Are Gods all white?

[Benaishtart]

Legitimate question. Everyone up there at the top, would they all be considered Caucasian? I’ve just assumed we won’t look different in the resurrection, so will there be every kind of ethnicity in the top level of the celestial kingdom? Or will our ethnicity gradually change as we go from grace to grace and exaltation to exaltation? All the conventional NDE’s I read are from white people. It’s like all of the main scripture characters would be considered Caucasian. Are there black, aboriginal, or even pygmy Gods and Goddesses who have the omnipotence and omniscience of Elohim? I know I must sound incredibly racist, just curious if anyone has legit seen any angelic or divine beings from other races?

[Serragon]

Legitimate question. Everyone up there at the top, would they all be considered Caucasian? I’ve just assumed we won’t look different in the resurrection, so will there be every kind of ethnicity in the top level of the celestial kingdom? Or will our ethnicity gradually change as we go from grace to grace and exaltation to exaltation? All the conventional NDE’s I read are from white people. It’s like all of the main scripture characters would be considered Caucasian. Are there black, aboriginal, or even pygmy Gods and Goddesses who have the omnipotence and omniscience of Elohim? I know I must sound incredibly racist, just curious if anyone has legit seen any angelic or divine beings from other races?

I don't think skin pigmentation exists in the celestial kingdom. Seems to me that is something needed only here on this earth.

[Benaishtart]

Uhh, well if there is light in the celestial kingdom (which there is) than there is color. So...there’s eye and hair color. And if we’ll have physical bodies then there’ll be skin color. Skin pigmentation will not be needed in the CK. So we’ll all be super pale???

[Alaris]

We can't discount the book of Mormon equating curses to dark skin. Does that mean every dark sinned race is cursed or each individual cursed?

Bear in mind our visible light is limited compared to what God sees and reflects. NDE experiencers and visionaries describe a whiteness and glory beyond description. White may not be a suitable word.

Bear in mind caucasians aren't white in comparison to these descriptions but pink or pale at best. Brownish if tan.

[XEmilyX]

In my opinion yes. I think that Adam and eve were white. Cain caused a curse to come upon him for dark skin.
I've never read a nde that says there's darker skinned people in heaven. And in my opinion that maybe they change skin colors?

But I'm writing a book with gods with different race to let everyone feel included.

I dunno but I truly think that there wont be darker skin colors in heaven.

[Elizabeth]

Then think again about writing that book. No need to lie just to pander to "let everyone feel included".

[kirtland r.m.]

This is just my opinion, but I do think that Father in Heaven in his perfect wisdom, has made various groups so different as a part of our testing prosses to show if we will love one another even though we are very different. There are also many differences because of agency. An example of this anciently was the Jews and their view of the Samaritans.

Question: "Who were the Samaritans?"

Answer: The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The capital of the country was Samaria, formerly a large and splendid city. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2-11). These foreigners intermarried with the Israelite population that was still in and around Samaria. These “Samaritans” at first worshipped the idols of their own nations, but being troubled with lions, they supposed it was because they had not honored the God of that territory. A Jewish priest was therefore sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in the Jewish religion. They were instructed from the books of Moses, but still retained many of their idolatrous customs. The Samaritans embraced a religion that was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry (2 Kings 17:26-28). Because the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and adopted their idolatrous religion, Samaritans were generally considered “half-breeds” and were universally despised by the Jews.

Additional grounds for animosity between the Israelites and Samaritans were the following:

1. The Jews, after their return from Babylon, began rebuilding their temple. While Nehemiah was engaged in building the walls of Jerusalem, the Samaritans vigorously attempted to halt the undertaking (Nehemiah 6:1-14).

2. The Samaritans built a temple for themselves on “Mount Gerizim,” which the Samaritans insisted was designated by Moses as the place where the nation should worship. Sanballat, the leader of the Samaritans, established his son-in-law, Manasses, as high priest. The idolatrous religion of the Samaritans thus became perpetuated.

