{"id":39681,"date":"2020-02-05T23:16:11","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T04:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=39681"},"modified":"2020-02-06T01:15:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T06:15:17","slug":"reconsidering-the-lamanites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2020\/02\/reconsidering-the-lamanites\/","title":{"rendered":"Reconsidering the Lamanites"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the major points of discussion in recent weeks is over an error in the printed \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d manual.\u00a0 A Joseph Fielding Smith quote with racist content was included in the discussion of 2 Nephi 5 and it was only noted that it does not accurately reflect Church doctrine after the manuals were printed.\u00a0 The decision was made to change the digital version of the material but to send out the manuals as printed, with the belief that most members would be using the digital version.\u00a0 Church statements to the press have focused on re-affirming that Church rejects racism in any form and disavows racist teachings.\u00a0 At a meeting of the NAACP in Utah, Elder Gary E. Stevenson expressed that the quote was a mistake and that he wants members to disregard the printed version.\u00a0 He also stated that: \u201cI\u2019m deeply saddened and hurt by this error and for any pain that it may have caused our members and for others.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 It\u2019s been an issue that has fed into the ongoing discussion of the Church\u2019s efforts to deal with racism.<\/p>\n

Now, there are many unresolved questions with this error.\u00a0 For example, what exactly is the review process for the \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d manuals and how did the quote pass inspection?\u00a0 Will the official institute manual for the Book of Mormon also be updated to remove the quote?[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Will the Church tell members to disregard the printed version via Church\u2019s websites or other means of direct communication?[3]<\/a>\u00a0 How will this incident affect how we read the Book of Mormon in the future?\u00a0 There are a lot of things to consider here.<\/p>\n

One thing is clear, though\u2014this incident has brought racial views in the Book of Mormon to the fore.\u00a0 Joseph Fielding Smith\u2019s quote draws on the racist beliefs that dark skin is a result of a curse on wicked ancestors and that interracial marriages are wrong.\u00a0 It reads:<\/p>\n

The dark skin was placed upon the Lamanites so that they could be distinguished from the Nephites and to keep the two peoples from mixing. [see 2 Nephi 5:21-23; Alma 3:6-10].\u00a0 The dark skin was the sign of the curse.\u00a0 The curse was the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord [see 2 Nephi 5:20]. … Dark skin … is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In contrast, the Church\u2019s official stance is that it \u201cdisavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 President Smith\u2019s quote goes against that stance.<\/p>\n

That being said, Joseph Fielding Smith\u2019s quote draws on things that are stated in some of the more painful sections of the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 Nephi states that God caused \u201cthe cursing to come upon\u201d the Lamanites \u201cbecause of their iniquity.\u201d \u00a0While they had been \u201cwhite, and exceedingly fair and delightsome,\u201d they were made to have \u201ca skin of blackness\u201d so that they would be \u201cloathsome\u201d and \u201cnot be enticing\u201d to the Nephites (2 Nephi 5:21-23).\u00a0 This is reiterated by Mormon in Alma 3 where he draws on Nephi\u2019s words to describe Lamanites.\u00a0 Much of what is present in the Joseph Fielding Smith quote is there in the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n

What follows here is an attempt on my part to make sense of the context of those statements in the Book of Mormon.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be the first to admit, however, that I don\u2019t really know a good answer to the issue at hand.\u00a0 I am disturbed by what Nephi and Mormon wrote about the Lamanites, but I don’t have enough context to really understand why they said what they said.\u00a0 Perhaps the online version of the Come, Follow Me<\/em><\/a> really does offer the best answer available with the information we have when it discusses the issue, affirming that we don’t really know much about what is stated and that it doesn’t reflect our doctrine today.\u00a0 So, take what I say with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n

When I was younger, I viewed the Book of Mormon almost as if God had sat down with dozens of different faces over the course of a thousand years and wrote the whole book Himself.\u00a0 I took everything at face value as truth.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve grown older, however, I\u2019ve started to ponder more on the fact that the authors of the Book of Mormon were human. \u00a0They were imperfect and some of their imperfect ideologies and agendas may have made their way into the text.\u00a0 Moroni admitted that this might be the case when he wrote that: \u201cIf there are faults they are the mistakes of men.\u201d[6]<\/a> \u00a0Nephi likewise wrote that: \u201cI do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred.\u00a0 And now, if I do err, even did they err of old\u201d (1 Nephi 19:6). \u00a0Two of the most prominent authors in the Book of Mormon were aware that they were human and took responsibility for mistakes that they made in their writing.\u00a0 Perhaps human faults had an impact on how the Lamanites were handled by Nephi and Mormon in their writing.<\/p>\n

