book review: friedrich nietzsche, beyond good and evil

things i found interesting in friedrich nietzsche's book beyond good and evil:

page xv

In Beyond Good and Evil he maintains that original Christianity represents 'an ongoing suicide of reason' (p.44; 46), ascribing it to an Oriental slave revolt against Roman antiquity. Like Freud after him, Nietzsche considered religion a 'neurosis' (p. 45; 47); it involves an unnatural self-denial and sacrifice. In one of his most interesting observations, Nietzsche compares the history of 'religious cruelty' to a ladder with three important rungs: the first entails the sacrifice of one's loved ones to the deity; the second demands the sacrifice of one's own instincts or inner nature; and the final rung, which we are now coming to know, involves the sacrifice of God himself for the worship of 'stone, stupidity, heaviness, fate, nothingness' (p. 50; 55). Nietzsche here suggests that our modern penchant for science or nihilism, as atheistic as it appears at first glance, is merely a replacement for religious belief.

page xvi

Nietzsche is not unaware of the advantages that religion has brought to human society,
even as it has debased human nature. It has helped humankind to endure an otherwise intolerable existence and has assisted us in constructing a viable social order by demanding that we love each other. But religion also has other essential socializing functions. For a particular group of people Nietzsche mentions the Brahmans by name--religion provides a spirituality that permits them to remove themselves from the mundane and crude world surrounding them. For those who are destined to be rulers it is one means for overcoming resistance in their subjects, since it forms a common bond with ordinary people and pacifies them into obedience. It also serves as a pedagogical and disciplinary device for the ascending classes, teaching them a certain abnegation that ennobles their spirit and allows them to rise above the common rabble. Finally, for the vast masses, religion provides a solace for their suffering and the meaninglessness of their existence, 'something that justifies their everyday lives, all the baseness, all the semi-animal poverty of their souls' (p. 55;61). In general, however, Nietzsche's attitude towards religion is that it represents a stage of human development that must be overcome. Christianity, in particular, has led to a 'degeneration of the European race' (p. 56; 62), and the persistence of Christian belief is a sign that the human being has not developed into a creature that is strong enough to achieve the type of self-contained nobility of spirit Nietzsche envisions.

page xvii

The Jews, he asserts, 'brought about that tour de force of a reversal of values' (p. 83; 195); they negated a noble order in which richness, excess, cruelty, and sensuality were validated, and substituted for it a value system in which poverty, godliness, timidity, and spirituality hold sway. This 'slave revolt in morals' (p. 83; 195) disdains as evil the beast of prey and the man of prey, for Nietzsche the 'most healthy of all tropical plants and brutes' (pp. 834; 197), while affirming abstinence, pity, and a tolerance for suffering. The institution of the Judaeo-Christian 'herd' morality has made modern Europe possible even as it has meant an impoverishment of possibilities and human potential. Nietzsche reasons that there have always been rulers and subjects, and he recognizes that a morality preaching docile obedience is a necessity for the masses.

page xix

He [the free spirit] will rid himself of moralities that preach equality, democracy, the general welfare, and utilitarian values, and affirm instead the natural hierarchy Nietzsche captures repeatedly in the term Rangordnung.

page xx

More problematically Nietzsche propagates a human being that will not feel compassion with the oppressed and the unfortunate in society, and that will not seek to do away with suffering, including his own suffering. Rather, the pity this future man feels will involve the disdain for the manner in which the human race has made itself small and petty, and he will nourish suffering as the aid to 'depth, mystery, mask, spirit, cleverness, greatness' (p. 117; 225). In a controversial aphorism Nietzsche even ventures a reconsideration of cruelty as an essential part of human nature. All higher culture, all great tragedy, everything sublime, all knowledge, he contends, are ultimately based on cruelty, either towards ourselves or towards others. ... The task Nietzsche assigns his free spirits is 'to return man to nature; to master the many conceited and gushing interpretations and secondary meanings that have heretofore been scribbled and painted over that eternal original text homo natura'(p. 123; 230). In terms of present values Nietzsche's free spirit will thus prove to be an 'immoralist' who affirms life and aspires to the heights of culture and creativity.

page 7

We do not object to a judgement just because it is false; ... The question is rather to what extent the judgement furthers life, preserves life, preserves the species, perhaps even cultivates the species; ... Admitting untruth as a condition of life ... and a philosophy that dares this has already placed itself beyond good and evil.

this review is ongoing (not finished)...

thelema's the equinox volume 1 number 2 book review

this is my review of equinox 1.2

page 4

joseph smith is mentioned in a list of incompatible forms of faith =)

Faith has been proposed as a remedy. But we perceive many incompatible forms of Faith founded on Authority—The Vedas, The Quran, The Bible; Buddha, Christ, Joseph Smith

this appeals to me:

5. There is only one Rock which Scepticism cannot shake;
the Rock of Experience.
6. We have therefore endeavoured to eliminate from the
conditions of acquiring Spiritual Experience its dogmatic,
theological, accidental, climatic and other inessential elements.
7. We require the employment of a strictly scientific
method. The mind of the seeker must be unbiased: all
prejudice and other sources of error must be perceived as such
and extirpated.
8. We have therefore devised a Syncretic-Eclectic Method
combining the essentials of all methods, rejecting all their
trammels, to attack the Problem, through exact experiments
and not by guesses.

page 5

1. There is no hope in physical life, since death of the
individual, the race, and ultimately the planet, ends all.
2. There is no hope in reason, since it contradicts itself,
and is in any case no more than a reflection upon the facts of
physical life.
...
4. There is no hope in Faith, for there are many warring
Faiths, all equally positive.

2. We are Men of Science, ever eagerly acquiring
pertinent facts.
3. We are Sceptics, ever eagerly examining those facts.
4. We are Philosophers, ever eagerly classifying and coordinating those well-criticised facts.
5. We are Epicureans, ever eagerly enjoying the
unification of those facts.
6. We are Philanthropists, ever eagerly transmitting our
knowledge of those facts to others.
7. Further, we are Syncretists, taking truth from all
systems, ancient and modern; and Eclectics, ruthlessly
discarding the inessential factors in any one system, however
perfect.

page 6

3. Mysticism, being based on pure experience, is always a
vital force; but owing to the lack of trained observation, has
always been a mass of error. Spiritual Experience, interpreted
in the terms of Intellect, is distorted; just as sunrise shows the
grass green and the sea blue. Both were invisible until sunrise;
yet the diversity of colour is not in the sun, but in the objects
on which its light falls, and their contradiction does not prove
the sun to be an illusion.
4. We shall correct Mysticism (or Illuminism) by Science,
and explain Science by Illuminism.

1. We have one method, that of Science.

page 13

2. In this book it is spoken of the Sephiroth and the Paths;
of Spirits and Conjurations; of Gods, Spheres, Planes, and
many other things that may or may not exist.
It is immaterial whether these exist or not. By doing
certain things, certain results will follow; students are
earnestly warned against attributing objective reality or philosophical validity to any of them.
3. The advantages to be gained from them are chiefly
these:
(a) A widening of the horizon of the mind.
(b) An improvement of the control of the mind.

quotes from lds church leaders claiming that american indians and central and south americans are lamanites

this is an ongoing post. i add new things as i find them.

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results for searching lds.org for "sons and daughters of lehi":

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Standing Spotless before the Lord

I love meeting the children of Lehi in spotless white in the numerous temples in the Mexico South Area, where I am currently serving. I feel as President Gordon B. Hinckley did at the dedication of the Guatemala City temple:

“Thou kind and gracious Father, our hearts swell with gratitude for thy remembrance of the sons and daughters of Lehi, the many generations of our fathers and mothers who suffered so greatly and who walked for so long in darkness. Thou hast heard their cries and seen their tears. Now there will be opened to them the gates of salvation and eternal life” (Guatemala City Guatemala Temple dedicatory prayer, in “Their Cries Heard, Their Tears Seen,” Church News, 23 Dec. 1984, 4).

I have seen humble descendants of Lehi come down from the mountains to that temple and openly weep as they stood there in awe.

The Incomparable Gifts

The village is situated in a lush, green, humid area known as the Huasteca, and the inhabitants are sons and daughters of Lehi.

Spencer W. Kimball: A Star of the First Magnitude

He watched over the Lamanite work, was responsible for the placement program, and prophesied of their progress. While he was President, the Church prospered greatly in the lands of Lehi—Mexico, Central and South America, the islands of the sea, and the lands of many Indian tribes of North America.

Songs of the Heart

“Franklin is another example of the faith and dedication that are found among the sons and daughters of Lehi who are growing in the gospel in Otavalo, Ecuador.”

Church Honors Missionaries Who Died in South America

At the service in Wellington, Utah, for Elder Wilson, President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency, spoke of the work the two elders were accomplishing: “What a mission, to bring light and understanding and truth and testimony, and to witness to the sons and daughters of Lehi of their great inheritance. … We wonder why [these deaths] happened. … We can only say that wisdom of God is greater than our wisdom, that mortal life … is only a passing episode in an eternal journey, and that it really doesn’t matter whether we are here for a long time or a short time in this probation.”

“I think as we weep here,” President Hinckley continued, “there will be those who weep with gladness on the other side of the veil. I think particularly Lehi and Sariah and their children and progeny rejoice over the good work of one who tried to lift and help some of their posterity in the land of Bolivia.”

News of the church: August 2000

The Villahermosa Mexico Temple was dedicated by President Thomas S. Monson in four sessions on 21 May.
“May Thy eternal purposes concerning the sons and daughters of Lehi be realized in this sacred house.

