The Mark and the Curse Alma 3:6–17
As students study Alma 3, they might have questions about the mark and the curse placed upon the Lamanites. You may want to explain that there is a difference between the mark and the curse. The mark placed upon the Lamanites was dark skin (see Alma 3:6). The purpose of this mark was to distinguish and separate the Lamanites from the Nephites (see Alma 3:8). The curse, which was more serious, was the state of being “cut off from the presence of the Lord” (2 Nephi 5:20). The Lamanites and the Amlicites brought this curse upon themselves because of their rebellion against God (see 2 Nephi 5:20; Alma 3:18–19). Although dark skin was used in this instance as a mark of the curse placed upon the Lamanites, the Book of Mormon teaches that the Lord “denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; … all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. The Church unequivocally condemns racism, including any and all past racism by individuals both inside and outside the Church. President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) declared:
“No man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church. …
“Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His children” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Need for Greater Kindness,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2006, 58). For additional help on this subject, see lesson 27.
The Lamanites Were Cursed 2 Nephi 5:20–25
What was the curse?
The curse is clearly defined in verse 20 as being “cut off from the presence of the Lord.”
What caused the curse?
According to verse 21, the cause of the curse came “because of their iniquity” and “hardened … hearts.” Since the days of Adam’s Fall, wickedness has resulted in being cut off from the presence of the Lord (see 1 Nephi 2:21; 2 Nephi 4:4; 9:6; Alma 9:13; Ether 10:11).
What was the mark or sign set upon the Lamanites?
In Nephi’s day the curse of the Lamanites was that they were “cut off from [the Lord’s] presence … because of their iniquity” (2 Nephi 5:20–21). This meant the Spirit of the Lord was withdrawn from their lives. When Lamanites later embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, “the curse of God did no more follow them” (Alma 23:18).
The Book of Mormon also states that a mark of dark skin came upon the Lamanites after the Nephites separated from them. The nature and appearance of this mark are not fully understood. The mark initially distinguished the Lamanites from the Nephites. Later, as the Nephites and Lamanites intermingled as they went through periods of wickedness and righteousness, the mark became irrelevant.
Prophets affirm in our day that dark skin is not a sign of divine disfavor or cursing. The Church embraces Nephi’s teaching that the Lord “denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female” (2 Nephi 26:33). President Russell M. Nelson declared: “The Lord has stressed His essential doctrine of equal opportunity for His children. … Differences in culture, language, gender, race, and nationality fade into insignificance as the faithful enter the covenant path and come unto our beloved Redeemer” (“President Nelson Remarks at Worldwide Priesthood Celebration” [June 1, 2018], newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-student-manual/chapter-8-2-nephi-4-8?lang=eng
Bob Woodson blasts Black Lives Matter, says ‘race grievance vigilantes’ are ‘destroying this nation’
Woodson Center founder says BLM ‘has migrated from social justice’ to attacking ‘the nuclear family’ By Angelica Stabile | Fox News
Video Here:
Bob Woodson slams Black Lives Matter as race grievance vigilantes
Civil rights activist Bob Woodson joins Tucker Carlson on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
The Black Lives Matter movement has become an agent of parasitic destruction rather than a “champion of social justice,” civil rights activist Bob Woodson told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Monday.
“Black Lives Matter, that advertised itself as the champion of social justice for Blacks, has really become a parasite,” Woodson told host Tucker Carlson. “It has migrated from social justice to [an] attack on the nuclear family … The burning of Bibles, desecration of the cross … It was the nuclear family and our Christian faith that enabled us to survive slavery and discrimination.”
Woodson questioned why Christian leaders and legacy civil rights groups have not spoken out to condemn the violence.
“Where’s the Urban League? Where’s the NAACP?” he asked. “Where’s the Congressional Black Caucus to speak out against these race grievance vigilantes that are destroying this nation? Where are they?”
81% OF BLACK AMERICANS WANT POLICE TO MAINTAIN OR INCREASE LOCAL PRESENCE, POLL SHOWS
Among those whose voices are not being listened to, Woodson added, are the 80% of Black Americans who support the police.
Woodson added that his organization, The Woodson Center, is attempting to give voices to the “dissidents… who are standing up for America.”
“We have the gatekeepers that are rewarded by the press and corporate America keeps paying these parasites,” he said. “And our country continues to decline. So what we’re trying to do at the Woodson Center is really give voice to those dissidents in these communities who are standing up for America and I want to protect these values… They need to answer which side they stand, with Black America or with the parasites?”
The Latter-day Saints have been so repeatedly and generally misrepresented and maligned
“The Latter-day Saints have been so repeatedly and generally misrepresented and maligned, that ordinarily little has been done by way of refutation. Were the people to undertake to meet every lie uttered against them and set it right, they would devote the whole of their lives to it and then die without accomplishing the desired object. But there are times when a refutation is necessary; when the whole people awake in earnestness to deny the misrepresentations of those who purposely and wilfully assail them.” —Junius F. Wells The Contributor, Vol. XIII, No. 1, (November 1891) P. 52
In 1875, church president Brigham Young organized the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association. The first implementation of the organization was in the Salt Lake 13th Ward, with Junius F. Wells as president. Among his counselors was Heber J. Grant…
Junius Wells was also the founding editor and publisher of The Contributor, an independent publication that sought to represent the YMMIA and the church’s equivalent organization for young women. Wells continued in these roles until 1892.” Wikipedia
2 Nephi 30:6 And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people.”http://shields-research.org/42_Questions/ques03.htm#11.
