Stories of mormon faith transitions. Share your truth – own your story!
Images
Was the ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood a matter of policy or doctrine? "I don't know that it's possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet... I'm not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood." - Elder Dallin H Oaks, AP interview. Provo Daily Herald June 5 1988
"We just don't know, in the historical context of the time, why it was practiced. That's my principal [concern], is that we don't perpetuate explanations about things we don't know. We don't pretend that something wasn't taught or practice wasn't pursued for whatever reason. But I think we can be unequivocal and we can be declarative in our current literature, in books that we reproduce, in teachings that go forward, whatever, that from this time forward, from 1978 forward, we can make sure that nothing of that is declared." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006
"Some of the folklore that you must be referring to are suggestions that there were decisions made in the pre-mortal councils where someone had not been as decisive in their loyalty to a Gospel plan or the procedures on earth or what was to unfold in mortality, and that therefore that opportunity and mortality was compromised. I really don't know a lot of the details of those, because fortunately I've been able to live in the period where we're not expressing or teaching them, but I think that's the one I grew up hearing the most, was that it was something to do with the pre-mortal councils." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006
"One clear-cut position is that the folklore must never be perpetuated. I have to concede to my earlier colleagues. They, I'm sure, in their own way, were doing the best they knew to give shape to [the policy], to give context for it, to give even history to it. All I can say is however well intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006
"It probably would have been advantageous to say nothing, to say we just don't know, and, [as] with many religious matters, whatever was being done was done on the basis of faith at that time. But some explanations were given and had been given for a lot of years. At the very least, there should be no effort to perpetuate those efforts to explain why that doctrine existed. I think, to the extent that I know anything about it, as one of the newer and younger ones to come along, we simply do not know why that practice, that policy, that doctrine was in place." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006
"From the mid-1800s, the Church did not ordain men of black African descent to the priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in temple endowment or sealing ordinances. Over the years, a variety of theories were advanced to justify the restriction. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has emphasized that those theories given in an attempt to explain the restrictions are “folklore” that must never be perpetuated: “However well-intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong...
We simply do not know why that practice… was in place.”" - Commemorating the 1978 Revelation, Extending the Blessings of the Priesthood
Ensign, June 2018
Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969 as published in the Improvement Era, February 1970.
"We are eager to share with men of all races the blessings of the Gospel. We have no racially-segregated congregations. Were we the leaders of an enterprise created by ourselves and operated only according to our own earthly wisdom, it would be a simple thing to act according to popular will. But we believe that this work is directed by God and that the conferring of the priesthood must await His revelation." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
"We recognize that those who do not accept the principle of modern revelation may oppose our point of view. We repeat that such would not wish for membership in the Church, and therefore the question of priesthood should hold no interest for them. Without prejudice they should grant us the privilege afforded under the Constitution to exercise our chosen form of religion just as we must grant all others a similar privilege. They must recognize that the question of bestowing or withholding priesthood in the Church is a matter of religion and not a matter of Constitutional right." -
Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
"In view of confusion that has arisen, it was decided at a meeting of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve to restate the position of the Church with regard to the Negro both in society and in the Church." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969 regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro
Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969 as published in the Improvement Era, February 1970.
"First, may we say that we know something of the sufferings of those who are discriminated against in a denial of their civil rights and Constitutional privileges. Our early history as a church is a tragic story of persecution and oppression." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
"The position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affecting those of the Negro race who choose to join the Church falls wholly within the category of religion. It has no bearing upon matters of civil rights. In no case or degree does it deny to the Negro his full privileges as a citizen of the nation. This position has no relevancy whatever to those who do not wish to join the Church. Those individuals, we suppose, do not believe in the divine origin and nature of the church, nor that we have the priesthood of God. Therefore, if they feel we have no priesthood, they should have no concern with any aspect of our theology on priesthood so long as that theology does not deny any man his Constitutional privileges." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
"The seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man; but goes back into the beginning with God... Revelation assures us that this plan antedates man’s mortal existence, extending back to man’s pre-existent state." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
"In revelations received by the first prophet of the Church in this dispensation, Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the Lord made it clear that it is “not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” These words were spoken prior to the Civil War." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
"Joseph Smith and all succeeding presidents of the Church have taught that Negroes, while spirit children of a common Father, and the progeny of our earthly parents Adam and Eve, were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro.
I was excommunicated because of "open opposition" to church authority. "My behavior was embarrassing to the church." - Byron Marchant, Opposed Priesthood Ban & Excommunicated in 1977
President Tanner: The voting has been unanimous in favor...
A voice from the gallery (Byron Marchant): President Tanner?
President Tanner: Yes?
Byron Marchant: Did you note my negative vote?
President Tanner: No. Let me see it.
Byron Marchant: Up here.
