From Onto, February 24 at 3:40 PM
Joshua, February 25 at 8:37 AM
Michelle, February 28 at 9:53 AM
As a reminder, from the 1830s to the mid-1800s, the church liberally extended priesthood to all worthy males without regard to race or color. Then around the mid-1800s, the church instituted a policy of restricting black male members from holding the priesthood (and serving missions or participating in temple work) that would last until 1978, when the practice was abolished. During this time, in an attempt to justify the new restrictive policy, many inaccurate teachings grew within the church regarding skin color, race and equality. In 1978, the church announced that a clarifying revelation had been received and the priesthood was once again made available to all worthy male members of the church.
Though the practice of restriction had been discontinued, the myriad of issues created by the policy, including the inaccurate teachings, misunderstandings, thoughts and some behaviors which grew from the policy, still exists among the membership nearly 34 years later for the simple fact that they have not been addressed and corrected. Therefore, issues of equality and race related to the church continue to surface. Brother Perkins and Brother Gray are trying to provide some much-needed clarity on the topic through this DVD set and their website, Blacks in the Scriptures.
This is an important and topical issue, as evidenced by the recent actions of BYU professor, Randy Bott. Please educate yourselves so you don't make the same mistakes he did in your interactions with members and non-members.
Finally, if you didn't win, please consider purchasing the DVDs. For every set purchased, a set is donated to men and women throughout the world who desire to have them but cannot afford.
