Resources on The Church and Race

I want to keep a link to these Church resources on race policy and doctrine --

Race and the Priesthood:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/race-and-the-priesthood

Very thoroughly annotated summary of the Church's history with regard to racism, with background and discussion of policy and what little relevant actual doctrine there is, and some discussion of folk doctrine within the church.

Official Declaration 2:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/od/2

The revelation in June 1978 which altered the Church's policy on blacks and the Priesthood, and the announcement thereof in September of the same year.

McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, and White Supremacism (my personal blog post, not a Church resource)

https://guerillamormonism.blogspot.com/2023/04/mcconkie-mormon-doctrine-and-white.html

A blog post I wrote summarizing what I understand about Elder Bruce R. McConkie's changing approach to blacks and the priesthood. In it I reference

All Are Alike unto God

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/alike-unto-god/

which, as far as I know, is Elder McConkie's definitive words on the topic, in a speech to the Church Education System in August 1978, which would be shortly after the revelation and before it was accepted in General Conference as canonical and binding on the Church.

If you are inclined to believe that Bruce R. McConkie remained dedicated to things he had published earlier which appeared to some to define doctrine that the Blacks should not or could not be given the Priesthood, you might find my blog post on it persuasive otherwise. Or you might disagree with me. But if you are, I would appreciate you allowing me to argue with you about the question, and read my blog post linked above, if you will.

Ahmad Corbitt's four part Personal Essay on Race and the Priesthood --

Part 1, Revelations in the Summer of 1978

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/perspectives-on-church-history/revelations-in-the-summer-of-1978

A little background from his life during 1978, and his conversion in 1980.

Part 2, Seeing as We Are Seen: Gaining Perspective through the Atonement of Jesus Christ

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/perspectives-on-church-history/seeing-as-we-are-seen

A little doctrinal background and his personal testimony.

Part 3, “He Denieth None That Come unto Him”: The Role of the Book of Mormon in Unifying Our Heavenly Father’s Family

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/perspectives-on-church-history/he-denieth-none-that-come-unto-him

A moderately comprehensive overview of doctrine on race in the Book of Mormon. He goes well beyond scratching the surface.

Part 4, “Till We All Come in the Unity of the Faith”: The Role of Living Prophets and Apostles in Unifying Our Heavenly Father’s Family

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/perspectives-on-church-history/till-we-all-come-in-the-unity-of-the-faith

A forward-looking witness of the coming unity of the human race.

Elder Corbitt's essay is probably as good a discussion of race in the restored Church as I have read. I think he is quite persuasive on the subject, and if you think the Church retains -- or should retain some segregational or discriminatory doctrines, please let him persuade you that it does not.

I plan to add more resources here as I find them (or, in some cases, dig them back out).

Someday I hope I will have a chance to write a discussion of my understanding of why the Church's ban from 1852 to 1978 came about and what it means, but I don't have the required time or other resources for now.

 

Helaman 12: 15 -- "... for surely it is the earth that moves"

Aristotle was one of the early Greek philosophers who calculated the circumference of the earth. But he apparently thought the earth was at the center of everything.

Aristarchus proposed a heliocentric view. This proposition was influenced, it is said, by Philolaus, who is said to have proposed that there was a big burning fire at the center of the universe, and that the sun was just one of many stars moving around that fire.

Can you imagine that Philolaus might have somehow been shown something like one of our artists' renderings of the galaxy, and given a description of the intense radio source at the galactic center?

I can imagine that, and I think I have reason. 

The ancient prophet Helaman, in the Book of Mormon, understood that the earth moved in relation to the sun.

Helaman 12: 15 --

And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.

I wonder, if Joseph Smith had had the phrase "frame of reference" in his vocabulary, and the semantic "relative to the sun", might he have read that, instead, as 

... for surely it is the earth that moves relative to the sun.

"Relative" does not seem to be a word much used in the Book of Mormon, although the concept can be read in some scriptures.

As I understand it, many of the ancient philosophers were shown such things by angels. The Pearl of Great Price describes such visions given to Moses and Abraham, although their reporting of the visions is not very instructive relative to modern astronomy -- beyond our the general interpretation that the sun is a star and that there are worlds in orbit around other stars. 

It is difficult for us to find a meaningful interpretation of Abraham's reporting of suns as planets, partly because of linguistic issues, and partly because we keep trying to fit it all into the frame of our modern understanding of astronomy. (In particular, we don't have anything in our astronomical catalogues to associate directly with Kolob.) But we can see that he was shown that there are stars and planets orbiting them.

And this is what I'm getting at here. If I understand it correctly, God reveals to us what we ask. In the days before modern astronomy and the Internet, God should people who were prepared visions of His creations. Now we have the Internet and youtube and astrophysicists doing the math and the videos, so we don't need that. We don't go to the effort of asking.

