What most Latter-day Saints have been
taught in church and believe as truth.
We, as Latter-day Saints, often cite the name of the church as an
indication that the
The Book of Mormon says that the true
church must have the name of Christ in it. 3 Nephi 27:8 reads:
"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."
According to the Book
of Mormon, Jesus Christ revealed the name of his church to the Nephite people:
the "
"And they who
were baptized in the name of Jesus were called
the
"And they said
unto him: Lord, we will that thou
wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are
disputations among the people concerning this matter. And the Lord said
unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, why is it that the people should
murmur and dispute because of this thing? Have they not read the scriptures, which
say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this
name shall ye be called at the last day; And whoso taketh upon him my name, and
endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day. Therefore,
whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call
upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake. 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. Verily I say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore
ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call
upon the Father, for the church, if it be in my name the Father will hear you;
And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father
show forth his own works in it. But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is
built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto
you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh,
and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no
return." (3 Nephi 27:3-11, bold added)
Significant details & problems that
most Latter-day Saints are not aware of.
The
On April 6, 1830, LDS church leaders met together presumably to
fulfill the requirements of the laws of the land, and they named their church
consistent with the admonition of the Book of Mormon, "The Church of
Christ."
On May 3, 1834, Joseph Smith, as moderator, made a motion to
change the name of the church to, "The Church of the Latter Day
Saints," which was adopted by unanimous vote (The Evening and Morning
Star, vol. 2, no. 20, p. 160, May 1834; History of the Church 2:62). He took CHRIST right out
of the name!
Four years later, on April 26, 1838, it was again changed to
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints" and has remained
thus since. (The hyphen in ‘Latter-day’
was add about a century or so later to be grammatically correct).
The chronology of the name is:
1830:
1834: The Church of the Latter Day
Saints
1838: The
Why did Joseph change the Name of the Church after God already
told him 4 years before what to name it? "In June, 1829, the Lord gave us the name
by which we must call the church, being the same as He gave the Nephites. We obeyed His commandment, and called it The
Church of Christ until 1834, when, through the influence of Sydney Rigdon, the
name of the church was changed to The Church of the Latter Day Saints, dropping
out the name of Christ entirely..." (An Address to All Believers In Christ
Whitmer, p. 73). Now to be called the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
The following photograph of the Kirtland temple still bears the
name ‘The Church of the Latter day Saints’.
ALSO
Bible issue
If we are to use the rule found in Third Nephi 27, are we then to
assume that the church the Apostle Paul addresses in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 was in
a state of apostasy? After all, Paul
refers to it as "the church of the Thessalonians"! Consider also that Paul refers to the body of
believers in
Responses to these issues by faithful
Latter-day Saints and Mormon apologists.
Faithful LDS member response.
Richard Lloyd Anderson, a professor of religion and history at
Critic’s response.
How dropping the name of Christ in order to "reflect the fact
that Christ was at its head" seems confusing at best. Dr. Anderson feels justified by the fact
that, even though the official title of the church omitted the name of Christ,
it was still known in the minds of many as the
"In June, 1829, the
Lord gave us the name by which we must call the church, being the same as he
gave the Nephites. We obeyed His commandment, and called it the Church of
Christ until 1834, when, through the influence of Sydney Rigdon, the name of
the church was changed to `The Church of the Latter Day Saints,' dropping out
the name of Christ entirely, that name which we were strictly commanded to call
the church by, and which Christ by His own lips makes so plain" (Address
to All Believers in Christ, pg. 73).
It would be easier for
This name,
It is hypocritical of Mormons who condemn Christian churches for
not having the name of Christ in their official title when their church has not
always had that distinction.
Also, many other churches use Christ in their name so the LDS
Church is hardly unique in that regard including several churches known as the ‘Church
of Christ’ which had that name long before the LDS church was first named in
1830.
Is it reasonable to assume that God would periodically change the
name of his church? If Jesus Christ is the central character of God's
religion on earth and all things are to be done in his name, is it reasonable
to assume that God would instruct his church leaders to entirely leave out the
name of Christ from the period of May 3, 1834 to April 26, 1838?
If Jesus is really the head of the LDS Church then what possible
reason could there be for the name changes?
Why would Jesus instruct Joseph as to the name in 1830 then change it in
1834 and then change it again in 1838?
Why wouldn’t Jesus get it right the first time? We can’t understand why he would take the
name of Christ completely out of the name of the church for four whole years.
One possible reason is that the Church is really run entirely by
men without any real instruction or revelation from God. If they couldn’t even get the name right for
eight years then what else might be wrong?
Sidney Rigdon’s role
If we take David Whitmer’s assertion that Sidney Rigdon helped
influence Joseph to change the name of the church, then that causes additional
questions to be asked.
Why would the prophet of the Church, who had formed and already served
as president of the Church for four years, agree to changing the name merely by
having one of his counselors suggest it?
This may support some critic’s assertions that Sidney Rigdon was a
much bigger influence in creating the Church than commonly taught.
The name Mormon
Although the
We can’t help but wonder if it is really all part of Heavenly Father’s
divine plan to have his Son’s church be known by a nickname?
References
http://www.helmsmansociety.com/Issues/2005/mormon052605.htm#Name
http://www.letusreason.org/LDS12.htm
http://exmormon.com/mormonism/strawmen.htm
http://www.mrm.org/topics/introductory-issues/name-gods-church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_movement