NOTE: The following is just some of my random thoughts in one of my malarial dreams:

I remember how some Mormon leaders sued other churches for using the word "Mormon" in things like URLs, historically related churches who use the word Mormon, etc. There was once a lawsuit that the church lost because the judgement said that the church could not lay claim to and own a generic name for people who had been part of the LDS movement.

So, I found and looked at an interactive map of the US, listing the major locations of Mormons. I noticed how Lamoni, Iowa, was a large HQ of Mormons, but it was because Lamoni is where the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) has their college. Ditto Independence, MO. There were some inexplicable other places in Nevada, one of which turned out to be a very large agricultural concern that all belonged to the FLDS, and was a source of church funding. Ditto places where there are large populations of United Apostolic Brethren, etc. They all descended from Joseph Smith & Co., and most use the BoM and use all the general Mormon claims. (The CoC no longer insists that one use, read, or believe in the BoM, and have put some good distance between them and the Mormon church.) And the SLC church hates that! But nothing has worked to stop any of the churches, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (note the capital D and lack of hyphen), or Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One of the things that upsets the SLC "Brethren" is when someone refers to these other churches as "Mormons". A special complaint is when there is talk about the "Fundamentalist Mormons practicing polygamy". The SLC church tried to proclaim that "the FLDS are NOT Mormon, and have nothing to do with us". But normal people are wiser, and know that religions such as the FLDS have EVERYTHING to do with the SLC Mormons. I know for a fact this whole thing of allowing other churches to be recognized as Mormons has been a very sore thorn in the side of all the self-important leaders of the "main" (SLC) church.

I've formed a perhaps mistaken opinion that it was easier to just forbid use of the term "Mormon", because nothing else worked to their satisfaction. Does anyone else buy into this?

Interesting. That may have been a contributing factor, but I suspect they are trying to ditch the BoM completely over time to merge into mainstream Christianity.

Whatever the reason, Russ tried to get rid of the “M” word nearly 35 years ago. Gordo reined him in, but once he became the head honcho, God suddenly was offended by “Mormon.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2025 07:14PM by CrispingPin.

However we 'must' remember!! God's gospel is THE SAME, yesterday, today, and FOREVER!!


O, but ChurchCo has wandered slightly off the path...

Old Nelson had a pet peeve about the word Mormon so why be surprised that he had a revelation about it once he became 'prophet'?

The RLDS/CoC has never used the term Mormon to describe itself as far as I know.

No, likely not. But others have considered the Mormon. The RLDS never used "Mormon" because they wanted to stand apart. They changed to CoC finally to become separate for good.

Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity. Somewhere along the way he got a bee in his bonnet and that's all he knows.

I took the nevermo girlfriend skiing in UT. driving home through Cedar City, she wanted to stop at discount clothing store, walking around inside were some FLDS folks, as she walked by them she turns to me and says "Are those the real mormons?" had to laugh at that one!

They are twice the Mormons that SLC are. While SLC LDS are Brighamite, the FLDS are many times more Brighamite.

More like a wild hair in his ass.

"some of my random thoughts in one of my malarial dreams"

There's nothing like being a gracious host.

Well don't know the real reason Elder Nelson is on this.

However, when I say 'Mormon" and get corrected with "LDS" I Bring up.

Meet the Mormons 1970's version and 2000's Version too.

All the commercials that ended with

"Brought to you by the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.. The MORMONS.

"if you would like to receive a visit from our Mormon Missionaries please call the toll free # on the bottom of your
screen.

All the many albums that have Title The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Mormon.org

Religious category officially Mormonism -

I could go on but just to be silly i will throw in


" So sorry we are late we are still on Mormon Standard time"

" Your wife is sooo Molly Mormon"

I send the clip of Ezra Taft Benson singing I'm a Mormon Boy.

What about "I'm a Mormon" just what, 3 years ago??

This is the kid who smashed his parents' liquor collection.

That boy ain't right.

"trying to ditch the BoM completely over time to merge into mainstream Christianity."

Bingo. Also why the emphasis on "Church of JESUS CHRIST"

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/style-guide

You can see Edelman PR all over this one.

The BoM is changing from keystone to doorstop.

