Bryan Fischer: Even more racist than the Book of Mormon

In my last post, I mentioned that the LDS church recently changed the introductory summary of 2 Nephi 5 from this:

The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the law of Moses, and build a temple -- Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.

to this:

The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the law of Moses, and build a temple—Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cut off from the presence of the Lord, are cursed, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.

The reason for the change is obvious: the former summary was too racist, even for the LDS church. So they softened it up and toned it down a bit. But the racism of 2 Nephi 5 remains.

Here's what it says about the Lamanites (Native Americans in the Book of Mormon):

He had caused the cursing to come upon them... that ... wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome ... God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them ... that they shall be loathsome unto thy people. ...

Cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. ...

Because of their cursing ... they did become an idle people, full of mischief. 2 Nephi 5:21-24

I'm sure the LDS church would like to do to the text of 2 Nephi 5 what they did to its chapter summary. Soften it up, tone it down, throw it out. And maybe they'll do that some day while no one is looking. But for now, at least, they are stuck with it.

Like the American Family Association is stuck with Bryan Fischer.

You remember, Bryan Fischer, don't you? He's the guy that thinks we should kill the bears, stone the whales, and become more Phinehas-like (by impaling interracial couples while they're having sex).

Now he tells us about Native Americans.

I'd link to his post, bit it's been removed from the AFA website. It seems that the AFA is as embarrassed by Fischer's post as the LDS church is with 2 Nephi 5.

Here are some excerpts from the original post.

The native American tribes at the time of the European settlement and founding of the United States were, virtually without exception, steeped in the basest forms of superstition, had been guilty of savagery in warfare for hundreds of years, and practiced the most debased forms of sexuality.

...

The [Lewis and Clark] journals record the morally abhorrent practice of many native American chiefs, who offered their own wives to the Corps of Discovery for their twisted sexual pleasure. (Regrettably, many members of the Corps, Lewis and Clark excepted, took advantage of these offers and contracted numerous and debilitating sexually transmitted diseases as a result.)

...

Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.

...

God explained to the nation of Israel that because of the “abomination(s)” of the indigenous Canaanite tribes, the land had become unclean and “vomited out its inhabitants (Lev. 18:25).”

Is this to say the same holds true for native American tribes today? In many respects, the answer is of course no. But in some senses, the answer is yes. Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.

OK. Maybe my title is a bit exaggerated. I'm not sure which is more racist, Bryan Fischer or the Book of Mormon. What do you think?

2 Nephi 4-5: Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness

The title to this post is taken from the official LDS summary for 2 Nephi 5 -- at least it was the official summary, until it was changed by the LDS church in December 2010. In the new revised version, the Lamanites (Native Americans) are no longer cursed by God with "a skin of blackness" for their unbelief, but are "cut off from the presence of the Lord."

Let's take a closer look and see what the Mormons are so embarrassed about.

Chapter 4 is a total waste of a golden plate. The 1350 or so words can be summed up with just two: Lehi died.

And It came to pass after my father, Lehi, had spoken unto all his household, according to the feelings of his heart and the Spirit of the Lord which was in him, he waxed old. And It came to pass that he died, and was buried. 2 Nephi 4:12

But chapter 5 is a another thing entirely.

It begins with Nephi's brothers rebelling against him again. (See here, here, here, here, here, and here for previous rebellions.)

So Nephi cries his little heart out to the Lord.

Behold, It came to pass that I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord my God, because of the anger of my brethren. 2 Nephi 5:1

And his brothers try to kill him (so they won't have to listen to him anymore).

But behold, their anger did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life.

Yea, they did murmur against me, saying: Our younger brother thinks to rule over us; and we have had much trial because of him; wherefore, now let us slay him, that we may not be afflicted more because of his words. For behold, we will not have him to be our ruler; for it belongs unto us, who are the elder brethren, to rule over this people. 2 Nephi 5:2-3

Nephi didn't write down all the stuff they said about him. Suffice it to say that they said whatever and whatnot and so forth.

Now I do not write upon these plates all the words which they murmured against me. But it sufficeth me to say, that they did seek to take away my life. 2 Nephi 5:4

Then Nephi's good buddy (God) told him to get the heck out of there and take all his brown-nosing family and friends with him.

And It came to pass that the Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness, and all those who would go with me.

Wherefore, It came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words. 2 Nephi 5:5-6

So they took all their stuff and, after travelling for the space of many days, camped out for a while at a place they called Nephi.

And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days we did pitch our tents.

And my people would that we should call the name of the place Nephi; wherefore, we did call it Nephi. 2 Nephi 5:7-8

At Nephi they all decided to call themselves the people of Nephi (the Nephites).

And all those who were with me did take upon them to call themselves the people of Nephi. 2 Nephi 5:9

Everything was perfect with the people of Nephi. God was with them, they prospered exceedingly, had all kinds of crops and animals, along with the magic compass ball.

And the Lord was with us; and we did prosper exceedingly; for we did sow seed, and we did reap again in abundance. And we began to raise flocks, and herds, and animals of every kind. And I, Nephi, had also brought the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass; and also the ball, or compass, which was prepared for my father by the hand of the Lord, according to that which is written. And It came to pass that we began to prosper exceedingly, and to multiply in the land. 2 Nephi 5:11-13

They made lots of swords (patterned after the sword of Laban that Nephi cut Laban's head off with),

And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords. 2 Nephi 5:14

And buildings,

And I did teach my people to build buildings. 2 Nephi 5:15a

And all kinds of stuff out of wood, iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, and other precious metals that were lying around everywhere in great abundance.

