Skin Colour in heaven?

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IHAQ
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Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by IHAQ »

There's an interesting, sometimes awkward discussion on MDD about what ethnicity people will be in the Celestial Kingdom.
https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/73993-ethnicity/

I revisited the famous picture that the LDS Church uses to show Jesus descending from heaven, everybody has white skin.
Here is one example that uses the image - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... n?lang=eng

So will there be, for example, black skinned people in the Celestial Kingdom?
Will the Church remove from use the inherently white supremacist image that denotes Christ descending from a group of white skinned angels?
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Moksha
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by Moksha »

Robert Smith asked a cogent question, from a Mormon perspective, of whether reconstituted bodies would resemble Mankind's African roots? Another poster was suggesting we could pick and choose what we would look like.

Even though it was unspoken, my guess is almost everyone there was hoping for white and delightsome.
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Doctor Steuss
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by Doctor Steuss »

Where’s John P. Pratt when you need him? Celestialized melanin seems like a topic he could tackle.
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canpakes
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by canpakes »

IHAQ wrote:
Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:02 am
I revisited the famous picture that the LDS Church uses to show Jesus descending from heaven, everybody has white skin.
Here is one example that uses the image - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... n?lang=eng

Not meaning to derail, but I’d also hope that whomever gets trumpet detail understands that we aim them high while at ground level for circumstances that wouldn’t exist in the ol’ Celestial Kingdom, and that if they want to properly announce Jesus’s return amidst the whitification of all souls, they should aim those things downward, and towards the carbon-based life forms.
Last edited by canpakes on Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Doctor Scratch
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by Doctor Scratch »

This is actually a great question, theologically speaking. So, if you're exalted, and you're a God, then you *would* get to choose, wouldn't you? If you imagine that you're going on to the heaven of Added Upon, where social stratification is your jam, then merely having "peons" to make fun of and feel superior to is the goal: you would will it to be that way, since you're God, right? In other words, those who are exalted and racist would create a heaven that looks one way, whereas more tolerant exalted Latter-day Saints might opt for a more diverse heaven. I think an equally provocative question has to do with sexual orientation. Someone should ask the Mopologists what will happen to LGBTQ+ people in the Celestial Kingdom.
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Dr Exiled
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by Dr Exiled »

I was taught in church from a young age to be thankful that I was born white and in the covenant. Darker skin was a sign of being less than, but we shouldn't talk too much about it because that would be rude. President Kimball talking about how the native americans' skin became whiter over time, if they accepted the gospel, was pure testimony that the Lord was on our side. I'd hear references to that talk all the time in the home ward and heard E. Stapley, an apostle, talk about how we were blessed to be in Utah, Mormon and white. The african americans were neutrals and we should marry our own race he said.

So, my money is on our brethren in the Lord, deep down, still quietly believing that white skin is celestial (if only for the already justified reason of having the symbolism of purity). Who wouldn't want to be pure for heaven's sake? But, this is obviously gospel meat, not meant for real gospel neophites.
Myth is misused by the powerful to subjugate the masses all too often.
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by MG 2.0 »

Dr Exiled wrote:
Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:20 pm

So, my money is on our brethren in the Lord, deep down, still quietly believing that white skin is celestial (if only for the already justified reason of having the symbolism of purity). Who wouldn't want to be pure for heaven's sake? But, this is obviously gospel meat, not meant for real gospel neophites.
If you are a believer in Christ’s resurrection it’s interesting to consider this:

https://studyingprayer.com/2013/04/02/1 ... -pictures/

Jesus, after his resurrection apparently looked like the person he was before he was crucified. I don’t think he was a white Caucasian male.

One might assume that as glory is added upon an individual, including Christ after his resurrection, that the eternal being we are embryonic beginnings of will mature and grow in some form or fashion similar to our physical growth while in this earthly form.We may, at that time, not find much to get too excited about…except for the fact we are developing into eternal beings.

That would be pretty cool.

Just speculatin’.

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MG
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by Dr Exiled »

MG 2.0 wrote:
Fri Sep 10, 2021 12:18 am
Dr Exiled wrote:
Thu Sep 09, 2021 10:20 pm

So, my money is on our brethren in the Lord, deep down, still quietly believing that white skin is celestial (if only for the already justified reason of having the symbolism of purity). Who wouldn't want to be pure for heaven's sake? But, this is obviously gospel meat, not meant for real gospel neophites.
If you are a believer in Christ’s resurrection it’s interesting to consider this:

https://studyingprayer.com/2013/04/02/1 ... -pictures/

Jesus, after his resurrection apparently looked like the person he was before he was crucified. I don’t think he was a white Caucasian male.

One might assume that as glory is added upon an individual, including Christ after his resurrection, that the eternal being we are embryonic beginnings of will mature and grow in some form or fashion similar to our physical growth while in this earthly form.We may, at that time, not find much to get too excited about…except for the fact we are developing into eternal beings.

That would be pretty cool.

Just speculatin’.

Regards,
MG
I think we can be certain that the Mormon view isn't going to be what we find beyond the grave. Even so, I'm reasonably confident that if secretly polled and if the members knew that the poll would never see the light of day, so they could be honest, they would overwhelmingly say that pure and delightsome is equivalent to white and delightsome. They would say that celestial eternal bodies would be clear, pure and white.
Myth is misused by the powerful to subjugate the masses all too often.
MG 2.0
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by MG 2.0 »

Dr Exiled wrote:
Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:00 am

I think we can be certain that the Mormon view isn't going to be what we find beyond the grave.
What is your view or expectation?

Regards,
MG
Dr Exiled
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Re: Skin Colour in heaven?

Post by Dr Exiled »

MG 2.0 wrote:
Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:04 am
Dr Exiled wrote:
Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:00 am

I think we can be certain that the Mormon view isn't going to be what we find beyond the grave.
What is your view or expectation?

Regards,
MG
I'm agnostic. I'll find out when I get there. However, any information coming from a guy that made up a book about non-existent israelites in the new world is highly suspect. Also, he plagiarized his ideas about the future from Swedenborg. He was making it up as he went along.
Myth is misused by the powerful to subjugate the masses all too often.
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