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DAVID - In the resurrection will black's skin be turned white?

JOEL - What difference does it make? In heaven everyone is colorblind :-)

In Alma in the Book of Mormon we read:

"The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame." (Alma 40: 23)

Joseph Smith explained,

"As concerning the resurrection, I will merely say that all men will come from the grave as they lie down, whether old or young; there will not be 'added unto their stature one cubit,' neither taken from it," (TPJS, p. 199).

To restore means to bring something back to a state that it existed in before being destroyed. Logically, this would mean that an infant would be restored to an infant, an adult to an adult, a white person to a white person, and a black person to a black person.

The black skin is not an abnormal condition that needs to be restored to white. The black skin was not the curse that was put on Cain; rather the curse was that he would be a fugitive and a vagabond because of his deed in killing Abel (Gen. 4: 11-15). In the first chapter of the Book of Abraham, Abraham writes that Pharoah, the king of Egypt, was "a righteous man", but could not hold the Priesthood because he was a descendant of Ham, and the Hamitic lineage or bloodline was "blessed with wisdom" but "cursed as pertaining to the Priesthood" (See Abraham 1:26). The black skin may simply have been the mark that was put on Cain so that no one would kill him.

"And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." (Gen. 4: 15)

Everyone through their faith will be "made white" in the sense that we will all be purified in order to abide a celestial glory (Dan. 12: 10, Rev. 7: 14), but I see no reason for black, red, or yellow skin to actually turn white at the resurrection. People of all races will maintain their unique physical ethnic characteristics. Those who make it to heaven will not care about such differences anyway.



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