Mormonism accepts both the Bible and the Book of Mormon as scripture. Mormon is a nickname sometimes used to describe the people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the correct name for their church.

The Bible and the mark of Cain

The Bible is very clear about the purpose of the mark of Cain. Cain killed his brother because he was jealous that God had accepted Abel’s offering but not his own, which had been offered incorrectly. Then, when God asked him about it, he lied. God mentions a curse for the first time in the story:

“And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth (Genesis 4:11-12).

The curse, then, was related to his career, not his skin. Then God prophesied about his future, which would leave him struggling to farm and on the run from angry relatives. Cain was very upset, insisting the punishment was too harsh. In addition, those angry relatives made Cain very nervous. He was suddenly afraid that now that people knew murder was possible, they would decide to use it against him.

God loves all his children, even those who turn against him, as Cain had when he entered into an alliance with Satan. He loved Cain. He had already assured Cain he would be able to produce an offering that was acceptable if he would just try.

However, God’s heart was touched by Cain’s fears and here we learn the purpose of the mark:

And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him (verse 15).

What is the curse of Cain?

It is easy to see, from this verse, that the mark was a gift of love that gave Cain great protection. Anyone harming Cain would have a punishment greater than if he killed someone else. This demonstrates just how much God really loved Cain and also proves the mark was not a curse. Somehow, people combined a few things in the story and failed to note the curse involved farming, not skin. In fact, the Bible does not actually say what the mark is and there is nothing canonized in Mormonism that says. If it is skin, however, then the first darkened skin was a gift. If not, the story has nothing to do with skin color.

Mormons have another book of ancient scripture called the Pearl of Great Price. This repeats the story of Cain and Abel. It is translated and uses essentially the same words as the Genesis translation, demonstrating Mormonism’s acceptance of Genesis’ report:

“And I the Lord said unto him: Whosoever slayeth thee, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And I the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him” (Moses 5:40).

The Pearl of Great Price is canonized scripture, and therefore, it is the official belief of Mormonism concerning Cain’s mark. It was a gift.

The Mormon Church was organized in 1830 and the first black Mormon was baptized in 1832. His name was Elijah Abel. He would also receive the priesthood and become a seventy, a high-ranking church leader. Abel is believed to have escaped slavery through the underground railroad. He would help to build the temple in Salt Lake Temple and served several missions.

Elizabeth Jane Manning was another early black Mormon. She converted in the late 1830s and, as a teenager, led a group of black Mormons to Illinois, where the Mormons then lived in a city called Nauvoo. Upon arrival, she and her family and friends were taken into Joseph Smith’s home to stay until they found jobs and homes of their own. Joseph Smith was the first prophet and president of the Mormon Church. When everyone but Jane found a job and a home, Joseph Smith and his wife offered her a job working for them. She continued to live with them until Joseph was murdered by a mob, at which time she went to work for Brigham Young, the second Mormon prophet. In Utah, she and her brother had reserved seats at the front of the tabernacle for important meetings because of their high level of service to the church.

In 1833, God gave Joseph Smith a specific revelation that slavery was immoral: Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. (See Doctrine and Covenants 101:79.) In 1842, Joseph Smith wrote in his journal that he believed the slaves should be freed, educated, and  given equal rights. The next year, he contradicted the popular belief of the time that blacks did not have souls. He said that they were merely products of their environments and that given the same opportunities as white people, they would have the same level of accomplishment. When Joseph Smith ran for president, he proposed that public lands be sold to purchase the freedom of all slaves, and that slavery should be abolished by 1850.

It has long been a matter of controversy that at some point in Mormon history, black Mormons were denied the  priesthood and access to the temples. The first record of this occurred in 1853, when Elijah Abel was denied permission to receive his endownments (special ordinances) in the Mormon temple by Brigham Young. The following year, Young secured the freedom of a Mormon slave, Green Flake.

We do not know what led to the change in policy. Many efforts have been made, beginning very early in church history, to trace the procedural change in order to understand whether it was a revelation or a policy, but without success. The change was never canonized as official doctrine.

