Native American tragedies


moonman239
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Guest LiterateParakeet

As far as I know, that is just one person's hypothesis not something you will find in the standard works or in a general conference talk.  In other words, it's not doctrine to my knowledge.

 

I think it's better not to judge these matters.  It is natural for us to look for reasons, someone to blame in a tragedy because it makes us feel safer.  If we can tell ourselves, "They brought it upon themselves" then we feel less afraid that something like that could happen to us.  And yet, that kind of thinking not only leads us to false security because--sometimes bad things happen to good people...Satan does his best to make sure of that--but it also keeps us from developing the compassion that helps us come closer to having true charity.

 

 Some truly tragic and horrible things happened to the Native American people.  I think our best response is sympathy and sorrow for the cruelty that people in this world can inflict upon one another. 

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I remember hearing once that all these bad things that happened to Native Americans (the Trail of Tears, etc.) came as a result of the Lamanites' disobedience. Can anyone tell me where to look in the standard works or a talk to find information about this?

I have never read anything in scripture that suggests to me that such incidents were given as punishment to the descendants of Laman. The Book of Mormon does prophecy that the descendants of the Lamanites will be driven and scattered, but that is given as a statement of fact, not as some sort of quid pro quo for the wicked actions of their ancestors. So personally, I don't believe it.

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If you want to read an excellent book about Native American religion, read "The Soul of the Indian" by Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa).  Eastman's father sent him off to the white boarding schools and told him to master the whites' language and become educated so he could tell them what they were destroying.  It was his way of being a warrior, to become learned in the white way and then teach the Indian way.  Eastman became a medical doctor and was a "first responder" at the Wounded Knee massacre.  

 

It is also an interesting study for LDS people to study the first and second "Ghost Dance" movements among native Americans.  The Paiute Prophet Wovoka taught that the Ghost Dance would unite the spirits of the living and the dead and help bring cooperation and peace between the whites and the First Peoples.  

 

Another really interesting parallel is the brother of Tecumseh, the Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa.  He was nearly destroyed by alcohol and, following an accident where he fell drunk into a fire, he lay in a coma for several days and then emerged "Alma-like" and began to teach the people of a vision he had.  He began to call the people to repent, to forsake drinking, and to return to their traditional ways.  He said that the Great Spirit was preparing to restore them and their land.

 

This paralleled the Restoration to some extent.  His vision occurred in 1805, the year Joseph Smith was born.  He died in 1836, the year the Kirtland Temple was dedicated.  There is a sort of synchronicity in the message of the Shawnee Prophet and the Prophet of the Restoration--both men received messages telling them and their followers to forsake the false, sectarian Christianity of their time and to return to something revealed and fundamental.  The reaction of the white Christian Americans was to try to destroy both messengers.  If Tecumseh and his brother had been successful, they might have stopped Manifest Destiny in its tracks.  If Wovoka's message had not been so badly misrepresented, Native Americans and European Americans might have established some sort of equilibrium that would have resolved in a more positive way.  

 

Personally, I think the Spirit of God was working on many fronts in the 19th century to prepare the way for the fulfilling of the promises made to Lehi's posterity.  Although early Mormon converts brought some of their prejudices about Native Americans westward with them, the teachings about the Lamanites and the promises made to them in the Book of Mormon moderated our approach somewhat.  I would recommend reading Eastman as a start of your studies, if you haven't already read his books.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember hearing once that all these bad things that happened to Native Americans (the Trail of Tears, etc.) came as a result of the Lamanites' disobedience. Can anyone tell me where to look in the standard works or a talk to find information about this?

yes and no.

No they aren't being punished for Laman's (or whatever other wicked predecessor they might have had, that you'd prefer to name) wickedness.

However when you leave the gospel and go into other ways the holy spirit leaves you, and if you don't teach your children the ways to obtain the holy spirit, then they too also will not have that in their lives and that is a form of both blessing and protection- and from hence because such individuals have little to none of the vision of what path should be taken they sooner or later become smitten and scattered due to consequences of poor choice, or not being warned of others poor choices.... which can be said to be a result of one person's wickedness.

there are multiple times throughout scriptures where it is said that if men forsake God, then they are left as chaff in the wind and are scattered too and fro by the whims of the devil. i'll see if i can find some for you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember hearing once that all these bad things that happened to Native Americans (the Trail of Tears, etc.) came as a result of the Lamanites' disobedience. Can anyone tell me where to look in the standard works or a talk to find information about this?

