Mormonism for the Red Man

MORMONISM FOR THE RED MAN

By Elder Richard P. Evans

GLAD tiding of joy are sounding from the mountain tops and desert plains of the vast Red Indian reservations in the States of Arizona and New Mexico. Expressions of rejoicing are coming from bronzed throats which not so long hence made the hills resound with fierce cries of battle. A new ray of hope has dawned for the noble red man as missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are preaching the restored fullness of the Gospel to the Navajo and Hopi tribes.

This writer learned of that significant fact with a good deal of interest and pleasure, having lived in direct daily contact for over twenty years with the Navajo Indians (Nav-a-ho) who live in the vicinity of Shiprock, New Mexico, on their reservation land. It has been his privilege to learn the difficult aboriginal language and to study their life and traditions very closely.

Why is it significant that Latter-day Saint doctrines are being brought to the Navajo? We shall endeavour to answer this satisfactorily. However, let us first consider some of his customs and traditions.

The Navajo Indians occupy a reservation in which portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah are included, most of which is mountainous and rocky, but ideally suited for good pasturage. The climate is semi-arid, the scenery ruggedly wild and beautiful. So large is this reservation that it would cover one half of England and Wales; so sparsely populated that there are only two persons to the square mile, as compared with England’s 611 to the square mile.

This vast expanse of open range country affords full expression to the roving tendencies of the Navajo, and he herds his flocks at will—a happy, care-free nomad. Once very militant and troublesome, he is now peaceful. It is generally believed by ethnologists that the Navajos are a branch of the once dreaded and still warlike Apaches, and this is borne out by physical and lingual similarity. Both tribesmen are very intelligent and clever, though provision of extensive government- directed educational facilities have made little inroads upon their primitive methods of living. To-day they pursue their pastoral and agricultural life as they have done for decades, fond of tradition and long-established custom, reluctant to adopt the new and unfamiliar.

The religion of the Navajo has been classed as paganistic— a statement partially but by no means predominately true. This is evident to any person who makes a careful study, speaks of his association with the Indian in terms of years and not months, and who gains by those years of association the confidence and friendship of those best qualified to impart these legends—the medicine men.

It may seem paradoxical, but these uncivilized, uneducated shamans recant to wondering white men legends which bear a very strong resemblance to Biblical writings. These legends, preserved and handed down for unknown centuries from shaman-father to novitiate-son, fill the listener with wonder; as, for example, the legend of a creation which closely parallels the account written by Moses. Of course, it is but natural that in the passage of time and the total absence of a written language corruptions and deviations should appear which do not detract from the main theme but add an intensely interesting angle.

From the average Christian standpoint the Indian is still very much a heathen, sadly in need of conversion. Although much missionary work has been carried on in his behalf, and the establishment of mission schools and hospitals has done much to raise the living standards among them, the fact remains and is clearly visible that the Christianity of the average Navajo Indian is somewhat superficial. To all outward appearances he is a staunch believer and he may have received a high education in either secular or ecclesiastically sponsored schools, but the average Navajo will and does at the first opportunity return to the old and beloved religion of his father, donning paint and feathers and participating in the tribal ceremonies.

If one asks the medicine men where they have obtained these things, at once comes the reply, if you have gained their confidence, that they have treasured them for many centuries, since the time when twelve great white men came in their midst and ministered to them. This tradition is augmented by their belief in a Supreme Being who came among them also and raised the dead, healed the sick, cast out evil spirits, and performed miracles analogous to the Saviour and His Twelve.

Naturally the question arises, “If in these ancient tribal legends there is so close a resemblance to the teachings of the Bible and they claim to have treasured these things for so long, why then do they not find Christianity just that much easier to accept?

The answer reveals the innate nature of that simple, unsophisticated race—quick to take advantage of any sign of weakness and infinitely contemptuous of the same; unable to interpret any sign of condescension or leniency in any other term than weakness or fear. Here then, is the Indian’s stumbling-block to Christianity by his methods of reasoning. Thus he will answer, if given the opportunity:

“You tell us Jesus was a God, a Supreme Person who had power to raise the dead and perform these many other great deeds. Yet you tell us that He allowed men to nail Him to a cross and to kill Him by thrusting a spear into His side. Something is wrong,” he reasons. “A god should have more power than that!”

To follow the same trend again, he is not duly impressed by the story of the Master having raised the dead to life, since his own primitive legends tell him precisely the same thing. If he is told that Scriptures relate where God spoke to Job from the whirlwind, he has no reaction. His own legends relate the same occurrence. For Jonah, he has contempt, for his own Jonah awaited not the hour of deliverance, but promptly cut his way to freedom with a sharp stone knife—superior by far to his reasoning. Instances without end could be quoted in this same vein, but these suffice to demonstrate the difficulty of Christianizing the Navajo. If the white man cannot impress upon him and satisfactorily explain the need of a Redeemer—and so far his efforts have met with little success—then the fight is lost, for the Indian is able to match miracle for miracle.

