Mormon Boy

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

17 hours ago, JAHS said:

That wouldn't happen. The title is referring to the prophet Mormon, not the church.

Never suggested otherwise, I was only pointing out that some have come to believe the name, or term “Mormon” is somehow improper. This as shown in many non-Church websites doing away with it, as if keeping it, was somehow disobeying a commandment.I did not suggest, in any way, that it should be used as our Church’s name. I did not even hint at it, I was only speaking of the word itself. If you can show where I said otherwise, please put it in quotes. 

[Amulek]

3 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

“Pretentious” is in the eye of the beholder.

Well, it's the beholders who are the ones who haven't taken a shine to it. And seeing as how they are the ones we want to reach out to and bring into the fold, maybe it's best not to constantly rub it in their faces every time they slip up and call us Mormons.

 

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It comes down to obeying the commandment of Jesus Christ as reaffirmed, applied and taught in modern day by His anointed servants vs. fearing  the PR effect such obedience might supposedly entail. 

I'm only talking about using the term Mormon to refer to members of the church - not the church itself. 

And I honestly do not believe that Jesus Christ, through his servant Russell M. Nelson, has issued a commandment to the world that one should never use the word "Mormon" when referring to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

At best, I think you could get to prophetic counsel - which is not something that we should take lightly or summarily dismiss - but counsel isn't the same as a commandment, and I think that's an important distinction that needs to be made. 

 

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And the word Saints is present in the name of the Church because we have a true and correct understanding of the scriptural meaning of the word. We need not, nor should we ever, be ashamed of that, especially if our intent is to teach truth to the world at large. 

There are - or, at least, used to be - plenty of anti-Mormon (anti-Latter-day Saint?) ministries who believe they have a "true and correct understanding" of what it means to be a "Christian." And they insist on using the term in their own specific way with the "intent...to teach truth." 

There is, of course, nothing wrong with them doing so, but it doesn't help much in terms of communicating. 

 

[Amulek]

5 hours ago, Ahab said:

When you say you are a Mormon, for example, most of the world will say huh?  What the heck is a Mormon?

You're joking right? 

I mean, I suppose if you literally mean "most of the world" - most of the world being people who have never heard of the Church at all - then I guess that's probably true. But it would be equally true for the term "Latter-day Saint" as well.

But we don't live in "most of the world;" we live in the United States, and most people here in the States know what a Mormon is. They might not know much about us, much like they might not know much about Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, etc., but they've definitely heard of us. And "Mormon" is the term they are most likely know (e.g., Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Mormon Pioneers, Mormon Missionaries, etc.) - not "Latter-day Saints." 

 

[Amulek]

2 hours ago, JustAnAustralian said:

Latter-day Saint was an option for religion in an Australian survey I did a few days ago, so it's definitely out there.

Sure, in official publications and literature - especially where they follow the church's style guide - but in common parlance it isn't really a thing. At least, that hasn't been my experience. In fact, I don't know that I've ever heard a non-member use the term. If I have, it has been frighteningly rare. 

 

[JAHS]

54 minutes ago, Bill “Papa” Lee said:

Never suggested otherwise, I was only pointing out that some have come to believe the name, or term “Mormon” is somehow improper. This as shown in many non-Church websites doing away with it, as if keeping it, was somehow disobeying a commandment.I did not suggest, in any way, that it should be used as our Church’s name. I did not even hint at it, I was only speaking of the word itself. If you can show where I said otherwise, please put it in quotes. 

You said
"If the term “Mormon” were somehow undesirable, or there was any desire rid ourselves of it, then we would have been told so. In face we would have stopped using it on the “Book of Mormon”."

Maybe I Misunderstood what you meant with this statement?

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

56 minutes ago, JAHS said:

You said
"If the term “Mormon” were somehow undesirable, or there was any desire rid ourselves of it, then we would have been told so. In face we would have stopped using it on the “Book of Mormon”."

Maybe I Misunderstood what you meant with this statement?

You made my point, it is not an undesirable word, and I was not speaking of how it applies to the name of the Church. The example you used and linked it too. I also noted that many websites, that are not connected officially to the Church, felt the need to get rid of it. So, when I said, “if the term Mormon were somehow undesirable”, but clearly it is not “undesirable”, at all. Just as you pointed outm we use it because it is the name of both the “Prophet Mormon”, and the name of the book. It is also in the primary song, “Book of Mormon Stories”. Simply put, it will always be a part of our lexicon.