View source for Question: What was the Lamanite curse?

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==Question: What was the Lamanite curse?==
===The Book of Mormon talks of a curse being placed upon the Lamanites===
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And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. 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. {{s|2|Nephi|5|21}}
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It is claimed by some that the Church believed that Lamanites who accepted the Gospel would become light-skinned, and that "Mormon folklore" claims that Native Americans and Polynesians carry a curse based upon "misdeeds on the part of their ancestors."

One critic asks, "According to the Book of Mormon a dark skin is a curse imposed by God on the unrighteous and their descendants as a punishment for sin. Do you agree with that doctrine? (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 12:22-23, Alma 3:6, 2 Nephi 5:21-22, Jacob 3:8, 3 Nephi 2:15-16, Mormon 5:15; references to the "Lamanites" are taken to be referring to Native American "Indians".)" <ref>{{CriticalWork:Abanes:Becoming Gods|pages=73, 367 n.138}}; {{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=43}};{{CriticalWork:Martin:Kingdom of the Cults|pages=193, 235}};{{CriticalWork:Packham:QuestionsForRomney}};{{CriticalWork:Southerton:Losing|pages=40, 184}}
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===Although the curse of the Lamanites is often associated directly with their skin color, it may be that this was intended in a far more symbolic sense than modern American members traditionally assumed===

The curse itself came upon them as a result of their rejection of the Gospel. It was possible to be subject to the curse, and to be given a mark, without it being associated with a change in skin color, as demonstrated in the case of the Amlicites. The curse is apparently a separation from the Lord.  A close reading of the Book of Mormon text makes it untenable to consider that literal skin color was ever the "curse."  At most, the skin color was seen as a mark, and it may well have been that these labels were far more symbolic and cultural than they were literal.

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{{Critical sources box:Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Curse/What was it/CriticalSources}}
{{endnotes sources}}
[[Category:Becoming Gods]]
[[Category:John Dehlin's "Questions and Answers"]]
[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
[[Category:Losing a Lost Tribe]]
[[Category:Nauvoo Polygamy]]
[[Category:No Man Knows My History]]
[[Category:One Nation Under Gods]]
[[Category:The Kingdom of the Cults]]

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[[es:Pregunta: ¿Cuál era la maldición lamanita?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Qual era a maldição dos Lamanitas?]]
[[Category:Questions]]