And to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. 2 Nephi 5:15b

They built an exceedingly fine temple, just like Solomon's, except not quite as fancy. (According to the Bible it took 150,000 men seven years to build the temple, but Nephite crew of a dozen or so men managed just fine.)

And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine. 2 Nephi 5:16

Then the people of Nephi who lived in a place called Nephi wanted to make Nephi their king.

And It came to pass that they would that I should be their king. 2 Nephi 5:18a

But Nephi said they should have no king.

But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power. 2 Nephi 5:18b

So Nephi became their ruler instead.

And behold, the words of the Lord had been fulfilled unto my brethren, which he spake concerning them, that I should be their ruler and their teacher. 2 Nephi 5:19

When Nephi's rebellious brothers found out that Nephi was the ruler, they rebelled against Nephi's rule, just as God said they would. So God cut them off from his presence.

Wherefore, the word of the Lord was fulfilled which he spake unto me, saying that: Inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy words they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And behold, they were cut off from his presence. 2 Nephi 5:20

And cursed them.

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. 2 Nephi 5:21a

God's curse caused "a skin of blackness to come upon" the Lamanites to make them appear repulsive to the "white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome" Nephites.

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. And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people. 2 Nephi 5:21b-22

And if any white and delightsome Nephite tried to mix some seed with a loathsome, dark-skinned Lamanite, God would curse that Nephite with dark skin, too.

And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done. 2 Nephi 5:23

But God's curse of the Lamanites was more than skin deep. It affected their entire beings. They became idle, mischievous, savages -- and they remain so to this day, according to the LDS church. (Mormons believe Native Americans are the descendants of the Lamanites.)

And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey. 2 Nephi 5:24

But everything was exceedingly good with the Nephites. Nephi made priests out of his little brothers, Jacob and Joseph.

And It came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be priests and teachers over the land of my people. 2 Nephi 5:26

The Nephites were happy campers.

And It came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness. 2 Nephi 5:27

Nephi wrote stuff down on his plates.

And I, Nephi, had kept the records upon my plates, which I had made, of my people thus far. 2 Nephi 5:28

And on other plates that God told him to make. It was all good to God and profitable to his people.

And It came to pass that the Lord God said unto me: Make other plates; and thou shalt engraven many things upon them which are good in my sight, for the profit of thy people. 2 Nephi 5:30

God was pleased, Nephi was pleased, and the people of Nephi were so pleased they could hardly stand it. And if you're pleased with the things of God you'll be pleased with Nephi's plates, too.

And I engraved that which is pleasing unto God. And if my people are pleased with the things of God they will be pleased with mine engravings which are upon these plates. 2 Nephi 5:32

But if you want to know the more particular part of anything else you'll just have to search Nephi's other plates.

And if my people desire to know the more particular part of the history of my people they must search mine other plates. 2 Nephi 5:33

It suffices for me and Nephi to say that forty years passed away with some wars and whatnot. Read all about in Nephi's other plates.

And it sufficeth me to say that forty years had passed away, and we had already had wars and contentions with our brethren. 2 Nephi 5:34

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Blogging the Book of Mormon

Next episode -- 2 Nephi 6: Someday God will force non-Mormons to eat their own flesh and get drunk on their own blood

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A prayer from Psalm 58: Ask God to make someone die like an aborted fetus.

In a previous post, I mentioned the biblically correct way to have an abortion. You can find it in Numbers 5:11-31, where God describes the procedure in detail.

The Bible says other interesting things about abortion, but there's something I've missed up to now. So I thought I'd share it with you here.

I found it in Psalm 58.

There are only two kind of people in Psalm 58: righteous people and wicked people. Wicked people are wicked from the start, in the womb before they are even born. And they begin speaking lies as soon as they are born, before they can even talk.

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Psalm 58:3

Righteous people ask God to break the teeth of wicked people and then cut their toothless bodies into pieces.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth ... Let them be as cut in pieces.Psalm 58:6-7

They pray that God will convert the wicked into a slimy mess, like an aborted fetus.

As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. Psalm 58:8

And when God answers their prayers, they will rejoice as they wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. Psalm 58:10

It's all part of being a righteous pro-life Christian.

Surah 4:136-176 -- Jesus wasn't really crucified, it just looked that way

The end of Surah 4 contains a bit of news about Jesus, something you may not have heard about before.

Here it is: Allah and Jesus worked together to make his death appear to be a bloody crucifixion, but it was all just a fancy magic trick. Jesus didn't really die, it just looked that way.

Oh sure, the Jews like to brag about killing the Messiah (we've all heard them do that), but they didn't really. Allah tricked them, just for the heck of it.

And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them. 4:157a

Allah and Jesus faked the whole bloody mess. Jesus beamed up to heaven and had some stand-in^* do the crucifixion for him.

And lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. 4:157b-8

The rest of the section repeats the same old stuff that we've already heard and have grown tired of. Allah will neither help nor forgive disbelievers or apostates (4:137-143), but purposefully misleads them so that he can burn them in hell after they die (4:167-170). Muslims should not have them for friends (4:144). Oh, and women are worth half a much as men (4:176).

There is one other verse that I should mention, though. Here it is.

Do not exaggerate in your religion. 4:171

There's a name for people who don't exaggerate in their religion. They're called atheists.

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* The gospel of Barnabas (a 16th century forgery) claims it was Judas.