[All-American]

Originally Posted by Adam

Both. Satan looks for places to put his hooks (to continue your analogy), by lying about our history, hiding our history, twisting our history, we give great openings to Satan wherein to put his hooks. Honestly tackling our history, which is starting to happen with Bushman and Prince and Compton and Hardy and Quinn building on what Arrington and Alexander started in the 80s and 90s, is the right way to go.

The church has gone from fighting honest history (firing Arrington as church historian and making it a GA position) to allowing it (Bushman's book was sold by Deseret Book, but they wouldn't publish it). The next step is to embrace it. I look forward to that day.



I think it is mainstream Mormon doctrine to believe Wilford Woodruff's statements excerpted after the Manifesto in the DC regarding God taking a prophet who is leading the church astray. I think it is unquestionable that HBLee was a racist (as were most white men born in America around the turn of the century) and he refused to consider the question/ask god about giving blacks the priesthood. I think it is undeniable that HBLee was taken long before his normal lifespan and health should have carried him. I think it is a fact that SWK gave blacks the priesthood shortly thereafter.

You are uncomfortable with the obvious "therefore" statement that follows these facts. You say it isn't our place to use our heads and say "therefore".

I understand and accept that most Mormons agree with you. I do not.

It is an interesting theology that says man has no right to use their god-given agency to determine for themselves if their leader is right on a given policy/doctrinal point. To quote a great modern poet: "I will choose a path that's clear. I will choose freewill." (Extra credit to the person that can name to poet without using Google.)

If one determines the leader is wrong, a second separate step is to determine if you should follow that leader anyway.

I have no problem saying HBLee was wrong on blacks and the priesthood. I might have stayed in the church anyway because the church, even with significant flaws, is the repository of the keys of baptism through sealing and I want to partake, and have my family partake, of those ordinances.

For the record: HBL was born in 1899 and died in 1973. The revelation on the priesthood was given in 1978.