Saints Jane Manning James Part 2

Viewpoint on Mormonism, the program that examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a Biblical perspective. Viewpoint on Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism Research Ministry. Since 1979, Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For much of its history, ignore a passage from the Book of Mormon from 2 Nephi 26-33. Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism.

I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. We've been going through the second volume of Saints. This is titled Saints, No Unhallowed Hand, and it covers the years 1846-1893. Yesterday we began looking at chapter 5, titled Bow Down to the Grave, and it starts off with the story of Jane Manning James, who was a black convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was really quite faithful during her lifetime to the LDS Church.

But yet, towards the end of her life was, in my opinion, treated rather badly. But before we get to that portion of her story, in yesterday's show we were talking about a sentence that was found on page 70 of this book where it said, And we showed that while that may have been true, that many members did oppose slavery because a lot of converts to the LDS Church were from the Northern states, there were Church leaders that had no problem with slavery at all, one of which was Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This would also be true for Abraham O. Smoot, who converted to the Mormon Church in 1835 at the age of 20.

He had, as far as we know, three slaves. On page 71, the book talks about members of the Church who wrongly viewed black people as inferior, believing that black skin was the result of God's curse on the biblical figures Cain and Ham. And as I mentioned, this is still a part of Mormon scripture. The proof text that was used by Mormon leaders to support the prohibition against blacks holding the priesthood was Abraham 1, 25 and 26. That is still a part of LDS scripture.

They've never removed it. And as far as I know, now what they're doing with it is basically ignoring what it has to say regarding Pharaoh and his relationship to Egyptus and that relationship to Ham. But then it says some had even begun to teach the false idea that black skin was evidence of a person's unrighteous actions in the premortal life. And if you caught yesterday's show, you heard Eric read three quotations from Mormon leaders that basically taught that exact thing. But then the book goes on to say that Brigham Young shared some of these views, but before leaving winter quarters, he had also told a mixed race saint that all people were alike unto God.

And that's what brings us to the question I raised at the beginning of the show. 2 Nephi 26, 33, referring to the children of men, it says, he invited them all to come on to him and partake of his goodness. And he denieth none that come on to him, black and white, bond and free, male and female.

And he remember the heathen and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. Now, a Mormon might argue, we did allow, and we do allow blacks to become members of the church. Are they going to take that word inviteth in that kind of a context? See, I would take it much further than that, meaning that if God is inviting you to come, I don't think he's just saying come and become a member of my church. I think he's saying come so that you might have a relationship with me that will last throughout eternity. Now, in Mormonism up until 1978, that was not possible for a person of color, those of African heritage.

They could become members, there's no doubt about that, but they could not hold the priesthood. And that's what brings us back to the story of Manning James. This paragraph goes on to say, of one blood has God made all flesh, he had said, speaking of Brigham Young in that conversation that he had with a person of mixed race. He said, we don't care about the color.

We don't care about the color. But yet, if you were to read the Gospel Topics essay, dealing with race in the priesthood, they certainly point to Brigham Young as seeming to care about the color. They got to throw Brigham Young under the bus. And yet, this statement here is showing us that Brigham Young, at best, was inconsistent in those views. And as I mentioned yesterday, Brigham Young was kind of a walking contradiction.

There's no question about that. But now, let's continue with the story of Jane Manning James, because it picks up again, but several pages away from the story where we're reading now. Now you have to flip to page 588, and the story of Jane Manning James starts again, showing the difficulties that this faithful Latter-day Saint had with the leadership of her church over a privilege that every other member of her church could have, but she could not. It says on page 588, Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the church, seeking clarity of her own.

Jane was more than 60 years old now, and she worried about what the next life had in store for her. Most saints in Utah had received temple ordinances that sealed them to loved ones in this life and the next. But Jane understood that she, as a black Latter-day Saint, was not permitted to participate in these higher ordinances. But Jane understood that she, as a black Latter-day Saint, was not permitted to participate in these higher ordinances. But wait a minute, didn't we read that Brigham Young said back on page 72, we don't care about the color? Well, here they seem to be admitting that they certainly did care about the color. This story goes on with Jane and her pleading with the leadership of her church in order for her to participate in the same privileges as other Latter-day Saints.

