The Church's effort to move away from the term "Mormon" is primarily an effort to minimize the ability to find negative information about the Church on the internet.

The term "Mormon" is unique to the LDS Church. There is no use of the term Mormon or LDS except as those terms are associated with the church founded by Joseph Smith. When people search those terms on the internet, negative (albeit true) information about church history and doctrine is inevitably discovered. True - the term "latter-day saints" is also somewhat unique, but those words are actual words used in many contexts. that term is not nearly as unique as the abbreviation "LDS" or the term Mormon.

By scrubbing those terms from the vernacular and requiring that the words "Jesus Christ" always be used, the Church hopes that (1) investigators will associate the Church with a more generic brand of Christianity; (2) Investigators will have a more difficult time finding anti-"Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" information; and (3) if investigators ask, "wait, are you the Mormons who (polygamy, black priesthood ban, etc.)," Missionaries will respond with, "No! People used to falsely accuse us of being Mormons, but we have never been Mormons. We have always been Christians who follow Jesus Christ."

I can believe Rusty has no idea how search engines work.

True, but the Church employs plenty of search engine experts who intimately understand search engines.

I actually hear Russ is surprisingly iPhone intelligent. He knows how to air drop photos according to his son.

Being an "old fart" I bet he knows how to air drop lots.

Exactly. Any search engine has synonyms configured behind the scenes. any of the terms for mormons will end up with the same results.

NERY insightful comment , Poppycock.

Spell check : *Very , not Nary *

Poppy Cock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Church's effort to move away from the term
> "Mormon" is primarily an effort to minimize the
> ability to find negative information about the
> Church on the internet.

.....that is NOT going to work, that is going to fail miserably

I fully expect this effort to fail. The name MORMON will be back in a few years. It may not even take that long. They will never be able to squelch it, and that is a good thing! Because the world needs to be warned.

Good point. Though it's like trying to stop a leak, after the flood. The damage has already been done, and there's no going back.

Changing the name isn't going to change that.

As for damage 'control,' that's where TSCC may see some improvement.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mormon-leader-nicknames-faith-victory-satan-214903157.html

He even looks like what I would think stan looks like.

And all the saints rally around him as though he is the direct mouthpiece for God himself. Scary how much their allegiance changes from one figurehead to the next.

He's an overpaid 94 year old CEO who knows whatever he says will be revered as the gospel truth. I concur, he reminds me of a serpent with his tail caught between his legs.

From the comments section of the Yahoo article, "cult definition:
a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object." ((((nailed it!))))

This is the stuff memes are made of.

LD$ Inc pays a lot of money for SEO.

Think positively. The number of "ex-mormons" just swelled by 16 million!

+1
Well said. I will ask my family if they are exmormon yet.

The church can change its nicknames for its own use, but it will not have any more success than the widespread attempts to do away with other nicknames such as are used for groups subject to discrimination. People still use the old derogatory nicknames for black people, Jews, Italians, Irish, Chinese, native Americans, Pentecostals, ....

Nelson gave a similar conference talk in 1990. 6 months later Hinkley poohpoohed Nelson's ideas I the next conference.

Nelson has had a hard on for this idea since before the internet was well known.

He's just that much of a dick.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2018 06:27PM by dogblogger.

It appears that his personal pet peeve just became a revelation from God.

Hehe

Yep.

In fact Nelson was purposefully antagonistic towards Gordon. I think there is a history here that could be flushed out.

Gordon Hinkley:

"We may not be able to change the nickname, but we can make it shine with added luster."

Russ Nelson:

"nicknames for faith are a victory for Satan"

“And if we allow nicknames to be used and adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, he is offended.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2018 06:39PM by jacob.

God needs to develop some cojones if the word Mormon offends him.

Wait a minute...maybe rusty believes God is offended by mormons.

I wonder what other pet peeves enrage Mr. Nelson?

It would be handy to know for upcoming revelations. Maybe he hates the fact that Cheerios are consumed at church or that people like to eat PB&J sandwiches.

If they are trying to remove "anti" literature results on the Interwebz, all I can say that ship has sailed. A looooong time ago.

Poppy Cock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The term "Mormon" is unique to the LDS Church.
> There is no use of the term Mormon or LDS except
> as those terms are associated with the church
> founded by Joseph Smith.

Further evidence for the Google is God theory.

And here I thought it was because a few friends go through news stories online and comment with "dumber than a mormon" and similar sayings.
Stories about Native Americans they emphasize LAMANITES - and quote the Book of Mormon on them being loathesome and lazy and God cursing them with the dark skin so they won't be "enticing" to White and Delightsome people.

Brigham Young quotes. Other Apostles like "I think no more of taking another wife than buying another cow" and the like are used in their comments to news stories.

If you aren't doing this - try it. You might enjoy seeing how Mormon Perspective fits so many news stories when you comment. A rich treasury of stupidity to use on almost any topic.

If the mormon church ever succeeds in dumping their negative church history by not using the name Mormon any more, people like you and I can always put up our own websites with links to stories from exmormons and others who will tell the truth about the most modern church and its Mormon roots. We can add the meta-tags to those websites and take other measures to make sure that any search will take a person to our own websites. As the Mormon church abandons the name, we'll keep that name alive and well, and pointing right back at whatever name Nelson calls the church. At that point,the only news will be about how much effort the mormon church is putting in to escaping the name Mormon.

