beefcalf wrote:The 1886 Revelation was said to have been given to President John Taylor, written down by him, some months later, found in his personal papers after his death. This revelation concerned the nature of polygamy and is said to show unequivocally that requirement for polygamy would never be altered or removed.
The 1978 Revelation was said to have been given to President Spencer W. Kimball, and was understood to be the Lord communicating the end of the priesthood ban for Negroes.
The Brighamite branch of the Latter-Day Saint movement holds the position that, although President Taylor may indeed have received the 1886 revelation from 'the Lord' Himself, the body of the church was never presented with it formally, via a process initially conducted in 1835 with the addition of the D&C to LDS canon.
The provenance of the only extant copy of the 1886 Revelation is disputed, but we know the wording, we have some photographic evidence that it was not made up whole-cloth by the polygamists, and the FP of 1933 even seems to accept that it originally came from 'the Lord'. Their position seems to be that the sole reason it is not valid or binding is because President Smith did not present it to the body of the church for a sustaining vote.
But wouldn't this argument also apply to the 1978 revelation?
A text of the 1978 revelation has never appeared, as far as I have been able to discover. And I might be mistaken, but I do not believe this revelation was ever presented to the membership of the church for sustaining vote.
So, what gives? Either the argument used is invalid, and the FLDS have been correct about their practice of polygamy, or the argument is valid, and blacks should still be banned from holding the priesthood.
Yes? No?
Excellent point. Also note the lack of any revelation for changing the Word of Wisdom, or for banning masturbation.