Asking takes effort. It takes preparation, and it takes homework.

God still reveals things to us when we ask.

Notes on Church History

 Lola van Wagenen on women's suffrage 1870 (from Dialogue):

https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/in-their-own-behalf-the-politicization-of-mormon-women-and-the-1870-franchise/

Slaying Giants vs. Going with them Two Miles

(From a friend's post on Facebook.)

It's different circumstances.

When God called Israel by Moses, He called them to be a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation", see Exodus 19, especially v. 6. Peter reiterated this to the early Christians, per 1st Peter 2, around v. 9.

But the Israelites in general could not handle it, so the Levites took on the burden of the preparatory priesthood of external ordinances, and were supposed to teach the ways of God to the rest. They were mediators between the people and God.

Israel was supposed to teach the ways of God to the world around them, but the people around them only knew war. So Israel had to go to war.

Israel was supposed to start by suing for peace. In some cases, the countries they visited wouldn't even give them a chance to do so. In the case of the Philistines and Goliath, the Philistines were already causing a scene.

Israel was an example of God making His power easy to see.

Getting us to change our ways, to turn ourselves towards God, is what God wants of us. External displays of power don't really help much to that end.

In Matthew 5: 41, Christians are now somewhat on our own, both before God and before the world. Also, we are no longer to depend on a Levitical priesthood to mediate between us and God. Jesus Himself is our mediator. And we are supposed to teach by example.

It has greater power to convert the soul to serve rather than to fight, and, because of the rules in the world at the time, the soldiers did have the right to demand peasants and Jews carry their equipment for them. By going with them twice the required distance, they had more opportunity to preach the Gospel while avoiding the sort of confrontation that would hasten the coming persecutions.

"Not cause a scene" is not what God said, not what He has in mind.

One of the things that is most difficult in understanding the Sermon on the Mount is that these aren't easy rules like 1000 steps on the Sabbath. These are commandments that require the believer to listen to the Holy Spirit in order to obey. Even now, we sometimes have to slay giants with small stones instead of swords, but the giants we are called to slay first are our own pride and lusts -- again, with small means that actually works, not with big action that seems to satisfy but doesn't.

(Sorry for the sermons, I need them for myself.)

Go to God

Citation of authority is an invitation to stop thinking, among other things.

That's what a FB friend posts in his feed.

One of his friends replies, giving a few examples of necessary "authority" -- medical diagnosis, pharmaceuticals, automotive maintenance and repair:

Who do you go to? How does this work in practice?

To which I snark,

God.

I know that's a snark, and will come off as a snark, and will likely be misinterpreted as just a snark. So I add the following:

And somebody says, "The ultimate Authority!"

Actually, a lot of people say that, but meaning different things by it.

But the problem with jumping to that conclusion is that the only way we can really go to God is to go to our own conscience. 

And the whole problem is that most people have buried their conscience under multiple layers of stuff, expectations, to start with -- expectations from parents', guardians', teachers', babysitters', peers', enemies', friends', lista ad nauseam; and on top of that, layers of one's own desires, of false ideologies, of lazy dependence on authority, of plain old lusts, lista ad nauseam.

Part of the act of going to God is unburying one's conscience.

You cannot go to God without becoming acquainted with your own conscience.

Which really puts a wrench in most interpretations of God as the ultimate authority.

Snarky is not an implicit fallacy.

If God is the ultimate authority, He doesn't behave like human authorities have a habit of behaving. He lets us experiment. He lets us make mistakes. He lets us do stupid things -- fatal things in some cases, and He doesn't just jump in to stop us and save us from doing things we shouldn't for whatever reason. 

(He. I am a dinosaur. I was finishing college by the time people were talking about borrowing the plural for the gender non-specific. And in this context, using the modern gender non-specific is only going to sidetrack me from my thesis. See? I just start to talk about the gender of deity, and I'm already sidetracked. That's a topic for another day. So I'm using the archaic gender non-specific: He.)

He lets us rebel. He lets us misunderstand. He lets us do and be wrong, until we come to our own understanding and start reaching out to correct our course. 

And then He doesn't get in a snit. He watches over us and helps us when we become able to accept help.

Anyway, God, if He exists, is not like mortal human authorities.

This is where the agnostic and the atheist get stuck, by the way. They refuse to see the hand of God. 

I assume that this is the exact reason for them, that God is not like mortal human authorities. God is not like they expect. And if He is not like that, then why bother?

So, instead, they see random chance and the human helping hand.

But these are the tools of God. 

He has us help each other because that's how He can bless us, that's how He can help us grow, which is the best way to help.

And chance. Some people will argue that the devil is in charge of chance. 

