This was something they talked about at this past General Conference and as the presidential debate goes on, it has prompted more thought on the subject.
The name of the church I belong to is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Slang terms for our church are Mormons or LDS. Being referred to as a Mormon gives people the erroneous impression that we worship a prophet named Mormon. While we do believe Mormon was a prophet of God, we do not worship him. It’s like how the general Christian population views Moses and Isaiah (which we view them both the same way we view Mormon), we hold him in high esteem and we value his words, but we do not worship him. We do not say prayers to him nor do we believe that our salvation comes through his intercession. Mormon is the prophet who, by God’s direction, took the records of his people and abridged them before burying all of the records of the history of his people. That abridgment is what Joseph Smith later translated as the Book of Mormon. Mormon wrote the book, but it was under the guidance, direction and order of God. By divine authority, Joseph Smith, Jr., was lead to the plates and by divine guidance he was able to translate them from Ancient Egyptian into English.
The Book of Mormon is not to replace the bible in any way. The Book of Mormon is a supplement to the bible. It is additional scripture and additional teachings of Jesus Christ for the whole world to learn from and receive much benefit.
This blog post is not to debate the merit of or to convince people as to the truth of those facts, so I will just leave that line of thought where it is. I’m just using that information to explain how the Book of Mormon got it’s name.
Speaking of Joseph Smith, though, I will say this one thing. We view Joseph Smith the same way we view Mormon: He is a prophet of God, but we do not worship him or believe that our salvation comes through intercession by him. We do not pray to Joseph Smith, we do not make sacrifices in the name of Joseph Smith (or anyone, for that matter), we do not believe Joseph Smith to be a deity in any way and we do not believe that Joseph Smith is the key to our returning to live with God.
Our church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because we believe in and worship God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, His son. We also call it thus because Christ has instructed us that we must take upon us His name in order to be saved. There are several scriptural references that say this and explain the reason why.
In looking around online, I found an article titled Jesus Christ, Taking the Name of, upon Oneself by Paul R. Warner. In speaking about taking upon us the name of Christ, he said this:
Although not specifically stated in the Bible, the concept is implied in Paul’s declaration to “put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 13:14); Peter’s statement that Jesus Christ is the only name given “among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; Ex. 15:2; 1 Sam. 2:1; Ps. 27:1); and the Lord’s instruction to Moses to “put my name upon the children of Israel” (Num. 6:27; cf. Jer. 15:16).
While many people can view taking the name of Christ upon oneself a little differently, we believe it to literally mean calling ourselves after the name of Christ.
There are several other scriptures that state that the name of Christ is the only one whereby we may be saved, some of which are:
Mosiah 5:8 says “There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, “
Acts 4:12 says “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none otherbname under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
2 Nephi 31:21 says “And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen.”
3 Nephi 27:8 says “And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.”
I could go on and on with scriptural references, but I will suffice with what I’ve presented so far.
In his General Conference talk, Elder M. Russel Ballard broke down the name of our church as thus:
The words Church of Jesus Christ declare that it is His Church. In the Book of Mormon, Jesus taught: “And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man [like Mormon] then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:8).
Of Latter-day explains that it is the same Church as the Church that Jesus Christ established during His mortal ministry but restored in these latter days. We know there was a falling away, or an apostasy, necessitating the Restoration of His true and complete Church in our time.
Saints means that its members follow Him and strive to do His will, keep His commandments, and prepare once again to live with Him and our Heavenly Father in the future. Saint simply refers to those who seek to make their lives holy by covenanting to follow Christ.
The point I hope I have made is that my church, the commonly referred to “Mormon” church, does, in fact, believe in Christ. We believe He is the literal son of God who came to earth, born of a virgin, to suffer and die for the sins of the world so that we could all have the chance to a) have eternal life and b) be redeemed of our sins. We believe that He suffered all the pains and afflictions of the world in Gethsemane before being raised up and dying on the cross and that three days later He rose again, thus breaking the bonds of death and making it so that all mankind can live again. If this isn’t what it means to believe in Christ and to be a Christian, then I don’t know what is.
It does make me sad that people are determined to believe that we don’t believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of our church and He is the author of our salvation. We believe in the bible, we teach and read from the bible, we study the life and teachings of Christ that are in the bible and we honor and respect the bible as scripture. For people to say we don’t believe in the bible and that we don’t believe in Jesus Christ is sad and absurd. If people would just look at the full and complete name of our church, they would see that it is named after Jesus Christ, not Mormon or Joseph Smith. We worship Jesus Christ and try to live our lives by His teachings. We believe that through Jesus Christ we can be saved and that there is no other way to gain salvation.
Very informative and well thought out. I’ll add that I feel the same as you do. I would hope that more people understand what we believe in, and when they do understand, maybe they’ll be more open to finding out more.
Very informative and well thought out. I’ll add that I feel the same as you do. I would hope that more people understand what we believe in, and when they do understand, maybe they’ll be more open to finding out more.
Very informative and well thought out. I’ll add that I feel the same as you do. I would hope that more people understand what we believe in, and when they do understand, maybe they’ll be more open to finding out more.