Skin's colors.
The critics of our church, sometimes, have fun in asking: "How come the Lamanites, when they convert to your church, don't change their skin's color in white?
The question seems provoking and very smart but if we go to the very base and we discover why this happened in the old times and now no more we will see that this is perfectly conceivable and above all rational.
Why the Lord used this way to change the colors of the skin?
This is the question to lead us to better understand the problem.
Genesis 4:14
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, [that] every one that findeth me shall slay me.
Genesis 4:15
15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
Obviously in this case the mark was for Cain a protection but even a warning for the other inhabitants of the earth, to avoid him and don't have any relationship.
This seem logical to have an end with the flood, but that was not the case, we have the black race still now. We have to thank the modern revelation to have details on that.
Abraham 1:21
21 Now this king of Egypt was a descendant from the loins of Ham, and was a partaker of the blood of the Canaanites by birth.
Abraham 1:22
22 From this descent sprang all the Egyptians, and thus the blood of the Canaanites was preserved in the land.
Abraham 1:23
23 The land of Egypt being first discovered by a woman, who was the daughter of Ham, and the daughter of Egyptus, which in the Chaldean signifies Egypt, which signifies that which is forbidden;
Abraham 1:25
25 Now the first government of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was patriarchal.
Abraham 1:26
26 Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.
Abraham 1:27
27 Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was led away by their idolatry;
After this is very interesting to note that the chosen people are forbidden to marry the descendants of Canaan, son of Cam that everybody knows the black race came out.
Genesis 9:18
18 ¶ And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham [is] the father of Canaan.
Genesis 9:19
19 These [are] the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
Genesis 9:20
20 And Noah began [to be] an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
Genesis 9:21
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
Genesis 9:22
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
Genesis 9:23
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid [it] upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces [were] backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
Genesis 9:24
24 ¶ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
Genesis 9:25
25 And he said, Cursed [be] Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Genesis 9:26
26 And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Genesis 9:27
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
The interesting question at this point should be: How the people of that time would have been able to know which ones were the descendants of Cam or Canaan? There were not the personal ID, no picture, no blood test and so on. Do you understand why now the Lord put a mark on Cain? That was a clear way by which everyone could know, a warning mark, impossible to miss it. We should consider that God did this no just for racism but just to preserve the priesthood.
Genesis 24:2
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Genesis 24:3
3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
Abraham was well aware of this point.
In the book of Mormon this point is well defined
2 Nephi 5:21
21 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.
2 Nephi 5:22
22 And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.
2 Nephi 5:23
23 And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.
2 Nephi 5:24
24 And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.
2 Nephi 5:25
25 And the Lord God said unto me: They shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in remembrance of me; and inasmuch as they will not remember me, and hearken unto my words, they shall scourge them even unto destruction.
This is in harmony with the Israel's history
Judges 2:20
20 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
Judges 2:21
21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:
Judges 2:22
22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep [it], or not.
Judges 2:23
23 Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.
Judges 3:1
1 ¶ NOW these [are] the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, [even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
Judges 3:2
2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
Judges 3:3
3 [Namely], five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
Judges 3:4
4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Many of these people were descendants of Cam.
The main reason for this was because they should not " might not be enticing unto my people " and therefore the purpose was: "And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing" to not mix the chosen people with them.
The mark on the skin was impossible to have been missed and no one had an excuse. Who knew the doctrine knew the meaning of it. I'd like to know how the Abraham's servant could disclose the right woman for Isaac, because the Abraham's warning was :"Genesis 24:3
3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
How could the servant know who where the daughters of the Canaanites or not if all the people were white?
Alma 3:6
6 And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.
Alma 3:7
7 And their brethren sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women.
Alma 3:8
8 And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction.
Alma 3:9
9 And it came to pass that whosoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites did bring the same curse upon his seed.
Alma 3:10
10 Therefore, whosoever suffered himself to be led away by the Lamanites was called under that head, and there was a mark set upon him.
Alma 3:11
11 And it came to pass that whosoever would not believe in the tradition of 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 the Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time forth--
Alma 3:12
12 And it is they who have kept the records which are true of their people, and also of the people of the Lamanites.
Alma 3:13
13 Now we will return again to the Amlicites, for they also had a mark set upon them; yea, they set the mark upon themselves, yea, even a mark of red upon their foreheads.
Alma 3:14
14 Thus the word of God is fulfilled, for these are the words which he said to Nephi: Behold, the Lamanites have I cursed, and I will set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed, from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them.
Alma 3:15
15 And again: I will set a mark upon him that mingleth his seed with thy brethren, that they may be cursed also.
Alma 3:16
16 And again: I will set a mark upon him that fighteth against thee and thy seed.
At this time was necessary to turn the red in white for the people who converted their ways just to put the things in order, if God can put the mark it seems obvious that he can take off it too.
Now the silly question:" How come the Lamanites, today, don't turn back their skin in white when they convert to the church?" Simple! there is no more necessity like in that time:" The records of the church and the means by which we can check the identity are sure and above all if all the Lamanites that will convert to the church would turn their skin in white they would be a sure sign for mankind, but God doesn't work in that way. It would have been enough, then, to leave the golden plates to have the same purpose, but that is not the case. In the old times people couldn't notice this easily, for many reason, but today is very different and today is the day in which Jesus declared :" Will The Son of man find the faith on earth when he will be back?" The things of God are based on pure and simple faith no signs. in the old times to reverse the skin's color was necessary to put the person back in the fold, but not today. that is not more necessary for the reason I mentioned and also because the curs is over! Today is the day in which all mankind could partake of the priesthood blessings.
