A Church of Jesus Christ, Not The Church of Jesus Christ

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recently decided that the term "Mormon" would no longer be acceptable to use in most circumstances by either members or by non-members. The only acceptable areas of use would be in official documents such as "The Book of Mormon" or in historical context, such as "The Mormon Trail."

Instead of calling it "the Mormon Church" or even the "the L.D.S. Church," the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would now prefer members and non-members alike to refer to it by its full name or in short as "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ" or "the restored Church of Jesus Christ."

If I were a member, I would try to respect that decision, as it was told by God to President Russell M. Nelson, who is considered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to be a Prophet of God. However, I find the new designations, specifically "the Church of Jesus Christ" and "the restored Church of Jesus Christ" to be quite insulting.

If you're a member of any denomination, you're ultimately going to find yourself at one point or another using the term "the Church" when referring to your own denomination, particularly when referring to the leadership in your denomination. In that context, yes, it would absolutely make sense to refer to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as "the Church."

However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a Church, just as it is "a Church of Jesus Christ." For its 13 million plus members, it is absolutely "the Church of Jesus Christ." For them, that is their way to salvation, or their road to God. But if you asked the roughly 1 Billion Catholics in the world, you're going to hear from them that the church of Jesus Christ is their church. Same for the roughly 80 Million Anglicans, and the other denominations too. And that's perfectly acceptable. There are a million roads to God. Most are right in their own way. But it smacks of arrogance when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints insists that it be called "the Church of Jesus Christ," because it demeans the other denominations and belief systems of millions of Christians, and it denies that there are other roads to God. Therefore, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is but "a Church of Jesus Christ," and not "the Church of Jesus Christ."

This also applies to "the restored Church of Jesus Christ" as well. Because again, each has legitimacy in its own way and again, there are a million roads to God. Saying "the restored Church of Jesus Christ" again smacks of arrogance and is akin to saying "All other churches but mine are false." And how dare you say that if that's what you truly believe. Who is one to decide in our earthly plain whether one church is truer over the other?

We are all supposed to be equal under the eyes of God. Do you think when we die, we'll all be sorted out by what denominations we belonged to when we were alive? No. What really matters if we lived honest lives and did our best to stay true to ourselves and our God. Our God. Not my God or your God, but our God. And if you're a Christian, our Jesus Christ.

Respectfully, I will be sticking with using the terms "the L.D.S. Church" and "the Mormon Church" until the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints comes up with something more reasonable.