You will not find such a direct correlation in our standard works.  Those are not the teachings of our church.  

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Ugh...I hate this formatting!!! These are just a few scriptures prophecying concerning the remnant of the House of Israel--the Natives of the promised land.

1 Nephi 13:13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.

 

 14 And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

 

 

 

2 Nephi 26:14 But behold, I prophesy unto you concerning the last days; concerning the days when the Lord God shall bring these things forth unto the children of men.

 

 15 After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.

 

 

3 Nephi 16:But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles—for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people who are of the house of Israel; and my people who are of the house of Israel have been cast out from among them, and have been trodden under feet by them;

 

 And because of the mercies of the Father unto the Gentiles, and also the judgments of the Father upon my people who are of the house of Israel, verily, verily, I say unto you, that after all this, and I have caused my people who are of the house of Israel to be smitten, and to be afflicted, and to be slain, and to be cast out from among them, and to become hated by them, and to become a hiss and a byword among them—

 

 

3 Nephi 20:10 And it came to pass that when they had all given glory unto Jesus, he said unto them: Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me concerning this people, who are a remnant of the house of Israel.

 

 11 Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them—

 12 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel.

 13 And then shall the remnants, which shall be scatteredabroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.

 14 And the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you this land, for your inheritance.

 15 And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people

 16 Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver...

19 For I will make my people with whom the Father hath covenanted, yea, I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass. And thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. And behold, I am he who doeth it...

22 And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you...

27 And after that ye were blessed then fulfilleth the Father the covenant which he made with Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed—unto the pouring out of the Holy Ghost through me upon the Gentiles, which blessing upon the Gentiles shall make them mighty above all, unto the scattering of my people, O house of Israel.

 28 And they shall be a scourge unto the people of this land. Nevertheless, when they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father...

 

 

Mormon 5:And also that a knowledge of these things must come unto the remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles, who the Lord hath said should scatter this people, and this people should be counted as naught among them—therefore I write a small abridgment, daring not to give a full account of the things which I have seen, because of the commandment which I have received, and also that ye might not have too great sorrow because of the wickedness of this people...

 15 And also that the seed of this people may more fully believe his gospel, which shall go forth unto them from the Gentiles; for this people shall be scattered, and shall become a dark, a filthy, and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us, yea, even that which hath been among the Lamanites, and this because of their unbelief and idolatry. 

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D&C 3:16 Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through thetestimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Saviorcome unto my people—

 

 17 And to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers—

 18 And this testimony shall come to the knowledge of theLamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, whodwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations.

 19 And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records—that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;

 20 And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen.

 

 

D&C 28:And now, behold, I say unto you that you shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them; and thou shalt have revelations, but write them not by way of commandment.

 

 And now, behold, I say unto you that it is not revealed, and no man knoweth where the city Zion shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter. Behold, I say unto you that it shall be on the borders by the Lamanites...

14 And thou shalt assist to settle all these things, according to the covenants of the church, before thou shalt take thy journey among the Lamanites.

 

 

 

D&C 54:

And thus you shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites.

 

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They were scattered and scourged because of their "wickedness" and because of their "unbelief" and because of their "idolatry." 

There is a subtle but (IMO) important point you are missing. These things are portrayed as happening, not as a punishment from God for generational wickedness, but more because of the natural result of things. Those who live wickedly inevitably decline and end up in misery, if not in the present then in future generations.

 

I do not read the quoted scriptures as saying, "God is heaping punishment on the heads of the descendants of the Lamaites because of the wickedness of the ancestors and the continued ignorance of the present people." Rather, I see it as confirming the age-old truism that the sins of the parents are visited upon the heads of their children.

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I agree and disagree. To be cut off from the Lord's presence is a punishment, which ends up resulting in what the OP was asking. The Native Indians suffered all those things, which were prophesied as a result of the covenant curses of their ancestors. 

 

 

1 Nephi 2:20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.

 21 And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

 

They are the same covenant curses, which resulted in the Jews at Jerusalem being cut off and their descendants, generations to come, to be driven and scattered and smitten. The Lord scattered the branches in His vineyard precisely because they either produced evil fruit or continued in barrenness and were good for nothing but to be bundled up and burned.

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