Tag: David O. McKay

  • Evilution

    Evilution

    There is more than one reason why the church is advising our youth to attend colleges close to their homes where institutes of religion are available. It gives the parents the opportunity to stay close to their children; and if they have become alert and informed as President McKay admonished us last year, these parents can help expose some of the deceptions of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Karl Marx, John Keynes, and others.

    If your children are taught untruths on evolution in the public schools or even in our church schools, provide them with a copy of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s excellent rebuttal in his book Man, His Origin and Destiny.

    Ezra Taft Benson
    October 1970 General Conference Talk
    https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1970sa/page/n25/mode/2up
  • Racist Doctrine Cannot Be Changed

    Racist Doctrine Cannot Be Changed

    Doctrine Cannot Be Changed

    Boyd K. Packer
    April 2013 General Conference
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1993/10/for-time-and-all-eternity?lang=eng

    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. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: “Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to.”

    President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: “The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.”

    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 First Presidency (George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark & David O. McKay) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    August 17, 1949, Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.
    https://wasmormon.org/mormons-and-blacklivesmatter-russell-m-nelson-and-the-naacp/

  • Racist Unchanging Doctrine

    Racist Unchanging Doctrine

    The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. They are immutable and unchanging.

    L. Tom Perry
    April 2013 General Conference
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/04/obedience-to-law-is-liberty?lang=eng

    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. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: “Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to.”

    President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: “The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.”

    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 First Presidency (George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark & David O. McKay) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    August 17, 1949, Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.
    https://wasmormon.org/mormons-and-blacklivesmatter-russell-m-nelson-and-the-naacp/

  • Qualifications

    Qualifications

    Excerpt from an address by David O. McKay given in the April 1950 General Conference: 1

    Qualifications and calling of missionaries

    The physically handicapped. Again there is the problem of the physically handicapped; of course you would like them to go, but think how they would interfere with their companions. Elders should go two by two, and so should sisters, and no one of them should be hampered in his or her activity with somebody who is not equal to the responsibilities of missionary work.

    References

    References
    1 April 1950 General Conference – https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1950a
  • Against Racism

    Against Racism

    Excerpt from the September 2000 Ensign magazine article by Elder Alexander B. Morrison Of the Seventy, ‘No More Strangers’: 1

    How grateful I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has from its beginnings stood strongly against racism in any of its malignant manifestations. President Spencer W. Kimball stated the Church’s position well: “We do wish that there would be no racial prejudice. … Racial prejudice is of the devil. … There is no place for it in the gospel of Jesus Christ” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 236–37). The Prophet Joseph Smith, who experienced more than his share of intolerance and prejudice, understood the importance of caring for, respecting, and helping others, even those we don’t agree with. Speaking of the need to provide temporal assistance to others, the Prophet explained that a member of the Church “is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all, wherever he finds them” (Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 732).

    Letter from Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery on abolitionism, published in the ‘Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate’, Apr. 1836, pp. 289–291: 2

    “After having expressed myself so freely upon this subject, I do not doubt but those who have been forward in raising their voice against the South, will cry out against me as being uncharitable, unfeeling and unkind—wholly unacquainted with the gospel of Christ. It is my privilege then, to name certain passages from the bible, and examine the teachings of the ancients upon this matter, as the fact is uncontrovertable, that the first mention we have of slavery is found in the holy bible, pronounced by a man who was perfect in his generation and walked with God. And so far from that prediction’s being averse from the mind of God it remains as a lasting monument of the decree of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried out against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham in servitude!”

    A speech by Governor Brigham Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, January 23, 1852: 3

    “I have this section in my hand, headed “An Act in Relation to African Slavery.” I have read it over and made a few alterations. I will remark with regard to slavery, inasmuch as we believe in the Bible, inasmuch as we believe in the ordinances of God, in the Priesthood and order and decrees of God, we must believe in slavery. This colored race have been subjected to severe curses, which they have in their families and their classes and in their various capacities brought upon themselves. And until the curse is removed by Him who placed it upon them, they must suffer under its consequences; I am not authorized to remove it. I am a firm believer in slavery.”