Not true, although that is another of the devil's false claims. Not true unless we let him be in charge of chance by making a game of chance. In chance, as in all other things, God is in control unless we give control over to the devil, and then God ultimately still overrules the devil.

No one is beyond God's help. Not even the devil.

But God will almost always refrain from helping us more than we are willing to be helped.

Almost always? Yes, almost always. Sometimes, we are so confused because of the things we have been taught by mortal humans, that we don't know how to ask for help. In those cases, He knows what we will accept when we know the truth, and will actually interfere with the ordinary course of events for us. And we usually don't see it until much time later (until which time we tend to call it random or something).

So go to God. Dig down into yourself. Throw away the false expectations, resign yourself to having to find new meanings in life and everything. 

Yeah, that's the way life is when you go to God, and it doesn't end. It shouldn't end. You shouldn't want it to end, especially not in the few years of this life. 

You should want to be always ready to let God teach you more than you knew before, because what you can learn in the few years or decades or even in centuries of this life is obviously not even beginning to get close to all the good surprises there are in store.

Well sometimes you do need a little rest, but God is faithful and will be ready again when you are.

Go to God.

語句・単語 Japanese Phrases and Words from Church Today (24th)

These are phrases and words I wrote down today during church today, picked somewhat at random.

The first part was from the Primary presentation that constituted the Sacrament (Communion) Services （聖餐会）today:

初等協会（プライマリー）

しょとうきょうかい

Primary (the Church organization for children)

 

発表　

はっぴょう

announcement, presentation

 

発表会　

はっぴょうかい

presentation, recital

 

ヒラマンの勇士のように　

ひらまんのゆうしのように

like the warriors of Helaman

 

戒めを守る　

いましめをまもる

keep the commandments

 

お祈りは神様とお話することです。　

おいのりはかみさまとおはなしすることです。

Prayer is talking with God.

 

手話　

しゅわ

sign language

 

イエスさまのように

(be) like Jesus

 

皆と一緒に勉強したい　

みなといっしょにべんきょうしたい

I want to study with everyone.

 

信仰箇条　

しんこうかじょう

Articles of Faith

 

最後に　

さいごに

finally, to end

 

「神殿に行きたい」を歌います。　

「しんでんにいきたい」をうたいます。

(We) will sing "I Want to Go to the Temple."

 

子供のようになりなさい。　

こどものようになりなさい。

become like a child

 

The second part is from the Priesthood lesson, taken from Bishop L. Todd Budge's General Conference talk from October 2021 （バッジビショップの2021年10月の総大会の話）:

清きを主に捧ぐ　

きよきをしゅにささぐ

(Give) holiness to the Lord

 

バリバリ　

ripping (sound); 

also, rip-roaring, enthusiastically

 

バリバリ働く　

ばりばりはたらく

Work like crazy

 

役職　

やくしょく

official position 

役職 generally indicates a managerial position

 

清さ　きよさ

purity, holiness

 

神聖な　

しんせいな

holy

 

物事　

ものごと

things

 

見極める　

みきわめる

distinguish, understand

 

清さを主に捧げると神聖な物事をもっと見極めることができる。

When you give holiness to the Lord, you become better able to distinguish sacred things. 

 

解決　

かいけつ

solution (to problems)

 

解決する

solve a problem

 

思いを清める　

おもいをきよめる

purify (your) thoughts

 

参加する　

さんかする

Attend, participate in

 

参入する　

さんにゅうする

attend (the temple)

 

修学旅行　

しゅうがくりょこう

school (finishing) trip

 

環境　

かんきょう

environment, conditions

 

残る　

のこる

be left

 

コミュニケーションができるような環境が残るように

... leave things so we can still communicate

以上です

About Baptism for the Dead and the Argument that the "Mormon" Temples Are Not the Same Gospel that Paul Taught, etc.

Baptism. 

Jesus invited us all to be baptized. 

We know that we cannot be saved without baptism. We know that God is merciful and just and would not condemn anyone just because they were born in the wrong place and the wrong time. 

Baptism by proxy for our dead is God's answer to that apparent injustice and is His invitation to us to learn one more way to exercise faith in Jesus Christ.

In a similar way, every doctrine of the temple simply extends the doctrines of the Gospel to the dead -- the very same Gospel as taught by Paul, Peter, Jude, John, Moroni, Mormon, Alma, Nephi, Isaiah, Moses, Enoch, Noah, and all the prophets, the very same Gospel as taught be Jesus Himself.

Otherwise, the dead would be taught a different doctrine, a different gospel, and, since we must all pass through death, we would all face a different gospel and a dilemma that would destroy us.

The doctrines of the temple ordinances are neither more nor less than bringing faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the gift of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ's own authority -- bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our dead, because without their salvation, we are as dead ourselves.