Joseph Smith altered the phrase “white and delightsome” (in 2 Nephi 30:6) to “pure and delightsome” in the second edition of the Book of Mormon. This change was lost to LDS readers until the 1981 edition of the scriptures. It may, however, demonstrate that Joseph Smith intended the translation to refer to spiritual state, not literal skin color per se. https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_Did_some_Church_leaders_believe_that_the_skin_of_the_Lamanites_would_turn_white%3F
“White” need not refer to skin color, as is clear from the following passages from the biblical book of Daniel: “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed (Daniel 11:35). “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand (Daniel 12:10). In both of these passages, the meaning of the word “white” is most obviously pure; to “make white” is to purify. When Joseph Smith first translated the Book of Mormon, he gave the literal rendering of “white” for the passage in 2 Nephi 30:6. For the 1840 edition, it was changed to “pure,” which better reflected the meaning of the word used by Nephi. Subsequent editions, however, relied on the 1837 Book of Mormon, which still read “white.” This oversight was not rectified until the 1981 edition. John A. Tvedtnes http://shields-research.org/Critics/CARM-JAT.htm#If
“White” versus “Pure”
“According to the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, Nephi, speaking of the latter-day restoration, discussed the future conversion of Lehi’s descendants: “And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and a delightsome people” (2 Nephi 30:6). In 1840 the Book of Mormon was “carefully revised by the translator,” Joseph Smith,15 and in that edition the expression “white and delightsome” was changed to “pure and delightsome.” This change seems to reflect the Prophet’s concern that modern readers might misinterpret this passage as a reference to racial changes rather than to changes in righteousness. Possibly his sojourns in Ohio and Missouri had altered his perspective of the racial connotations of the term white in the contemporary United States, particularly among slaves and slaveholders. He may not have gained much understanding of this matter during his upbringing in New England and New York State, where slavery was not as common.
Unfortunately for subsequent Latter-day Saint interpreters, following the Prophet’s death the changes in the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon were not carried over into subsequent printings, which were instead based on an edition prepared by the Twelve Apostles in Great Britain after a copy of an earlier edition. The apostles, being in England, were not familiar with the 1840 edition. Consequently, Latter-day Saints did not reap the benefit of the Prophet’s clarification until it was restored in the 1981 edition of the Book of Mormon.17 Some critics have been fond of citing statements of earlier Latter-day Saint leaders, who once interpreted 2 Nephi 30:6 to mean that conversion leads to a change of skin color; however, to use such statements today is anachronistic at best and disingenuous at worst since these statements were all expressed previous to the 1981 correction and merely echo a misinterpretation of the Book of Mormon text rather than the authoritative text itself. Moreover, a change in Lamanite skin color was clearly never intended by the “white/pure and delightsome” passage that the Prophet Joseph modified because it does not refer to the Lamanites at all, but to the Nephites and Jews in the latter days who turn to Christ (see 2 Nephi 30:1-7).
Is the Prophet’s Change from “White” to “Pure” Justified in the Scriptural Context? Yes!
But is the Prophet’s change from “white” to “pure” justified in the scriptural context? The answer is yes. The terms white and pure are used synonymously in Daniel 7:9, Revelation 15:6, and Doctrine and Covenants 110:3. They are also found together in a number of passages where they clearly refer to those who are purified and redeemed by Christ (Alma 5:24; 13:12; 32:42; Mormon 9:6; D&C 20:6). Similarly, Mormon expressed the hope that the Nephites “may once again be a delightsome people” (Words of Mormon 1:8). It was also of the Nephites that he wrote:
And also that the seed of this people may more fully believe his gospel, which shall go forth unto them from the Gentiles; for this people shall be scattered, and shall become a dark, a filthy, and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us, yea, even that which hath been among the Lamanites, and this because of their unbelief and idolatry. (Mormon 5:15)
Purity and Righteousness on the One Hand and Impurity and Wickedness has Nothing to do with Race
The use of black-and-white imagery to typify purity and righteousness is exemplified in the works of Ephraim of Syria, a fourth-century AD Old World Christian writer, who commented on Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) as follows: “The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip: the Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptized and shone with joy, and journeyed on! He made disciples and taught, and out of black men he made men white. And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son.”18 One of Ephraim’s poems explains that “bodies that were filled with stains are made white” by means of anointing and baptism.19 The Qur’an, a seventh-century Semitic text, also speaks of the day of judgment as “the day when some faces will be white and some faces will be black” (3:106). This could be taken as a reference to purity and righteousness on the one hand and impurity and wickedness on the other, or to salvation and damnation, but certainly not to race, since Islam has always been reasonably color-blind.20 Modern Arabic still uses the idiom sawwada wajhuhu to describe the act of discrediting, dishonoring, or disgracing a person, but its literal meaning is “to blacken the face” of someone.” John A. Tvedtnes
15 See introduction to the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon
16. Use of the term white for the concept of purity was well attested at the time Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, as well as in his cultural context. Out of six meanings for the term given in Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, three concern purity, while only two concern color. The last concerns venerability.
17. For a more detailed explanation of the history of this textual variant, see Larry W. Draper, “Book of Mormon Editions,” in Uncovering the Original Text of the Book of Mormon, ed. M. Gerald Bradford and Alison V. P. Coutts (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2002), 43.
18. “The Pearl: Seven Hymns on the Faith” 3:2, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (1890-1900; reprint, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), 13:295. My thanks to Mark Ellison for bringing this passage to my attention.
19. This translation comes from text 16, stanza 7, of a forthcoming edition of selected poems of Saint Ephraim the Syrian, edited and translated by Sebastian P. Brock and George A. Kiraz, to be published in a bilingual side-by-side format by Brigham Young University Press in 2004. See also Sebastian Brock, trans., The Harp of the Spirit: Eighteen Poems of St. Ephrem, 2nd ed. (London: Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, 1983), 49. My thanks go to Daniel C. Peterson for this reference and the next.
20. Bernard Lewis, Race and Color in Islam (New York: Harper and Row, 1971).
