Mormonism Unravelled: Blacks and the Priesthood

So last night I watched Brian Williams Rock Center: Mormon in America on NBC.  After watching that I decided I need to take it upon myself to clarify the many misunderstandings about my religion.  While I definitely don't have all of the answers, I can at least find answers to most questions I believe.  Right now I want to talk about a problem a lot of people have: that Blacks were denied the priesthood until 1978.

Many people say the Church is racist because of this, which I think is ridiculous.  No on really knows where the Priesthood Ban started, oddly enough.  This tells me one thing: It was not necessarily a commandment from God.

Let's go back in history for a minute to the time of Joseph Smith.  He was a very caring man who believed all men were created equal and that slaves should be free.  He actually ran for President on an Anti-Slavery agenda and told the Abolitionists that their extremist ways of getting things done were not helping the slaves at all.  He said everyone was to be allowed in the Kirtland Temple regardless of gender or race and many blacks were expected to work inside the Nauvoo Temple.  In 1836 Joseph Smith, himself, ordained a black man to be an Elder, meaning he received the Priesthood.

Later this black man, Elijah Abel, was to receive his washings and anointings (a temple ceremony) in the Kirtland temple and he did Baptisms for the Dead as well.  He was also ordained a Seventy, which is a General Authority of the Church.  However, when he made the request to receive his Endowment in the Temple, Brigham Young denied him.  He was later denied a second time by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Abel is not the only black man to have been baptized and receive the Priesthood in the early church, but he seems to have had the most 'authority.'

Many people speculated for the reasons blacks could not receive the Priesthood (although a few actually did through out the 1900's).  One reason that was perpetuated, but never accepted as doctrine, was that they were decedents of Cain, so they were denied the Priesthood as punishment.

In 1900 President Lorenzo Snow stated that he wasn't sure if the explanations for the Ban were revelation or just personal opinion.

Keep in mind, while all of this is going on African Americans are unable to get fair treatment ANYWHERE in the country, it is not just the LDS Church.  Remember in Arkansas the National Guard was sent to prevent black students from entering the high school.  Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus.  And who can forget Dr. Martin Luther King Jr leading the march on Washington and giving up his life for civil rights?  This all happened a short time before the revelation came in 1978 to allow blacks to have the priesthood.

I do believe the Priesthood Ban had a reason, but I do not believe it was because Blacks needed to be punished for who their millionth great grandfather was.  I do not believe it was because Blacks are unequal to whites.  (Joseph Smith also said that the only reason Blacks were inferior was because the racist environment made them that way.  He said that if they had been allowed a level playing field, they would be on exactly the same plain as whites.)

Are you ready for my explanation?

 ****DISCLAIMER*****  

This is completely my opinion and could be completely wrong.

I believe the Priesthood Ban came into play because certain white men had personal opinions that blacks were inferior.  The Gospel is perfect, the Church is perfect, but the people who are running the church are only human.  They make mistakes just like the rest of us.  Okay, so why did it take so long for this to be undone?  One reason, I think, was that it was a test of faith.  Another reason was that the people in the Church were not ready to allow blacks the Priesthood.  We are taught that we receive revelation 'line upon line, precept upon precept.'  This means that we only receive additional revelation, or information about certain things when we are ready to hear it.  The people in the Church were not ready for it, and those black members who stayed faithful even though their white peers were imperfect were obviously much stronger in their faith than all of those who weren't ready for equality.

Moral of the Story:  The Gospel is Perfect; the people in the Gospel are not.


(The facts in this blog were taken from this website, or they are stuck in my head from past studies)

9 days left...

Not spending money is getting harder and harder... but with just over a week left it makes me want to finish it more than ever.  The best thing about this month so far has definitely been the lack of food waste.  I just read an article that said Americans waste 40% of their food on average, including leftovers that never get eaten and veggies that sit in the fridge and rot before they are used.  I know my husband and I are guilty of a lot of food waste and I hope this month helps us to be more careful in the future. Because we haven't bought any food (besides milk) we have been much more careful about using our veggies before they go bad and eating leftovers the next day.  Our chickens get whatever veggies we don't eat, so it does get to us eventually too.

We ran out of bread toward the beginning of the month, so I decided to try my hand at baking some.  In the past I have tried to use the bread machine that my mom got rid of and it just doesn't want to work for me.  I can't figure out why... maybe it's the flour I use?  Anyway, I took this opportunity to really bake break.  I made this recipe last week and it was delicious, but not good for toast or grilled sandwiches.  Because of the way you roll it into a log it tends to fall apart in swirls when crispy.  I do think it will make an amazing cinnamon swirl bread, though.  Can't wait to try that!  Yesterday I tried a new bread recipe.  Today I used this bread to make me a grilled cheese sandwich using provolone cheese and a fresh roma tomato from my garden.  It was delicious!  The crust seemed a tiny bit thick, but it tasted oh so good!  I think next time I will just slice the bread a little thinner and that problem will be fixed.

Does anybody out there have a bread recipe that they just love???

Zucchini Lasagna

As you know, our family is doing a No Spend Month right now (we are over half way done, wahooo!).  We also are overloaded with zucchini from our garden, so I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest finding recipes to use our zucchini in.  A few weeks ago I came across this pin for Zucchini Lasagna and had to try it.  We didn't have any ravioli on hand, but I did have a few bags of tortellini in our freezer so just used those.  After I had it all ready to go in the oven I realized that we were actually supposed to be at a dinner party in 10 minutes, so I tossed it in the fridge (my brain seems to have disappeared this week...).  After realized that we wouldn't be able to eat it for a few more days because of other commitments I left in in the freezer for a few days.

Finally, Wednesday came and we were able to eat our lasagna!  Because it was frozen I ended up cooking it for about 80 minutes instead of 20 (I just checked the internal temperature about every 20 minutes).  It was delicious though!  The zucchini added something slightly sweet to the pasta.  Everybody loved it, even my daughter!  Nothing ended up on the floor that night, although she did take a bite of zucchini and spat it right back out.  That piece must have been too soggy for her).  I did find that reheating it a few days later did not do the zucchini well.  It did get mushy after a while, but that first night was delish!

Tonight's dinner: Turkey Parmegiana!  Turkey steaks are about the only meat we have left so I'll be finding creative ways to use that the rest of the month.  As a side we'll have zucchini fries and perhaps some nice bruschetta with the simple homemade bread I made today!

Boiled Peanuts!

As you may know, my DH is from the South.  Georgia to be specific.  I don't know how many of you have ever visited the South, but it is like an entirely different world down there (much like Utah is entirely different from any where else in the US).  From their etiquette to their hospitality to their accents you find warm acceptance (however, they do expect you to show the same etiquette and hospitality... which can be scary!) that you would be hard pressed to find other places.  And then, you can't forget, their cuisine.  From Fried Chicken to Grits to Fried... anything.  You wonder how people come up with these things!  One thing in particular that got me saying, "What the....?!" was Boiled Peanuts.

I read somewhere that Boiled Peanuts were 'invented' during the Civil War.  The war was rough on the Confederates.  They didn't have near the supplies that the North was able to gather, and they ran out of food frequently.  One thing that there always seemed to be an abundance of was peanuts (which are grown down there if you didn't know...) so the starving soldiers decided to boil some up.  Low and behold there were delicious and are now a Southern specialty!

It wasn't until my third or fourth visit to Georgia that the hubby introduced me to them, and I admit I was hesitant to try them.  We pulled up to a roadside stand on our way to his grandmother's house and he came back with a styrofoam cup full of steaming Boiled Peanuts.  I watched DH eat one before I tried.  He sucked on the shell then slurped the nuts out, so I attempted to do the same.  It took a while to get used to the process but boy were they good!  It's like a potato chip.  Once you start eating them, you can't eat just one.

I got to thinking, "Hmmmmm, peanuts that are boiled.  That can't be too hard to make!  I'm gonna try!" I googled it and found a variety of different recipes.  I found a Paula Deen recipe and decided to try it. It didn't quite work.... It said the peanuts should only take 2 hours to cook.... They weren't ready 6 hours later.... so we let them cook overnight.  By morning they were done, but waaaay too salty (I added one cup of salt... for one pound of peanuts).

For my second attempt I started them much earlier so I could keep an eye on them.  They started around noon, and I only added 1/4 cup of salt this time.  At 5 we had to leave for a few hours and they weren't done, so we lowered the heat and left them.  We got back at midnight and they were perfect (although I think they could have used a tad more salt... maybe 1/2 cup?)!  Unfortunately by then we couldn't just sit and snack on them, so we strained them and put them in the fridge until morning.  When we got them out we boiled them for 10 more minutes to heat them up and have been snacking on them ever since!  Delicous!

Proving Pinterest: Magic Eraser for the Toilet

Today's Proving Pinterest is a bummer... The advice I tried was that if you put a piece of Magic Eraser in the toilet and leave it over night it will get rid of the ring.  I only had a small, faded ring, but I have been scrubbing for a year and that thing won't go away!  Unfortunately, this did nothing for it either.  It may work for rings that are less stained, but not for mine.  I did find another toilet cleaning remedy that requires a bit more elbow grease that I will try soon and get back to you on...

On a happier note!  I woke up today and it was a gorgeous day!  This summer has been hot and miserable so far, which has made it hard to get motivated to get anything done.  Today was cloudy, with a little bit of rain and a nice breeze.  It was perfect!  I got up and had breakfast, then my daughter was wonderful and entertained her self while I cleaned the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.  Then I made some zucchini bread and muffins and began my second attempt at Boiled Peanuts (have you tried them.... yum!) while she ate lunch.  All of this was before nap time!  I was astonished at what I could get done if I just did it instead of sitting there telling myself to be productive.  There is a lot more I want to get done, but It is all organizational stuff that I am still trying to figure out.  Some of this will probably have to wait until No Spend Month is over.

I have all sorts of ideas for what I want to do with my yard and house, and all sorts of things I need to buy in order to make those things happen.  So I am taking this opportunity of not spending money to shop anyway!  I am pricing all the things I would like to buy for the yard or the house so I can know if I see a good sale price and so I can budget appropriately for my projects.  This No Spend Month has been hard... and we are only 10 days in.... but It is already so worth it.

We just refinanced our house.  We thought we were going to have to bring about $800 to closing... well because of all sorts of reasons we ended up having to bring $1350.  That completely cleaned out our bank accounts and cash on hand (I think we have about $40 left), so the fact that we hadn't spent any money this month really saved us.  Next week we'll have money again, thank goodness, and we'll have a refund from our Escrow account coming soon so we'll be okay, but right now I am so thankful we decided to not spend any money this month!

Yesterday, as a throw together meal I made a stir-fry like my mom used to, and it was surprisingly good!  I just threw some vegetables that were left over from dinner the other night, and some hamburger, into some cooked beef flavored Top Ramen, then added the flavoring to all of it and it was delicious!

No Spend Month: Week 1

So far so good!  It has been hard, but we have not spent a penny this month (besides bills at least)!  Meals have been difficult to come up with, but we have managed.  I have a feeling the end of the month will be even harder.  I'm going to be looking up recipes for things we have in our garden.  This week my mom invited us over for pizza once, and we eat at her house every Sunday, so we had 2 meals taken care of for us.  Other than that we have had some frozen soup we had on hand, tuna sandwiches, grilled cheese and tomato soup, turkey sandwiches, and our most creative meal: zucchini pizza.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and figured we'd try it since we had everything for it.

Boy was it delicious!  And my daughter, who for some reason refuses to eat zucchini in whatever form we give it to her besides bread, loved it!  This recipe is definitely a keeper!  The best part?  I think in a mini-version these would make the cutest hors d'Oeuvres for a get-together!  The recipe is right here so enjoy!!!

Proving Pinterest: Keeping Brown Sugar Soft

Growing up my mom always stuck a piece of bread in with our brown sugar to keep it soft, so that's what I did too when I moved out.  It really works, but the downside is you have to change the bread often.  It dries out really fast and then pieces of the bread tend to crumble off and get mixed up with your sugar.

Recently my mom has bought a little clay.... thing.... that she just soaks in water for a while and then it will keep her bread soft for so long before she does it again.   She said she has to do that really often as well, though.  I was thinking about buying one of those when I came across a tip on Pinterest.  It suggested putting a marshmallow in with your brown sugar to keep it soft.

A month or so ago I had one marshmallow left in a bag I wanted to get rid of so I just threw it in with my brown sugar.  I was amazed at how well it works!  I have had to refill my container of brown sugar, but I am still using the same marshmallow.  It has gotten slightly more firm, but the marshmallow is still soft as can be and doing wonders for my sugar!

Do you guys have any other tips for keeping things fresh in your kitchen?