Most perplexing to the Navajo is the question of his origin. He is aware, of course, that the name “Indian” is a misnomer given to him by Columbus, who supposed that he had found the long sought route to the Indies. The most generally accepted contemporary theory of the Indian’s origin is that he was originally Qf Asiatic descent, and that he inhabited the American continent by a series of migrations from the former continent via the Bering Strait, the shortest water barrier between the two mainlands, and eventually spread over America.

The Navajo’s contempt for the yellow race is unspeakable. To be classed with them fills him with resentment. The Bering theory may be a correct one to a certain extent, but in the Navajo’s religion is to be found nothing which savours of Buddhism or Llamaism, long the religions of Mongolia and Tibet.

The Egyptian-like structures of Central America and Mexico have also aroused much speculation, from an archeological standpoint, as to the origin of the Indian. And the Indian himself is no less desirous of knowing this than is the inquisitive white man.

The Book of Mormon throws a most illuminating ray of truth upon this question, and has satisfactorily answered it for a good many thousands of people. The Indian is there to-day and ruined cities and temples stand in mute testimony of a mighty civilization that once existed. Ancient Navajo legends speak not of Buddhism, but of gods able to raise the dead. The prophet Isaiah wrote of truth which should whisper out of the dust (29:4); of a book which would confound the learned (29:11-12). Ezekiel spoke of the stick of Judah and Ephraim which should be brought together as one in the hand of the Lord. (37:19)

The Book of Mormon is a translation of ancient records long hidden in the ground; a history of a people led by the hand of God out of Jerusalem 600 years before the Lord came to earth as the Babe of Judea. It tells of the arrival of this small band at the Americas and of their division into two groups—one righteous and blessed of God, carefully preserving their history: the other disobedient, cursed with a dark skin, ignorance and filthiness. The two were known as Nephites and Lamanites. Great was the civilization of the Nephites, mighty and powerful their numbers and accomplishments so long as they remembered the Lord; terrible were their persecutions at the hands of the Lamanites when they forgot Him. The Saviour appeared in fulfilment of the inspired prophecies their seers proclaimed, and established His church and His apostles in that land.

Great blessings followed; prosperity reigned and eventually overwhelmed them; greed, lust and crime brought the scourging Lamanites upon them, and the Nephite annihilation became complete. A lone Nephite, Moroni, remained to finish and deposit the sacred records in the earth away from the destroying hands of the dark-skinned conquerors. To-day the greater part of the American Indians are known as the descendants of the victorious Lamanites.

The first five books of Moses and many prophetic writings were brought by this emigrant band from Jerusalem, and long before the brothers Nephi and Laman separated to become mortal enemies they were taught from these books. (I Nephi 6:11-22) And at one time the dark skinned people became more righteous than the Nephites, and preached the Gospel to them. Is it unreasonable to believe that the legends of the Navajo Indians to-day date from that ancient source of truth; that their legend of a Supreme Being who raised their dead and healed their sick, and the twelve white men form the genesis of these ancient tribal traditions?

The promise of the Lord was given to the Lamanites and their descendants that the day was to come when the Gospel of Jesus Christ should be declared among them, and that “they shall be restored to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” The promise was also given to the Lamanites and their descendants that this book, the record of those which have slumbered (2 Nephi 27:6), should come forth, and then should they know of their origin in Jerusalem; the Gospel should be preached to them for a restoration of the knowledge of their fathers, and that they should rejoice in the blessings of God. Further, that the darkness of skin and mind should begin to leave them, and that a few generations should find them a white and delightsome people, taking part in the great culmination of the Lord’s purposes before His coming to earth to reign. (2 Nephi 30:3-18)

Through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, an uneducated, humble man chosen of God, this Book, so long hidden in the dust has come forth and is now translated into the languages of many nations. And now, the Book is going forth to the American Indian. Soon a reconciliation, a bringing together of this ancient record and the fragmentary traditions long so carefully preserved by the Indian shall come to pass, and then by the power and authority of the servants of the Lord shall their understandings be touched, and they shall reap the promised blessings.

Is it any wonder that glad tidings of joy are heard in Navajo land to-day? Oh the longing, near despair and thrilling surge of renewed hope after long centuries of patient waiting, expressed to those humble Latter-day Saint elders as their message began to be unfolded! “Why have you been so long? We have waited many, many moons for you to come!” Sublime expression! May their day of light soon shine to all the world as a testimony that God lives and is mindful of His children.