skippy740 Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 What's the name of the church and what do you call the members??? Okay, I'm glad for Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk to clarify President Packer's talk from last April. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMGuy Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 Well: In order we were called: Church of Jesus Christ then Church of God then Church of the Latter Day Saints (this is what is still on the Kirtland Temple) then to its current name in 1838. What I got from the talk is that we shouldn't call ourselves "Mormons" unless we are told to by SLC, as exemplified by the I am a Mormon videos. So if it serves our PR interests then we are Mormons otherwise we aren't. Does that help? -RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vort Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 (edited) What I got from the talk is that we shouldn't call ourselves "Mormons" unless we are told to by SLC, as exemplified by the I am a Mormon videos. So if it serves our PR interests then we are Mormons otherwise we aren't. Does that help? No, such cynical smart-aleckness does not help. Edited October 2, 2011 by skippy740 word substitution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleWyvern Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 Hi, I'm LittleWyvern, and I'm a... uh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMGuy Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 Not being "SA'd" at all Vort. I'm supposed to tell my friends that I am a Latter-Day Saint as explained in Elder Ballard's talk. Explaining that Mormon is a nickname etc. But I'm also supposed to refer those same friends to MORMON.ORG where they see my profile that states "I am a Mormon." Those are conflicting messages. I don't do gymnastics either physically or mentally. -RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leah Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 I don't think the message was complicated or confusing at all. He was distinguishing what the actual name of the Church is from what the members are sometimes referred to as. As he said, it is not the church of Mormon, but the Church of Jesus Christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pam Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 I thought the message was extremely easy to understand myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler90AZ Posted October 2, 2011 Report Share Posted October 2, 2011 I was wondering why they removed "mormon church" from Mormon.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdf135 Posted October 3, 2011 Report Share Posted October 3, 2011 President Monson used the term in conference and innumerable LDS authorities have done the same. What I got out of both referenced talks was that if we do not introduce ourselves as members of Christ's church in some way, we are missing out on an opportunity to explain our Christianity and provide enlightenment about the church. Otherwise, if we have be "Mormons" so others can arrive at a common understanding of our general background, then use the term. But don't just stop there.r Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzy16 Posted October 3, 2011 Report Share Posted October 3, 2011 I say "I'm Mormon." Not "I belong to the Mormon Church" If someone says "Oh, you go to the Mormon church" I use the example of calling hindu's 'vedas' (Holy scripture for Islamic relgions) because they believe in the ancient 'vedas' text (comparative to calling LDS Mormons.) It's a nickname ect. Then i'll state the official name. And say something like, "I'm sure you've seen those cutsy commercials on tv?" :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeKook Posted October 3, 2011 Report Share Posted October 3, 2011 I don't think the message was complicated or confusing at all. He was distinguishing what the actual name of the Church is from what the members are sometimes referred to as. As he said, it is not the church of Mormon, but the Church of Jesus Christ.Right... we are not the MORMON CHURCH, we are the Church of Jesus Christ. But when referring to myself as an individual member of the church, for the sake of clarity, I can say, "I am a Mormon." Past that, if the subject of conversation continues in the "What are you?" vein, I can say, "I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", and explain further.Cool, huh? :)P.S. As a side note, I've found that saying "I'm a Mormon" actually opens up far more opportunities to share than saying to what church I belong. I always end up being able to share what church I attend as the conversation moves along. Great opportunities to share the gospel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEthePrimate Posted October 3, 2011 Report Share Posted October 3, 2011 Right... we are not the MORMON CHURCH, we are the Church of Jesus Christ. But when referring to myself as an individual member of the church, for the sake of clarity, I can say, "I am a Mormon."Radical idea: We could call ourselves Christians. P.S. As a side note, I've found that saying "I'm a Mormon" actually opens up far more opportunities to share than saying to what church I belong. I always end up being able to share what church I attend as the conversation moves along. Great opportunities to share the gospel!I have to agree. People have heard of Mormons, and are curious about us. Even if you don't lead with the official name of the Church, you can continue the conversation and explain that we believe in Christ, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vort Posted October 3, 2011 Report Share Posted October 3, 2011 Radical idea: We could call ourselves Christians. We do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleWyvern Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 Radical idea: We could call ourselves Christians. Even that can cause some confusion in some areas. In my mission in Southern California, only evangelicals, born-again Christians, and non-denominational Christians called themselves "Christians." Everybody else used the name of their denomination. My attempts at introducing ourselves (meaning me and my companion) as Christians often introduced more confusion than was necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMGuy Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 Radical concept.....maybe its not what we call ourselves, but rather what we do and who we are. -RM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeKook Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 Even that can cause some confusion in some areas. In my mission in Southern California, only evangelicals, born-again Christians, and non-denominational Christians called themselves "Christians." Everybody else used the name of their denomination. My attempts at introducing ourselves (meaning me and my companion) as Christians often introduced more confusion than was necessary.LittleWyvern, I'm with you on this one. I refer to myself (generically, I suppose?) as "Christian" but if the conversation leads to more in-depth discussion, it just doesn't fit since the term implies for the most part association with religion that has nothing to do with the actual church of Christ. It just creates confusion. So I start with "I'm a Mormon" and then proceed to the full name of the church as conversation goes deeper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEthePrimate Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 Radical concept.....maybe its not what we call ourselves, but rather what we do and who we are.That is absolutely true. However, if you want people to know you're a Christian, you can be as saintly as you want, but if you don't tell people you believe in Christ, they won't know you believe in Christ. For all they know, you could be a saintly Hindu.We do call ourselves Christians... amongst ourselves. But when we introduce our religious belief to others, we typically call ourselves Latter-day Saints, Mormons, or some variation thereon. We do not, in my experience, start out by simply referring to ourselves as Christians. The reason for that is we want to get denomination-specific so we can do missionary work by pushing our particular brand of Christianity.I think we should talk about Christ more often in general, both amongst ourselves, and with other people. That way it shouldn't matter so much how we introduce ourselves. If we talk more about Joseph Smith or Thomas Monson than we do about Jesus, you can hardly blame people for not knowing we are Christians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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