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<\/a>Some critics that I observe \u2014 most of them specimens of the type of detractor who finds fault, day in and day out, with virtually everything that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> does \u2014 have derived a great deal of hostile mirth from President Russell M. Nelson\u2019s admonition that we try to retire terms like Mormon<\/em> and Mormonism<\/em> from active use, or, at least, that we try not to sponsor them ourselves. \u00a0And they\u2019ve really enjoyed his explanation that use of such terms \u201cis a major victory for Satan.\u201d \u00a0They\u2019ve mocked it and, it seems to me, have devoted considerable effort to failing to grasp his point.<\/p>\n You will perhaps recall what he said during remarks at the October 2018 semiannual general conference of the Church entitled \u201cThe Correct Name of the Church\u201d:<\/p>\n [T]he name of the Church is not negotiable. When the Savior clearly states what the name of His Church should be and even precedes His declaration with, \u201cThus shall my church be called,\u201d He is serious. And if we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended.<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s in a name or, in this case, a nickname? When it comes to nicknames of the Church, such as the \u201cLDS Church,\u201d the \u201cMormon Church,\u201d or the \u201cChurch of the Latter-day Saints,\u201d the most important thing in<\/em> those names is the absence<\/em> of the Savior\u2019s name. To remove the Lord\u2019s name from the Lord\u2019s Church is a major victory for Satan. When we discard<\/em> the Savior\u2019s name, we are subtly disregarding <\/em>all that Jesus Christ did for us\u2014even His Atonement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Probably every reader of this blog has encountered, or at least heard about, claims that Latter-day Saints are not Christians. \u00a0(For me, it\u2019s been several times again today<\/em>.) \u00a0Now, I\u2019m under no illusion that such a damaging falsehood would vanish away were nicknames like LDS Church<\/em>, Mormon Church<\/em>, and Mormonism<\/em> to disappear. \u00a0I\u2019m no \u00a0starry-eyed utopian. \u00a0But surely it\u2019s more difficult to maintain that the \u201cChurch of Jesus Christ\u201d is non-Christian than to contend that the \u201cMormon Church\u201d is non-Christian. \u00a0And even more so if the Church of Jesus Christ has, as its official symbol, something like this:<\/p>\n In other words, as I said back in October 2018, I fully understand why President Nelson feels so strongly about this issue. \u00a0Although I\u2019ve always rather liked the neatly efficient word Mormonism<\/em>\u00a0and although, even now, I\u2019ve found no entirely adequate substitute, I can see why he (and the Lord) would prefer to see it lose its prominence.<\/p>\n And so can anybody who thinks about it very much. \u00a0(Have you ever heard about the aftermath of 1992\u2019s Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana, when one local official thanked both the members of the Mormon Church and the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their cleanup efforts?)<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a case reported in\u00a0Lee Nelson, Visions from Beyond the Veil<\/em> (Springville, UT: Council Press, 2014). \u00a0It concerns a woman in Oklahoma whose daughter Lori, much to the then-Baptist mother\u2019s horror, had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and married a Church member. \u00a0For two years, they did not speak. \u00a0Eventually, though, during a health crisis involving the daughter, she met her daughter\u2019s Latter-day Saint mother-in-law, Lola, and even witnessed a very effective priesthood blessing :<\/p>\n I was amazed by all these events. \u00a0After it was over, I got Lola aside and asked her if the Mormons<\/a> believed in Jesus Christ. \u00a0She looked at me utterly amazed and said, \u201cWhat do you think the name of our Church is?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I told her I didn\u2019t know. \u00a0I had only heard the name Mormon up until this time. \u00a0She told me the official name was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u00a0I told her I would like to know more. \u00a0(73-74)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And there must surely be thousands of cases parallel to hers, and perhaps hundreds<\/em> of thousands if not millions<\/em> who, especially if we make it hard for them, never will<\/em> learn the Church\u2019s true name in this life.<\/p>\n So I welcome and support President Nelson\u2019s exhortation to get the Church\u2019s real name, and its real focus on Christ, out there before the world. \u00a0Let there be no doubt about where we stand and about who is at the center of our faith.<\/p>\n This is an important article by a leading scholar of Brigham Young and probably the foremost authority on the 1844 succession crisis that followed the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and that is the background of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s dramatic film Six Days in August<\/em><\/a>: Ronald K. Esplin, \u201cBrigham Young and violence: \u2018Suffer wrong not do wrong\u2019:\u00a0Fundamentally, Brigham Young was a man of peace; if his tongue occasionally slipped, his actions did not, writes scholar of Latter-day Saint history\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n If things go according to plan, I will shortly be interviewing Dr. Esplin on camera for the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s forthcoming series of short-video features, Becoming Brigham<\/em>, which is the next phase of the overall project of which Six Days in August<\/em> was an initial component part. \u00a0In the meantime, Ronald K. Esplin, \u201cAuthority, Keys, and \u201cthe Measures of Joseph\u201d: A Detailed Exploration of 1844 Succession,\u201d in Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, ed., Joseph Smith: A Life Lived in Crescendo<\/em> (Orem and Salt Lake City: The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2024), 2:745-882<\/a>, is almost certainly the most significant article on the subject to date.<\/p>\n\n
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