One example of personal agendas being blended with spiritual agendas is the fact that Nephi had a vested interest in defending his claims of leadership against the competing claims of his older brother, Laman.\u00a0 Nephi saw himself as being chosen by God (and his father Lehi) because he was a better political and spiritual leader for their family than his brother.\u00a0 Laman, on the other hand, felt that it was his responsibility and right to lead as the older brother.\u00a0 Hence, those in the family who sided with Laman repeatedly complained about Nephi\u2019s efforts to take \u201cit upon him to be our ruler and our teacher\u201d over those \u201cwho are his elder brethren. \u2026 He has thought to make himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to his will and pleasure.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 To counter this, Nephi\u2019s narrative emphasizes that his older brothers struggled to receive revelation; were hard-hearted, fearful and frequently angry; and were often unwilling to follow directions from the Lord through Lehi and Nephi. \u00a0In contrast, Nephi speaks of receiving revelation and being obedient to his father\u2019s revelations in courageous ways on a regular basis.\u00a0 While it may be true that Nephi was indeed a more suitable leader than Laman, it must be kept in mind that Nephi spent his adult life asserting controversial claims to leadership, which and might have affected how he presented his account.<\/p>\n

After the point in the narrative where the two factions in the clan separated, Nephi continued to lay out the value of his leadership by describing the results in the lives of the members of each faction.\u00a0 He emphasized the contrast between his own followers and those of Laman, describing how he \u201cdid cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands\u201d (2 Nephi 5:17), while those who followed Laman are described as \u201can idle people, full of mischief and subtlety\u201d (2 Nephi 5:24).\u00a0 Nephi\u2019s followers practiced agriculture, \u201cfor we did sow seed, and we did reap again in abundance.\u00a0 And we began to raise flocks, and herds, and animals of every kind\u201d (2 Nephi 5:11), while Laman\u2019s followers \u201cdid seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey\u201d (2 Nephi 5:24).\u00a0 Nephi\u2019s followers built a temple and accepted him as their ruler and leader while the Laman and his faction \u201cwere cut off from the presence of the Lord\u201d (2 Nephi 5:20).\u00a0 In many ways, Nephi is laying out a narrative where those who follow his rule represent civilization while those who reject it in favor of Laman\u2019s rule become barbarians.<\/p>\n

It is in this context that Nephi makes the disturbing statement that Laman\u2019s group was given \u201ca skin of blackness\u201d as opposed to being \u201cwhite, and exceedingly fair and delightsome.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Now, I realize that Nephi would know better what his brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews looked like than I do.\u00a0 What I don’t know is exactly what Nephi was seeing or the exact skin tone that anyone in his family had.\u00a0 I also do not know enough of Nephi’s cultural context to understand why he saw being white and fair as being better than blackness.\u00a0 It certainly sounds like racism, though his close relatives wouldn’t be considered a different race.\u00a0 It could be that Nephi was making a bigger deal out of something than we, as 21st<\/sup> century viewers, would in the same situation.\u00a0 For example, maybe Laman\u2019s group encountered other inhabitants of the land and intermarried with them while Nephi’s group did not. \u00a0That could explain physical differences from Nephites and higher numbers among the Lamanites within a few generations.\u00a0 Another suggestion is that maybe Laman and Lemuel just had a genetic disposition to higher melanin production than their younger brothers and Nephi read too much into fact that they looked tanner than him.\u00a0 It might sound like a laughable suggestion, but confirmation bias may have affected how Nephi saw his brothers’ appearance after they went their separate ways.<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, the idea that Lamanites are portrayed in such a negative light to serve political agendas can be seen in later portrayals by Nephites as well. \u00a0Enos, Jarom, and Zeniff all described a Lamanite stereotype of a lazy, ferocious, thieving, underdressed, and idolatrous people who were obsessed with blood and meat.[9]<\/a> \u00a0Mormon seems to have seen the Lamanites of Alma\u2019s time in similar ways when he wrote about them hundreds of years later (see Alma 3:5-12). \u00a0As Joshua Madson observed, however, much of this can be seen as the language of demonization and scapegoating.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 The Nephites were locked in frequent warfare with their cousins and some of the wartime propaganda may have become so ingrained into their society that it also became a part of the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n