    David O. McKay, in Llewelyn R. McKay, Home Memories of President David O. McKay (1956), p. 231: 4

    “I emphasize Justice as an attribute of Deity, because it is the Lord who, though He “made of one blood all nations,” also “determined the bounds of their habitation.” In other words, the seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man, but goes back into the Beginning with God.”

    Letter from the First Presidency to Dr. Lowry Nelson, July 17 1947: 5

    “Your position seems to lose sight of the revelations of the Lord touching the preexistence of our spirits , the rebellion in heaven, and the doctrines that our birth into this life and the advantages under which we my be born, have a relationship in the life heretofore.

    From the days of the Prophet Joseph even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.

    Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people from the ancient patriarchs till now God’s rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogenous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed.

    We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine.

    Faithfully yours,

    (signed)

    George Albert Smith

    J. Reuben Clark, Jr.

    David 0. McKay”

    References

    References
    1 eptember 2000 Ensign magazine article by Elder Alexander B. Morrison Of the Seventy, ‘No More Strangers’ – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2000/09/no-more-strangers?lang=eng
    2 ‘Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate’, Apr. 1836, pp. 289–291, Joseph Smith Papers – http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-oliver-cowdery-circa-9-april-1836/1
    3 Speech by Governor Brigham Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, January 23, 1852 – https://archive.org/details/CR100317B0001F0014
    4 Letter from David O. McKay reprinted in ‘Mormonism and the Negro’, pp 22 – https://archive.org/details/MormonismAndTheNegro
    5 Letter from the First Presidency to Dr. Lowry Nelson, July 17 1947 – https://archive.org/stream/LowryNelson1stPresidencyExchange/Lowry_Nelson_1st_Presidency_Exchange#page/n5/mode/2up/search/doctrine
  • It is the Same

    It is the Same

    Doctrine and Covenants 1:37-39: 1

    37 Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.

    38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

    39 For behold, and lo, the Lord is God, and the Spirit beareth record, and the record is true, and the truth abideth forever and ever. Amen.

    :::

    Letter from Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery on abolitionism, published in the ‘Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate’, Apr. 1836, pp. 289–291: 2

    “After having expressed myself so freely upon this subject, I do not doubt but those who have been forward in raising their voice against the South, will cry out against me as being uncharitable, unfeeling and unkind—wholly unacquainted with the gospel of Christ. It is my privilege then, to name certain passages from the bible, and examine the teachings of the ancients upon this matter, as the fact is uncontrovertable, that the first mention we have of slavery is found in the holy bible, pronounced by a man who was perfect in his generation and walked with God. And so far from that prediction’s being averse from the mind of God it remains as a lasting monument of the decree of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried out against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham in servitude!”

    :::

    A speech by Governor Brigham Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, January 23, 1852: 3

    “I have this section in my hand, headed “An Act in Relation to African Slavery.” I have read it over and made a few alterations. I will remark with regard to slavery, inasmuch as we believe in the Bible, inasmuch as we believe in the ordinances of God, in the Priesthood and order and decrees of God, we must believe in slavery. This colored race have been subjected to severe curses, which they have in their families and their classes and in their various capacities brought upon themselves. And until the curse is removed by Him who placed it upon them, they must suffer under its consequences; I am not authorized to remove it. I am a firm believer in slavery.”

    :::

    David O. McKay, in Llewelyn R. McKay, Home Memories of President David O. McKay (1956), p. 231: 4

    “I emphasize Justice as an attribute of Deity, because it is the Lord who, though He “made of one blood all nations,” also “determined the bounds of their habitation.” In other words, the seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man, but goes back into the Beginning with God.”

    :::

    Letter from the First Presidency to Dr. Lowry Nelson, July 17 1947: 5

    “Your position seems to lose sight of the revelations of the Lord touching the preexistence of our spirits , the rebellion in heaven, and the doctrines that our birth into this life and the advantages under which we my be born, have a relationship in the life heretofore.