My very first thought on eliminating the word Mormon from the mouths of TBM's was to make it akin to pornography or a sin to say it, write it, or think it.

When you have TBMs reacting in conversations "Oh, we're not supposed to say Mormon anymore," you create an environment where peer pressure mounts and TBMs begin to conform. As they conform they attach Nelson's statement that saying the word Mormon "is a victory for Satan."

So...don't google MormonThink.com. Why? Because just typing the word Mormon in that context would be "a victory for Satan."

I saw a picture of Nelson at the conclusion of conference. His face was all pinched and he was laughing with others from the Q15. They must all be laughing that the president has now declared that this is "the command of the Lord." All the time, they know that they are trying to create a new fear amongst Mormons: saying Mormon will bring condemnation from other TBMs and you'll be cut down for not obeying the prophet.

Guilt? Just to say Mormon? Or to type it and find MormonThink.com or Recovering From Mormonism (RFM)?

“Nelson's statement that saying the word Mormon "is a victory for Satan."”

Definitely needs a South Park episode.

I know! It is definite South Park material! Dumb, dumb, dumb!


If saying Mormon is evil, then people will think the BoM is evil, then you have to include JS. So. They seem to be saying their origins are evil. Got it.
They want a do over as Christians because they have no where else to go.

I’ll believe that Russell believes it when Mormon.org starts Forwarding to thechurchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints.org.

I just went to the long name website and it forwards to Mormon.org. Silly Bastards, they cannot get their marketing strategy right. No doubt, this is just as the lord intended.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 07:48AM by cheezus.

Critics of CoJCoLDS and sharers of truth will continue to use "Mormon." There are already piles of posts about how silly and pointless the current avoidance of "Mormon" is. So the stuff will always be out there within easy reach.

And Gordychev slapped him down
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1990/10/mormon-should-mean-more-good?lang=eng

I remember hearing that mormon-more good talk. He even mentioned the choir, so it seems that Nelson has carried a grudge ever since. It was probably Wendy that probably encouraged him to make changes.

Oh my god....to read this talk from the PR Apostle the Hinkster was delightful. I wish, oh how I wish, we could have the SourRusty and he heard back to back giving their two opposing talks to the MORMONS at conference.

I think Rusty would be really needed then, as there could be a flurry of Mormon heart attacks occurring.

So.....in the Hinkster's speech he said Sleazy Joey himself stated the word Mormon meant "more good", then went on to give good reasons why the nickname was one to be proud of, and ended with this, "...and that when people speak of us by the name of this book, they will sense Mormonism must mean the greater good. which the Lord Jesus Christ exemplified."

OH MY GOD.....

... what is a MORMON to do when one of their most beloved profits says, say "Mormon with pride and the other says, if you DARE say it you and the Damn (my added word) Devil are best buds?"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2018 03:54PM by presleynfactsrock.

I'm not buying the premise. This is not about the Internet. The BoM is deeply racist. It is clear that the BoM god is much impressed with white skin, and routinely hands out dark skin as punishment for being bad, so the white people can know who the bad people are. Hard to get more racist than that.

Racism is so central to the BoM narrative, that there is no way to revise the narrative to remove it. They tried with their "pure and delightsome" change, but that is not nearly enough to remove the stench of racism from the book.

They are eventually going to have to jettison the BoM. It is unsalvagable. It doesn't matter how central it is to the Mormon story, it's got to go. They can't jettison the book as long as they are known as Mormons. They have already essentially stopped official mention of Lamanites, (check and see how often the word is used in General Conference lately) and dropping the name Mormon is next.

Like the Cheshire Cat, the BoM will slowly disappear over the coming decades. Most, perhaps none of us will be alive to see its final demise, but the book is irredeemable. It's got to go.

Only 4 million active members are going to have to deal with this name change. The rest of us could care less.

All that money spent on PR to bring Mormonism into the public eye as a family centered religion will go down the drain if they try to sneak out and sound like an entirely new church with zero branding recognition.

People will always figure out they are Mormons with a new name when they bring up the Book of Mormon. Will they rename the Book of Mormon? That's the only way I can see it fooling anyone.

Maybe it will be the "Book that Joseph Smith Translated" or "The Golden Plates" or maybe even just "Revealed Scripture".

As soon as the missionaries pull out their Book of Mormon everyone will say, "Oh, You are the Mormons" and the poor missionaries will be left to explain it all without using the word Mormon. Poor deluded kids. Good luck with that!

Will they make all the members buy newly printed copies of "The Book of TCOJCOLDS"? Maybe they are gunning for mass influx of income from publishing these newly re-named BoM's!!!

A nevermo perspective may be helpful.

The vast majority will never search for any of these terms ever in their lives.

The vast majority will continue using "Mormon" on the highly rare occasions they ever mention it.

So if the name change is an attempt to change public perception, it will fail.

And if it's aimed to specifically help recruiting, that's likely to have the same results. Because if potential recruits do the search, they'll search for "Mormon".

When people search LDS, (their) Mormon - and mormonism - comes up.

They are the ones who created the anchor. Joe Smith did it!

They have him to blame. He named tscc after his book and angle.