So, for all of the many, many TBM friends and family members I have on FB, NOT ONE of them posted anything about the church's blacks and priesthood announcement. I wonder if they are embarrassed, or simply uninformed. Hmm. ??

I had one TBM friend post it proudly and the link summary appeared as follows: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embraces the universal human family. God created many diverse races & ethnicities & esteems them all equally."


Of course, that set off my BS alarm, so I responded with this:

------------------------------
Yes, it is good to see that the Church has evolved on this issue, as this is a welcome change to the teachings of past LDS leaders, like those of President Brigham Young in the October general conference of 1859 (Journal of Discourses 7:290-291):

“You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, 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, 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 favorable 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.”


The responses to the Brigham Young quote went as follows:

TBM Mom wrote: Brigham had his flaws as we all do. He was called as prophet during that time because the Lord knew his ability as a colonizer.

TBM friend wrote: You will notice on the Bible and other scriptures all the prophets had their flaws...humans like the rest of us

TBM Mom wrote: I so agree with you Rob, Moses had his issues, David etc Problem many of us have is expecting perfection in our leaders

I wrote: The fallibility of man is difficult to overcome, which makes it all the more important to treat the words of any “prophet” with a prudent amount of skepticism and good judgment.
------------------------------

That seemed to put an end to their little show. :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2013 11:35AM by facsimile3.

I only have a handful of LDS "friends" on facebook and one of them "liked" the statement on LDS.org.

It seems to me that reposting it opens the door for a lot of abuse because it's embarrassing. Most probably don't want to deal with having to answer remarks like those made by Brigham. I think it's easier for the average mormon to accept that the whole issue "has been addressed" and move on quietly.

You must say whatever you have to say to keep the mark in the scam.