Years ago, if I pointed out things about the FLDS or similar groups, my TBM brother would say, "THEY aren't Mormons." And I'd say, "to me, anyone who uses the BoM is Mormon".

Now, when I point out things about the FLDS or similar groups, my TBM brother will say, "WE aren't Mormons." And I say, "to me, anyone who uses the BoM is Mormon".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2025 01:37AM by Gordon B. Stinky.

The Mormons have the same situation that Christians (and other religions) have.

They all have opinions over who the correct Mormons using the BoM are the way Christians using the Bible disagree over the correct Christians.

Sure, but my point was that my TBM brother did a major flip-flop without skipping an intellectual beat: First he wants the right to define who's a Mormon, to deflect my commentary about Mormons, and then later he wants the right to claim that he's not a Mormon, to deflect my commentary about Mormons.

First: "those people you're criticizing are not Mormon, like me, so you're not criticizing 'my people'."
Later: "I'm not Mormon, like those people your criticizing, so you're not criticizing 'my people'."

His 1st perspective: I'm Mormon; they're not.
His 2nd perspective: They're Mormon; I'm not.

Me: always "wrong" regardless of which flavor of kookaide he's drinking...

LOL. True that. You can't win against that kind of thinking.

(Thanksgiving must be a blast with your family.)

In another context, somebody challenged my remark that LDS-folks once rejected the terms "Christian," and asked me to source that. "Even the name 'Christ' is in our church name," he pointed out. Citing ex-mo.org didn't seem appropriate for this situation, so I was stumped.

Besides personal anecdotes, can you validate that LDS-folks repudiated or somehow distanced themselves from identifying with the name "Christian?"

When I was growing up, it was common to hear "We're not Christian, we're Mormon." My dad said it all the time.

I also heard them say we had more "truth" than Christians, so that's why the distinction. To blur it more, at the same time I heard, "We are Christians too."

I don't see the source of the first quote on regular searches. I suspect it was something a prophet or GA said in some church talk, or maybe an old fringe book written by a Mormon. I don't know where my dad and others of his generation a hundred years ago heard it, but I heard it from them. It's probably wiped from most sources by now, and down the memory hole.

The relevant passage is from Bruce McConkie's Mormon Doctrine, which is now out of print.

In it he says that Mormons should take pride in the nickname. He says that the word "Christian" was a nickname at first, used as a pejorative by outsiders but worn with pride by insiders. By the same token, Mormons should take pride in the nickname that outsiders assigned to them. That was especially true, he maintained, because mainstream Christianity had departed from what Christ taught.

So it wasn't really "distancing themselves" from the name of Christ so much as celebrating the Mormon restoration. The bottom line remains, however, that in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Latter Day Saints were taught to call themselves Mormons in a way that the church now rejects.

I'll share that with this other party--for what it's worth. But (as referenced above), it is a sort of "We've always been at war with Eastasia" sort of thing."

Yeah, suggest that your interlocutor look up the entry "Mormon" in McConkie's Mormon Doctrine. He goes into length in that section.

But as you note, he's not going to care.

(How do I say that in Lamanite?)

Also, isn't Hinckley on record as saying something like "their christ is not our christ," or something like that? (I'm going from memory, which is dangerous).

Anyway, if the Christ upon which each -ian is based is different, then it would make sense that they are different.

caffiend Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In another context, somebody challenged my remark
> that LDS-folks once rejected the terms
> "Christian," and asked me to source that. "Even
> the name 'Christ' is in our church name," he
> pointed out. Citing ex-mo.org didn't seem
> appropriate for this situation, so I was stumped.
>
> Besides personal anecdotes, can you validate that
> LDS-folks repudiated or somehow distanced
> themselves from identifying with the name
> "Christian?"

There is a quote from Brigham Young where he rejects the Christian label. I don't know the ref prob JOD somewhere

I don’t think there is any real strategy behind it. Russell M Nelson gave a talk on using the proper name of the church. President Hinckley later addressed Elder Nelson’s talk and said he appreciated his point but said the church was stuck with the Mormon nickname and he was fine being called a Mormon.

Once Russ became king of the castle he had it his way. He flame broiled “Mormon”.