro brethren, for they are our brethren-children of God-not withstanding their black covering emblematical of eternal darkness. " The Way to Perfection, pages 101-102. http://www.barncow.com/curseofcain/

(FAIL!  THE CHURCH NOW SAYS BLACKS ARE NOT THE SEED OF CAIN!)

"There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less." (Doctrines of Salvation, p. 61)
(FAIL!  THE CHURCH NOW SAYS BLACKS WERE NOT LESS VALIANT IN THE PRE-EXISTANCE!)

"I would not want you to believe that we bear any animosity toward the Negro. "Darkies" are wonderful people, and they have their place in our church."Look magazine, October 22, 1963, page 79.

President Brigham Young, answering a question put to him by Elder Lorenzo D. Young in a meeting held December 25 , 1869, in Salt Lake City, said that Joseph Smith had declared that the Negroes were not neutral in heaven, for all the spirits took sides, but the posterity of Cain are black because he (Cain) committed murder." The Way to Perfection, pages 105-106.

"That negro race, for instance, have been placed under restrictions because of their attitude in the world of spirits, few will doubt. It cannot be looked upon as just that they should be deprived of the power of the Priesthood without it being a punishment for some act, or acts, performed before they were born."The Way to Perfection, page 43.

"Ham, through Egyptus, continued the curse which was placed upon the seed of Cain. Because of that curse this dark race was separated and isolated from all the rest of Adam's posterity before the flood, and since that time the same condition has continued, and they have been 'despised among all people.' This doctrine did not originate with President Brigham Young but was taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith .... we all know it is due to his teachings that the negro today is barred from the Priesthood." The Way to Perfection, pages 110-111.

Spencer W. Kimball, 12th President of the Church

"The day of the Lamanites in nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome... The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation...There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. Spencer W. Kimball; The Improvement Era, Dec. 1960, p. 923)

Apostle Bruce R. McConkie

"Negroes in this life are denied the Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. (Abra. 1:20-27.) The gospel message of salvation is not carried affirmatively to them... negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from, but this inequality is not of man's origin. It is the Lord's doing, is based on his eternal laws of justice, and grows out of the lack of Spiritual valiance of those concerned in their first estate." (Mormon Doctrine, 1966, pp. 527-528)

(HUGE FAIL! NEVER SAY NEVER! TSK TSK! YOU WILL HAVE TO EAT YOUR WORDS!  TOO BAD YOU WEREN'T RIGHTEOUS ENOUGH TO HAVE GOD TELL YOU HIS REAL WORDS).