    From the days of the Prophet Joseph even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.

    Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people from the ancient patriarchs till now God’s rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogenous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed.

    We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine.

    Faithfully yours,

    (signed)

    George Albert Smith

    J. Reuben Clark, Jr.

    David 0. McKay”

    References

    References
    1 Doctrine and Covenants 1:37-39 – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/1?lang=eng
    2 ‘Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate’, Apr. 1836, pp. 289–291, Joseph Smith Papers – http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-oliver-cowdery-circa-9-april-1836/1
    3 Speech by Governor Brigham Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, January 23, 1852 – https://archive.org/details/CR100317B0001F0014
    4 Letter from David O. McKay reprinted in ‘Mormonism and the Negro’, pp 22 – https://archive.org/details/MormonismAndTheNegro
    5 Letter from the First Presidency to Dr. Lowry Nelson, July 17 1947 – https://archive.org/stream/LowryNelson1stPresidencyExchange/Lowry_Nelson_1st_Presidency_Exchange#page/n5/mode/2up/search/doctrine
  • Flower by the roadside

    Flower by the roadside

    Excerpt from a 1906 Young Woman’s Journal article by David O. McKay, ‘True Beauty’, Pg. 360: 1

    “Girls, the flower by the roadside, that catches the dust of every traveler is not the one to be admired, and is seldom if ever plucked; but the one blooming away up on the hillside, protected by a perpendicular cliff is the flower with the virgin perfume, the one the boy will almost risk his life to possess.” 

    References

    References
    1 1906 Young Woman’s Journal, David O. McKay, ‘True Beauty’, Pg. 360 – https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/12834
  • Untrue to her future husband

    Untrue to her future husband

    David O. Mckay. Excerpt from ‘Man May Know for Himself’, Pg. 83: 1

    “The dominant evil in the world today is unchastity. He who is unchaste in young manhood is untrue to a trust given him by the parents of the girl; and she who is unchaste in maidenhood is untrue to her future husband and lays the foundation of unhappiness, suspicion, and discord in the home. Do not worry about these teachers who say something about inhibitions. Just keep in mind this eternal truth that chastity is a virtue to be prized as one of life’s noblest achievements. It contributes to the virility of manhood. It is the crowning virtue of womanhood, and every red-blooded man knows that is true. It is a chief factor to a happy home; it is the source of strength and perpetuity of the nation.”

  • Curtail Birth of Children

    Curtail Birth of Children

    Letter from the First Presidency, April 14, 1969: ((Realities of the Population Explosion, May 1971 Ensign – https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/05/realities-of-the-population-explosion?lang=eng)

    “Presidents of Stakes, Bishops of Wards, and Presidents of Missions
    Dear Brethren:

    The First Presidency is being asked from time to time as to what the attitude of the Church is regarding birth control. In order that you may be informed on this subject and that you may be prepared to convey the proper information to the members of the Church under your jurisdiction, we have decided to give you the following statement:

    We seriously should regret that there should exist a sentiment or feeling among any members of the Church to curtail the birth of their children. We have been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth that we may have joy and rejoicing in our posterity.

    Where husband and wife enjoy health and vigor and are free from impurities that would be entailed upon their posterity, it is contrary to the teachings of the Church artificially to curtail or prevent the birth of children. We believe that those who practice birth control will reap disappointment by and by.

    However, we feel that men must be considerate of their wives who bear the greater responsibility not only of bearing children, but of caring for them through childhood. To this end the mother’s health and strength should be conserved and the husband’s consideration for his wife is his first duty, and self control a dominant factor in all their relationships.
    It is our further feeling that married couples should seek inspiration and wisdom from the Lord that they may exercise discretion in solving their marital problems, and that they may be permitted to rear their children in accordance with the teachings of the gospel.”

    David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, N. Eldon Tanner

  • Eternal Plan

    Eternal Plan

    Excerpt from the June 2018 Ensign, ‘The Long-Promised Day’: 1

    President David O. McKay (1873–1970)

    “1947: “Sometime in God’s eternal plan, the Negro will be given the right to hold the priesthood. In the meantime, those of that race who receive the testimony of the restored gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice and mercy of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of salvation and exaltation.”