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results for searching lds.org for "descendants of the lamanites":

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The Keys of the Kingdom

These descendants of the Lamanites and others are people with a great past, and with the enlightening power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are people with a great future. One of them was sustained yesterday as a General Authority of this church. Recently there were over 8,000 of them assembled in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, Peru, to hear the Lamanite Generation from Brigham Young University

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results for searching lds.org for "native americans":

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Down at the Riverside Lamanite Youth Conference

Almost 400 pairs of eyes read over the registration forms for the youth conference in Riverside, California, and there was not a blue pair in the bunch. And that’s what made this a very special and unique conference. It was one of several youth conferences held for young Lamanite members of the Church. They came to Riverside from Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California

The Best of Both Worlds

In wards and branches in many places, these children of Lehi are literally restoring to the house of Jacob the “knowledge of the covenant” (3 Ne. 5:25) that their forebears made with God.
..As Lehi’s seed, we realize that through our baptismal and temple covenants, a great work is to be done before the Lord’s coming—among our people as well as by our people for others.”

We Must Keep One Another

During the 1830s, before Brigham Young started on a mission to Native Americans in the state of New York, the Prophet Joseph Smith laid his hands on Brigham’s head and committed unto him the keys necessary to open the “gospel to every Lamanite nation.” 4 This priesthood blessing, which surprised and unsettled Elder Young, weighed heavily on him for the rest of his life. It gave him a lifelong duty to help the Native American people.

The Song of the Flute

When John Rainer was a young boy in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, one of his favorite parts of the day was dusk. Like most young Indian children, John would run and play and do chores all day long...
One of the non-Lamanites who studied with Brother Rainer at BYU was Ingrid Jensen of Payson, Utah

Digging into the Book of Mormon: Our Changing Understanding of Ancient America and Its Scripture
the *limited geography* source, claiming mesoamerica as the book of mormon scene. the whole article is relevant.

Research and Perspectives: Recent Studies on the Book of Mormon

Numerous studies have examined intercultural contact between peoples in the Americas and many different parts of the world (such as that described in the Book of Mormon)

Fiction: Walk the Rainbow

In Nabah’s 12th summer he first heard of his Lamanite heritage in the hogan of the family Grey Eyes. Dezbah prayed to the Great Spirit to remove the senseless white man’s words from her son’s heart.

The Book of Mormon: A Sacred Ancient Record

Elder Mark E. Petersen, a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, wrote: “As the ancient Israelites suffered a dispersion which sprinkled them among all the nations, so the descendants of Laman and Lemuel [sons of Lehi] were sifted over the vast areas of the western hemisphere. They are found from pole to pole” (Children of Promise, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1981, p. 31; emphasis added).

Teaming Up for Temple Work

He might arouse people’s interest in the Book of Mormon by raising the question of the origin of Native Americans and then describing the pedigree of Father Lehi and his posterity as set forth in the Book of Mormon.

Meet Father Lehi’s Children

Larry J. EchoHawk, twenty-seven, a Pawnee and the first Indian admitted to the Utah Bar Association, keeps the Book of Mormon on his desk. “I learned a lot about being an Indian from it,” he says. “As a boy, growing up in Farmington, New Mexico, I was ashamed to be an Indian. My parents weren’t, but I read those books and wondered if I was like that—savage and ignorant. The teacher would read ‘Indian’ and I’d cringe.”

He was baptized with his family at the age of fourteen. “For an Indian looking for pride, the Book of Mormon was a wonderful experience,” he remembers. “It was really an uplift to me.” The pride in heritage that his parents taught him, his experience going to Brigham Young University, and especially his research into Indian law at law school completed the process.

“Only one thing I don’t understand,” he grins. “It says we’ll be a white and delightsome people someday. I like the color I am. In fact, I don’t know any Indian who wants to change.”

There are certainly things he’d like to change about the way Indians are treated, though. About 95 percent of his clients are Indians and it “makes my blood boil” to see examples of discrimination by individuals, tokenism, especially in government, and paternalism, even in the Church.

“People still react to those old stereotypes,” he comments. “Some leaders don’t have faith in the capabilities of Lamanites. Occasionally when I moved into a new ward in California, I could see some reserve on the part of the bishop to use me—until he found out I was a lawyer. Do you have to have a law degree to be real?”
...
The gospel is going to be restored to the Lamanites—to my family and friends. We’re not going to be a mediocre people. We’re going to be leaders in the Church and the nation. I know it’s going to happen. I can see it beginning now.”

Lamanite Generation Tours Latin America

The Lamanite Generation consists of talented young Native Americans, Latin Americans, and Polynesians who perform traditional and modern arrangements of music and dance native to their cultures.

Hope for the American Indian?

There is a very special responsibility for Latter-day Saints to be sensitive to the needs of the Lamanites (Indians) wherever they are in the world.

Lamanites and the Church

It was an informal beginning that has grown into the Indian Student Placement program, touching the lives of more than five thousand Lamanite students during the past school year.

Painting a Mormon Picture

One unusual story is that of Darryl Quesada, a Navajo Indian who lives in Whiteriver, Arizona.
...
President Kimball thinks Darryl is pretty special too! He said that in his mind Darryl and other boys like him “exemplify a new generation of Lamanites emerging in the Church who are prepared for missionary service.”

Native American Conference

“You would not believe what has happened in Latin America. You would be overwhelmed if you had the opportunity to shake hands with Lamanite stake presidents and bishops who have come out of the world and embraced the gospel.

Church History Chronology and Maps

1830, September–October
First missionaries called to preach to the Lamanites (Native Americans) (see D&C 28; 30; 32).

6. Kirtland. Missionaries who had been sent to the Lamanites stopped here in 1830 and baptized Sidney Rigdon and others in the area. Kirtland was the headquarters of the Church from early February 1831 to 12 January 1838. The first temple of this dispensation was built here and was dedicated on 27 March 1836 (see D&C 109).

Lamanite Generation Performs in Spain

The troupe is composed of thirty dancers and singers, all Native Americans, Latin Americans, or Polynesians.

Sweet Home Alabama

Of course, nobody knows exactly where the events ancient prophets describe in that scripture took place, but “when we find something that’s from the same time period, it makes me stop and think that at least there were real people who lived then, that maybe a Nephite or a Lamanite actually held this [arrowhead]. It brings it all to life and helps me know that the scriptures are real. They aren’t just a story somebody made up.”

Newsmaker: Latter-day Saint Chief Elected

Chief Sparrow also desires to emphasize spirituality among her people. Under her leadership, community meetings are now opened and closed with prayer. “The Book of Mormon promises that the Lamanites will blossom as a rose,” she says. “I feel right now that our people are ready to blossom.”

A “Place Prepared” in the Rockies

No doubt Book of Mormon prophecies about the redemption and future power of the Lamanites fed nascent expectations involving the West.

Back to Hole-in-the-Rock

I believe the end result of this ‘peace’ mission will be to have the fulness of the gospel operating among the Lamanites here [Hole-in-the-Rock, UT].

Light on the “Mission to the Lamanites”

In September 1830, the Lord called Oliver Cowdery by revelation to “go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them” (D&C 28:8). The call came a few months after the United States Congress had passed the Indian Removal Bill, an act providing for the relocation of all tribes within United States borders to points beyond.

Peter Whitmer Jr., Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, and Frederick Williams also received calls to preach to the Lamanites. The 1831 expulsion of these missionaries from Indian territory and their subsequent proposal to establish territorial schools are documented in letters from the contending parties, which are reproduced at the end of this article.

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results for searching lds.org for "children of lehi":

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Lima Temple Dedication Brings Blessings to Saints in Peru, Bolivia

“Bless thy work that it shall blossom and grow in this nation and its neighbor nations of South America. Remember, Father, thine ancient covenant with the children of Lehi that in the latter days thou wouldst favor them and bring to them a knowledge of their Redeemer. Make them strong in faith and magnify them in leadership in thy kingdom,” he said.
...
He told of past trips in Peru and Bolivia when he had seen the children of Lehi in poverty, oppressed in spirit by the scarcity of gospel truth among them, and cried within himself, “How long, oh Lord, how long?”

Northward to Mesa

During three days the ordinances, blessings, and sealings of the temple were administered to the children of Lehi in their own tongue by these devoted workers, who had made a special effort to learn in Spanish the instructions that they needed to impart.

Report of the Seminar for Regional Representatives

The President said that “the coming five years will be unbelievable if we will do our part.” He then reported that today “we have some half million Lamanite members in the Church, in the South Seas, in North and South America,” but that this represents only a small portion of the 60 million possible Lamanites in the world.

“A great many of you Regional Representatives are working in the areas of the children of Lehi,” said President Kimball. He reported that of the 840 stakes in the Church at present, “89 stakes are entirely Lamanite, 100 stakes have sizable numbers of Lamanites in them, and then we have approximately 380 stakes with some mixture of Lamanites in them.”
...
President Kimball also shared what he described as “my vision for the people of the Lamanites.” He had been assigned to visit Mexico in 1946, three years after being sustained as an apostle and the same year he was appointed chairman of the Church Indian Committee by President George Albert Smith.

“I was dreaming for the people of Mexico,” he said, “and I had a dream of your progress and development. This is precisely what I dreamed. I got up and wrote my dream. Maybe it was a vision: ‘As I look into the future, I see other Lamanites from the isles of the sea and the American continents rise to a great destiny. …

“ ‘I see you children of Lehi with flocks on thousands of hills. Instead of seeing you work for others, I see you managing; the owners of farms, ranches, homes and gardens.

Miracles among the Lamanites

My family and I are presently living in South America among the Lamanites—the children of Lehi, the people of the Book of Mormon, a people of great promise

Maori Traditions and the Mormon Church

Since the days of George Q. Cannon in Hawaii (1851–54), the Church leaders had more and more frequently alluded to the idea that the Polynesians were descendants of Lehi, the early Book Of Mormon prophet. Although the relationship between the Polynesian peoples and the adventurer Hagoth (see Alma 63:5–8) is not clear—he being a Nephite and the Polynesians appearing to be Lamanites—Church leaders have time and time again referred to the Polynesians as children of Lehi

(try also
"descendants of lehi"
"sons of lehi"
)

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tip from exmormon.org user Boilermaker
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Who and Where Are the Lamanites?

