Please permit me to analyze some points made by President David O McKay in an address he gave in
General Conference in October 1935 during which the Second Italo-Ethiopian War was taking place due to fascist Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. President McKay expounded upon the principles of
CHANGELESS TRUTHS IN A CHANGING WORLD and how the gospel should set the standard for universal salvation.
PRESIDENT DAVID O. McKAY, Second Counselor in the First Presidency wrote:We are living in a changing world, and some of us are becoming somewhat confused by the accumulation of theories, suggestions, proposals and the expressions of doubts that seem to be filling the air.
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As every thinking person knows, the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are just as applicable to the conditions of the world today as they have ever been in the history of mankind. Today, perhaps, as seldom if ever before the rock foundation built upon Christ's teachings is needed in the political as well as in moral and spiritual realms.
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I think the realization of the position of our so-called civilized countries may be deeply sensed when I call your attention to the fact that at this moment, while we are here worshipping, if we could tune in properly we could hear the guns booming that are now blasting out the lives of young men, old men, women and children in Ethiopia.
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What are the moral ideals and the spiritual teachings of the Man of Nazareth? Down through the centuries there have come ringing these words:
I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
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A proper conception of this divine principle would change the attitude of the world, to the benefit and happiness of all human beings. It would bring into active operation the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
What a different world this were if men would accumulate wealth, for example, not as an end but as a means of blessing human beings and improving human relations. A Christian conception of the right and value of a human soul, even though his skin be dark, would have prevented, the slaughter that at this moment is being perpetrated in Ethiopia.
Well, I think if President McKay really believed in the equality of the soul, he would lobby his brethren to do away with racism and Brigham Young's corrupt theories by offering the full blessings of the priesthood and temple to a man
even though his skin be dark. Sixteen years later, McKay became the President of the Church and presided for nearly twenty years; but men having dark skin were never ordained and Brigham Young's hateful policies and doctrines remained in full force.
That was Mormonism in a changing world!