    David O. McKay, in Llewelyn R. McKay, Home Memories of President David O. McKay (1956), 231: 2

    “November 3, 1947

    Dear Brother:

    In your letter to me of October 28, 1947, you say that you and some of your fellow students “have been perturbed about the question of why the negroid race cannot hold the priesthood.”

    In reply I send you the following thoughts that I expressed to a friend upon the same subject:

    Stated briefly your problem is simply this:

    Since, as Paul states, the Lord “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,” why is there shown in the Church of Christ discrimination against the colored race?

    This is a perplexing question, particularly in the light of the present trend of civilization to grant equality to all men irrespective of race, creed, or color. The answer, as I have sought it, cannot be found in abstract reasoning, for, in this case, reason to the soul is “dim as the borrowed rays of moon and stars to lonely, weary, wandering travelers.”

    I know of no scriptural basis for denying the Priesthood to Negroes other than one verse in the Book of Abraham (1:26); however, I believe, as you suggest, that
    the real reason dates back to our preexistant life.

    This means that the true answer to your question (and it is the only one that has ever given me satisfaction) has its foundation in faith — (1) Faith in a God of Justice, (2) Faith in the existence of an eternal plan of salvation for all God’s children.

    Faith in a God of Justice Essential

    I say faith in a God of Justice, because if we hold the lord responsible for the conditions of the Negro in his relationship to the Church, we must acknowledge justice as an attribute of the Eternal, or conceive Him as a discriminator and therefore unworthy of our worship. In seeking our answer, then, to the problem wherein discrimination seems apparent, we must accept the Lord as being upright, and that “justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” (Psalm 89:14), and we must believe that He will “render to every man according to his work,” and that He “shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil,” (Eccl. 12-14 > Accepting the truth that God is just and righteous, we may then set our minds at rest in the assurance that “Whatosever good thing any man doeth the same shall be received of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” (Eph. 6:8.)

    I emphasize Justice as an attribute of Deity, because it is the Lord who, though He “made of one blood all nations,” also “determined the bounds of their habitation.” In other words, the seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man, but goes back into the Beginning with God.

    It was the Lord who said that Pharaoh, the first Governor of Egypt, though “a righteous man, blessed with the blessings of the earth, with the blessings of wisdom . . . could not have the Priesthood.”

    Now if we have faith in the justice of God, we are forced to the conclusion that this denial was not a deprivation of merited right. It may have been entirely in keeping with the eternal plan of salvation for all of the children of God.

    The Peopling of the Earth is in Accordance With a Great Plan

    Revelation assures us that this plan antedates man’s mortal existence, extending back to man’s pre-existent state. In that pre-mortal state were “intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

    “And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: “These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good.”

    Manifestly, from this revelation, we may infer two things: first that there were many among those spirits different degrees of intelligence, varying grades of achievement, retarded and advanced spiritual attainment; second, that there were no national distinctions among those spirits such as Americans, Europeans, Asiatics, Australians, etc. Such “bounds of habitation would have to be “determined” when the spirits entered upon their earthly existence or second estate.

    In the “Blue Bird” Materlinck pictures unborn children summoned to earth life. As one group approaches the earth, the voices of the children earthward tending are heard in the distance to cry: “The earth! the earth! I can see it; how beautiful it is! How bright it is! ” Then following these cries of ecstacy there issued from out of the depth of the abyss a sweet song of gentleness and expectancy, in reference to which rhe author says: “It is rhe song of the mothers coming out to meet them.”

    Materlinck’s fairy play is not all fantasy or imagination, neither is Worthword’s “Ode on Intimations of Immortality” wherein he says:

    Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting,
    The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
    Hath had elsewhere its setting
    And cometh from afar;
    Not in entire forgetfulness,
    And not in utter nakedness
    But trailing clouds of glory do we come
    From God, who is our home;

    For, as we have already quoted, it is given as a fact in revelation that Abraham was chosen before he was born. Songs of expectant parents come from all parts of the earth, and each little spirit is attracted to the spiritual and mortal parentage for which the spirit had prepared itself.

