Why do Mormon's think black people are cursed with dark skin?

Question

Of course I would eventually get to this embarassing detail Mormons don't like to discuss - and these come straight from the Book Of Mormon. What lame excuse can you guys come up with now? Oh, don't forget in 1978 the "Mormon God" changed his mind.......again.

“...wherefore, as they were white, and exceeding fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a SKIN OF BLACKNESS to come upon them.”
(Book of Mormon, page 61, 2 Nephi 5, verse 21)

“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...” (Book of Mormon, page 201, Alma 3, verse 6)

“...for this people shall be scattered, and shall become a DARK, a filthy, and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us,...” (Book of Mormon, page 468, Mormon 5, verse 15)

Answer 1

According to a prophecy in the Book of Mormon, American Indians would become “white and delightsome” if they join the Mormon Church. The Mormons believe that the dark skin of the Indians was a curse God put on their ancestors, which would be lifted if they became Mormons. But in 1978, Spencer Kimball, the church president, “announced a revelation from God,” and the church “scrapped a racial doctrine that prevented blacks from holding the priesthood,” says a recent New York Times report. So now, in a new edition of the Book of Mormon, the passage in question reads “pure and delightsome” instead. A church official said that “the word ‘white’ was an editing error and that Mr. [Joseph] Smith intended to have the prophecy use the word ‘pure.”’

Answer 2

We don't know the reason for why people have different color of skin. These passages were talking about the Laminites that were going against God. They were cursed so people would know who they were.

We don't think they are cursed, or that their skin is the color it is because of something they did. That is the way they were born, and EVERYONE, no matter what color their skin is, is a child of God.

We don't think that their skin will turn white after death, or that they will be made white once they are pure enough. That's just dumb!!! They are who they are supposed to be. There are many faithful LDS people out there who aren't white! Some are more faithful then a lot of the caucasian people I know!

Although we don't know the full meaning of the reasons why african-american men couldn't hold the priesthood, that time is over, and we don't worry about that now. Bruce R. McConkie said this about this issue:There are statements in our literature by the early brethren which we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things. . . . All I can say to that is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon 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. We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness, and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don't matter any more. It doesn't make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the ***** matter before the first day of June of this year [1978]. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the gentiles.

We do not teach that race is something good or bad. There is nothing that says that just because you are of X skin color, you are evil, or cursed. We don't think that way. Of course, you will always get people of any religion who are racist, so I can't speak for everyone.

Answer 3

People of color shouldn't worry. Their skin can lighten if they are good and repentant - like this group: Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 2:15 And their curse was taken from them and their skin became white like unto the Nephites. (The Lamanites' curse was dark skin from the sin of Cain) Prophet after Mormon Prophet has reaffirmed that you can't believe in the LDS church unless you accept the truth of the Book of Mormon. It is primarily the tale of 2 peoples, one described as ":white and delightsome" and one described as "dark and loathsome", "filthy", etc. They fight to the death. They are precursors to Native American tribes. There is just no way to 'spin' this to get rid of it. It was written as a racial parable. In another standard work (book of doctrine), those who are seeds of Ham cannot hold the priesthood - which means you can't get to live with God after you die as well. The Mormons I know are not racists. Many don't even remember life before 1978 when the 'revelation' came along to equalize Blacks. It isn't the members of the church that are the problem here. It's the basic theology. It raises white straight men to a whole new level.

Answer 4

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RE:
Why do Mormon's think black people are cursed with dark skin?
Of course I would eventually get to this embarassing detail Mormons don't like to discuss - and these come straight from the Book Of Mormon. What lame excuse can you guys come up with now? Oh, don't forget in 1978 the "Mormon God" changed his mind.......again.

“...wherefore,...

Answer 5

The early Mormons all came from Protestant churches, they continued to believe in the Curse of Black skin. Brigham Young was too.

Answer 6

I have read the Book of Mormon so I know what you mean. It is also in the Bible about Cain being cursed with a dark skin.
I don't really understand it myself.
I am white and fair and all that but still idle! I think I am not that delightsome! My husband is dark (and tall and handsome) and he works hard as most men do for their families. He could be a descendant of the Lamanites.
Most 'Mormons' (LDS) I know are actually quite dark. We believe they are quite blessed. If you read the rest of the Book of Mormon, you will see how the white people were all killed off and they were proud in their hearts and the darker people were blessed of the Lord. So there you go. What is important is that you believe in the Lord.

Answer 7

You need to dig a bit further to get at the truth.

The verses you cited talk about the Lamanites (ie ancestors of Native Americans) receiving dark skin to distinguish them from the Nephites. It says nothing about peoples of African blood. Nor does it say that all cases of dark skin are a mark of a curse.

The Curse of Ham was a common belief among Protestants in the early 1800s. The book of Genesis says that Ham exposed his father's nakedness, so Noah cursed him and his descendants (most notably Canaan) - and most Protestants of the early 1800s believed that cursed excluded Canaan from the Priesthood. It has been speculated that this is the reason people of African blood were denied the priesthood in the LdS Church until 1978.

Answer 8

Mormonism started out in western NY, moved to Ohio, then Missouri, Illinois and finally Utah. Never were any sermons preached directly to blacks, and the only reason any were baptized is they started as 'property' of the white members. The church has always been 'ethno-european' based, and even their 'conversions' of the american indians and polynesians were given with the promise of turning lighter skinned.

So, it's cultural, born of white people for white people and trying to stay with the times. They're getting better at it now that McConkie, Benson, Peterson and Fielding-Smith have been silenced.

>>Miranda J: FYI: Melanin is a pigment produced in the skin cells that causes skin coloration. An amino acid, tyrosine, is converted to melanin through a series of complex chemical steps in the skin cells. This process may be affected by heredity, heat, trauma, solar or ionizing radiation, heavy metals, and other factors. Pigment production and distribution in the body is regulated in part by hormones or god playing around.

Answer 9

Well, that's their explanation of how there came to be black people. It's not a very good one, but at least they have one. I once asked how creationist Christians think black people came to be and no one could answer me

edit: like they're another species? um no I'm talking about genetics. If Adam and Eve were white, and everyone else are their descendants, where did black people come from? Or if Adam and Eve aren't white- opposite question. I asked this question a while ago and didn't get an answer

Answer 10

I don't know about Mormons, but the idea that blacks have a 'curse' goes way back to the time of Noah. Ham, the father of Canaan, looked upon his father's nakedness(Noah), and so Noah cursed his son Canaan. The children of Ham eventually went into the southern region, which is now Africa.
That is probably where their belief stems from.