Skin Color and Salvation Steve Dunn Hanson

Skin Color and Salvation Steve Dunn Hanson THE ROLE OF SKIN COLOR IN ONE S SALVATION. That skin color has absolutely nothing to do with one s standing before God and one s righteousness or potential is so plainly laid out in the LDS scriptures and in actual practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints as to be irrefutable. He 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 Ne 26:33). It is individual righteousness that determines ones standing before God. And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name (Alma 19:36). This doctrine is carried out in actual practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. All who are willing to make and keep sacred covenants are put under covenant with the Lord through the ordinance of baptism. As they strive to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ, to remember Him always and to keep His commandments, they are promised that they will always have His Spirit to be with them. That Spirit will sanctify them, purify them and bring to them revelation upon revelation. No skin color either qualifies or precludes one from this blessing. It is a non entity! All who are willing to make and keep sacred covenants and who are mature enough to realize the serious nature of those covenants are endowed in the House of the Lord. They promise, among other things, to obey the Lord, to be willing to follow the Savior in sacrificing on His behalf, to live all of the principles of the gospel, to be clean and pure and to recognize their responsibility as a son or daughter of God to use all of the great gifts He has given them to help further His work upon the earth. And they are, in turn, given marvelous blessings which are dependent upon them keeping their end of the agreement, and nothing else! They are cleansed from telestial taint, they are blessed to become kings and queens in Gods kingdom and to serve in the priesthood. They are given protection and knowledge that will assist them in accomplishing their own divine potential. Not one word about skin color here! This ordinance is color blind. These extraordinary promises acknowledge the Divine nature of every living soul who will follow the Lord and all that that implies. All who have made and who are keeping the covenants they made with the Lord in the temple and who are desirous of becoming a Heavenly Father or Heavenly Mother are united in a culminating sealing ordinance. Again, more covenants and promises. As we pledge and keep fidelity to our spouses and our God, we are given an infinity of blessings! We are blessed in our posterity, we are blessed in our futurity, we are blessed to become precisely as God, and all that that carries with it. You can be black, brown, Indigo, chartreuse, or pink (By the way, I have yet to see a white person even Albinos are pink!), and all that matters is that you are righteous and you are a covenant maker and keeper. What sublime doctrine! What a marvelous environment in which to raise your children. To teach them of their divine potential is to help them be productive and joyful and hopeful and righteous 1

and to make sense of this telestial tour. To be born under the covenant is to carry with it the blessings promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob as long as they are true and faithful to the covenants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is what the Church of Jesus Christ teaches. It is the opposite of racism! And there is not another church on the face of this earth that teaches such an elevating truth. There is not another church on the face of this earth that provides the means the teachings, the ordinances, the priesthood, the gift of the Holy Ghost, prophets, and the Church structure itself to elevate mankind to his and her divine potential. How could anyone give to their children a greater gift than to raise them in a home that testifies of their own divine heritage and destinies? Could there be a greater disservice given to our children than to not teach them of such a blessing both by the way we as parents live our lives and our neglect in speaking of these truths to them? The Church itself is evidence of the embracing of all as literal sons and daughters of God. At this time probably more than 50% of the Church membership is non pink! Black, brown, yellow, red. It doesn t matter. To the majority of members of the Church skin color simply does not matter! And for those where it does, they have great need of repenting. BUT THEY CANNOT JUSTIFY THEIR RACISM BY EITHER THE DOCTRINES OR PRACTICES OF THE CHURCH! SKIN COLOR AND CURSE. But what about being cursed with a dark skin? Doesn t it say that in the Book of Mormon and The Pearl of Great Price? Now that we have established that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints teaches that God is skin color blind, let s examine those scriptures in that over all context. WE NOW KNOW WITH CERTAINTY THOSE PASSAGES DO NOT STATE OR OTHERWISE IMPLY THAT HAVING A SKIN COLOR OTHER THAN PINK MEANS YOU ARE LESS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD OR THAT YOU ARE DAMNED OR ARE ETERNALLY RESTRICTED! IF THEY DID, THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL WOULD NOT NOW BE OFFERED TO ALL REGARDLESS OF RACE, NATIONALITY OR COLOR OF SKIN! What do they mean then? A careful reading of Alma 3:3 19 lays it all out. First, what does the word curse, mean. Curse is an English word. That is the word that the translator (Joseph Smith) used to best exemplify, given his own very limited vocabulary, the meaning of the actual term that was written down by Nephi or Mormon. How closely our society s interpretation of the word curse, identifies the original intent of the Book of Mormon writers in describing a particular situation remains to be seen. What is probably not in question, however, is that what happened that was described as a curse, was not a pleasant thing. As we read the word curse or cursed in context in the scriptures (particularly the latter day scriptures) we begin to better understand what Nephi and Mormon are saying here. When Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden we are told that the ground was cursed for their sakes! In other words, because of what you did, Adam and Eve, it will be necessary now for you to be put in a more difficult state than you were before, so you will grow and learn. I am your Father and what I am doing here is for your good. And you will see that it will ultimately work for your benefit, if you will let it. It seems to me that that is literally what the scriptural circumstances that we use the English word curse to describe means. That is, when the Lord curses someone or something, their lot just became harder, more difficult, so they will have the opportunity to learn and grow. THERE IS NOTHING PERMANENT ABOUT THAT KIND OF SITUATION AT ALL! It just simply means that their immediate circumstances have changed to bring about that learning process. 2