President Tanner: Oh, up there. I’m sorry, I couldn’t see up in that gallery. We’ll ask you to see Elder Hinckley immediately after this meeting. - Byron Marchant, Opposed Priesthood Ban and Excommunicated in October 1977
Byron Marchant, opposed the church policy of withholding the priesthood from blacks, and voted opposed in General Conference, October 1977.
He was quickly excommunicated. The priesthood ban was lifted in June 1978 and the Official Declaration 2 was canonized in the next General Conference, October 1978
"In 2012 there was an disclaimer added to the LDS tithing slip which reads “Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church’s property and will be used at the Church’s sole discretion to further the Church’s overall mission.”Since 1959 the LDS church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements… even to its tithe payers. -https://missedinsunday.com/memes/finances/2012-tithing-slip-change/
"Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church’s property and will be used at the Church’s sole discretion to further the Church’s overall mission." Tithing slip, the fine print. The Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Org Chart 1991 - Finances. Arizona Republic July 1991
image-1
Q: What is the value right now of Ensign Peak’s assets?
Waddell: Yeah, That’s something I can’t share with you right now. I know there’ve been there been reports on approximates and that kind of thing, and that’s as far as we can go, right?
Q: It’s been estimated at 50 billion dollars. Does that sound correct?
Waddell: Um, that’s an estimate that some have made.
Q: Are we in the ballpark? or no?
Waddell: Um, We have significant resources.
60 Minutes Interview, W Christopher Waddell of the LDS Presiding Bishopric
"We have significant resources."
60 Minutes Interview, W Christopher Waddell of the LDS Presiding Bishopric
Former Mormon Missionary Excommunicated from Church, Newspaper clipping, The Daily Reporter, Dover, Ohio • Sat, Oct 15, 1977, Page 5
"My duty as a member of the Council of the Twelve is to protect what is most unique about the LDS church, namely the authority of priesthood, testimony regarding the restoration of the gospel, and the divine mission of the Savior. Everything else may be sacrificed in order to maintain the integrity of those essential facts. Thus, if Mormon Enigma reveals information that is detrimental to the reputation of Joseph Smith, then it is necessary to try to limit its influence and that of its authors." - Elder Dallin H Oaks, LDS Apostle, First Counselor in First Presidency
"If we have truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not truth, it ought to be harmed." - Elder J Reuben Clark, LDS Apostle
"The position of the Church regarding the Negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the premortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality and that while the details of this principle have not been made known, the mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintain their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency
George Albert Smith, J Reuben Clark & David O McKay, August 17, 1949
"The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the priesthood at the present time." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency
George Albert Smith, J Reuben Clark & David O McKay, August 17, 1949
Proclamation_1949
"The Book of Mormon has a lot of nineteenth-century Protestant material in it, both in terms of theology and of wording... While reading Alma in the Book of Mormon I began to google long phrases from the sermons, and they came up in sermons in very much the same doctrinal context. All the talk about Jesus in the Book of Mormon, its glory we would say, has a 19th-century ring to it." - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian
"There is the fact that there is phrasing everywhere–long phrases that if you google them you will find them in 19th-century writings. The theology of the Book of Mormon is very much 19th-century theology, and it reads like a 19th-century understanding of the Hebrew Bible." - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian
"If he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit." - Elder Jeffrey R Holland, Going on a Mormon Truth Hunt
"If he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit." - Elder Jeffrey R Holland
"After seeing the devastation of Europe this summer, I am appalled by the sight of it and the contemplation of what mankind can collectively do to himself, unless somehow we, collectively – the human family – can put love of each other above hatred and somehow come to a mutual respect based upon understanding, and recognize that others, although they may be different from us, are not by that fact alone inferior." - Dr Lowry Nelson to First Presidency of George Albert Smith, 1947
"In June 1978, after “spending many hours in the Upper Room of the [Salt Lake] Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance,” Church President Spencer W. Kimball, his counselors in the First Presidency, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles received a revelation... The revelation rescinded the restriction on priesthood ordination. It also extended the blessings of the temple to all worthy Latter-day Saints, men and women. The First Presidency statement regarding the revelation was canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants as Official Declaration 2." - Race and the Priesthood, LDS Church Gospel Topic Essay. Spencer W Kimball, center, with his counselors in the First Presidency from 1973 to 1981: Presidents N Eldon Tanner (left) and Marion G Romney (right)
"By the late 1940s and 1950s, racial integration was becoming more common in American life. Church President David O. McKay emphasized that the restriction extended only to men of black African descent... Given the long history of withholding the priesthood from men of black African descent, Church leaders believed that a revelation from God was needed to alter the policy, and they made ongoing efforts to understand what should be done. After praying for guidance, President McKay did not feel impressed to lift the ban." - President McKay with his counselors, President Stephen L Richards (left) and President J Reuben Clark Jr. (right)