3. Samaria became a place of refuge for all the outlaws of Judea (Joshua 20:6-7; 21:21). The Samaritans willingly received Jewish criminals and refugees from justice. The violators of the Jewish laws, and those who had been excommunicated, found safety for themselves in Samaria, greatly increasing the hatred which existed between the two nations.

4. The Samaritans received only the five books of Moses and rejected the writings of the prophets and all the Jewish traditions.

From these causes arose an irreconcilable difference between them, so that the Jews regarded the Samaritans as the worst of the human race (John 8:48) and had no dealings with them (John 4:9). In spite of the hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans, Jesus broke down the barriers between them, preaching the gospel of peace to the Samaritans (John 4:6-26), and the apostles later followed His example (Acts 8:25)8:25).https://www.gotquestions.org/Samaritans.html

The Lord focused on this in His parable of The Good Samaritan, purposely choosing a Samaritan who the Jews hated, to teach an object lesson about loving all of Heavenly Father's children.

There are at least one or two other reasons for the differences which I will not go into. I am sure there were no "races" in the pre-existance, and I believe there will be no need for them after our final judgement. We also have a good description of Resurrected Celestial Beings from those who have seen them. I would not be surprised if all who are resurrected to any degree of glory below Celestial(only excluding the sons of perdition) will have a very dialed down amount of light surrounding them. They will be resurrected souls with a sure knowledge of the gospel, no eternal influence of Satan after the final judgement, and even those not willing to live higher laws will still have their agency intact, and in the case of the lowest degree of the Telestial Kingdom will still be taught by the Holy Ghost.

[Yahtzee]

I think ethnicity is a mortal thing. Celestial beings are white, but not in a Caucasian sense. I think it goes beyond any classification we really comprehend.

[inho]

All the conventional NDE’s I read are from white people.

This could be purely symbolic. The same applies to any visitation of resurrected people: it is hard to tell what is the "actual" appearance of the persons and what is symbolic. Joseph Smith said about the first vision "When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven", which implies that there were some vision/dream like elements in the visitation. Consider also the visitations in Kirtland temple. We call (at least most of them) visitations and not visions since the assumption is that actual physical actions (laying on of hands) were involved when the keys were given to Joseph. Yet the visit of Christ is described in clearly symbolic terms: "under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters".

[inho]

Could there be ethnicity in Celestial kingdom? I don't know. Some people claim that all will look alike. They base this on the 1842 account of first vision, where Joseph describes God and Jesus this way:

I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision and saw two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness

I think it would be really boring if all would look alike. All will be perfect but I don't think that will necessary mean that there exists one perfect body-type.

[brianj]

Could there be ethnicity in Celestial kingdom? I don't know. Some people claim that all will look alike. They base this on the 1842 account of first vision, where Joseph describes God and Jesus this way:

I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision and saw two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness

I think it would be really boring if all would look alike. All will be perfect but I don't think that will necessary mean that there exists one perfect body-type.

I expect that all of us have seen someone who looks almost exactly like a younger version of their father, or who looks almost exactly like a younger version of their mother. This is how I think the Father and the Son are, and that it's a special case just for them. I have no scriptural basis for this, but I believe that we will look like better versions of ourselves when resurrected or when exalted. If you're 185 cm in early adulthood, you'll be 185 cm when resurrected. Your eyes will probably be the same color. Your hair will probably be white but your nose will have the same shape it now has.

[SwissMrs&Pitchfire]

Our bodies are compiled of what we eat, breath, and drink. They are just elements arranged by our DNA. God can put a soul into a body and take one out and put the same one back in and in fact even satan and spirits of darkness can inhabit bodies of flesh. So logically why would we constrain ourselves to one visage throughout eternity? Our DNA now had loads of flaws that will certainly be modified later. I change clothes to suit the occasion, why not bodies?

It is a truth that God is not constrained to one physical body nor to specific attributes of body.

