Relationship with God - Michael Quinn

      Michael Quinn is a brilliant Mormon historian who worked at BYU.  He has spent much of his life studying and writing about Mormon history.  Though he is far from perfect, he has been very loyal to the Mormon church.  I like his statement about relationship with God:  "Baptism cannot give you a relationship with God, and excommunication cannot take it away.  Neither has eternal significance unless sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise.  I can only trust in God's love and in my relationship with Him."  (Mormon Mavericks pg.351)
     Religion is said to be the effort of man reaching up to God.  Christianity is said to be God's work of reaching down to man.  Some people are VERY religious and yet are very distant from God.  Others are not really religious and yet are very close to God.  Some people are extremely focused on their own religious accomplishment.  Others are very focused on God great mercy.  The woman at the well did not have a long list of religious accomplishments and yet she talked with Jesus face to face.  The Priests and Pharisees had long lists of religious accomplishments and did not even accept Christ or His miracles.  They wanted to kill Jesus.
      I like what Matthew 7:21-23 says:  "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."  What a powerful verse!  In reading about the life of Michael Quinn, it is obvious that having a close relationship with God was very important to him.  We should not be like the religious leaders of Jesus' day who were proud of their religious accomplishments, but hated Christ.  We should be more like the woman at the well.  We should strive to be close to God in spite of our unworthiness.  May we receive the tender mercies of God, our Savior and walk close to Him.

Zelph - The White Lamanite

     Years ago, a Mormon friend of mine said that Native Americans on the reservation would get a lighter skin color when they became good Mormons.  I wondered where she got such an outlandish, crazy idea.  Mormon scripture certainly has a different view of race.  2 Nephi 5:21 says, "And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity.  For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them."  Surprisingly, the Book of Mormon calls dark skin a curse!  Jacob 3:5 also mentions the dark skin curse, "Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins,..."  Jacob 3:8 says, "...O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God."  (In the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites were Indians and the Nephites were white people.) 
     Alma 3:6-9 says, "And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren,... and the Lord set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women.  And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction.  And it came to pass that whosoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites did bring the same curse upon his seed."  3 Nephi 2:14-16 seems to give us the opposite message:  "And it came to pass that those Lamanites who had united with the Nephites were numbered among the Nephites; And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites;  And their young men and their daughters became exceedingly fair, and they were numbered among the Nephites, and were called Nephites...." 
     In the History of the Church 2:79-80, Joseph Smith found a skeleton and said it was Zelph:  "I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God.  His name was Zelph.  He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky mountains.  The curse was taken from Zelph,..." 
     On the contrary, in I Samuel 16:7, we find that the God of the Bible looks at the heart:  "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  James 2:1-9 tells us that it is a sin to show favoritism based on outward appearances.