What does it say at the bottom of 589, Eric? In early 1883, Jane had visited President John Taylor to seek permission to receive her endowment. President Taylor discussed the matter with her, but he did not think the time had yet arrived for black saints to receive the higher ordinances at the temple. He had reviewed the issue several years earlier when another black saint, Elijah Abel, asked to receive his temple ordinances. Though his investigation confirmed that Elijah had received the Melchizedek Priesthood in the 1830s, President Taylor and other church leaders nevertheless decided to refuse Elijah's request on the basis of his race. On the basis of his race, or you could even say in this context, on the basis of her race, they were withheld from this privilege. So color did matter.

Why? Because it was believed up until 1978 that the black skin was a mark given by God upon those who were not worthy to hold the priesthood. And I'm using the word worthy purposefully because that's how it was described. It was a worthiness issue.

And think about this too, Bill. 120 years, Latter-day Saints with one drop of black blood in them would disqualify them. So we're talking about who knows how many people, many thousands of people who have had to go through what Jane Manning James has had to go through. The book continues on page 590, nearly two years after speaking with President Taylor, Jane had entreated him again, quote, I realize my race and color and can't expect my endowments, she stated at that time, yet she noted that God had promised to bless all of Abraham's seed. She said, as this is the fullness of all dispensations, is there no blessing for me? You know my history, according to the best of my ability, I have lived to all the requirements of the gospel. She then recounted Emma Smith's invitation to her and expressed her own desire to be adopted into Joseph Smith's family.

Quote, if I could be adopted to him as a child, my soul would be satisfied, end quote. Soon after Jane sent her letter, President Taylor had left Salt Lake City to visit the southern settlements in Mexico, and he did not respond to her before his death. Four years later, Jane's stake president issued her a recommend to perform baptisms for the dead in the temple.

Quote, you must be content with this privilege, awaiting further instructions from the Lord to his servants, he wrote. A short time later, Jane traveled to the Logan temple and received baptism for her mother, grandmother, daughter, and other kindred dead. Now, in her letter to Joseph F. Smith, Jane again requested a chance to receive temple ordinances, including an adoption into the Smith family. Can that be accomplished and when, she asked. Jane received no reply to her letter, so she wrote again in April.

Again, she received no reply. Jane continued to have faith in the restored gospel and the prophets, praying that she might receive salvation in the Lord's kingdom. Look how she viewed this. She viewed this as salvation in the Lord's kingdom. And that's exactly what it was, because you need this priesthood. She needed a priesthood holder spouse in order to get in the celestial kingdom of God.

That's absolutely essential. But it was because of her color. It makes it very clear in what we're reading here. And again, I might mention these history books are much more transparent when it comes to the thorny issues of Mormonism than maybe some writings of the past.

But it does show a definite problem here. When you read her pleading with not only the third president, John Taylor, but also the sixth president of the church, Joseph F. Smith, they're ignoring her. But yet, look at what the church does with her today. They use her as the pinnacle of faithfulness, while at the same time, while she was alive, she was being treated, well, like the proverbial second-class citizen, as she was viewed according to the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at that time. To be adopted into the Smith family, one wonders, what would that relationship look like? Would she be a servant in the Smith household throughout eternity?

Be a servant to the Smith family on their planet somewhere or their world somewhere? I think what's important to bring out at this time, the church, I commend for bringing out this uncomfortable history of its past. But I think the church needs to go far beyond what it's done so far. What I mean by that is, if you're going to have Abraham 1, verses 25 and 26 in your scriptures, you need to come up with a good explanation as to what those verses really mean nowadays, because there's nowhere in the context of those passages that say that this is going to be reversed during this lifetime. Now, this book tries to bring out the point that it was known that that situation for those black members was going to change at some time. But the fact is, folks, the way Brigham Young taught it and the way other leaders taught it, it would only change after the resurrection. It would not change during this lifetime. I want to end this show with a quotation from President Russell M. Nelson, a statement that he made on Sunday, October 4th, 2020.

This is in General Conference on a Sunday session, October 4th, 2020. This is what Russell M. Nelson stated. I assure you that your standing before God is not determined by the color of your skin. Favor or disfavor with God is dependent upon your devotion to God and His commandments and not the color of your skin. But yet we can see from pages 590 and 591 an individual's devotion, as described by Russell M. Nelson, was not what was necessary to get favor with God.

Prior to 1978, earned disfavor, as we see in this book, from the color of their skin. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism.