Did the LDS Church bow to political pressure?

[Kukui]

Did the LDS Church bow to political pressure?

This thread is in response to people who have used the above statement in reference to Blacks receiving the priesthood. Anyone who uses that statement is reading something someone wrote and does not know for themselves because they were not there. The writer using those statements is trying to mislead the reader.

If you were born around 1953, you would have been about 15 in 1968. If you were younger than that, you would have most likely been unaware of the political pressure brought to bear on the Church to allow the Blacks to hold the priesthood. By 15 students in high school were required to read current affairs, and it may have reached the level of their attention.

This is my narrow account as I was on the fringes so to speak and not in the middle of it. Other accounts may be more enlightening than mine.

I had returned from my mission in Hong Kong at the end of 1966 and was attending BYU. I don’t remember the exact dates and am too lazy to look them up but what I remember is that during the time of Martin Luther King’s greatest activity in the late 60s there were many newspaper articles questioning the LDS church’s stand about Blacks holding the priesthood. I don’t remember Dr. King being one of those voices. I just associate the news articles being coincidental with the Black movement during Dr. King’s time.

The Church did not buckle one iota during this time but maintained the same stance they always had, that the church could do more for the salvation of the Black community than any other church and for the time being they were not allowed to hold the priesthood. It was well known among the LDS in those days that that sanction would be repealed someday.

Ten years later I was working as a civilian for the US Army in Japan. From what I remember from my far-way perch at that time, those clambering for the Blacks to hold the priesthood had long since died down. However, there are always those few who are and were shouting one thing or another and would love to claim that the church buckled under their pressure. Even newspapers or other journals would love to claim that their pressure from 10 years earlier brought the church around. That is not where the pressure came from.

If you want to know where the pressure came from, come listen to a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=229PFD_xOAM'> prophet’s voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=229PFD_xOAM'> Click here.

Kukui

[Guest mysticmorini]

from a sociological point of view i would say the change came from complications in deciding who could hold the priesthood in brazil (as it has a very mixed population) as at that time the mission field was growing there. or you could say that this factor caused the brethren to question the position which lead them to pray about it and receive revelation.

[WindRiver]

This is a pretty decent web site that talks a bit more about this.

Black LDS Mormons

[Kukui]

That may well be mysticmorini. I am not privy to what the brethren were considering. I have heard Pres. Hinkley speak on this subject before and he mentioned that every president since David O. McKay had prayed earnestly about every worthy male holding the priesthood. I have never heard any thoughts expressed as you have indicated, which only leaves me to feel the brethren were more concerned with the welfare of those denied the priesthood rather than the difficulty in keeping the commandment because of mix population. But what ever is, is. If you are correct, I am so very glad for the revelation that came as told by President Hinkley.

[talisyn]

Indeed, if the Church was going to bow to political pressure it would have been in the 60's or early 70's. My belief (taken for what it's worth lol) is that enough people had to want it bad enough to petition God in earnest prayer and fasting. I salute the Saints who believed and waited through the years, they knew it would happen and trusted God completely. They are much better people than I think I am.

[Kukui]

Another reason I love the utube of President Hinkley is because we don’t often hear about the intimate details of the inner workings of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve; at least I don’t. Before President Hinkley’s talk I had heard that when the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve meet on Thursdays in the upper room of the Salt Lake Temple that there is often lively discussion; each man having strong and often differing opinions on various subjects.

Now what President Hinkley has added for me is that I can see once the discussion is over for that day and with all that has been discussed still fresh in their minds, the prophet leads the prayer and pleads with the Lord for guidance. That is soo Doctrine and Covenants.

D&C 9: 8

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

Considering that they had been discussing and praying on the subject of the priesthood for all worthy males off and on at various times since at least the 1950s and then for them to all have the comfort in the minds and peace in the hearts experience at the same time is totally amazing.

D&C 6: 23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?