Certainly they [Lamanites] have mixed with many other lineages at the far reaches of their dispersal in the Americas and most of the islands of the Pacific since the time when Moroni bade them farewell in A.D. 421.

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tip from exmormon.org user jesus smith
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of royal blood
by "prophet" spencer kimball

Not until the revelations of Joseph Smith, bringing forth the Book of Mormon, did any one know of these migrants. It was not known before, but now the question is fully answered. Now the Lamanites number about sixty million; they are in all of the states of America from Tierra del Fuego all the way up to Point Barrows, and they are in nearly all the islands of the sea from Hawaii south to southern New Zealand.
...
The descendants of this mighty people were called Indians by Columbus in 1492 when he found them here.

The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians, the Guatemalans, the Peruvians, as well as the Sioux, the Apache, the Mohawk, the Navajo, and others. It is a large group of great people.
...
Today we have many Lamanite leaders in the Church. For example, in Tonga, where 20 percent of all the people in the islands belong to the Church, we have three large stakes. Two of them are presided over wholly by Lamanites and the other almost wholly by them. There are three stakes in Samoa and another is to be organized in those small Samoan islands. Four more stakes with Lamanite leaders!

There are three stakes of Zion in Mexico City with Mexican leaders—Lamanite leaders. The stake presidencies, the bishops, the high council, the auxiliary leaders—everybody, with one or two exceptions—are Lamanites. In Monterrey, Mexico, in Guatemala, in Lima, in New Zealand, and elsewhere we have stakes of Zion with all their appropriate leaders.

That is in direct fulfillment of the prophecies that were made, and it is a great change.
...
One of the first things that Joseph Smith did when he was organizing the Church was to preach the gospel to the Lamanites himself, and then he sent his brethren
...
In 1963, 23 percent of all the baptisms in the Church were Lamanite baptisms. There were twenty-five thousand in one year. In 1970 there were even more. All this indicates the responsiveness of the Lamanites to the truth.
...
We have probably thirty thousand Lamanite members in Central America, and I remind you this is the result of only a relatively few years. There must be about one hundred thousand Polynesians in the Church, so that we have now approximately a quarter million Lamanites. I suppose a rough guess would give us only a few thousand twenty years ago. Now we have a quarter million in this short period of two or three decades. We have been doing missionary work with some of the Polynesians for a hundred years and more.

It is pleasing to know that we have hundreds of Lamanite missionaries who are out for two years just like all the non-Lamanites
...
It might be interesting to know that of nearly one hundred missions, the four highest of all are Lamanite missions. That is, the Mexico North Mission, the Guatemala-El Salvador Mission, the Mexico Mission, and the Tonga Mission. These are the four highest in the world.
...
Of all missions, nine of the first twenty-one are Lamanite missions.

blessings, trials/punishments, or coincidence: god, god and no such thing?

the lds church doesnt like to leave anything to chance. you'll never hear a general authority stand at the pulpit in general conference and say: "hey, shit happens."
when something good happens: it was inspired or it is a blessing for something good you've done.
when something bad happens: it is either a test by God or a punishment.

was it inspiration when apostles called missionaries to places where they were killed, dismembered, maimed or tortured while on their missions?

was it inspired that a female student was accepted to god's university, byu, so she could get raped by a byu football player?

i sat in on a lesson 2 weeks ago at my local lds church congregation. it was about trials. one of the key teachings on this subject was something to the effect of:
we will not be given trials greater than we can bear

some questions came to my mind:
* do trials come from god? (several people during the lesson were saying "god gives us trails because/to...")
* does this apply to lds church members only?
* is psychological trauma/damage just an illusion?
* does god allow rape of children because he knows that they can bear it?
* how does the mother who is brutally murdered by her abusive husband bear her trial? (rhetorical question)
* do you as a parent give your children the same kind of trials others claim god gives his children, in order to test their obedience or to build their character? (hopefully everybody agrees that is a rhetorical question)

Learning through life's trials (march 2010!)

Apostle Orson F. Whitney (1855–1931) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, explained: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”

rhetoric like this makes me cringe. let's put these words into some real-life context shall we?
case: a small girl is raped by her father. we'll call her Mary. let's say Mary is 9 or 10 years old, or maybe she's 4 or 14, does it really matter?

let's use those same words and apply them to this situation:

"No pain that Mary suffered during her rape, no trial that she experienced, even rape, is wasted. It ministers to her education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that Mary suffers and all that she must now endure, especially when she endures it patiently, builds up her character, purifies her heart, expands her soul, and makes her more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that she gains the education that she came here to acquire."

LDS Journal of Discourses - native american indians referred to as lamanites + lamanite geography

Here are the best references in all of the journal of discourses:
http://www.jhuston.com/Documents/journals1_26.pdf

where native american indians are referred to as lamanites:

(page 12)
Ask the poor Lamanites who have, with their fathers before them, inhabited these mountains for a thousand years, whether they have ever heard the Gospel, and they will tell you nay.


(page 102)
We are here in the mountains, with these Lamanites for our neighbors


(page 162)
Joseph Smith said we should have to fight them. He said, "When this people mingle among the Lamanites, if they do not bow down in obedience to the Gospel, they will hunt them until there is but a small remnant of them left upon this continent." They have either got to bow down to the Gospel or be slain.


(page 296)
We look around us here upon the house of Israel, the Lamanites, and while our hearts are opened towards them for good, they are not backward to administer death to our brethren. Is this always going to be so? No. The Lord God will work upon them in His own way, until they become one with us in building up the kingdom of God.


(page 454)
The Indians are now upon us, and our brethren are scattered off, three, four, and five families in a place, away off in this and in that direction, exposed to the Lamanites.


(page 455)
The Lord has made the Lamanites − the Indians, a scourge;


(page 457)
I have lived in the State of New York, town of Bloomfield, Monroe County, right in the heart of the country where the ancient Lamanites, and other veterans, destroyed each other, root and branch; where the Book of Mormon was discovered in the hill of Cumorah. From among those rich hills the people are flocking to these mountains. Why? Because this is the richest place in the world.


(page 526)
Before the Book of Mormon was printed, and immediately after Joseph Smith obtained the plates, and the revelations he received concerning this record being the record of the Nephites, and of the Lamanites, who are the fathers of the present aborigines of our country,


see also the other posts about lds claims that native americans descend from israel/jews

the bible unearthed - movie review - important quotes

here's my ongoing (unfinished) review of the amazing video "the bible unearthed"

Part 1. The Patriarchs

00:28:43 -- it now appears to be well accepted there was no migration in the direction of canaan at the time that the bible situates abrahams voyage

00:34:35 -- what can we say about the arrival of the philistines? latest 13th century BCE, but probably around 1150-1200 BCE

00:36:40 -- according to acheological evidence, the camel couldnt have been domesticated as a beast of burden before the first millenium BCE

religulous, by bill maher - movie review - favorite quotes

this will be an ongoing post until i've gone through the whole movie, but i am going to start listing my favorite points and quotes from this wonderful movie (Bill Maher == BM):

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00:11:00
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BM: So, Dr. Collins, you are a brilliant, brilliant scientist, the head of the Human Genome Project. Now here's what's so puzzling is that you are the one scientist--

[subtext: 93% of scientists in the american national academy of sciences are atheist or agnostic]

the one famous scientist anyway--who's also religious. Explain that to me.

Dr. Francis Collins (DFC): I would argue that if you look at the evidence, the historical evidence of Christ's existence is overwhelming.

BM: What evidence? I mean, I've never even heard anyone propose that there's evidence.

DFC: When I read the New Testament, it reads to me as the record of eyewitnesses who put down what they saw.

BM: You know they weren't eyewitnesses.

DFC: They were close to that.

BM: No.

DFC: Within a couple of decades of eyewitnesses.

BM: Okay. Would that stand up in a laboratory as absolute foolproof evidence that something happened?

DFC: You are setting up a standard for proof that I think would really be an almost impossible standard to meet.

*********
00:12:58
*********

BM: I'm surprised that things that are very important to the story, like the virgin birth, isn't in all four of them.

DFC: Wouldn't you really expect that kind of discordance when you're thinking about the way in which these documents came into being?

BM: But you'd think if you were one of Christ's biographers, that would be sort of an important thing not to leave out. "Oh, God, he was also born of a virgin."

BM: They don't notice the virgin birth. You know, I think that is something if you were any sort of reporter you'd put into the story. What editor looks at the facts and goes, "Yeah, but take out the thing about the virgin birth. That's not interesting."

*********
00:15:35
*********

BM: Reverend. Is that what I call you?

Jeremiah Cummings (JC): No, just call me... doctor.

BM: Doctor?

[subtext: Jeremiah Cummings is not a doctor.]

JC: Yeah.

[subtext: he does not have a degree...of any kind.]

*********
00:16:06
*********

JC: teddy pendergrass, who led the song, he was ordained a minister when he was 10 years old.

BM: what do you think it says about religion and how serious it is, when you can be a minister when you're 10?

*********
00:20:22
*********

BM:
Sodom and Gomorrah.

Apparently, it was a pretty wicked place.

How wicked?

Well let's just say that what happened in Gomorrah, stayed in Gomorrah.

That is until God got wind of it, so he sent two angels to investigate.

Now the angels went to the house of the one godly man in town-- Lot.

And the townspeople tried to rape them.

Now Lot, not wanting his town to get the reputation as the kind of place that would rape angels, offered up to the mob his own daughters to rape.

And he was the good guy in town.


*********
00:22:48
*********

Pastor John Westcott (Exchange Ministries) (JW): But I will be honest with you. The reality's a lot of people come here and go right back into whatever they came from.

BM: Because they're gay!

JW: I believe that it's sin.

BM: Excuse me, but don't you have it, no pun intended, ass-backwards?

JW: Meaning?

BM: Meaning homosexuality is something that occurs in nature.

...

