I'm BIC, was active (albeit a NOM since late 1984), from a large multi-generational BIC TBM family on my mother's side. & I never once heard anyone call non-Mormons "Gentiles" - not at church, not among our TBM family & friends either. In fact, the first place I ever heard the word used in that context was on this board. I even remember asking my TBM mom as a kid what a Gentile was, & she said that it was anyone who wasn't a Jew.

Did anyone else have the same experience? Or am I all alone in this?

(Edited for typos.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2013 04:05PM by Tristan.

"I don't know that we teach that..."

Actually, I think gentile has somewhat a negative connotation, ergo it is not commonly used.
I knew what it was as a TBM, but it was not common to hear it at church.

I heard it. It was taught in seminary, early 70's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2013 04:13PM by wine country girl.

I heard it a lot in the '50s and 60s. It was very confusing as a child.

In Brigham City, Utah, there was a street sign which read "Gentile Street" that I remember seeing as a kid. Don't know if it has been renamed--that was a long time ago but it struck me as weird even then. Like did they all have to be on one street or something?

I heard it a lot.

I heard it a lot. I'm a smidge younger than you, but all my grandparents were big believers in "deep doctrine". They were also all racist as all get out, so it's not too surprising they were very comfortable with language separating people into good vs. bad groups just like racial slurs do.

I'm 19 and heard this term a lot when I was growing up and understood what it meant. I suppose it did have a bit of a negative connotation, but I don't think it was meant to be used as a pejorative term. "Non-lds" or "non-member" were more common.

I heard it occasionally, I tend to remember/associate it with one particular SS teacher.
This guy liked to talk about patriarchal blessings and the various tribes people were 'adopted' into.

I remember going to a special dinner, in the 80s. It was a 'Mormons and Jews' Dinner. The Rabbi was sitting next to our Bishop. When the Rabbi introduced himself he said, 'I think this is the only group of people that would consider us both Jews and Gentiles.' Everyone laughed. I heard non-mos referred to as Gentiles all the time!

I worked for a Jewish man. When he found out that I was from Utah, he said that was the only place where he was referred to as a gentile.

According to lds.org Gentile means people who do not have the gospel. This use is in the D&C and BoM. Used as a derogatory term in the Journal of Discourses. Lots of prohibitions of doing business with gentiles or having interactions with them.

This meaning was part of Utah History class in 1970's in Salt Lake public schools.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2013 04:45PM by crom.

I was BIC, raised in Utah, RM, etc. I don't recall ever hearing any member refer to a non-Mormon as a gentile, but I seem to be in the minority as well.

Its not a word typically uttered by regular Mormons but I heard it a lot in church or church books, usually when discussing or quoting certain scriptures or church leaders. Its a scriptural term that traditionally meant non-Jew but Mormons also use it to refer to anyone who hasn't heard or accepted the gospel.

This is definitely a word that was used in the Phoenix area as recently as the 90's with relative frequency.

I heard it used and was amused to find that the term included Jews(!)

I'm in my 40's, grew up in Mormonville, USA, and I heard the term "gentile" used to refer to non-Mormons quite a bit. However, it always seemed to me that it was in an almost-joking kind of way. Or mostly joking, but with a little bit of serious thrown in.

Up through the 1950s this was common.
I know this because I used the term!
It was because the mormon member was an adopted Hebrew usually to the tribe of Ephraim. Therefore all others were non Hebrew therefore Gentiles.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2013 07:54PM by thedesertrat1.

Gentiles went away to an extent when Mormons started trying harder to impress "outsiders," "inactives," "part member families," "people out in the world," and other rude insulting named groups of less than solid TBMs.

As recent as the '90s I have heard people use the term "Lamanite Branch" for a small branch that was mostly Native American. (Or so I was told, I never actually went to the branch myself). I used to hear older folks and more zealot TBMs use Gentiles then as well.