The Nephite casting of Lamanites as stereotypical barbarians, however, doesn\u2019t hold up too well when we read the Book of Mormon more closely.\u00a0 Jacob, for example, noted that they often treated their families better than Nephites, and Zeniff was surprised to realize that Lamanites were not totally evil (contrary to his original expectations) when he spied on them.[11]<\/a>\u00a0 There are also indications that the Lamanites may have been more advanced than we usually give them credit for.\u00a0 The Lamanites were able to support a larger population than the Nephites,[12]<\/a> which indicates that they had to have practiced some form of agriculture rather than living solely off hunting and raiding.\u00a0 The ability to wage large-scale warfare for an extended period like we see in the Book of Alma is also indicative of the ability to organize and supply an army\u2014something we would expect of a relatively complex state rather than a coalition of barbarians.\u00a0 It can also be noted, as J. Christopher Conkling did in a journal article years ago, that when you compare Ammon and Aaron\u2019s 14-year mission among the Lamanites to Alma\u2019s contemporary mission among the Nephites, the two groups that they ministered to were on par with each other for signs of civilization and in their treatment of missionaries.[13]<\/a>\u00a0 These things lead me the wonder whether the Lamanites were as barbaric as the Nephites generally portrayed them.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

Another complication to portrayals of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon comes to mind.\u00a0 The two major factions had fluid boundaries, making the designations of Nephite and Lamanite often more political or religious than ancestral in nature.\u00a0 To paraphrase a line from Disney\u2019s Mandalorian, Nephite is not a race, it\u2019s a creed.[15]<\/a>\u00a0 Nephites defect to Lamanite society on a regular basis and Lamanites (like the Anti-Nephi-Lehites) defect to the Nephites as well.\u00a0 We even see the Nephite nation absorb a third group (known to us as the Mulekites) into their cultural and political systems.\u00a0 After the Lamanites are converted in final century B.C., the boundaries become even more fluid, with open borders and extensive commerce flowing between the two nations (see Helaman 6:7-9). \u00a0After Christ\u2019s post-ascension visit, the boundary between Nephites and Lamanites seems to collapse completely, and they spend centuries as a unified people (see 4 Nephi 1:15-17).\u00a0 By the time Mormon is writing, the re-emergent nations of Nephites and Lamanites seem to be largely an artificial construct rather than a direct continuation of the earlier nations and groups.<\/p>\n

Thus, when Mormon wrote about the Lamanites in Alma 3, he did so through a few lenses that we should keep in mind.\u00a0 First, he is approaching early Lamanite society through written records, hundreds of years after the boundaries between the Lamanites and Nephites ceased to exist. \u00a0As such, Mormon never saw the Lamanites he describes in Alma and depended on the writing of Nephi and Nephite authors to understand what the Lamanites were like in that age. Second, he spent his life fighting a war against a group who has chosen to identify as Lamanites and had set their minds on destroying his people and his religion.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t bode well for him to see any Lamanites in a positive light.\u00a0 Third, he was writing a morality epic with a focus quite apart from detailing inter-group strife in his homeland over the course of a millennia.\u00a0 One of his central points seems to be that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked.\u00a0 Throughout the earlier parts of that epic, the Lamanites are brought up most often as a contrast to the Nephite\u2019s righteousness or to punish the Nephites when they fall into wickedness.\u00a0 All three of these lenses do not lend themselves to a positive portrayal of the Lamanites and likely impacted his description in Alma 3.<\/p>\n

My point in discussing all of this is that the Book of Mormon was written by people who had their own imperfect perspectives.\u00a0 When we come across descriptions that cast the Lamanites in a negative light, we need to keep in mind that the authors may have had their own agendas and ideologies that bled through into their writing, even though they had righteous and devotional purposes for composing the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n