JW: Nobody's born gay. There's no scientific or--


BM: Really? Have you ever met Little Richard?

...

JW: There's no scientific data that proves that anyone is--there's no gay gene.

***WHAT BILL MAHER SHOULD HAVE SAID HERE: there's no heterosexual gene either =)***

...

BM: All of the proscriptions against homosexuality come from the Old Testament. Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. And if it's so important, why didn't he ever bring it up?

JW: We could pick lots of little things that he didn't specifically talk about.

BM: But this is a big thing.

...

BM: But what is your explanation for the millions and millions of people around the world who are leading homosexual lives...

JW: Well, it's not millions.

BM: ...have no interest in anyone of the opposite sex? Are they all faking just to piss off Jesus?

JW: They didn't choose this. They didn't desire it.

BM: Right, they were born gay.

JW: No, they weren't born that way. It's because of the insecurity within theirselves.

BM: It takes a lot of security to walk out of the house with assless chaps.

JW: They're not happy, most of them.

BM: They're called gay. They took the word. Some of them look positively thrilled.

JW: No, they are people who are really not complete in who they are as men or women.

BM: That's a pretty big judgment for a Christian.

JW: It's not a judgment.

BM: That's not a judgment? That you are sitting here telling these people who you don't even know that they're incomplete because they're not like you?

JW: I mean, it's not the people you suspect that are gay, that are gay.

BM: People like the Reverend Ted Haggard... "Moral purity is better than immorality." ...who kept meeting homosexual prostitutes in a hotel room and having gay sex with speed.


*********
00:29:06
*********

Steve Burg, Ex Jew for Jesus (SB): God is not that busy where He can't spend time listening to you when you really want to talk to Him, anytime.

BM: If Santa Claus can hit every house in the world in one night--

SB: I don't believe in Santa Claus.

BM: Of course not, that's ridiculous. That's one man flying all around the world and dropping presents down a chimney. That's ridiculous. One man hearing everybody murmur to him at the same time, that I get.

*********
00:29:55
*********

BM: You're 100% sure that after you die, you'll go to a better place.

SB: I know I'll be with God. l'll be with Jesus.

BM: And that's a better place.

SB: Even if it was in a garbage can, which I know it won't be, but even if it was, just the fact that i'm with Jesus, to me, is good.

BM: it's a better place.

SB: it's a better place.

BM: Then why don't you kill yourself?

SB: Because God still has a mission for me here.

BM: Oh, I see.

SB: i'm thinking of Jonah. God sent Jonah on a mission.

BM: When did the part of the story come when Jonah lived in the whale?

SB: It was a great fish.

BM: It's one of my favorite nonsense stories, Jonah living inside of the whale. And their answer unfailingly is ''The Bible doesn't say whale. It says big fish.'' Oh, yeah, big fish, that makes--i'm sorry I was obsessing on that it was a whale. it's a big fish. Of course you could live for three days in a big fish.


*********
00:32:33
*********

BM: How did this country get to be a Christian nation? I've read a lot of quotes from all the Founding Fathers. There are a lot of quotes that explicitly say we're not a Christian nation:
"lighthouses are more useful than churches." -- benjamin franklin
"this would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it!" -- john adams
"christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man." -- thomas jefferson

Ray Suarez (RS): well, and Jefferson's a particularly interesting case.

BM: Didn't he write his own Bible which divorced the New Testament from what he considered the unnecessary magic, bells and whistles?

RS: He took the Gospels, took out all of Jesus's miracles and took out all of Jesus's statements that claimed divinity, and put out a new book called ''The Faith and Moral Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.'' We tend to lionize these guys and think of them all as the 12 Apostles plus the Founding Fathers, like they're in the same club or something. When in fact, these men understood very well that there was a difference between being Christian and being American.

BM: Right.

RS: In Jefferson's age, fewer people went to church less often.

Guy in BM's van (GBMV): Do you think that there are a lot of people who feel the way you do, but are afraid to speak out?

BM: Absolutely. Are you kidding? Yes, I think it is the great untapped minority in this country. In the last survey, I think it was 16% of Americans who now say they are absolutely unaffiliated with any religion, don't want to be in a religion, just don't go near me with religion. 16% of the population is a huge minority. It's bigger than Jews, blacks, homosexuals, NRA members, lots of people you could name who have lobbies that get everything they want or are at least are in the debate.


*********
00:34:27
*********

BM: So you've described yourself as an Evangelical Christian. You did a campaign ad where you said the most important lessons in life are in this book right here, meaning the Bible. Everyone in politics likes to brag that they're a person of faith. Why is faith good?

Mark Pryor, US Senator, Democrat (MP): Faith has a way of softening people. For example, if you look at the teachings of Jesus, he's very forgiving.

BM: He also said, "If a man doesn't abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned."

MP: Right. So? i do think, 'cause i'm a Christian, that Jesus is the way to be reconciled. And I do believe the actual literacy of that story. We'll let God sort out all the details of that on Judgment Day.

BM: What about the 10 Commandments? So many politicians talk about the 10 Commandments. Are they really the 10 most important moral--

MP: Are these the 10 suggestions? The 10 recommendations?

BM: But it's not really a wise list of 10. The first four are all about just worshipping God and basically that he's a jealous God, and he doesn't want you to have any other gods. The only two that are really laws are don't steal and don't kill. Why is this the wisest group of 10? lt doesn't include child abuse. lt doesn't include don't torture. lt doesn't include a lot of things-- rape--that I think if we were making a list today, we would probably include.

MP: Society is so different today and our culture is so radically different today.

BM: That's what i'm asking. We're in a different culture. Can you think of anything else that we still cleave to from the Bronze Age?

MP: Well...

drømmeurt (calea zacatechichi) experience

20100611
my tongue has been itching and has little sores on it. it started maybe about a week ago. i wonder if it has anything to do with chewing on the cz leaves? i search for "itchy tongue" and the only explanation for touch itch listed is contact dermatitis. im going to try to rub some of the cz on my arm to see if i get a rash.

20100609
i still havent drunken any cz tea since june 3, but last night i was able to change my fate and stop somebody from killing me in my dream =) i was a witness in a court trial and the evil defence attorney (played by Frank Langella) didnt want anyone to attend the trial, but i showed up anyways and he got all angry at me and looked like he was going to kill me, but i remained calm and told him that if he touched me i would sue his ass of so he just got upset and went into a closet and yelled at the top of his lungs... =) i also remember snowboarding or skiing or sliding down a snowy mountain.

20100607
last night i dreamed that i could fly! i havent had any CZ since june 3 though, but it was a cool feeling to fly! then at then end of my dream i couldnt fly anymore for some reason. i tried, but it was like i wasnt psychically strong enough in my dream to do it. weird. i remember that C James was in my dream and her sister M. i also remember being inside a huge shopping mall and there was some construction on one side so i had to go out of the parking lot on another side and walk to my car a ways. i also remember being chased/hunted. i think i also was inside the lds church building in KWA where i used to go to church as a teenager.

20100604
was too tired to drink cz tea last night, dont remember anything from my dreams.

20100603
drank some fresh cz tea last night, dont remember anything from my dreams.

20100602
last night i tried reusing the cz leaves i used 2 nights ago while watching more of the shining (im still not done). when i was done drinking it i took the leaves out of the little ball and chewed on them and sucked whatever i could out of them, then threw them away. i can honestly not remember anything from my dream, but i have a feeling that i remember feeling like i had control of a particular situation in my dreams.

20100601
i fell asleep last night before i could drink some cz tea and i specifically remember in my dream where my brother in law had 2 girls all over him, rubbing his chest and giving him attention and i felt like that was unfair =) in other words, i didnt have control over that situation. there seems to be a connection here =)

20100531
had another cup of CZ last night while watching more of the shining. again, i felt like i was in control of some elements of my dreams, or i never felt out of control. interesting. still nothing else extraordinary though. i have been wondering if i should just chew the leaves. i tried chewing just a little piece of a leaf and it was super strong, so i actually doubt i would be able to put a little handful in my mouth and keep it there for very long... tonight i am going to try to recycle the leaves i used in my tea last night to see if that works or if i need to use new leaves every day.

20100530
last night i drank CZ tea while watching the shining. during my sleep i again experienced "control": a neighbor lady was chasing me trying to kill me and i successfully overpowered her and killed her. i smashed her into a little compartment of flesh just like this recycling commercial here in norway about a woman who does that to all her boyfriends.
i also was able to convince an unwilling fashion director to let me give her a full body sensual massage. i seriously cant remember ever really "getting what i want" in my dreams, at least when met with blatant opposition, where i then could turn the situation to my favor. i feel that maybe this CZ gives me that ability somehow. other than that, i have noticed no other effect. my dreams are not in any way more vivid so far.

20100529
last night i drank a cup of CZ tea. i filled up one half of a little metal-mesh ball and filled my cup up about 70% of the way. the tea is really bitter. before i went to bed i told myself several times that the next time i was going to be conscious that i would be able to control my dreams and that i would fly. what i did notice during my dream was that i actually got away from my chaser. i usually never get away, but this time i did. that seemed to be something different from the norm.

tonight i am drinking the tea again to see if the effect will get any stronger.

btw, i ordered the herbs from denmark and they got here to norway 2 days later without any trouble.

native americans and the book of mormon

im trying to gather information where the lds church claims that native americans, south americans and peoples of the south pacific are descendants of israel. this is ongoing.

The Book of Mormon: A Sacred Ancient Record by Elder Ted E. Brewerton Emeritus Member of the Seventy

Many migratory groups came to the Americas, but none was as important as the three mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The blood of these people flows in the veins of the Blackfoot and the Blood Indians of Alberta, Canada; in the Navajo and the Apache of the American Southwest; the Inca of western South America; the Aztec of Mexico; the Maya of Guatemala; and in other native American groups in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific islands.

These choice native people recognize the truth of the Book of Mormon, which was recorded for them by their own ancestors.

