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)