Now why could dark or black skin be considered a curse? Referring to Alma Chapter 3 we read the following: And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren... who were just and holy men. And their brethren (Laman and Lemuel) sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them.... (Alma 3:6 7). In the context of the doctrine of the Church as we discussed above, race or skin color is not a factor in determining righteousness before the Lord never has been and never will be! Therefore here, we can see that darkened skin color in and of itself was not the curse, but was simply a mark to distinguish IN THIS VERY UNIQUE AND ISOLATED INSTANCE those who were rebellious and would seek to destroy. In essence, God told Nephi I m going to make it easy for you to avoid those who would lead you astray; they will have a different color skin than you. You can easily differentiate them. At this time, you need to stay away from them. Why? This was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction. And... whoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites did bring the same curse upon his seed. Therefore, whosoever suffered himself to be led away by the Lamanites was called under that head, and there was a mark set upon him. (Alma 3:8 10). What was the curse? Spiritual isolation! They didn t have the records and they didn t have the true knowledge of who they were and who they were to become. That was the curse! And to try to keep that curse from infiltrating into the righteous progeny of Nephi and Sam and Zoram, a mark (darker skin) was put upon those who rebelled. It wouldn t take a rocket scientist to see who was who! Was their anything good or evil connected with skin color itself? No more than there is with the color of a Crayon! God could have taken any marker and accomplished the same thing. A dark skin in this environment was simply the easiest and most natural to use. To prove this point, just read on in Alma 3.... The Amlicites (rebellious Nephites)... also had a mark set upon them; yea, they set the mark upon themselves, yea even a mark of red upon their foreheads. Thus the word of God is fulfilled, for... the Lamanites have I cursed, and I will set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed, from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them (Alma 3:13 14). The curse then is always isolation from God; nothing more and nothing less. And that isolation is always brought about by the one who is ultimately isolated. And He uses different means to accomplish such a curse. And the means He uses is never the curse itself, but simply aids in the bringing about of the curse. Whether it is a red mark in the forehead, a different skin color, geography, or whatever. And since there is absolutely no qualitative statement about the means that are used, no statement of righteousness or promise can be made about any individuals (or entities) based upon the physical characteristic that the Lord used at one unique point in time or in one situation to separate out the rebellious from the righteous. For example, what happened to 1000 s of the Lamanites when they became converted because of the preaching of the sons of Mosiah? (Indeed, why did the Lord work upon the sons of Mosiah to go to the Lamanites in the first place?!) Ammon in describing them said, Has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites (Alma 26:32). And again, My brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth (Alma 26:37). No mention 3

of skin color here. And no change in skin color here! It simply was time for these descendents of Laman and Lemuel to be brought back and skin color had absolutely nothing to do with it! Several generations later Nephi the son of Helaman who was the son of Helaman said: My brethren (speaking to the Nephites) it shall be better for the Lamanites than for you except ye shall repent. For they are more righteous than you, for they have not sinned against that great knowledge which ye have received; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them; yea, he will lengthen out their days and increase their seed, even when thou shalt be utterly destroyed except thou shalt repent (Helaman 7:23 24). No pigment problem here! And finally, when the Savior came all ites were eliminated. All were one in Christ. And they were married, and given in marriage (no question but this means inter marrying between Nephites and Lamanites!) and were blessed according to the multitude of the promises which the Lord had made unto them.... Neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. (4 Ne 1:11, 17). In many ways, this describes where we are heading in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints today. We are striving to be one in Christ and leaving the ites behind. Skin color differentiation is simply a hurdle that is being overcome in this quest to become one with Christ just like we need to overcome the confusion and isolation that comes from the different languages, for example. But it will be done. It is being done! CAIN, AND THE PRIESTHOOD CURSE Why does the Lord withhold for a time the priesthood from groups of people (eg the Gentiles for several millenia, those of African descent (not blacks or browns, but those of African descent), the Lamanites for hundreds of years)? I don t know the exact answer. I know it pertains to our eternal existence and the Lord s overall plan. I also know that when a people have been denied for a time the blessings of the priesthood through no unrighteousness on their part, that ultimately they will receive the full blessings of the priesthood. In the eternal scheme of things, this experience of going without for a time merely serves as a refiner and molder and will redound to the individual s blessing. I don t worry about this pattern of exclusion and inclusion at all. I ll leave that up to the Lord. He s handled things pretty well so far! But today there has been a restoration of all of the Lord s blessings to all of His children, and I rejoice because of it. Who is a descendent of Cain? I think there is a pretty good chance that all of us are! You go back that far and the likelihood of his blood touching everyone is about 100%. And what if we are? That says nothing qualitative about us at all. It is our righteousness or unrighteousness that defines us! To say that someone is eternally cursed because of who there father or mother is, is preposterous and runs contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus Christ s grandfather and grandmother on his mother s side? David of Israel (Christ s grandfather), who committed adultery with Bathsheba (Christ s grandmother) and had her husband murdered! And what do we think of Christ?! So much for the curse of Cain! Judging another because of the color of his skin never has been of God, but rather is a result of either misunderstanding or bigotry or both. Leaders of the Church have not been immune from this fault. They have been products of the environment in which they lived just like everyone else. And their understanding, patience and eternal perspective have come to them line up line just as with all of us. As one reads carefully the Book of Mormon it appears that perhaps Nephi (son of 4

Lehi) was more caught up with skin color than record keepers and prophets who followed him. And that would be understandable given his Jerusalem background where skin color may have been a cause for discrimination. And the early leaders of the Church in our day were raised in an environment of universal racism and in many instances their recorded comments reflected that culture. But now there can be no misunderstanding. Racism is a sin. A gross sin. And is antithetical to the eternal truth of man s inherent divine potential and eternal nature. 5