"recognize the truth of the Book of Mormon"
do they?

We Must Keep One Another by Ronald W. Walker

At first, President Young, like many Americans at the time, misunderstood the Native American people, whose culture was so different from their own. Yet the gospel eventually gave him a different view. It taught him, he believed, that Native Americans were descendants of the Book of Mormon people and therefore a “remnant” of the house of Israel. Indeed, the Book of Mormon had been written partly to show to the remnant of the house of Israel “what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.” 2

Thus, President Young taught that the Native Americans were children of the Old Testament prophet Joseph—largely through his son Manasseh, but some through his son Ephraim. President Young believed this ancient heritage was the key to their eventual religious redemption and that a renewed belief in the gospel and right doing could make them again a “delightsome” people

brigham young teaches that the native americans descend from israelites


see also the other posts about lds claims that native americans descend from israel/jews

great moments in mormon history revised

im going to take the liberty to update the great moments in mormon history with links and information regarding the sources to all of these claims. i think this list is great, but it cant really be used/trusted until each of these events is documented, imo.

heres the list:

Subject: Explain the Prophets (Great Moments in Mormon History)
Date: Apr 16 01:15 2003
Author: Deconstructor
From the research of church historian Michael C. Quinn in The Mormon Hierarchy : Extensions of Power:

Jan 23,1852 - Brigham Young instructs Utah Legislature to legalize slavery because "we must believe in slavery."

speech by governor young in joint session of the legislature giving counsel on a bill in relation to african slavery, given at salt lake city, on friday, january 23rd, 1852. (reported by george d. watt; byp, hdc)
The Teachings of President Brigham Young Vol. 3 1852–1854 By Fred Collier

brigham young goes on to say in that same speech:
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. ... i am a firm believer in slavery.

Feb 5,1852 - Brigham Young announces policy of denying priesthood to all those black African ancestry, even "if there never was a prophet, or apostle of Jesus Christ spoke it before" because "negroes are the children of old Cain....any many having one drop of the seed of Cain in him cannot hold the priesthood." Contrary to Joseph Smith's example in authorizing the ordination of Elijah Abel, this is LDS policy for the next 126 years.

speech by governor young (expressing his views on slavery) given in joint session of the legislature, at salt lake city, utah territory, thursday, february 5, 1852. (reported by george d. watt / byp, hdc; wilford woodruff / wwj 4:97-99)
The Teachings of President Brigham Young Vol. 3 1852–1854 By Fred Collier

Jan 3,1854 - Brigham Young invites Elijah Ablel, free black and ordained Seventy, to party with 98 other men in Social Hall. Some of these parties are male-only dances.

Nov 22,1855 - Brigham Young secretly ordains his eleven year old son John W. an apostle in connection with receiving the endowment. Young later ordains three other sons apostles.

Mar 21,1858 - Brigham Young tells this special conference that Joseph Smith disobeyed revelation by returning to Nauvoo to stand trial, that the church's founding prophet lost Spirit of God the last days of his life, and died as unnecessary martyr. He published this talk as pamphlet.

Dec 15,1958 - Young readily grants divorce to unhappy plural wives but requires husbands to pay him $10 fee. Young issues 1,600 certificates of divorce for unhappy polygamous marriages. (this equals 16 thousand dollars)

Aug 20,1859 - Brigham Young regarding slavery: "We consider it of devine institution, and not to be abolished until the curse pronounced on Ham shall have been removed from his descendants.

Sep 7,1859 - Salt Lake City clerk records sale of twenty six year old "negro boy" for $800 to William H. Hooper. Until federal law ends slavery in U.S. Territories in 1862, some African-American slaves are paid as tithing, bought, sold and otherwise treated as chattel in Utah.

Nov 18,1861 - Abraham Lincoln checks out Book of Mormon from Library of Congress. He returns it on 29 July 1862, apparently first U.S. president to read Book of Mormon.

Dec 10,1862 - Deseret News reports that Church Historian's Office is displaying sample of tobacco crops grown in Provo during past summer.

Oct 6,1863 - Brigham Young prophesies to general conference: "Will the present struggle (of the U.S. Civil War) free the slaves? No..... and men will be called to judgement for the way they have treated the negroe." The 13th Ammendment legally ends slavery in the United States in 1865.

May 15,1864 - Brigham Young preaches, "I don't want Mormonism to become to popular... we would be overrun by the wicked."

Dec 9,1869 - ZCMI Drug Stores advertises that is has just opened on Main Street with "Liquors, Draught and by the case."

Jun 18,1870 - First Counselor George A Smith tells Salt Lake School of Prophets about "the evil of masterbation" among Utah Mormons. Apostle Lorenzo Snow says that "plural marriage would tend to diminish the evil of self pollution and the indulgence on the part of men was less in plural marriage than in monogamy."

Sep 1,1870 - Salt Lake City's 9th Ward reports that only thirty one of its 181 families attends Sunday Services regularly and 50% of families are perfectly indifferent.

Jun 3,1871 - Salt Lake Tabernacle service: "Pres D.H. Wells spoke 25 minutes following Pres Young's remarks. Not very good attention. Considerable moving about, passing out, and drowsiness."

Jan 4,1877 - Joseph Smith's last born child David is committed to Illinois Hospital for the Insane. Proclaimed by Brigham Young in 1866 as rightful heir of LDS presidency, he has served as counselor on RLDS presidency since 1873. He dies in asylum in 1904.

Aug 29,1877 - Brigham Young dies. His last words are "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph!"

June 4,1879 - John Taylor and apostles decline to allow Elijah Abel to receive temple endowment because his is Negroid, even though Abel received Melchizedek priesthood with Joseph Smith's authorization. This African American regularly attends his Seventy's quorum meetings and serves proselyting mission just before his death.

Dec 27,1879 - Apostle Wilford Woodruff tells stake conference in Snowflake, Arizona, "There will be no United States in the year 1890."

Jan 9,1880 - Apostle Orson Pratt writes his children that city of New Jerusalem will be constructed by April 1950.

Jan 7,1882 - Apostle Francis M Lyman's diary begins recording month-long nervous breakdown of Heber J Grant, his successor as Tooele Stake President. Physician diagnoses Grant's condition as "nervous convulsions" and warns that condition could lead to "softening of the brain," if Grant continues his stressful pace of activity. Grant becomes apostle ten months later and is first LDS leader with diagnosed history of emotional illness.

Mar 31,1882 - John Taylor closes Church Historian's Office to public.

Mar 22,1884 - James E Talmage begins using hashish at Johns Hopkins University as "my physiological experiment" of its effects. By April 6 he is using twenty grains, "and the effect was felt in a not very agreeable way." This is last reference in his diary. Four months later he becomes member of stake high council.

May 17,1888 - At dedication of Manti Temple, Wilford Woodruff says, " We are not going to stop the practice of plural marriage until the Coming of the Son of Man."

Feb 27,1889 - LDS political newspaper Salt Lake Herald: "In 1870 Utah had second highest rate of divorce and in 1880 the tenth highest for all states and territories."

Jun 8, 1889 - Apostle Lorenzo Snow says that "his sister, the late Eliza R. Snow Smith, was a firm believer in the principle of reincarnation and that she claimed to have received if from the Joseph the Prophet, her husband. He said he saw nothing unreasonable in it, and could believe it, it it came from the Lord or His oracle."

Dec 5, 1891 - Stake President relates "incident of the Prophet Joseph telling Dimick B Huntington.....that Noah built the Ark in the land where South Carolina is now.

Nov 29,1893 - Presidents Wilford Woodruff and George Q Cannon meet with three apostles and James E Talmage: "That there will also be daughters of Perdition there is no doubt in the minds of the brethren."

Dec 7,1893 - First Presidency and Twelve decide that garments worn under clothing should be white. This is first departure of Utah temple garment from contemporary "Union Suit" which comes in various colors and upon which Utah "street garment" is based.

Apr 5,1894 - At meeting of First Presidency and apostles, Wilford Woodruff announces revelation which ends practice of adopting men to LDS leaders.

Apr 9,1894 - Death of Thomas C Sharp, principal conspirator in murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He has had a successful career as mayor, judge, school principal and newspaper editor.

Apr 15,1894 - Juvenile Instructor publishes hymn "Our Mother in Heaven," which is phrased as prayer to the goddess.

May 18,1894 - In Salt Lake Temple, "Jane Elizabeth Manning (a Negro woman) is sealed as a servitor for eternity to the Prophet Joseph Smith." Joseph F Smith acts as proxy.

Aug 26,1894 - "First time a woman has spoken n the Salt Lake Tabernacle on the Sabbath at the regular service- the people don't know what to make of it-it must bode good for women." The speaker is a non-Mormon.

Oct 24,1894 - Wilford Woodruff and his two counselors each give approval for Apostle Abraham H Cannon to marry plural wife. In all, ten general authorities marry post-Manifesto plural wives by permission of church president or his counselors during next ten years.

Mar 1,1895 - Some non-Mormons are given tour of dedicated Salt Lake Temple interior.

Apr 7,1895 - Wilford Woodruff tells conference: "Cease troubling yourselves about who God is; who Adam is, who Christ is, who Jehova is. For Heaven's sake, let these things alone.

Aug 22,1895 - First Presidency and apostles decide to deny temple endowments to "Black Jane" Manning (James) because of her "negro blood."

Mar 12,1896 - First Presidency gives James E Talmage "an instruction to smoke tobacco to relieve his persistent insomnia."

Aug 23,1896 - Sugar House Ward congregation votes against man proposed as Bishop of new ward to divided from the old. Salt Lake stake president Angus M Cannon furiously shouts, "Sit down! and shut your mouths, you have no right to speak!" When Cannon engages in shouting match with dissenting congregation, a ward member and policeman threaten to arrest stake president for disturbing the peace. Cannon more calmly repeats his attempt but is voted down "again several times." Secretary of the First Council in attendance writes: "I have been taught that the appointing power comes from the priesthood and the sustaining power from the people and that they have the right of sustaining or not sustaining appointees."

Aug 26,1896 - Apostle Moses Thatcher begins treatment with Keeley Institute for his addiction to opium and morphine. First Presidency and apostles tolerated Thatcher as a "morphine fiend" and "opium eater", but on 26 July his family and friends considered involuntary commitment to treatment. His is most prominent drug addict in Mormon history. Twelve drop Thatcher from quorum membership on 19 Nov because of four year conflict over his insubordination in political matters, but Thatcher's drug addiction aggravates that conflict.

Nov 5,1896 - Apostle Lorenzo Snow's youngest plural wife bears his last child in Canada. At age 82 he is the oldest General Authority to father a child.

Jan 15,1897 - Apostle Brigham Young, Jr. temporarily resigns as vice-president of Brigham Young Trust Company because first counselor George Q Cannon allows its property to become " a first class" brothel on Commercial Street (now Regent Street), Salt Lake City. Apostle Heber J Grant is invited to its opening reception and is stunned to discover himself inside "a regular whore-house." This situation begins in 1891, and for fifty years church controlled real estate companies lease houses of prostitution.

Oct 7,1898 - At general conference Apostle John W Taylor reports that in one rural area, 80% of LDS marriages involve premarital sex.

Feb 7,1901 - Apostle Brigham Young, Jr writes that proposal to provide Utah's school children with smallpox vaccinations is "Gentile doctors trying to force Babylon into the people and some of them are willing to disease the blood of our children if they can do so, and they think they are doing God's service.

Mar 3,1901 - Lorenzo Snow promises Salt Lake temple workers that "some of us would go back to Jackson County, Missouri.

July 11, 1901 - First Presidency and apostles agree that Danish beer is not harmful or in violation of Word of Wisdom.

Nov 7,1901 - First Presidency decides there is no "rule in the church forbidding cousins to intermarry" and that first cousins can have temple marriages if they present civil license.

Apr 3,1902 - First Presidency and apostles read letter that U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and Republican Part leader Mark Hanna guarantee they will arrange to defeat proposed constitutional amendment on polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. They expect Mormons to vote Republican in exchange.

Mar 26,1903 - Joseph F Smith tells apostles "there would be no daughters of perdition" in final judgement.

Oct 22,1903 - First Presidency and Twelve authorize purchase of twenty five acres of the original temple lot at Independency,Jackson County, Missouri Purchase is complete on 14 Apr 1904. These purchases continue throughout twentieth century.

Feb 20 1904 - First verified suicide of full time LDS missionary. He shoots himself as he is returning to Utah.

Mar 2,1904 - Before committee of U.S. Senate, Joseph F Smith testifies: "I have never pretended to nor do I profess to have received revelations. I never said that I had a revelation except so far as God has shown me that so-called Mormonism is God's devine truth, that is all."

Apr 14,1904 - First Presidency and apostles decide to resume sale of liquor at church resort of Saltair due to need for non-Mormon patronage.

Jan 10,1906 - First Council of Seventy instructs B.H.Roberts to go to Los Angeles for "recuperation from a weakness for liquor that had fastened itself upon him."

Oct 6, 1907 - At sustaining of church officers a man votes against Joseph F Smith because of his admitted violation of Utah's cohabitation law. Smith has him ejected from Salt Lake Tabernacle.

1904 - Church president instructs twelve apostles to walk through doorways in order of seniority.

1906 - Joseph F Smith pleads quilty to unlawful cohabitation for which he pays $300 fine.

1907 - General Conference votes to send twenty tons of flour to China for famine relief. This comes from Relief Society grain storgage program.

1909 - October at General Conference, Apostle George Albert Smith stops speaking after three minutes as he begins to "tremble and perspire." Apostle Reed Smoot referred two weeks earlier as Smith's "mental trouble." Since January Smith's diary has described symptoms of his eventual collapse. At age thirtynine he is first general authority whose debilitating mental problems cannot be attributed to senility. Hospitalized for ten weeks at Gray's Sanatarium in Salt Lake City, Smith does not recover from his emotional breakdown until 1913. Problem re-emerges in 1930's and in 1949-51.

1910 April - stake president writes of church members "complaining on account of so many Smiths being chosen." Recent conference sustained John Henry Smith as second counselor and President Smith's son, Joseph Fielding Smith, as new apostle. In addition to appointing his son Hyrum M. an apostle in 1901, Smith also appointed his son David A. Smith to Presiding Bishopric in 1907.

Oct 2,1910 - first anti-Mormon film, Victim of the Mormons ("Mormonens Offer"), opens in Copenhagen, Denmark. Film goes into international distribution, is publicly condemned by Apostle David O. McKay at next general conference. It is target of first censorship effort led by Utah governor (William Spry, LDS).

Jan 1913 - Deseret News favorably reviews One Hundred Years of Mormonism, first commercial film about Mormons made with cooperation of church officials. The 6 reel, 90 minute silent film features one of Brigham Young's grandsons in the role of his grandfather. During Joseph F. Smith presidency, Hollywood produces other silent features which portray Mormonism less favorably: A Trip to Salt Lake City (1905), The Mountain Meadow Massacre (1912), The Mormon (1912), Deadwood Dick Spoils Brigham Young(1915), Cecil B. DeMille's A Mormon Maid (1917), and The Rainbow Trail (1918).

Dec 17,1913 - death of Joseph Smith's last surviving plural wife, Mary E. Rollins Lightner. She helped save the still-unbound Book of Commandments from printing office set afire by mob in 1833. She witnessed adoption of 1835 D&C, which prohibited polygamy, and became secret plural wife of Joseph Smith at Nauvoo while still living with her non-Mormon husband.

Mar 22,1919 - "The Nigger" is the new production to be given at the Social Hall, proclaims Deseret News with explanation: "The Nigger" is distinctly Southern. It is a romance based on Southern ideals and the race problem.

Nov 11,1919 - Apostle James E Talmage attends Third Christian Citizenship Conference in Pittsburgh as delegate chosen by Utah's governor. Utah delegates are booed and hissed by 4,000 other delegates. Talmage hurriedly leaves after some delegates surround him and threaten to strip off his clothes in order to display his temple garments.

Jan 4,1922 - from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Brigham H Roberts presents detailed summary of textual and historical problems in Book of Mormon to combined meeting of First Presidency, apostles, and Seventy's presidents He recommends that these problems should be researched and publicly discussed.

May 17,1923 - May First Presidency and Twelve agree to alter temple undergarment worn outside temple:"buttons instead of strings; no collar;sleeves above the elbow and few inches below the knee adn a change in the crotch so as to cover the same." Mormons regard this as a dramatic change from endowment garment introduced by Joseph Smith.

Nov 26,1923 - Corporation of the President, successor of the Trustee-in -Trust as center of church financial operations.

Jan 21,1925 - Grand Lodge of Utah officially prophibits Mormons from membership in any of its Masonic lodges and provides for expulsion of any Mormons who are current members of any Utah lodge. Utah is only state with formal Masonic restricition against religious group or denomination. Some Mormons (primarily converts) affiliiate or preside in Masonic lodges outside Utah after 1925.

May 22,1925 - Deseret News editorializes in favor of new Utah law which leagalizes horse racing and pari-mutual betting. Legislature has appointed Brigham F. Grant as chair of Racing Commission. He is manager of Deseret News and brother of church president.

Feb 15,1927 - Apostle George F Richards notifies temples that it is decision of First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve to immediatley omit from prayer circles "all references to avenging the blood of the Prophets. Omit from the ordinance and lecture all reference to retribution." Letter also instructs to "omit the kissing" at the end of the proxy sealings.

Jan 19-20,1928 - Frederick M Smith, RLDS president, supervises disinterment of his martyred grandfather and granduncle, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, from coffinless burial place kept secret since 1844. They are reburied in coffins, one on each side of Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, next to Mansion House in Nauvoo.

Sept 24,1929 - Heber J Grant writes: "I am free to confess that I am disappointed with the Yosemite valley. It seems only about one-half as grand as the American Fork canyon of Utah.

Aug 16,1930 - Heber J Grant remarks that Apostle George Albert Smith "is getting very nervous. We don't want him to have another breakdown such as he had years ago, almost costing him his life." Apostle Smith doesn't begin describing his symptoms until Jan 1932, and year later writes,"My Nerves are nearly gone but am holding on the best I know how." Symptoms gradually subside and do not resume until he is church president.

April 2,1932 - Heber J Grant launches campaign against use of tobacco as part of his emphasis on observing Word of Wisdom by total abstinance from alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee.

May 5,1932 - Apostle Stephen L Richards tells First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve that he will resign as apostle rather than apologize for his general conference talk which says church is putting too much emphasis on Word of Wisdom. He confesses his error to Heber J Grant on 26 may and retains his position.

July 29,1932 - death of George H Brimhall from self inflicted gunshot. He served as BYU President from 1904 to 1921 and is only BYU president to commit suicide.

Dec 9,1933 - Church Section article "Mormonism in The New Germany," enthusiatically emphasizes parallels "between the LDS Church and some of the ideas and policies of the National Socialists." First, Nazis have introduced "Fast Sunday." Second, "it is a very well known fact that Hitler observes a form of living which Mormons term the Word of Wisdom. Finally, due to the importance given to the racial question by Nazis and the almost necessity of proving that one's grandmother was not Jewess, there no longer is resistance against genealogical research b German Mormons who now have received letters of encouragment complimenting them for their patriotism.

Jan 25,1936 - Church Section photograph of LDS basketball team in Germany giving "Sieg Heil: salute of Nazi Party.

Oct 31,1936 - First Presidency publishes unsigned editorial in Deseret News, which argues against re-election of Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Editorial, written by J. Reuben Clark, accuses F.D.R. of unconstitutional and Communist activities. In response one thousand Mormons angrily cancel their subscriptions to the News. Three days later, 69.3 percent of Utah's voters help re-elect Roosevelt. Utah's electorate re-elects F.D.R. again (1940,1944), despite First Presidency's opposition.

Mar 29,1940 - First Presidency asks Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith to chair "Literature Censorship Committee authorized by Quorum of the Twelve last Thursday."

Mar 10,1941 - First Presidency orders Clayton Investment Company to get rid of its "whore-houses," no matter the financial loss, so that church affiliated company can merge with church owned Zion's Securities Corp. Ends fifty years of church's leases to brothels.

June 8,1941 - first counselor J Reuben Clark tells annual conference of youth and their leaders: "When I was a boy it was preached from the stand, and my father and mother repeated the principle to me time and time again. They said, 'Reuben, we had rather bury you than to have you become unchaste.' and that is the law of this Church."

June 1945 - Improvement Era states: "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done." This is the ward teacher's message to all members for month. To inquiring Unitarian minister George Albert Smith writes that "not a few members of the Church have been upset in their feelings, and General Authorities have been embarrassed" by above statement. "Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church," he continues. However, church president's retraction reaches one non-Mormon, while original statement reaches entire LDS population without similar retraction.

Oct 6,1946 - public release of Joseph Fielding Smith (b. 1899) as Patriarch to Church due to "ill health" but actually due to discovery of his recent homosexual activity.

not to be confused with joseph f. smith (his grandfather) and joseph fielding smith (his uncle), both of whom were presidents of the lds church.

Oct 9,1946 - First Presidency and apostles decide to allow faithful African-American Mormons to receive patriarchal blessings, and Patriarch Eldred G Smith blesses black couple.

April 16,1948 - Apostle Mark E Petersen asks for permission to instruct local leaders to begin excommunication trials for persons he suspects of having disloyal attitudes towards LDS Church. First Counselor J Reuben Clark warns Petesen "to be careful about the insubordination or disloyalty question, because they ought to be permitted to think, you can't throw a man off for thinking."

Jan 20,1949 - President George Albert Smith begins week's stay in California Lutheran Hospital for his "tired nerves," which his diary first refers to at Oct 1948 general conference. He is first LDS president with history of severe emotional illness and hospitalization. He does not recover from this episode unitl mid May 1949, when able to be in First Presidency office at least half day. Smith is absent from church headquarters 12 Jan to 27 Feb 1950 to stay a Laguna Beach, California, "to rest my nerves." He returns there to recuperate again for ten days in March. Year later his nurse notes that church president is "very confused, very nervous." Ten days before his death, nurse adds that George Albert Smith is "irrational at times."

April 5,1949 - first counselor J Reuben Clark tells meeting of bishops: "I wish that we could get over being flattered into almost anything. If any stranger comes among us and tells us how wonderful we are, he pretty much nearly owns us."

Aug 17,1951 - First Presidency statement that church's restriction on negroid peoples receiving priesthood "is not a matter of the declaration of policy but of direct commandment from the Lord."

Oct 16,1951 - temple council of First Presidency, Quorum of Twelve Apostles and Patriarch to church decides to allow beer commercials on church owned KSL television station.

Nov 5,1951 - First Presidency learns of plans by Warner Brothers to make film about Mountain Meador Massacre, based on recent scholarly book by LDS Juanita Brooks. Within seven days First Presidency successfully persuades Hollywood studio to kill project.

Mar 3,1953 - First Presidency secretary answers Mormon's inquiry about receiving blood transfusions from African Americans:"The LDS Hospital here in Salt Lake City has a blood bank which does not contain any colored blood." This represents five year effort to keep LDS Hospital's blood bank separate from American Red Cross system in order "to protect the purity of the blood streams of the people of this Church"(Counselor J. Reuben Clark's phrase.)

March 30,1955 - Quorum of Twelve recommends establishment of separate unit or branch for African-american members in Salt Lake City.

April 10,1956 - non-LDS governor of Utah, J. Bracken Lee, speaks of his counsel to prominent non-Mormons: "I said to them you are never going to have any success in Utah unless you let the leaders of the Church give you some advice."

Dec 4,1959 - Budget Committee reports that church spent $8 million more than its revenues that year. As result church stops releasing annual reports of expenditures.

Jan 7-8,1960 - First Presidency decides that Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine "must not be re-published, as it is full of errors and misstatements, and it is most unfortunate that it has received such wide circulation." They are exasperated that McConkie and his publisher released the book without pre-publication publicity or notifying First Presidency. Even his father-in-law, senior apostle, Joseph Fielding Smith, "did not know anything about it until it was published." This is McConkie's way to avoid repetition of Presidency's stopping his pre-announced Sound Doctrine three years earlier.

Committee of two apostles (Mark E Petersen and Marion G Romney) reports that McConkie's Mormon Doctrine contains 1,067 doctinal errors. For example, page 493 said: "Those who falsely and erroneously suppose that God is progressing in knowledge and gaining new truths cannot exercise sufficient faith in him to gain salvation until they divest themselves of their false beliefs." However, McConkie is affirming doctrine of omniscience officially condemned by previous First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1865. In announcing their decision to the Twelve on 28 Jan 1960, First Presidency says there should be no revised edition of Mormon Doctrine. Presidency reverses initial decision on 7 Jan. "that the book should be officially repudiated."

By 28 Jan Presidency decides against requiring McConkie to make public apology because "it might lessen his influence" as general authority.

In 1966 year after his father-in-law becomes assistant counselor to First Presidency, McConkie publishes second edition of Mormon Doctrine. It corrects only a few of first edition "errors" cited by First Presidency and apostles in 1960. Book becomes best seller among Latter-day Saints. McConkie becomes member of Quorum of Twelve Apostles to fill vacancy which his father-in-law's death creates in 1972.

Nov 10,1960 - Brigham Young University's president tells Executive Committee of BYU's trustees "about a colored boy on campus having been a candidate for the vice presidency of a class and receiving a very large vote." The three apostles present want to exclude all African Americans from BYU. "If a granddaughter of mine should ever go the BYU and become engaged to a colored boy," Apostle Harold B Lee fumes, "I would hold you responsible."

May 14,1961 - Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith announces to stake conference in Honolulu: "We will never get a man into space. This earth is man's sphere and it was never intended that he should get away from it." Smith, the Twelve's president and next in succession as LDS President, adds: "The moon is a superior planet to the earth and it was never intended that man should go there. You can write it down in your books that this will never happen." In May 1962, he privately instructs that this view be taught to "the boys and girls in the Seminary System." On 20 July 1969 U.S. Astronauts are first men to walk on moon. Six months later Joseph Fielding Smith becomes church president.

June 22,1961 - First Presidency supports plan to persuade U.S. Army to send its "colored contingents" to California rather than to Utah. At its same meeting Presidency agrees to allow baptism of Nigerians seeking membership in church.

Feb 3,1962 - Church News Headlines, "MIA Bans The Twist," popular dance among teenagers and young adults. This prohibition is widely ignored by youth and even by adult leaders in some wards and stakes, especially in Britian and Europe.

May 25,1962 - Boyd K Packer is first to earn regular doctorate while serving as general authority. He receives Ed.D. degree from Brigham Young University.

Sep 19,1962 - First Presidency rules that prominent Egyptian polygamist can be baptized because polygamy is legal in Egypt. This is in reference to "an earlier ruling in the matter of Indians who had married more than one wife and it was decided that they may be baptized, if they were legally married according to their tribal customs.

Oct 27,1962 - in midst of Cuban Missle Crisis, Apostle Ezra Taft Benson publicly endorses John Birch Society as "the most effective non-church organization in our fight against creeping socialism and godless communism," and his son Reed A Benson announces that he is Utah coordinator of the society.

Jan 1,1964 - "Home Teaching" replaces traditonal "ward teacing" program of monthly visits of priesthood men to church members. This begins new emphasis on family life which subtly (yet fundamentally) replaces previous priorities of God, Church and family with new ranking of family, church and God.

Feb 29,1964 - after forty one years teaching in Church Education System, George S. Tanner writes that " a large majority" of CES teachers are so narrow and ignorant that it is a shame to have them indoctinating our young people. I would much rather my sons and daughters go to other schools in the state than have them led by these religious fanatics."

Apri 15,1964 - Daryl Chase, Mormon president of Utah State University, confides that "the LDS church has a greater strangle hold on the people and institutions of the state now than they had in Brigham's time. Complete academic freedom is actually non-existent."

March 3,1965 - Apostle Harold B Lee is "protesting vigorously over our having given a scholarship at the BYU to a negro student from Africa. Brother Lee holds the traditional belief as revealed in the Old Testament that the races ought to be kept together and that there is danger in trying to integrate them on the BYU campus.

April 29,1965 - BYU President Ernest L Wilkinson makes first reference in his diary to receiving reports from student "spy ring" he has authorized and which becomes national scandal within ten months.

July 1967 - Priesthood Bulletin prohibits women from praying in sacrament meeting.

Nov 27,1967 - New York Metropolitan Museum of Art gives to LDS church the Egyptian papyri upon which Joseph Smith based "Book of Abraham" in Pearl of Great Price. Egyptologists, LDS and non-LDS, verify that these papyri are typical "Book of Breathings" in form and content.

June 33,1967 - BYU's president receives "confidential draft" by Terry Warner, professor of philosophy and religion, that "freedom of speech as it is known today is a secular concept and has no place of any kind at the BYU."

Nov 19,1967 - BYU's administration discuss possibility of taking legal action to close down off campus student newspaper.

Dec 19,1967 - BYU's Daily Universe publishes article in favor of recruiting African American athletes. BYU's president writes: "This agures all the more in favor of our making the student newspaper an agency of our Communications Department rather than a student publication." Universe ceases to be independent student paper on 18 Apr 1969, but "nothing would be announced about this new policy."

Sep 14,1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts present to President Joseph Fielding Smith a Utah state flag that has traveled with them to the moon.

May 13,1972 - May Presidency letter that "fluoridation of public water supplies to prevent tooth decay" is on of the "non-moral issues" that Mormons should vote on "according to their honest convictions." John Birch Society, which Apostle Ezra Taft Benson and many other Mormons support, is condemning fluoridation as Communist "plot."

April 6,1974 - April conference sustains Neal A Maxwell as Assistant to the Twelve, first general authority who previously worked for U.S. Government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Maxwell becomes member of the twelve in 1981.

Aug 14,1976 - New York Times reports U.S. patent granted to Mormons G. Richard Jacobs, Cluff Peck, Dean G. Doderquist for "speaking mannequins" at LDS information centers.

Nov 1,1977 - Spencer W Kimball dedicates Osmond Family Studio in Orem, Utah.

Feb 15,1978 - First Presidency letter that Mohammed and Confucius "received a portion of God's light."

June 9,1978 - First Presidency announces "priesthood now available to all worthy male members." First Presidency secretary Francis M Gibbons writes that this change "seemed to relieve them of a subtle sense of guilt they had felt over the years."

June 17,1978 - Church News headline "Interracial Marriage Discouraged" in same issue which announces authorization of priesthood for those of black African descent. Sources at headquarters indicate that Apostle Mark E Petersen requires this emphasis.

Dec 29,1978 - First Presidency allows women to pray in sacrament meetings again.

August 1979 - church's Ensign magazine publishes first counselor N. Eldon Tanner's statement:"When the prophet speaks the debate is over," which echoes Improvement Era's message of June 1945.

Feb 7,1980 - Dallin H Oaks, president of BYU, is chair of board for television's Public Broadcasting Service. He continues as PBS Chair after his appointment to Twelve in April 1984.

March 2,1980 - introduction of "Consolidated Meeting Schedule" of three-hours on Sundays. This eliminates week-day meetings of auxiliaries, as well as traidtional twice daily Sunday meetings. This eases transportation and weekly scheduling but erodes fellowshipping opportunities and diminshes tightly knit social environment of LDS Wards. By 1996, tis has severely diminshed emotional ties of North American Mormon youth to LDS community, eroding what is called "Mormon ethnic identity." Most dramatic manifestation of this trend is fact that for first time in Mormon history, young women cease LDS participation at greater percentages than young men (according to general authority Jack H. Goaslind's statement in BYU Daily Universe, 31 Aug 1992). Likewise, despite absolute increase in missionary numbers, proportion of Mormon males who accept full time missions has decreased significantly in North America.

July 3,1981 - after nearly eleven years of losing advertising revenues, Deseret News begins publishing ads for R-rated movies.

August 22,1981 - Apostle Boyd K Packer instructs BYU religion faculty, all seminary and institute teachers, and administrators of Church Education System that Mormon history, "if not properly written or properly taught,may be a faith destroyer," and he affirms that Mormon historians are wrong in publicizing controversial elements of Mormon past. BYU Studies publishes this address in full. At request of students, BYU history professor gives his perspective on Elder Packer's talk and role of historical inquiry to meeting of BYU's history majors. Summarized within days by off-campus student newspaper Seventh East Press, this conflict between some apostles and some Mormon historians is subject of Feb 1982 Newsweek article which quotes BYU professor that "a history which makes LDS leaders flawless and benignly angelic would border on idolatry."

Oct 1,1981 - New York Times reports official announcement that new edition of Book of Mormon changes prophecy that Lamanites will "become white and delightsome." Instead of continuing original reference to skin color, new edition emphasizes inward spirituality: "become pure and delightsome."

Oct 31,1981 - Apostle Bruce R McConkie preaches to combined stakes of BYU that second coming of Jesus Christ will not be in his lifetime or in lifetime of his children or his grandchildren. This runs contrary to the common folk belief that Christ will come in year 2000 or shortly thereafter.

Jan 5,1982 - First Presidency repeats its 1978 instructions for "interviewing married persons" but adds: "The First Presidency has interpreted oral sex as constituting an unnatural, impure, or unholy practice."
Subject: EXPLAIN THE PROPHETS - PART II (1982-1996)
Date: Apr 17 08:56
Author: Deconstructor
Mail Address:
March 2,1982 - in televised sermon at BYU Apostle Bruce R McConkie denounces "spiritually immature: students and other Mormons who devote themselves to gaining a special personal relationship with Christ." He criticizes widely circulated book on that topic by popular religion professor George Pace who writes public letter of apology within days and is released as stake president shortly thereafter.

April 2,1982 - First Presidency announces service of male missionaries is reduced from 24 months to 18 months. "It is anticipated that this shortened term will make it possible for many to go who cannot go under present financial circumstances," counselor Gordon B Hinckley explains. "This will extend the opportunity for missionary service to an enlarged body of our young men." Instead annual number of new missioinaries level off. Annual convert baptisms decline more than 7 percent each year rather than increase by same proportion as before.

Jan 11,1983 - second counselor Gordon B. Hinckley pays document dealer Mark Hofmann $15,000 for alleged Joseph Smith letter about his treasure digging activities. He has Hofmann agree not to mention the transaction to anyone else and then he sequesters document in First Presidency's vault. First Presidency does not acknowledge its existence unitl Los Angeles Times is about to release story about document, which Hofmann later admits he forged.

April 15,1983 - University Post: The Unofficial Newspaper of Brigham Young University reports interview with director of Standards Department. He acknowledges that students suspected of cheating, illegal drug use, stealing, or homosexuality are expelled from BYU if they refuse to take polygraph examination. BYU Security has licensed polygraph examiner.

Oct 7,1984 - Ronald E Poelman gives general conference talk stressing need of central headquarte

Nov 26,1984 - First Presidency announces that as of 1 January mission service for young men will return to 24 months.

May 5,1985 - LDS Astronaut Don Lind administers sacrament in zero gravity Skylab 3.

June 9,1985 - Church headquarters telephones bishops in Utah, Idaho and Arizona with instructions to forbid discussion of Linda Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery's biography Mormon Enigma:Emma Hale Smith in Relief Society or other church meetings. Lasting for ten months, this ban is apparently what triples book's sales.

April 4,1987 - First Counselor Gordon B Hinckley tells priesthood session of conference that "marriage should not be viewed as a therapeutic step to solve problems such as homosexual inclinations of practices..." This reverses decades long policy formulated by Spencer W. Kimball.

Oct 2,1988 - Michaelene P Grassli, general Primary President, is first woman to speak in general conference in 133 years.

Oct 12,1989 - Deseret News reports that representative of Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company confirms that Utah has highest per-capita use in nation of anti-depressant Prozac.

April 1,1991 - student at BYU's commencement offers prayer to "Our Mother and Father in Heaven."

April 17,1991 - Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Utah "ranks last in proportion of students who are female" throughout the United States. This is result of Utah's "traditions that inhibit the educational progress of women."

Aug 9,1991 - Salt Lake Tribune article, "Of LDS Women, 58% Admit Premarital Sex."

April 4,1992 - Apostle Richard G Scott tells general conference that LDS women should avoid "morbid probing into details of past acts, long buried and mercifully forgotten," and that "the Lord may prompt a victim to recognize a degree of responsibility for abuse."

Among his concluding remarks: "Remember, false accusation is also a sin," and 'bury the past." Unspoken background to his remarks is that in recent years current stake presidents and temple workers have been accused of child abuse by their now adult children. Salt Lake Tribune reports that suicide prevention lines are swamped with telephone calls by women in days after Scott's remarks.

Aug 8,1992 - Salt Lake Tribune reports that First Presidency's spokesman has acknowledged existence of special "Strengthening the Members Committee" that keeps secret files on church members regarded as disloyal. Due to publicity on this matter, including New York Times, Presidency issues statement on 13 Aug. defending organization of this apostle-directed committee as consistent with God's commandment to Joseph Smith to gather documentation about non-Mormons who mob and persecute LDS Church. Presidency lists Apostles James E. Faust and Russell M. Nelson as leading the committee.

May 18,1993 - Apostle Boyd K Packer tells All-Church Coordinating Council that LDS church faces three major threats: "The dangers I speak of come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals."

June 27,1993 - counselor Gordon B. Hinckley dedicates former Hotel Utah as new Joseph Smith Memorial Building to serve primarily as additional office space for LDS central bureaucracy. Its large theatres also begin showing devotional film, "Legacy" (about Mormon pioneers), scripted by Academy award-winner Keith Merrill according to Hinckley's instruction:"I want them to leave the theatre crying."

Nov 6,1994 - Apostle M. Russell Ballard tells 25,000 students at BYU that general authorities"will not lead you astray. We cannot." This claim of infallibility is officially published, and he repeats it to another BYU devotional meeting in March 1996.

May 3,1995 - agreement between LDS church and American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors "over the issue of posthumous baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims." First Presidency agrees to "remove from next issue of International Genealogical Index [public-acess record only] names of all known posthumously baptized Jewish holocaust victims,"and "to discontinue any further baptisms of deceased Jews, including all lists of Jewish Holocaust victims who are know Jews, except if they were direct ancestors of living members of the Church."

Sept 1995 - Ensign magazine publishes First Presidency message by second counselor James E. Faust which denounces "the false belief of inborn homosexual orientation." Next month's Ensign contains what appears as one apostle's direct challenge to First Presidency's unequivocal statement. In his October article "Same-Gender Attraction," Dallin H. Oaks writes: "There are also theories and some evidence that inheritance is a factor in susceptibilities to various behavior-related disorders like aggression, alcoholism, and obesity. It is easy to hypothesize that inheritance plays a role in sexual orientation."

fausts talk: liahona november 1995
oaks: liahona march 1996

1996 Fall, Brigham Young University Studies publishes study by two sociologists who analyze 1,384 questionnaires submitted by LDS "householders," including discovery that LDS men are more likely to think they are going to heaven ("celestial kingdom") than women think of themselves. Men are less likely to attend church or pray privately than women.