Social & Culturalracepriesthoodrevelationequality

Race, the Gospel, and the Church

How should Latter-day Saints understand the former priesthood and temple restriction, the 1978 revelation, and the gospel’s teaching that all are alike unto God?

Bible

They quote this

Bible · Acts 10:34–35

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

NRSVUE
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.”

Our explanation

God is no respecter of persons. That verse judged us — and it judges the slander that we still teach a curse.

How we read it

God is no respecter of persons. That verse judged us — and it judges the slander that we still teach a curse. Keep reading. The rest of the Bible is still in the room.

The Bible answers

Bible · Acts 17:26

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

NRSVUE
From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon answers

2 Nephi 26:33
He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.
Our explanation
He denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female.

Modern Revelation

Official Declaration 2
He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple.
Our explanation
All worthy males. We published the reversal as revelation.

Ancient witnesses

Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.

Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa) on Isaiah 2:2

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains… and all nations shall flow unto it.

The Great Isaiah Scroll, a century or more before Christ, already carries the biblical vision of all nations coming to the Lord’s house. Qumran’s own community could be fiercely particular; the prophetic text they copied was not. Acts 10 and 2 Nephi 26:33 stand in that same stream: the God of Israel is the God of every people.

Faithful answers

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Race and the Priesthood

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The essay is the Church’s own account, and it is the place to begin. A few Black men were ordained in Joseph Smith’s day. Brigham Young announced a restriction in 1852. Later leaders advanced theories about premortal valiancy, a curse, and interracial marriage. None of those theories is accepted as doctrine today. The 1978 revelation opened priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy members. Racism is a sin. The Book of Mormon already said all are alike unto God.

Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.

Scripture first: God is no respecter of persons, and all are alike unto Him.
The restriction was real; pretending otherwise helps no one.
Folk explanations are not the gospel and have been disavowed.
The 1978 revelation is received as revelation, not as a public-relations surrender.

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FAIR Latter-day Saints

Race and priesthood questions

FAIR Latter-day Saints

Critics treat the restriction as proof that the Church is not Christ’s. That argument would also unchurch ancient Israel, which had its own limits on temple and lineage, and it ignores both the Book of Mormon’s universal invitation and the 1978 revelation. Honesty about a hard history is not the same as handing the microphone to those who want the history without the repentance, the disavowal, or the Savior.

A living church can receive more light. A dead accusation cannot. The Restoration’s trajectory is Acts 10, not racial folklore.

Joseph Smith’s record is not the later restriction; conflating them is a polemic.
Condemning racism is required of every Saint, including in how we retell this history.

Read the original

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