Lesson 42 - Continuing Revelation to Latter-day Prophets

THE LONG PROMISED DAY
My focus here will be Official Declaration 2 and the extension of not only priesthood to all worthy men, but extending temple blessings to everyone. 


If you want to talk or read about Correlation try Matt Bowman's chapter on Correlation in his book The Mormon People (maybe Amazon will let you read most of it).  If you want to think about the blessing of new scriptures go back and look at this. 

Please everyone read Edward Kimball's fantastic (but long) article on the revelation on the priesthood here. It is 75 pages, so start now. I would also encourage you to look at Paul Reeve's comments on Elijah Able here. I'm looking forward to his book.

Let's begin with the scriptural standard found in 2 Nephi 2:33
[God] 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.

That is something that we know. That is the Lord's standard. 

There are a lot of things that people created using their own reasoning between the reification of the priesthood ban and 1978. (If you're wondering why I sound amorphous here--read the articles above.) In 1988 on the ten year anniversary of the revelation, Elder Dallin H. Oaks made this comment: “... It’s not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we’re on our own. . . .Let’s [not] make the mistake that’s been made in the past, here and in other areas, trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that’s where safety lies.” [Dallin H. Oaks (Interview to the Associated Press, in Daily Herald, Provo, Utah, June 5, 1988)]. Things like the pre-existence hypothesis (blacks of African descent were not valiant in the pre-existence - fence sitters), the preparedness hypothesis (blacks were not prepared to receive the priesthood or the converse - other church members were not prepared to receive the priesthood), some sort of missing criteria for pre-ordination, and the heredity of curses have all been used at various times by individuals, some in authority to try and reason why there was a priesthood ban. 

Some of the reasoning of some 19th century Saints was a part of their historical context. The idea that blacks (specifically African descent) were desended from Cain was nearly ubiquitous. The line of reasoning went this way: God cursed Cain for killing Abel and placed a mark on him, Cain's descendants were black – people are assuming that the mark was blackness, blackness comes upon the canaanites so another assumption comes that the Canaanites were descendants of Cain, Pharaoh, descended from Ham and his wife Egyptus had Canaanite blood, so Cain’s blood survived the flood and although Pharaoh was blessed by Noah for righteousness. He was cursed pertaining to the priesthood (So this would make one final assumption that the denial of priesthood was independent of righteousness and must have been derived from some pre-mortal cause). Brigham Young was a part of this culture that accepted this clearly racist idea. The idea that blacks were somehow fence-sitters in pre-mortal life is entirely Mormon. We need to do a better job so that people don't just return to these old explanations when they have nothing to say. 

Elder McConkie promoted some of those opinions. Yet, after the revelation was received in June 1978 this is what he said:  

Forget everything that I have said, or that President Brigham Young or ... whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation.  We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. ...It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about [this] matter before the first day of June of this year, 1978. ... As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them.” [Bruce R. McConkie, "All Are Alike Unto God," in Charge to Religious Educators (1982), pp.152-155) Read the whole thing here.] Not a particle of difference, they were wrong. Regrettably, collectively we have not left those particles of darkness completely behind. 

If you don't believe me, how about President Hinckley from 2006: 
Racial strife still lifts its ugly head. I am advised that even right here among us there is some of this. I cannot understand how it can be. It seemed to me that we all rejoiced in the 1978 revelation given President Kimball. I was there in the temple at the time that that happened. There was no doubt in my mind or in the minds of my associates that what was revealed was the mind and the will of the Lord.

Now I am told that racial slurs and denigrating remarks are sometimes heard among us. I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ. How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color is ineligible? [“The Need for Greater Kindness,” Ensign, May 2006, 58–61.]

We do not know exactly when the ban originated, I think that Paul Reeve has a good argument with the reification of the ban in the early 20th century. But we do know a few things.

We know that Elijah Able (or Able or Ables) was a negro or a mulatto (depending on the census - racial classifications are historically constructed and therefore consistently in flux) who was baptized and ordained to the priesthood, was ordained a seventy, and wore his life out (literally) serving missions for the Lord. Elijah was washed and anointed in the Kirtland Temple, but never received temple ordinances. 

Timeline:

Sept.  1832   Baptized

3 March 1836  Ordained an Elder by Joseph Smith

1839  Ordained a 70 by Zebedee Coltrin

Pre-1877   Requested temple ordinances of Brigham Young

1879  Requested the same of John Taylor

Some have blamed the priesthood ban on Zebedee Coltrin who said Joseph taught blacks should not be ordained in 1834. Coltrin was remembering this in 1879, 45 years after the fact. One might ask if this was the case, then why did Coltrin ordain Able a 70 in 1839. Able was not the only black man to be ordained in the 19th century. 

Edward Kimball's article provides a good outline for how things progressed within the church structure and within Spencer Kimball himself that led to the 1978 revelation. Think about the transition that Apostle Kimball went through when he became Prophet. He transitioned from one was loyal and didn't seem to ask questions (in contrast with another apostle, Hugh B. Brown) to realizing nothing would happen if he didn't take it upon himself to seek out answers and petition the Lord. 

I would also encourage you to watch Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons here. (Sorry, you have to buy it.) You can also buy it here.

A bit more. By Common Consent just published a post by Paul Reeve here. He and I refer to some of the same sources, but he has a couple additions. Two that I think are particularly important from the LDS Newsroom and speak to the folklore rationale for the ban--like fence-sitters--that we need to banish. Here and here.