Cheryl is spot on! They term fell into disuse as trying to sound less weird and insulting to people who's family and family history was not 100% Mormon back to the days of Joseph Smith became the order of the day.

I remember a missionary assigned to a Ward I attended at the time (I was missionary age and hung out them back then) get his garmmies all in a knot because the Bishop used the term Born in the Covenant from the pulpit and he had to explain that to an investigator. Sigh, I did not see it then but it seems odd that a church that makes such a big deal about spreading the message is so embarrassed by their own message.

I've heard it, but usually when someone's joking around or being sarcastic.

Yes I've heard if often, but I am of old school heritage.

There is also a gentile street in Layton Utah.

I heard that the old Layton Trading Post would not only be open on Sundays, but sold spirits and tobacco. The Kaysville sheriff would try and close him down. Finally the "gentiles" seperated from Kaysville to form Layton. The dividing line was Gentile street.

I have to wonder if people mean to say that they simply 'don't remember' hearing or if they sincerely want to claim that they 'never' heard something so Mormon as the word gentile as pertains to non-Mormons.

Tristan claims to 'never' have heard it, but that would mean having never been present for General Conference (or reading any of them, or listening at a stake center, etc), Sunday School, or simply never having someone explain what it meant when leaders were using it.

Tristan's Mormon experience must have been not-so-serious enough to actually participate in some of the most Mormon experiences.

It baffles my mind that folks claim to be Mormon, but that they don't know anything about some of the most basic elements of the doctrines.

Fine. I'm wrong, & IDK WTF I'm talking about.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2013 08:20AM by Tristan.

... why according to Mormons he was considered a gentile. (This was mid-80s.)

I'd been taught growing up and noted that the general idea was that "Gentile" meant those without the gospel thereby making EVERYONE gentiles except Mormons since the 'restoration' and of course before that, anciently everyone except Jews were gentiles.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2013 12:09AM by Scott.T.

As a convert to a branch that was almost exclusively made-up of converts in the mid-west, we were taught that gentile was the "proper" term for anyone outside the true gospel. We took it as a serious designation but I don't remember thinking it was a negative term. However, I wouldn't have told someone to their face they were gentile because I knew they wouldn't understand it and probably would have thought I was Jewish. Most of my friends didn't even know what Mormon meant. I didn't really notice that it was used less because when I left Utah I also left Mormonism behind.

I've heard it before. You run into Mormons here and there who still use it, but it definitely does seem to have fallen out of use among most of them.

It was used a lot in the mission field, both in Australia and Canada.

I clearly don't know WTF I'm talking about by the replies I'm getting, so I'm just going to STFU, like I'm always told to do.

I heard it very often.

Although it was once commonly used by Mormons to refer to non-Mormons, it is rarely used that way today. You may still find some holdouts who use the term in some places, and of course you can still find it in old writings by early Mormons.

Otherwise, the term has gone back to its original meaning of non-Jewish.

I heard it a good deal. Some of the folks in my ward used it seriously, and my Dad used it sarcastically a whole lot.

It all stems from Mormon's obsession with the Israelites and their belief that their own blood was literally replaced with Israelite blood of the tribe to which each member was magically assigned in their patriarchal blessing.

This seem ridiculous to many modern intellects, so it's quickly being "de-emphasized." Soon, it will be "I don't know that we taught that."

See, I knew all about that crap, & always did. It's beyond embarrassing when your TBM mom who is Gaelic/Anglo/Scandinavian says that she's descended from Ephraim.

I agree with rationalist01... gentile was used hand in hand with Mormons referring to themselves as israel.

It's also connected with patriarchal blessings where Mormons are told that they are from the tribes of Israel.

Lamanites were also supposedly Israel for a while too...LOL

It's one of the Mormon us vs them elitisms that seems to be fading away because of DNA

I don't remember ever hearing it either as far as mormonism. The only time I ever heard it used is in the phrase "Jews and Gentiles". So I'm with you Tristan!