"I rushed home to share with my wife the great discovery I had made. I told her what I had learned: the church isn't true! She turned away and refused to accept anything I said critical about the church. It was the beginning of the end of our marriage. A last-ditch attempt at reconciliation failed when she said that her return would be conditioned upon my returning to the faith. I realized that I could not do it, however much I wanted to keep my family. In the years since leaving the church I have never regretted my decision for a moment (other than the fact that it caused me to lose my wife and children)." - Richard Packham | https://wasmormon.org/profile/richard-packham/
"I realized that in order for me to defend Mormonism I would have to know what its enemies were saying about it, so that I could be prepared with the proper facts. I had never been an avid student of the history of the church, although I had earned the highest grades in the third year high-school seminary course in church history. I mean, what was there important to know about church history, beyond the story of how Joseph had his visions, got the plates, translated them, and how Satan had persecuted the Saints until they got to Utah? I began to read church history, both the authentic histories published by the church and the awful lies and distortions published by its enemies. How different they were! It was almost as if the authors in each camp were writing about different events. And the university library, where I spent a good deal of time, seemed to have more of the latter than the former.What began to bother me most was that the church did not seem to be telling the entire truth about many events in its past." - Richard Packham | https://wasmormon.org/profile/richard-packham/
I was a Mormon - Richard Packham | https://wasmormon.org/profile/richard-packham/
"I left for one reason, and one reason only: the Mormon church is not led by God, and it never has been. It is a religion of 100% human origin. However, my life since leaving the church has been a rich and rewarding one. I married a lovely girl with beliefs similar to mine, and we now have two fine adult sons whom we raised with no religious training whatsoever, and who are as admirable human beings as one could ever want their children to be. And as I am getting older I also realize that I have no fear of death, even though I have no idea what to expect when it comes." - Richard Packham | https://wasmormon.org/profile/richard-packham/
"My childhood was very happy, with loving and nurturing parents and family. We were "special" because we had the "Gospel," meaning Mormonism. My high school sweetheart was a good and faithful Mormon girl. I enjoyed my four years at BYU, being surrounded by devout fellow-students and being taught by devout and educated teachers. One professor of geology was also a member of our ward. I was just learning about the age of the earth as most geologists taught it. I asked him one Sunday at church how he reconciled the teachings of his science with the teachings of the church (which said that the earth was created about 6000 years ago). He replied that he had two compartments in his brain: one for geology and one for the gospel. They were entirely separate, and he did not let the one influence the other. This bothered me, but I didn't think more about it." - Richard Packham | https://wasmormon.org/profile/richard-packham/
!["We just don't know, in the historical context of the time, why it was practiced. That's my principal [concern], is that we don't perpetuate explanations about things we don't know. We don't pretend that something wasn't taught or practice wasn't pursued for whatever reason. But I think we can be unequivocal and we can be declarative in our current literature, in books that we reproduce, in teachings that go forward, whatever, that from this time forward, from 1978 forward, we can make sure that nothing of that is declared." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006 | wasmormon.org](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Holland-PBS-Interview-2006-04-dont-perpetuate-explanations-about-things-we-dont-know-we-dont-pretend-that-something-wasnt-taught.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1)
!["One clear-cut position is that the folklore must never be perpetuated. I have to concede to my earlier colleagues. They, I'm sure, in their own way, were doing the best they knew to give shape to [the policy], to give context for it, to give even history to it. All I can say is however well intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006 | wasmormon.org](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Holland-PBS-Interview-2006-01-the-folklore-must-never-be-perpetuated-well-intended-almost-all-inadequate-wrong.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1)
!["It probably would have been advantageous to say nothing, to say we just don't know, and, [as] with many religious matters, whatever was being done was done on the basis of faith at that time. But some explanations were given and had been given for a lot of years. At the very least, there should be no effort to perpetuate those efforts to explain why that doctrine existed. I think, to the extent that I know anything about it, as one of the newer and younger ones to come along, we simply do not know why that practice, that policy, that doctrine was in place." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006 | wasmormon.org](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Holland-PBS-Interview-2006-02-advantageous-to-say-nothing-we-just-dont-know-explanations-were-given-for-alot-of-years-we-dont-know-why-that-practice-policy-doctrine-was-in-place.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1)
!["In June 1978, after “spending many hours in the Upper Room of the [Salt Lake] Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance,” Church President Spencer W. Kimball, his counselors in the First Presidency, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles received a revelation... The revelation rescinded the restriction on priesthood ordination. It also extended the blessings of the temple to all worthy Latter-day Saints, men and women. The First Presidency statement regarding the revelation was canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants as Official Declaration 2." - Race and the Priesthood, LDS Church Gospel Topic Essay. Spencer W Kimball, center, with his counselors in the First Presidency from 1973 to 1981: Presidents N Eldon Tanner (left) and Marion G Romney (right) | wasmormon.org](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/race-priesthood-GTE-1978-new-policy-revelation-rescinds-priesthood-restrictions.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1)
