One of my favorite blogs on the blogroll is Jesus’ General. The General’s satirical wit always leaves me laughing as he pretends to be a wingnut hypoChristian warrior while not-so-subtly skewering the pro-life folks who gladly support murder and warfare, the so-called Christians who eagerly judge homosexuals and other sinners, and the alleged conservatives who never met a budget they couldn’t bust.
Today the General had an excellent post regarding the Mormon history of treatment of the American Indians. Since I grew up in North Utah (read: Southern Idaho) and was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (golden oxen, holy underwear, and all that) I’m always excited to hear some of the dirt on Christianity’s wackiest branch.
My favorite thing about the Mormons is the ability of their prophets to have scripture-changing revelations at the most convenient times. When Utah was begging for statehood, the US kept refusing based on the Mormon’s teaching of polygamy. But then, just as life on the frontier was getting real difficult, their prophets suddenly had a divine revelation that told them they no longer needed to practice polygamy. Hallelujah!
Another convenient revelation came around the time of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. Mormon teaching told of how dark skin was the mark of Cain, therefore the dark peoples of the world were inherently less holy than their white brethren. Because of this, dark-skinned Mormons were refused any position of power within the church. But lo, as the political pressure of Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement was bearing down, another revelation came to bear, saying that now black skin was not the evil mark and blacks could become bishops.
The General points out another, ahem, whitewash of Mormon doctrine. A verse in the Book of Mormon (or as I like to call it, “The Bible II: Adventures in North America”) tells about how through the church’s influence and the guidance of the lord, the dark-skinned people will become whiter and whiter, to the delight of the lord. Here’s the verse:
2 Nephi 30:6 And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and delightsome people.
And all this time you thought Michael Jackson was a Jehovah’s Witness…
Anyway, in another case of divine revelation, the word “white” in that verse was replaced in 1981 with the word “pure”. Isn’t it nice to live by the infallible word of a god who is willing to make periodic edits to his gospel?
Do yourself a favor and go check out the General’s post (use the Original Article link below). And ask the next Mormon you meet about the 1857 Morning Meadows Massacre.
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