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I agree. Especially as the second half of the quote is, to paraphrase, if we were in their situation we would be like that too. And they would be perfectly reasonable in ours. As for the topic at hand, skimming the thread it is a hard topic to truly get your head around. Understanding why God would permit, let alone require, such a rule is hard and I don't mind saying that I am uncomfortable with it having been a thing. For myself, I manage by remembering a few key points. First, whether I agree with the policy or not Brigham Young as the Prophet did have the authority to make such a declaration and have it be binding. He as President of the Church was authorised to do so. I like to think he would not do so without divine guidance but his authority was there. And once bound it would take a similar prophetic decision to unbind it. So even if Brigham made a mistake (which I do not endorse truly) once done and entrenched it would be hard to reverse. Second, Brigham young is quoted as saying that the ban was never intended to last forever so even from the start it was taught as temporary. And third, the world of the Mid 19th Century mid west is very different to mine now. Race relations were a different thing and Slavery was commonplace worldwide. The needs of the church were different. None of this makes me glad it happened, or any less glad the practice ended. I wish it had sooner. As for official discussions, the most official statement from Church Leaders I know of (First Presidency statements about the priesthood ban - FAIR) reinforces that the ban was never forever. The 1949 statement does suggest that the people affected are descendants of Cain, and does state that our pre-mortal life has something to do with it. It does not however endorse the idea that the reason for the ban was pre-mortal sin, just that our pre-mortal life affects our mortal one and that those spirits who would be born under the ban thought it was worth it to come. Even this is not definitive as to the whys. It really is for me a matter of faith. Of all the topics in church history this and Polygamy are the big ones. I am glad the ban was lifted before I was born, and I am glad that church leaders are willing to say "we don't know why it was done, but it was and we try to trust God in that". Any apologetics for the ban will feel hollow to someone hurt by it and I get that.

I am part of a small branch (30-40 each week) where we have good people but not many of them. We are all very familiar with the issue of using the same few people for assignments, talks, callings and the like. I am the Elder's Quorum President but teach Sunday School as often as not. And in my Quorum there are only a few active, available brethren who could lead the lesson and avoid it being the EQP power hour. To some extent it is natural. You need to have speakers for example and so having reliable people who are willing and able to step up is a useful thing. Brother So and So and Sister Whomever are great people and we can rely on them. So in a pinch you do. But fighting the urge and temptation is important. Making sure you take the time to specifically include people who are outside the normal list. I remember when discussing callings in a Bishopric meeting (I was Clerk then) they starting by writing up every single eligible person in the Ward. We then logically went through discussing names, pros and cons and whittling it down. And then we prayed about it and would not issue the calling unless all 5 of us felt able to support it. That was a lesson to me in how to do things. At the very least writing down EVERY name and going through them one by one was time consuming but worth it. We had to talk about every single person and it helped us avoid just the people we knew were generally helpful and willing. I won't say we ever got a thunderbolt revelation, but I did feel surprisingly strong confirmations of choices I had not been in favour of on occasions.

I have thought over your post about justice that was askew from my thinking. I have long associated justice as an enviable consequence rather than punishments or maledictions for bad behavior and blessings or benedictions for good behavior. My thinking was along the lines that justice is an independent principle that G-d could utilize but not control. After deeper considerations on this subject, I have determined that my thinking was incomplete and easily leads to misunderstandings. The problem that I had to resolve is a determination of what is justice and how is justice defined. There is a relationship between the words justice and judgement. There is possibly a relationship between justice and consequence but the two are not the same. I will now put forward that there is also a relationship between G-d and justice. That justice cannot exist unless there is a G-d. In essence that in order for someone to not believe in G-d it is inevitable that they cannot believe in Justice. The foremost example of this is Satan and his disbelief or rejection of G-d forces a belief of or in injustice. But there us much more to justice. In order for there to be justice there has to be law. It is through the law that G-d is able to bring justice. Associated with law is the ordinance of the law and the covenant of the law. This is where justice and mercy are joined – because G-d, out of his mercy provides the law. Then it is by obedience to the law and the covenant of law that one enters into and accepts that brings blessings or benefits. Transgression of the law carries a punishment which is a loss of blessings. We are to understand that without obedience to Celestial Law one cannot have or receive of the Celestial blessings or glory. The other things that we need to understand is that there is no kingdom, place or space in which there is no Law. This means that even in Satan’s kingdom that is called “Outer Darkness” there are laws that define that kingdom that are provided through the mercy of G-d. If there was no G-d there would be no kingdom, no place or any space. Scripture tells us that the judgments of G-d are just and true. I believe this would indicate that when be stand before G-d for judgment that truth will be established according to the law we have made covenant to live and be judged by. This truth will be known by all the are sealed by the law to the glory of the covenant we make. This is why be become one with G-d and Christ and the Saints through the Celestial law, ordinances and covenants. It is Celestial law that is the glory of G-d and all those that are obedient to Celestial law. It is Celestial law that defines mercy – not just to those that abide by Celestial law but those that are obedient to whatever law they receive because of Celestial mercy. The Traveler

This gave me an entirely new perspective on faith crises, how to avoid them, how to help those going through them, and the importance of The Sunday School Answers™.

It sounds like a win. America is the UKs biggest trading partner so a trade deal is definitely a good thing. However, at the same time, I am upset about the timing of it. Any wins being attributed to the labour government is a terrible sign, because it's gives them credibility with the public, and Labour needs ousting at the next election. I don't know if anybody has been bothering to follow UK politics, but Reform UK ( a fairly recent, anti-establishment party) trounced both Labour and Conservative parties in elections for local council earlier this month. Recent polling shows if a general election were to be held now, Reform would have a supermajority, the Conservative Party would be left with 12 parliamentary seats (out of 650) and Labour would be replaced as the opposition by the Liberal Democrats. I am desperate for this outcome, I despise labour and the Tory's. So I'm grateful for the win, I'm sad it's labour who got it. In other news, the Labour government just signed a trade deal with India. And it sucks. The trade deal lined up to bring in £5 billion over several years (essentially nothing in government spending terms), allows for Indian nationals to settle in the UK and not have to pay national insurance (a form of income tax which is used to pay for the NHS). Employers also have to pay some national insurance on behalf on their employees. So what this boils down to is that, Indian nationals are now cheaper to hire, and now pay less tax than actual British citizens. And because India is part of the commonwealth of nations, Indians living in our country get to vote in our elections. Superb deal if you are in Indian citizen looking to move to the UK. Horrific deal if you already live in the UK. With this in mind, when I first saw the announcements about the US trade deal, I expected it to be just as awful, because Labour clearly can't negotiate a good deal.

This is a very mesmerising photo. I must admit, I made this thread with you in mind as I've never been able to make out what it actually was in your profile picture. Answer achieved.