I know from my own experience that I don’t always get an answer to prayer on the first try or two. Most often it takes a while. I also know, as many of you do, of the unmistakable witness that can come on certain special occasions.

[Maya]

IMHO God has His OWN sedule, which he works on in order to meet his goal. I believe that His scedule is a littlebit debending on the mans development. God knows, that when a man has reached this or that point, it is time for this or that to happen, but IF He would let it happen earlier or later it would desstroy His work if not all, at least a lot of it. I believe there was a reason for the ban, a reason we dont know for sure. God is not compelled to tell us His thoughts or reason His deeds... if we are too stupid to understand....

As for blaiming someone for it... it is like giving someone car keys and telling him to start driving .. even thought the person has not learned to dirve yet.

[Guest mysticmorini]

speaking of the Thursday meetings in the upper room of the temple, antidotal evidence seems to suggest that Christ is more involved with those meetings than we might think.

[Wingnut]

antidotal

The word is anecdotal. The way you have it spelled gives an entirely different meaning.

[Guest mysticmorini]

The word is anecdotal. The way you have it spelled gives an entirely different meaning.

gee, thanks for correcting my spelling, i don't think anyone could have figured out what the word was supposed to be based on the context.

[rameumptom]

No, the Church did NOT bow to political pressure. Several Prophets had prayed over the years regarding lifting the ban, and the Lord did not allow it in their time. Pres David O. McKay left the room in tears when he was told, "no."

The change occurred because the Church was ready to move into new areas with missionary work and temples. The Sao Paolo Brazil temple was nearing completion, where interracial relationships were very common. Had the ban not been lifted, all members in Brazil would have to receive a patriarchal blessing prior to being ordained to the priesthood or attending the temple.

The Church had grown significantly that it was also ready to begin preaching to blacks in the Southern States, Africa, and other locations. Since 1978, we've baptized about 250,000 people in Africa! Given that the first missions in most African countries were not opened until the 1990s or later, that is an astounding number of baptisms.

[Moksha]

Imagine how we would be regarded had we not rescinded the ban. Most countries (including South Africa) would not allow our missionaries. In the USA we would be regarded the same as the Aryan Nations. No Presidential Medal of Freedom for President Hinckley. No Salt Lake Winter Olympics. No playing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament for BYU. Those who were not True-Blue (and white) would have shaken their heads and left. Personally, I would never have returned to the Church, since the ban figured in my leaving in the first place.

Rejoice over the ending of the ban no matter whether the pressure was from God or the world.

[Snow]

... had prayed over the years regarding lifting the ban, and the Lord did not allow it in their time. Pres David O. McKay left the room in tears when he was told, "no."

.

Could I get a source on that?

[rameumptom]

Gregory Prince mentions it in his book on Pres McKay. His grandmother was Pres McKay's personal secretary and made copious journals.

Amazon.com: David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (9780874808223): Gregory A Prince, Wm Robert Wright: Books

[Saguaro]

Gregory Prince mentions it in his book on Pres McKay. His grandmother was Pres McKay's personal secretary and made copious journals.

Amazon.com: David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (9780874808223): Gregory A Prince, Wm Robert Wright: Books

Great book, I highly recommend it. David O McKay called the ban a 'policy' rather than doctrine, but he still felt that he needed a revelation to overturn it. According to the book he prayed for permission to lift the ban but did not receive it.

Not to be nit picky, but i don't think Gregory Prince was related to Clare Middlemiss, McKay's secretary, I believe she was an Aunt to Robert Wright, the co-author of the book, and she left him her extensive collection of journals and scrapbooks she collected over her many years of service to McKay. (IIRC, she was the only female secretary to a president of the church.)

[Moksha]

David O McKay called the ban a 'policy' rather than doctrine...

Wrongness can always creep into a policy, but it seems to escalate when it becomes a doctrine, does it not? Perhaps the prayed for question should have been, "Is it just for us to deny your blessings to your children whose ancestors had been our slaves?".