In order to understand this, there are several principles of Mormonism that must be understood. The first is that of agency. Mormons believe that agency is absolutely critical to our lives on earth. We are here to make choices and to be held accountable for those choices. God will not interfere with our agency, although others might interfere with it. If a person makes a poor choice, everyone affected lives with the consequences of those choices. In reverse, we often benefit from the good choices of others.

Second, a prophet is also a person. He is a product of his own time, culture, and circumstances. As you read the Old Testament, you’ll see that the prophets were ordinary people. They spoke according to whatever wisdom they had at the time. This is why we sometimes see prophets making scientifically inaccurate statements—those weren’t prophecy; they were opinion or knowledge based on the beliefs of the time. Prophets have agency, just as we do. When an official doctrine doesn’t exist, prophets, like the rest of us, are free to make our own choices.

Third, as we study the Bible, we learn God never gave his priesthood to all people. The Aaronic priesthood initially went only to men of one family and they couldn’t have a blemish or disability. Jesus did not even allow the gospel to be preached to certain groups of people. Why? We don’t know. God never said why. We do know He acts in wisdom for His own purposes and does not owe us an explanation for everything he does.

Fourth, there is a difference between practices and doctrine. Practices change. Truth doesn’t. As an example, the name of the women’s auxiliary has changed a few times over the years and the nature of some of the meetings has altered. The specific classes taught by the auxiliary on Sunday sometimes changes. These are practices and change to meet the practical needs of the church at that time. However, the essential roles of women have not changed because those are based on eternal truths. Because nothing was ever put in writing at the time of the change, we do not know if the changes were practice or truth.

Finally, Mormons believe that we are never punished for things that are beyond our control. No black Mormon is denied eternal blessings or the ability to return to God or to be saved because of the ban. In the eternities, God makes up for the deficiencies of earth life. Therefore, while the ban created a temporal trial, it would not have a negative eternal impact on black Mormons. In fact, where there are greater challenges, there are greater blessings, so those who chose to join the church despite the ban will most likely receive greater blessings for having done so.

Mormons do not know whether or not God instituted the priesthood ban. They do know He allowed it to continue. Why? He didn’t feel we needed to know that. There have been many theories, but they are only theories, even when spoken by Mormon leaders. Remember, Mormon leaders are also people and they are allowed to have opinions, just as the early prophets of the Bible were. They did not canonize those statements, so they were not doctrine, nor were they official policy. They were opinions. Some people took them as doctrine, but that did not make it so. Scriptures show us many times when God allowed people to make choices that weren’t necessarily wise, but which recognized their agency and which allowed them to learn from their choices.

Despite this ban, there have always been black Mormons in the church. Each one had to pray and receive his or her own confirmation that the church was true. Most also prayed to understand the ban and each received a personal confirmation that everything would be okay in the eternal scheme of things and that they need not worry about it.

Bruce R. McConkie, a source of some of the opinions about the priesthood ban that were taken as fact, spoke openly of this when the ban was lifted in the 1970s. He wrote,

“People write me letters and say, “You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?” All I can say is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.

We get our truth and light line upon line and precept upon precept…. We have now added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter anymore” (Bruce R. McConkie, “New Revelation on Priesthood,” Priesthood (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981), 126-137).

McConkie’s statement makes clear another critical Mormon belief. We believe in continuous revelation. In t he Bible, there was not just one prophet. There were many prophets, one after another. They did not all teach exactly the same things. Noah was taught to build an ark. Moses was commanded to take the people into the wilderness. The Law of Moses was enacted, even though earlier Jews were not required to live it and Jesus taught that it did not need to be lived after his mission ended. This didn’t make Moses a false prophet. He was simply doing what prophets do—they teach eternal truths to the extent the people are ready to receive them. The people of Moses’ time needed a different type of law than did the early Christians. Just as Jesus didn’t repudiate Moses’ calling as a prophet, Mormons believe God will reveal truth as we are prepared to receive them or as they meet the Lord’s needs for that time. He doesn’t always explain, but we can pray for our own reassurance that everything is under control. We needn’t take any human’s word for it.

Today, there are black Mormons throughout the world and who are serving in high level church positions. Some, like Gladys Knight, are famous. Most are just ordinary people living a life of faith and service.