If a being without glory such as a demon can inhabit different bodies and come and go (when they are simply elemental, no more nor less than my computer,) certainly God can and we will.

So will you ever want a tan in eternity? Of course. Will you ever want black hair or white hair or red or brown? Of course. People love to dress up, to act, to speak in different accents and we will do it in spades throughout eternity just like Tonks in Harry potter. We will be in full command of our bodies in every respect (or we will not be like God).

[Dusty52]

You raise an important issue here and one which needs discussion and clarification, the church should come out with a statement but it won't. There are other issues which also need to be discussed!
In the prexistence were we all white? How important is race and ethnicity in heaven? How can the Lord's anointed get it so wrong in denying a group of people the power to act in his name for so long? If the church is true now it has always been true? How was this policy truth?
This "secondary" question (as well as many others) lie at the heart of our religion, we need to understand

[Alaris]

You raise an important issue here and one which needs discussion and clarification, the church should come out with a statement but it won't. There are other issues which also need to be discussed!
In the prexistence were we all white? How important is race and ethnicity in heaven? How can the Lord's anointed get it so wrong in denying a group of people the power to act in his name for so long? If the church is true now it has always been true? How was this policy truth?
This "secondary" question (as well as many others) lie at the heart of our religion, we need to understand

In the premortal realm there was likely a much larger spectrum of visible light. Do spirit bodies have certain colors or races? Good question.

[Alaris]

Our bodies are compiled of what we eat, breath, and drink. They are just elements arranged by our DNA. God can put a soul into a body and take one out and put the same one back in and in fact even satan and spirits of darkness can inhabit bodies of flesh. So logically why would we constrain ourselves to one visage throughout eternity? Our DNA now had loads of flaws that will certainly be modified later. I change clothes to suit the occasion, why not bodies?

It is a truth that God is not constrained to one physical body nor to specific attributes of body.

If a being without glory such as a demon can inhabit different bodies and come and go (when they are simply elemental, no more nor less than my computer,) certainly God can and we will.

So will you ever want a tan in eternity? Of course. Will you ever want black hair or white hair or red or brown? Of course. People love to dress up, to act, to speak in different accents and we will do it in spades throughout eternity just like Tonks in Harry potter. We will be in full command of our bodies in every respect (or we will not be like God).

I met a guy at BYU that admittedly drank way too much Carrot juice. For his sins he was cursed with orange skin.

[Kingdom of ZION]

In my opinion yes. I think that Adam and eve were white. Cain caused a curse to come upon him for dark skin.
I've never read a nde that says there's darker skinned people in heaven. And in my opinion that maybe they change skin colors?

But I'm writing a book with gods with different race to let everyone feel included.

I dunno but I truly think that there wont be darker skin colors in heaven.

Adam means ruddish red. The word adam also has two Hebrew words in it. Ad or Ed: alef and dalet which create the word: vapor or mist; and dam: dalet alef mem which meaning in hebrew: blood. Hebrew אדם ('adam) meaning "to be red", referring to the ruddy color of human skin. These two word draws to minded, A Veil upon Adam because of the Blood within his veins.

As for caring to speak to the issue of color of skin in heaven, I do not wish to waste my the time. What color was the Messiah when He was a Hebrew in Yesrael? Olive. His Apostles did not immediately recognize Him after the resurrection. Did he change skin color? I think, loosing blood (having been bled out and now only flesh and bone) would removed the color of ruddy red to a lighter corpses looking color.

But does it matter? If you think so, I have some magic beans I will sell you.

[Primary Outcast]

For some reason I always thought that those in the Celestial Kingdom would be the color of lightning, like how Joseph Smith described Moroni.

[SwissMrs&Pitchfire]

Why would gods settle for being stuck one way?

[Col. Flagg]

Why does it matter? Black people have never been inferior to the white man just like the white man has never been superior to the black man. Intolerance for dark skinned people and bigotry is about as far from Christ as you can get.