    Now if none of these spirits was permitted to enter mortality until they all were good and great and had become leaders, then the diversity of conditions among the children of men as we see them today would certainly seem to indicate discrimination and injustice. But if in their eagerness to take upon themselves bodies, the spirits were willing to come through any lineage for which they were worthy, or to which they were attracted, then they were given the full reward of merit, and were satisfied, yes, and even blessed.

    Accepting this theory of life, we have a reasonable explanation of existent conditions in the habitations of man. How the law of spiritual attraction works between the spirit and the expectant parents, has not been revealed, neither can finite mind fully understand. By analogy, however, we Can perhaps get a glimpse of what might take place in that spirit world. In physics we refer to the law of attraction wherein some force acting mutually between particles of matter tends to draw them together and to keep them from separating. In chemistry, there is an attractive force exerted between atoms, which causes them to enter into combination. We know, too, that there is an affinity between persons — a spiritual relationship or attraction wherein individuals are either drawn towards others or repelled by others. Might it not be so in the realm of spirit — each individual attracted to the parentage for which it is prepared. Our place in this world would then be determined by our advancement or conditions in the pre-mortal state, just as our place in our future existence will be determined by what we do here in mortality.

    When, therefore, the Creator said to Abraham, and to others of his attainment “You I will make my rulers,” there could exist no feeling of envy or of jealousy among the million other spirits, for those who were “good and great” were but receiving their just reward, just as do members of a graduation class who have successfully completed their prescribed courses of study. The thousands of other students who have not yet attained that honor still have the privilege to seek it, or they may, if they choose, remain in satisfaction down in the grades.

    By the operation of some eternal law with which man is yet unfamiliar, spirits come through parentages for which they are worthy — some as Bushmen of Australia, some as Solomon Islanders, some as Americans, as Europeans, as Asiatics, etc., etc., with all the varying degrees of mentality and spirituality manifest in parents of the different races that inhabit the earth.

    Of this we may be sure, each was satisfied and happy to come through tine lineage to which he or she was attracted and for which, and only which, he to she was prepared.

    The Priesthood was given to those who were chosen as leaders. There were many who could not receive it, yet who knew that it was possible for them at sometime in the eternal plan to achieve that honor. Even those who knew that they would not be prepared to receive it during their mortal existence were content in the realization that they could attain every earthly blessing — progress intellectually and spiritually, and possess to a limited degree the blessing of wisdom,

    George Washington Carver was one of the noblest souls that ever came to earth. He held a close kinship with his heavenly Father, and rendered a service to his fellowmen such as few have ever excelled. For every righteous endeavor, for every noble impulse, for every good deed performed in his useful life George Washington Carver will be rewarded, and so will every other man be he red, white, black or yellow, for God is no respector of persons.

    Sometime in God’s eternal plan, the Negro will be given the right to hold the Priesthood. In the meantime, those of that race who receive the testimony of the Restored Gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice and mercy of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation.

    Nephi 26:33, to which you refer, does not contradict what I have said above, because the Negro is entitled to come unto the Lord by baptism, confirmation, and to receive the assistance of the Church in living righteously.

    Sincerely yours,

    Signed by David O. McKay.

    References

    References
    1 June 2018 Ensign, ‘The Long-Promised Day’ – https://www.lds.org/ensign/2018/06/commemorating-the-1978-revelation/the-long-promised-day?lang=eng
    2 Letter from David O. McKay reprinted in ‘Mormonism and the Negro’, pp 22 – https://archive.org/details/MormonismAndTheNegro
  • Can’t Leave it Alone

    Can’t Leave it Alone

    Excerpt from a Utah State University baccalaureate address by Boyd K. Packer: 1

    “They leave the Church but they can’t leave it alone”

     

    Excerpt from an address by David O. McKay given to the North British Mission 1 March 1961: 2

    “Every member is a missionary. He or she has the responsibility of bringing somebody: a mother, a father, a neighbor, a fellow worker, an associate, somebody in touch with the messengers of the gospel.”

