White for white, rich for rich, poor for poor...

[_DarkHelmet]

Just so I'm clear, what do we all think are valid considerations in choosing a spouse?

Without divine guidance from the brethren, nobody knows.

[_Baker]

Balance in emotional needs and expectations.

[_moksha]

The bit about racial background is a veritable unstable explosive for the Church: It can blow up in our face. These Correlation Committee men need to bring themselves up to speed and jettison this bit of advice. Our mandate is to love, but this is like poison to that spirit.

Blow up how?

It's talking about marriage. In terms of Eros, we are not under a mandate to love all either. If fact, we are told not to.

Blow up in terms of how we seem to be advocating no race mixing. This particular item is still at the forefront of many neo-nazi, Aryan Nations, skin head and Klan agendas. Should the Church seek some Robert Millet-like dialog with these groups because we have this mindset in common? The Church has enough bad publicity. Let's not add to it with pushing any form of racial separateness in oral or written communications.

Nehor, think back to Jesus greatest commandments of loving God and others as being something "in fact that we are told not to do". I have no doubt someone actually said it, but that should in itself be alarming as to how far off the path of Jesus we can drift. This thinking is undoubtedly related to whatever has managed to allow these gems of prejudice entrée into current Church manuals. In terms of romantic love, you are right. We need to be monogamous until the Day of Celestial Wives arrives. Then it will be like an Easter egg hunt I suppose.

However, this advice was about who to filter out in terms of marriage consideration. It was not about how to be monogamous.

[_EAllusion]

Advising against interracial marriage is about as classic of an example of racism as there is.

Thinking that people will be more similar and compatible within races as opposed to between places way more emphasis on differences between races than their actually is. Individual variation is far more important. This is especially apparent when you think about how malleable racial categories are. It wasn't that long ago that the Irish weren't considered "white."

Advising people to find compatibility in similarities is fine, but thinking race can function as a proxy for that is just rank racism.

[_stemelbow]

Thinking that people will be more similar and compatible within races as opposed to between places way more emphasis on differences between races than their actually is. Individual variation is far more important.

you are so right on this. That perception that race difference equates to significant differences among people is just plain illusory. We can't continue down that road.

[_moksha]

That perception that race difference equates to significant differences among people is just plain illusory. We can't continue down that road.

A hardy pep pep to you Stemelbow on this clear understanding. Well said.

[_The Nehor]

Blow up in terms of how we seem to be advocating no race mixing. This particular item is still at the forefront of many neo-nazi, Aryan Nations, skin head and Klan agendas. Should the Church seek some Robert Millet-like dialog with these groups because we have this mindset in common? The Church has enough bad publicity. Let's not add to it with pushing any form of racial separateness in oral or written communications.

I would encourage you then to read the talk from which this quote was pulled. He makes it clear in that talk that he is not calling inter-racial marriage a sin of any kind.

Nehor, think back to Jesus greatest commandments of loving God and others as being something "in fact that we are told not to do".

I was clear I was talking about romantic love, not agape.

I have no doubt someone actually said it, but that should in itself be alarming as to how far off the path of Jesus we can drift. This thinking is undoubtedly related to whatever has managed to allow these gems of prejudice entrée into current Church manuals.

It's not prejudice. It's a judicious warning about being careful and taking factors into consideration before marriage.

In terms of romantic love, you are right. We need to be monogamous until the Day of Celestial Wives arrives. Then it will be like an Easter egg hunt I suppose.

No, it will not.

However, this advice was about who to filter out in terms of marriage consideration. It was not about how to be monogamous.

No, it is advice to consider things before marrying someone.

[_jon]

Sorry Nehor but it's not something the Church says to 'consider'.
It's specifically in a teaching manual, to be taught to the young men as 'the Church recommends that you don't marry people of a different race'.
The rest of the talk from which it is taken is noticeably absent from the lesson manual.

The Church is still racist. Fact.

[_The Nehor]

Sorry Nehor but it's not something the Church says to 'consider'.

Read the talk from which the quote was taken.

It's specifically in a teaching manual, to be taught to the young men as 'the Church recommends that you don't marry people of a different race'.

Go get the context.

The rest of the talk from which it is taken is noticeably absent from the lesson manual.

So you're too lazy to look it up. Got it.

The Church is still racist. Fact.

Your lazy appraisal of one sentence of a talk certainly proves it doesn't it? Glad we got that huge issue out of the way.

....taken is noticeably absent from the lesson manual.

So as you can see from this quote, Jon is a dumbass. Fact.

[_jon]

Nehor,

Why do you keep insisting on reviewing the original talk from SWK?
The point of this part of the thread is that it is only a portion of that talk that is being used to teach young men who to choose as a marriage partner.
The Church advises the young men to choose someone from the same race - unfortunately that is an indisputable fact as it is there in black and white in the Church manual. Go read it.

I recognize that you have the right to avoid the specific topic (the teaching manual) and that you have a right to resort to calling me names.

None of that changes the fact that the Church is actively teaching young men to differentiate their potential spouse in terms of race.

The Church is still racist. Fact.