“Ham walked the earth as a black man long before them, so black skin cannot be the sign of a curse.”
First, the BoM verse you cited said the purpose of darkening the skin was to allow the Nephites to keep themselve separate from the Lamanites who were in rebellion against God. Second, there is no logic whatsoever in saying that because there already were black people that God can’t darken the skin of another people. God can strike people blind, deaf, or dumb as well even though there are already people around who naturally have those conditions.
All you have to do is post a verse from the bible that says ‘A’ and a verse from the BoM that says ‘not A’, but you can’t seem to find such a pair. I’m not surprised.
First of all, Ham was not black. His wife, Egyptus, was. Her very name means “that which is forbidden”. However, she was righteous as were many of her posterity. The curse that came upon Cain was that he would not enter into the presence of the Lord, the same curse that the Lord swore in His wrath to the children of Israel as a nation, though there were individuals like Moses and Joshua who entered into the order of the Melchizedek priesthood, which is necessary to enter into the actual presence of the Lord. The Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys to the ministering of angels and deals with the outward ordinances of the Gospel and of the Lord’s House and the Melchizedek (or higher priesthood)holds the keys to the ministering of the Father and the Son and deals with the binding covenants of eternity such as was excercised by Elijah and the sealing covenants. The dark skin was not a curse but a mark that was given to Cain and his seed so as to separate them from their bretheren and “protect” them from unrighteous retribution. The Lord applied the mark at the request of Cain who was fearful for his life and was given the promise that any who sought to take away his life would be dealt with sevenfold.