Breaking news, Kwaku is black!
I am.
Breaking news, Kwaku kissed two girls this week.
It's a good thing the ban is lifted, am I right?
The Church was restored in a time of
intense racial hatred.
We're talking about people on
the pulpit saying, "Black people
will not be saved."
Yes, Christianity at the time,
there were pastors
advocating for slavery and
you had like horrible, horrible things.
Christianity, way corrupt,
you can totally see the affects
of the apostasy.
And when you think
of Jesus Christ and christianity,
you think of someone who is all inclusive.
Everyone will be saved.
Preach to the gentiles and to the Jews.
So, it's really hard to study Christianity
in the 19th century context
because there was lots of hypocrisy going on.
So it's no surprise that the leaders
of our Church at the time had
some pretty racist views.
I think we can just say that openly.
But I think it's also important to remember
that the views that they had
that were racist are not doctrine.
They're not true.
And we don't have to look at them
as if they're from God.
Exactly.
And I think it's really
important to realize that when
we're studying these things
outside of the episode, and we go
into the Church and how they
treated blacks at the time,
we need to understand that
we're not obliged to agree with everything
the prophet said in regards to his opinions.
Yeah, and that's why we have the spirit.
Yeah exactly, opinions of people
are not doctrine but doctrine will be revealed.
It's important to realize when
a prophet says, "This is doctrine."
And when they say things that
are kind of racist, there is never
a point in history where they're like,
"This is doctrine."
If opinions of Mormons was doctrine
then wearing Chacos would be
enough to send you to
the Telestial Kingdom.
And everyone would be subscribers
to Glenn Beck's show.
So when Brigham Young was prophet,
he put a ban on those black men
in the church and they
could not have access to the priesthood
which means they couldn't go to the temple,
and they couldn't receive
their endowments for exaltation.
Side note, this didn't mean
that they couldn't be baptized.
We still preached the gospel
to those of African descent at the time
so they could become members.
Yes, they could be baptized,
they had salvation.
In fact, we're one of the few churches
in the US who have never had
segregated congregations.
Which is pretty interesting.
So we've always had mixed
congregations but black people
could not hold the priesthood.
For those who have different ideas
of why the ban was in place,
who have idea of maybe it was revelation,
maybe it was tradition, maybe it was
people imposing their ideas,
maybe black people were actually cursed,
anything like that.
Elder Holland has said this,
"All I can say is however
well-intentioned the explanations were,
I think almost all of them
were inadequate and or wrong."
And he said this in regards to those
who try to justify the priesthood ban.
So, Elder Holland says
those explanations were
inadequate and or wrong.
So we don't know.
It's also important to realize
that prophets of God are not infallible humans.
They're not people that
will always speak perfection
of what Jesus Christ would want them to say.
So, Brigham Young, he was a little bit racist.
He would say a couple of things
that nowadays will kinda rub you
the wrong way.
At the time, he probably fit in
perfectly fine with society
which is unfortunate.
But I think as we look back in history,
it's great that we can say we've
become more tolerant as a society
and more accepting.
We need to realize that the prophets
of God have the keys of the priesthood.
Actually, I want to interject here for a minute.
As prejudice as the early
leader's views were, I wanna
make the argument, Kwaku's argument,
that they were much more progressive
than the other people at the time.
Just for a reference,
Brigham Young advocated for
mixed-race people, which were
controversial to exist at the time.
Being like half black, half white at the time
could've been a death sentence on the spot.
He invited them to come live
in the Mormon community
so they could be saved.
Which at the time was considered un-American.
They were so mad at him for that.
No wonder they wanted to exterminate
and kill all of us.
Yes, yes.
In fact, this is a cartoon from
Life Magazine or Life Newspaper at the time.
It shows Brigham Young holding hands
and some of them are black,
some of them are native American,
and some of them are Asian.
There are so many articles you can find
from the time period,
where people conflated Mormons
with these other problem groups.
So they were also viewed as
like the lower groups of people
and they were seen as this diverse,
progressive group that was anti-American.
So the way we look
at the Church in our lens,
we see a lot of bigotry in the past,
but the way they viewed them
was wacky and strange.
They're like, these progressive are radicals!
We also need to give kudos to Jospeh Smith
who ran for President as an abolitionist.
So, we need to realize also that time went on,
lots of people tried to justify the ban,
but the church never
said that it was doctrine.
It was just a policy that affected
the way the church operated.
And was not doctrine of Jesus Christ.
And you know what's also cool
is that I don't belong to
the Church of Wilford Woodruff.
Or Parley P Pratt or George Albert Smith.
I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Though being a part of
the Church of Joseph Smith would be
pretty tight.
No it would not!
I never want to be in that Church.
