Why would it take several years to get the NAME of the Church right?

The LDS Church did not always have the name “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.

On April 6, 1830, LDS church leaders met together presumably to fulfill the requirements of the laws of the land, and they named their church consistent with the admonition of the Book of Mormon, "The Church of Christ."

On May 3, 1834, Joseph Smith, as moderator, made a motion to change the name of the church to, "The Church of the Latter Day Saints," which was adopted by unanimous vote (The Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 20, p. 160, May 1834; History of the Church 2:62). He took CHRIST right out of the name!

Four years later, on April 26, 1838, it was again changed to "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints" and has remained thus since. (The hyphen in ‘Latter-day’ was add about a century or so later to be grammatically correct).

The chronology of the name is:
1830: Church of Christ
1834: The Church of the Latter Day Saints
1838: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Why did Joseph change the Name of the Church after God already told him 4 years before what to name it? "In June, 1829, the Lord gave us the name by which we must call the church, being the same as He gave the Nephites. We obeyed His commandment, and called it The Church of Christ until 1834, when, through the influence of Sydney Rigdon, the name of the church was changed to The Church of the Latter Day Saints, dropping out the name of Christ entirely..." (An Address to All Believers In Christ Whitmer, p. 73). Now to be called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).


Is it reasonable to assume that God would periodically change the name of his church? If Jesus Christ is the central character of God's religion on earth and all things are to be done in his name, is it reasonable to assume that God would instruct his church leaders to entirely leave out the name of Christ from the period of May 3, 1834 to April 26, 1838?

If Jesus is really the head of the LDS Church then what possible reason could there be for the name changes? Why would Jesus instruct Joseph as to the name in 1830 then change it in 1834 and then change it again in 1838? Why wouldn’t Jesus get it right the first time? We can’t understand why he would take the name of Christ completely out of the name of the church for four whole years.

One possible reason is that the Church is really run entirely by men without any real instruction or revelation from God. If they couldn’t even get the name right for eight years then what else might be wrong?

http://www.mormonthink.com/nameweb.htm

Love that site too, which was very instrumental in my deconversion.

Remember, this is the same god could not even decide if he was one god or three, who made thousands of errors in the bom - "the most correct book ever written", couldn't decide if he was really Adam or not, couldn't decide what the word of wisdom was, who first hated polygamy - then loved it - then hated it, who once loved facial hair and now hates it, etc etc.

The Mormon god is highly dysfunctional, maybe a tad schiZophrenic and cannot bring himself to make a commitment to a single doctrine - and he needs money, Lots Of Money!

He needs money, lots and lots of money.

same reason MLMs often change their name ... better PR which

equals more money and a new spin

SquareGarments - I like your style, and I love MormonThink.

Changing the name to "church of the latter-day saints" was a MAJOR SCREWUP and sign of no inspiriation.

Here's why.

3 Nephi 27:3 And they said unto him: Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter.

4And the Lord said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you ...

5Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day;

7Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name ...

8And how be it my church save it be called in my name?

Whoops!

Another evidence that Joe is one that "have they not read the scriptures"? Meaning Joe didn't read the Book of Mormon, let alone write it.

Whoops!

It also shows another anachronism in the BoM giving hints that it was a 19th century creation. It wasn't until the protestant reformation was in full swing that there was even a problem as to what name a church should be called.

It's funny I've read similar arguments from the histories of "the church of God" and "the church of Christ", of which there are several claiming that name and that if there was a true church it should be called that and not after a man like an apostle, saint, church reformer. And from what I can tell all of these churches had their origins in the USA in the early to mid-1800s.

Eldermalin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It also shows another anachronism in the BoM
> giving hints that it was a 19th century creation.
> It wasn't until the protestant reformation was in
> full swing that there was even a problem as to
> what name a church should be called.
>
I agree.

The 3 Nephi 27 discussion would not have been there if this were not an issue of 19th century american christianity

When I joined, it was "Mormons." Later, we were instructed to identify ourselves as "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." (What a mouthful!) A few years later, new instructions: We were to be "Mormons" once again. (whew, much simpler.) Recently, the edict has come down for the correct term to be “Latter-Day Saints." <rolling eyes> Make up your mind, folks!

How can members keep straight what the current politically correct name is, when it keeps changing so often?!

Worked for the Air Force as a contract engineer for many years.

When an Air Force project gets totally screwed up they change the name and throw more money at it.