That being said, the central messages of the Book of Mormon do shine through any mistakes of men.\u00a0 One of those, as Nephi wrote, is that the Lord \u201cinviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God\u201d (2 Nephi 26:33).\u00a0 Within the Book of Mormon, both Lamanites and Nephites went through periods of righteousness and unrighteousness and both groups had many individuals who chose to come unto Christ.\u00a0 Hence, we read in the digital version of the Come, Follow Me<\/em> manual that: \u201cDifferences in culture, language, gender, race, and nationality fade into insignificance as the faithful enter the covenant path and come unto our beloved Redeemer.\u201d[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> See Sean Walker, “We are all part of the same divine familiy,” KSL.com <\/em>20 January 2020<\/a> for the full statement from Elder Stevenson.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> The current Institute manual for the Book of Mormon<\/a> uses the quote in full.\u00a0 It is very possible that it was lifted from this manual in preparing the \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d manual for this year.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> So far, the only way to know that the Church has said anything about the error is to read Utah news sources.\u00a0 Even the Church Newsroom report of Elder Gary E. Stevenson\u2019s meeting with the NAACP<\/a> makes no mention of his statement about the manual.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Cited in Book of Mormon 2020, \u201cCome Follow Me–For Individuals and Families,\u201d<\/em> (SLC: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2019), 24.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u201cRace and the Priesthood,\u201d Gospel Topics Essay.<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Book of Mormon title page, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/scriptures\/bofm\/bofm-title?lang=eng<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> 1 Nephi 16:37-39.\u00a0 See also 1 Nephi 18:10 and 2 Nephi 5:2-3.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> 2 Nephi 5:21. See also 1 Nephi 12:20-23, 1 Nephi 13:15, Alma 3:6 for more commentary that seems tied to skin color of Nephites and Lamanites.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> See Enos 1:20, Jarom 1:6, and Mosiah 9:12.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Joshua Madson, \u201cA Non-Violent Reading of the Book of Mormon,\u201d in Patrick Q. Mason, J. David Pulsipher,; Richard L. Bushman. War & Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives<\/em> (Kindle Locations 667-671). Greg Kofford Books. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> See Jacob 2:35 and Mosiah 9:1.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Jarom 1:6 and Mosiah 24:3.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> J. Christopher Conkling, \u201cAlma\u2019s Enemies: The Case of the Lamanites, Amlicites, and Mysterious Amalekites,\u201d Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14, no. 1 (2005): 115, https:\/\/scholarsarchive.byu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1395&context=jbms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Some of this may be due to learning from the Nephites, as is described in Mosiah 24:5-7, but I don\u2019t think all of it can be ascribed to that source.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Mormon indicated as much when he wrote that: \u201cAnd it came to pass that whosoever would not believe in the\u00a0traditions\u00a0of the Lamanites, but believed those records which were brought out of the land of Jerusalem, and also in the tradition of their fathers, which were correct, who believed in the commandments of God and kept them, were called\u00a0the Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time forth\u201d (Alma 3:11).<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Russell M. Nelson, cited in Come, Follow Me For Individuals and Families: Book of Mormon 2020<\/em>, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/manual\/come-follow-me-for-individuals-and-families-book-of-mormon-2020\/06?lang=eng<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the major points of discussion in recent weeks is over an error in the printed \u201cCome, Follow Me\u201d manual.\u00a0 A Joseph Fielding Smith quote with racist content was included in the discussion of 2 Nephi 5 and it was only noted that it does not accurately reflect Church doctrine after the manuals were printed.\u00a0 The decision was made to change the digital version of the material but to send out the manuals as printed, with the belief that most members would be using the digital version.\u00a0 Church statements to the press have focused on re-affirming that Church rejects racism in any form and disavows racist teachings.\u00a0 At a meeting of the NAACP in Utah, Elder Gary E. Stevenson expressed that the quote was a mistake and that he wants members to disregard the printed version.\u00a0 He also stated that: \u201cI\u2019m deeply saddened and hurt by this error and for any pain that it may have caused our members and for others.\u201d[1]\u00a0 It\u2019s been an issue that has fed into the ongoing discussion of the Church\u2019s efforts to deal with racism. Now, there are many unresolved questions with this error.\u00a0 For example, what exactly is the review process for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2895,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-of-mormon","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39694,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39681\/revisions\/39694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}