Book Of Mormon-Change In Belief?

In 1978, LDS leaders declared God said that Blacks were no longer cursed. In 1981, changes were made to the Book of Mormon and 'white' became 'pure'. Unfortunately, many passages still refer directly to skin color, as do passages in the "Pearl of Great Price", another book of canonized LDS scripture.

Frankly, I find the idea that pure means white to be just as offensive.

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 2:15

"And their curse was taken from them and their skin became white like unto the Nephites."

LDS President and Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, Oct. 1960:

“The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos; five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.... At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl-sixteen sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents on the same reservation, in the same Hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.”

He forgot to mention the glowing part.

Actually, it was Joseph Smith himself who made that change, so people wouldn't think it was meant in a racial way.

2 Nephi 30:6 (1830 edition): "...they shall be a white and a delightsome people."

2 Nephi 30:6 (1840 edition): "...they shall be a pure and a delightsome people."

I've known a few black members that were so full of spiritual light that "white and delightsome" was a fair description.

It's really a generational thing. Mormons of past generations taught one idea, that black skin was a curse. But over the years as attitudes regarding racial issues changed, so too did Mormon beliefs. and now, an entire generation of Mormons has grown up never knowing that the church once practiced a gospel of racism. Therefore they honestly say that they have never believed that white meant the physical flesh, because for as long as they have been alive, they have only known it in a metaphorical sense. They aren't taught what the church preached 50 years ago, they are only taught what the church preaches today.

The same goes for teachings of homosexuality. Today same-sex relationships are evil, and must be destroyed. The Mormons must do everything in their power to keep those gays and lesbians from getting married, because as we know, it's a proven fact that a single gay wedding will rip apart the very fabric of the space-time continuum, and bring human society to a crashing halt. 50 years from now Mormons will be teaching that all humans should be accepted as equals, regardless of race, sex, or sexual orientation. Then, when that happens, the new generation will adamantly deny that the Mormon church ever taught that homosexuality was a sin.

It's a generational thing.

I think we as humans are overly sensitive to matter regarding color and race since we differ very little physically in any other way. If white is a color and Black is a color (technically the the sum total of all colors and the absence of color respectively) then somebody will come along and capitalize the word White and not black. We're just like that. We have a history of fighting over anything. Now as a God, how could you have color and make people different colors without having somebody unhappy of the associations ascribed by humans (in our limited and prejudiced and defensive, combative nature)?

All of us (even unbelievers) would do well to read the account of how God dealt with racial prejudice. When Mariam (Moses' sister) and Aaron took issue with Moses' being married to a Moabite (a woman of color) then God cursed Mariam with leprosy - one of the symptoms being paper white skin. In her diseased state - she became whiter than white. It seems God has a sense of humor. This account is recorded in the 12th chapter of Numbers, but rarely have I heard a minister (Black or white) preach on it.

I purposely capitalized White sometimes and not Black sometimes and sometimes the complete opposite to prove a point. I know many if not most of the readers were paying attention to which one I capitalized. We can't help it. We are wretched mortals in the face of a righteous and just God.

We trip over stOOpid stuff.

White has always been considered (both in and out of the LDS religion) to have reference to purity. While being metaphorical in nature, the idea of white being pure is still a principle of the Gospel as we teach it. It should be noted that when a person is affected by the spirit of God, they tend to "glow" in a way that we find it difficult to describe. Moses would return from conversing with God and would appear to be glowing (reference: Old Testament). The idea is not new, nor is it limited to LDS thinking or teaching.

It really does have to do with the outward "appearance" of the affected person. The tendency to "glow" with the spirit is noticeable to those who are attuned to see such things -- I am not, and therefore, do not know how to recognize it. But others can.

It was taught as literal. Read the Journal of Discourses and see what Brigham Young and the others taught about that. It is clear that the leaders of the church taught that it was not a spiritual change that took place!

In the Bible it says that "tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow".

Some people mis understand things. Go figure!

The Mormon history is a wonderous thing indeed, paralleling the growth of our own country, the US. However, the LDS religion is false, founded by a con-artist scam man. Nothing about Mormonism is true. Nothing about any religion is true. There is no god, or in the case of Mormonism, there are no gods.

I can testify i saw god and he told me to tell you that you need to wear bananas on your head, but unless i can perform a MIRACLE, i am not to be believed. A miracle that is proven and undeniable, not a sideshow illusion or testimonies of loonies.

Gold plates in a hat.

Nuff said.

Not that any other major religion makes much more sense.