But something important
to think about is that even
Biblical patriarchs had some
not very nice beliefs.
If you look in the way some
of the prophets in the bibles
speak about the tribes,
like Canaanites and stuff,
let's just remember that
people have been very racist
always for a long time and now.
And it's only very recently
that we're trying not to be so racist.
But for the most part,
people are pretty, ya know...
So I think also if you are someone
who is black or Native American
or you ever find yourself hurt
by some of the quotes of the leaders
of the Church in the past,
it's okay to admit that
those were just not true,
that that's not doctrine.
You don't have to feel like you're sinning
to go, "Nah, I don't buy that."
It's totally fine.
It doesn't mean you should parade
around like, "Hey, let's not read
anything written by Brigham Young
or George Albert Smith,"
it just means that you can acknowledge
that those things aren't true
and they don't have to
penetrate your faith.
Don't push them not try to think
about them cause that's not very healthy.
Just for clarification,
when we say that prophets
said things about blacks that
were racist and we say,
"That's just not true,"
we're not saying that
they didn't say those things,
what we're saying is that it's not doctrine.
Don't belittle your testimony
when you're studying these things.
Understand that history and
context can be faith affirming points
of doctrine that you can understand
that I'm reading this so that I can
understand how
the church of Jesus Christ was restored,
what happed so that I can
give them a valid answer.
Sometimes we think,
"I don't really want to talk about this.
Or I don't wanna read into
blacks and the priesthood because
it's kind of uncomfortable for me."
It should be uncomfortable
because it's a little weird.
But it shouldn't be uncomfortable
to get to the bottom of the truth.
I think it's really important
that a testimony should be built
on questions that you want
to understand and have revelation
through the Holy Ghost.
I also wanna say that there
are a lot of comments,
a lot of them are from
ex members or those who don't
like our church who always tell me,
"How on earth can you be a part
of a church that has this history?"
Well if black people weren't in an
organization that had any racist ties in the
past, we literally would not belong to anything.
We wouldn't be American.
I couldn't be American, I couldn't go to college,
I couldn't' do like anything I want to do.
So let's just toss that argument out the window.
And also, if you're watching this and you're
black, you have to remember that a lot of
times the people who are attacking this church,
who are using this point, it's not that they're
this crusaders for racial justice, they just
don't like Mormons and they're going to use
any point they can.
And it's also not like if you leave the church
then all racism just disappears and we live
in Bill Cosby sitcom.
It's just not how it happens,
it's just not life.
You can be a faithful member of the church.
In fact, I'm going to go out on a leg and
say that this is the best church for black
people because this is the best church for
all of God's children because it is the restored
church.
It's important to realize too that the church
helps everyone realize their divine potential.
That all are alike unto God: Black, white,
male, female... all are the same blood, all
are of the same line of the plan of salvation
and so lots of people like to say, "Well,
the church back then put a ban on blacks."
Well, in 1978 this ban was lifted through
many years of praying, many years of searching
for revelation.
And you could go into the context of the times,
you know, the church wouldn't get their "tax
reduction" and things like that.
Which is kinda hullabaloo story.
People just make rumors to make it seem way
bigger than it actually was.
The ban was lifted, there was a period of
time of blacks not having the priesthood,
but the church has realized that
that was wrong.
And now is the time to bring people together
because we're preparing for the second coming.
So Bruce R. McConkie who was someone who actually
had a history of certain racist quotes, when
the revelation came, he did what an apostle
does and he said this, among other things,
"There are statements in our literature by
the early brethren which we have interpreted
to mean that negroes would not receive the
priesthood in mortality.
I have said the same things and people write
me letters and say, 'You said such-and-such.
How is it now that we do such-and-such?'
And all I can say is that it is time disbelieving
people repented and got in line and believed
in living, modern prophet.
Forget everything 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 has now
come into the world."
I love how he says repent and believe in a
living prophet that receives revelation.
Throughout history people receive light line
upon line, precept upon precept and I think
it's important to realize that even now,
the Church is receiving revelations that we're
not a perfect people but we're building a
perfect organization as we receive revelation.
I will say I personally have no doubt that
Heavenly Father is going to bless those of
the black members who have died before the
priesthood ban, he's not going to not let
them have the blessings that they should have
been entitled to.
That is the purpose of the spirit world.
It is a time for repentance, preparation,
but also for those who did not even have the
gospel to receive it.
Something and the most important point we
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Yeah.
Also, hey, we're about to cover the Book of
Mormon and the dark skin curse and the Lamanites
and things like that so watch that video because
I know you're going to comment about it.
We're going to do it.
You'd be surprised.
There's actually lots of things we take out
of how the Book of Mormon preaches against
prejudices.
it really does.
I know you're laughing right now.