     

    References

    References
    1 “Go and Bring In Those People Now on the Plains” (We Are Our Brothers’ Keepers), Vaughn Featherstone, Aug. 11, 1981 – https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/vaughn-j-featherstone_go-bring-people-now-plains-brothers-keepers/
    2 TEACHINGS OF PRESIDENTS OF THE CHURCH: DAVID O. MCKAY, “Every Member a Missionary” – https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-david-o-mckay/chapter-6?lang=eng#note10-
  • Alone

    Alone

    Excerpt from a 1981 booklet addressing ‘Homosexuality’, published as a guide to be used for local leaders when working with homosexual members: 1

    Pg. 4

    “Members with homosexual problems often feel trapped and alone and believe that change is impossible … Despair prompts feelings of hopelessness, and hopelessness, combined with the burden of unresolved sin and guilt, may lead an individual to contemplate or attempt suicide. Repentance and the Lord’s spirit can lift him from the thoughts of suicide to peace of mind.”

    Pg. 5

    “Ask him to read President Kimball’s book, The Miracle of Forgiveness. (Chapter 6 deals specifically with homosexuality, but the entire book should be read.)”

     

    Excerpt from the Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball: 2

    David O. McKay has pleaded:
    … Your virtue is worth more than your life. Please, young folk, preserve your virtue even if you lose
    your lives. Do not tamper with sin … do not permit yourselves to be led into temptation. Conduct
    yourselves seemly and with due regard, particularly you young boys, to the sanctity of womanhood. Do
    not pollute it.

     

    References

    References
    1 Homosexuality, Second Edition (LDS Manual) – https://archive.org/details/Homosexuality1981
    2 The Miracle of Forgiveness – https://ia800308.us.archive.org/22/items/MiracleOfForgiveness/MoF.pdf
  • Large Family

    Large Family

    Excerpts from the July 1916, Relief Society Magazine, ‘Birth Control’: 1

    Apostle Rudgar Clawson

    “In my opinion the practice of restricting the number of children in the family, as advocated by many people, is sinful. It is contrary to the first great commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth,”

    Woman is so constituted that, ordinarily, she is capable of bearing, during the years of her greatest strength and physical vigor, from eight to ten children, and in exceptional cases a larger number than that. “

     

    Apostle George F. Richards

    “The efforts on the part of Eastern magazine writers to edu cate the people of the United States, particularly parents, to the doctrine that they should limit the number of their offspring to three or four children, and how this can be accomplished, is both pernicious and an abomination in the sight of the Lord;”

    “My wife has borne to me fifteen children. Anything short of this would have been less than her duty and privilege.”

    “As to the danger and hardship of child-bearing to the mothers, I have to say that from my observations. I conclude that the answering of nature’s laws which are God’s laws is far less injurious and dangerous than the efforts made to defeat these laws.”

     

    Apostle David O. McKay

    “Any effort or desire on the part of a married couple to shirk the responsibility of parenthood reflects a condition of mind antagonistic to the best interests of the home, the state, and the nation. No doubt there are some worldly people who honestly limit the number of children and the family to two or three because of insufficient means to clothe and educate a large family as the parents would desire to do, but in nearly all such cases, the two or three children are no better provided for than two or three times that number would be. Such parents may be sincere, even if misguided; but in most cases the desire not to have children has its birth in vanity, passion, and selfishness. Such feelings are the seeds sown in early married life that produce a harvest of discord, suspicion, estrangement, and divorce. All such efforts, too, often tend to put the marriage relationship on a level with the panderer and the courtesan. They befoul the pure fountains of life with the slime of indulgence and sensuality. Such misguided couples are ever seeking but never finding the reality for which the heart is yearning.”

     

    Apostle O. F. Whitney

    “The only legitimate “birth control” is that which springs naturally from the observance of divine laws, and the use of the procreative powers, not for pleasure primarily, but for race perpetuation and improvement. During certain periods—those of gestation and lactation—the wife and mother should be comparatively free to give her strength to her offspring ; and if this involves some self-denial on the part of the husband and father, so much the better for all concerned. “Birth control,” under God’s law, is a problem that solves itself.”

     

    Apostle Joseph F. Smith Jr.

    “The first great commandment given both to man and beast by the Creator was to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ;” and I have not learned that this commandment was ever repealed. Those who attempt to pervert the ways of the Lord, and to prevent their offspring from coming into the world in obedience to this great command, are guilty of one of the most heinous crimes in the category. There is no promise of eternal salvation and exaltation for such as they, for by their acts they prove their unworthiness for exaltation and unfitness for a kingdom where the crowning glory is the continuation of the family union and eternal increase which have been promised to all those who obey the law of the Lord. It is just as much murder to destroy life before as it is after birth, although man-made laws may not so consider it ; but there is One who does take notice and his justice and judgment is sure.”

     

  • 15 Children

    15 Children

    Excerpts from the July 1916, Relief Society Magazine, ‘Birth Control’: 1

    Apostle Rudgar Clawson

    “In my opinion the practice of restricting the number of children in the family, as advocated by many people, is sinful. It is contrary to the first great commandment given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth,”

    Woman is so constituted that, ordinarily, she is capable of bearing, during the years of her greatest strength and physical vigor, from eight to ten children, and in exceptional cases a larger number than that. “

     

    Apostle George F. Richards

    “The efforts on the part of Eastern magazine writers to edu cate the people of the United States, particularly parents, to the doctrine that they should limit the number of their offspring to three or four children, and how this can be accomplished, is both pernicious and an abomination in the sight of the Lord;”

    “My wife has borne to me fifteen children. Anything short of this would have been less than her duty and privilege.”

    “As to the danger and hardship of child-bearing to the mothers, I have to say that from my observations. I conclude that the answering of nature’s laws which are God’s laws is far less injurious and dangerous than the efforts made to defeat these laws.”

     

    Apostle David O. McKay

    “Any effort or desire on the part of a married couple to shirk the responsibility of parenthood reflects a condition of mind antagonistic to the best interests of the home, the state, and the nation. No doubt there are some worldly people who honestly limit the number of children and the family to two or three because of insufficient means to clothe and educate a large family as the parents would desire to do, but in nearly all such cases, the two or three children are no better provided for than two or three times that number would be. Such parents may be sincere, even if misguided; but in most cases the desire not to have children has its birth in vanity, passion, and selfishness. Such feelings are the seeds sown in early married life that produce a harvest of discord, suspicion, estrangement, and divorce. All such efforts, too, often tend to put the marriage relationship on a level with the panderer and the courtesan. They befoul the pure fountains of life with the slime of indulgence and sensuality. Such misguided couples are ever seeking but never finding the reality for which the heart is yearning.”

     

    Apostle O. F. Whitney

    “The only legitimate “birth control” is that which springs naturally from the observance of divine laws, and the use of the procreative powers, not for pleasure primarily, but for race perpetuation and improvement. During certain periods—those of gestation and lactation—the wife and mother should be comparatively free to give her strength to her offspring ; and if this involves some self-denial on the part of the husband and father, so much the better for all concerned. “Birth control,” under God’s law, is a problem that solves itself.”

     

    Apostle Joseph F. Smith Jr.

    “The first great commandment given both to man and beast by the Creator was to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ;” and I have not learned that this commandment was ever repealed. Those who attempt to pervert the ways of the Lord, and to prevent their offspring from coming into the world in obedience to this great command, are guilty of one of the most heinous crimes in the category. There is no promise of eternal salvation and exaltation for such as they, for by their acts they prove their unworthiness for exaltation and unfitness for a kingdom where the crowning glory is the continuation of the family union and eternal increase which have been promised to all those who obey the law of the Lord. It is just as much murder to destroy life before as it is after birth, although man-made laws may not so consider it ; but there is One who does take notice and his justice and judgment is sure.”