Rebranding.... No Longer Mormon

[BlackMormon]

https://www.ldschurchnews.com/leaders-a ... tion-47802

They need to change the name of the Book of Mormon too since it's not only Mormon's writings and it still brands the name Mormon to the world.

The obvious problem they have in marketing the name "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" is that Jesus' name isn't really Jesus...It's Yeshua so they got the name wrong to begin with. Nobody in Israel says Jesus. Why would "Jesus" give a different Latin or Greek name to Himself and His Church other than His real and original Hebrew one?

What are they going to do with Mormon.org? It still promotes the word Mormon. Nelson needs to go back and look into the hat some more.

[dogbite]

This is like saying Munich isn't Munich in English nor Nuremburg nor Copenhagen, nor Moscow. Muenchen, Nurnberg, Kobnhavn, Moscva .... Really, there should be umlauts and diacriticals, but my tablet keyboard doenst support those handily.

Names change across languages. For pronunciation compatibility alphabet incompatibility for historical practices and myriad other reasons.

One could similarly argue that the name should be YHWH or Hebrew or Aramaic characters.

I'm grouchy. I didn't sleep well. But it strikes me in my irritability as a misplaced argument.

[Hagoth]

Why would "Jesus" give a different Latin or Greek name to Himself and His Church other than His real and original Hebrew one?

And why would Nephi say "his name shall be Jesus Christ," considering that neither of those words are his name. But then, the pharaoh in the Book of Abraham is named Pharaoh.

[Reuben]

Why would "Jesus" give a different Latin or Greek name to Himself and His Church other than His real and original Hebrew one?

And why would Nephi say "his name shall be Jesus Christ," considering that neither of those words are his name. But then, the pharaoh in the Book of Abraham is named Pharaoh.

Weird. It's like this in the Old Testament, too.

So I did some Googling. It looks like "Pharaoh" is the English spelling of the Greek spelling of the Egyptian word "Pero," which is a royal title that replaced "Your Majesty" (and probably "His Majesty" and similar) at some point. Given that, the only thing that jumps out as potentially problematic is the phrase "the Pharaohs." But I don't know Egyptian.

[Dravin]

One could similarly argue that the name should be YHWH or Hebrew or Aramaic characters.

Or Adamic even.

[Palerider]

And why would Nephi say "his name shall be Jesus Christ," considering that neither of those words are his name. But then, the pharaoh in the Book of Abraham is named Pharaoh.

Well, you know Jacob in the BofM had that angel tell him that the Messiah's name would be Jesus Christ...so there you have it. I bet Joseph Smith didn’t even have to translate that word because it was already written in English, right?

Wait a minute.....is that how that would work? An angel comes and gives a guy who's writing in "reformed Egyptian" the english name "Jesus Christ"....so how would that work when it was translated into reformed Egyptian and then back into english? No that doesn't work...

OR did the angel give it to Jacob in reformed Egyptian and Jacob wrote it as such and then Joseph Smith translated it into english...but then how would the words Jesus Christ translate differently from the word "Messiah" so that Jacob would know he was writing the reformed Egyptian equivalent of "Jesus Christ"?

If I were a TBM I would be extremely confused right now.

Better to just not think about it....

[Dravin]

Or did the angel give it to Jacob in reformed Egyptian and Jacob wrote it as such and then Joseph Smith translated it into english...but then how would the words Jesus Christ translate differently from the word "Messiah" so that Jacob would know he was writing the reformed Egyptian equivalent of "Jesus Christ"?

The Spirit™

[moksha]

You would think that the Church PR department would be a bit rattled because the name Mormon has become widely recognized. On the other hand, perhaps market research had indicated that the Mormon brand had become rather tarnished and carried too much stigma.

Perhaps it is better if society referred to us as "Saints". After all, Saints imply we are not only constantly good but humble, right?

[Brent]

The whole PR department is on suicide watch.

[Palerider]

The whole PR department is on suicide watch.

Thanks, I needed that.

[Brent]

The original plan was "rely on the Spirit" but it got switched to a phone call every hour.....

[EternityIsNow]

Hmm, maybe rebranding, but I don't think this is just about improving the church's image. And it's probably not because Nelson has been a long advocate of focusing on the full formal name of the church. That is too old, if God wanted the church to stop using Mormon, and Nelson has waited this long, what was wrong with the rest of the Q15 all those years? That seems like spin.

Nope, my money is on control. This is a power move. It's always about control with these guys. So we just have to think this though, how can this name change help the church control the messages the members receive?

wait for it ...

In a few months the brethren will say the deed is done, and all the church web sources will have purged the use of 'Mormons' or 'Mormonism', or Mormon. The Tab Choir will be renamed, everything will be as God told the prophet it should be.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a leading GA will point out that if you put the word 'mormon' into a search engine, you get the enemies of the church. And members will be counseled to avoid using 'mormon' in any online searching. Which of course will fail miserably.

The church's dirt will follow them no matter what names they choose for themselves, and the alternate / ex / anti-mormon crowd will just find new ways to get SEO placement using whatever new terminology the church dreams up...

Next, church members will stop googling 'mormon this' and 'mormon that', and thus be protected from the likes of us, or others who insist on telling the truth, thinking for themselves, and other non-approved religious behavior. Who knew this was about SEO... ? Then church members will be told how inspired the church leaders were to remove 'Mormon' from everywhere.

Or maybe it was just an ego trip, I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect this will turn into the church trying to limit members' exposure to the outside world, the part of the world the brethren don't control.

[dogbite]

Abandoning the team Mormon is about mainstreaming about not being peculiar . And abandoning the baggage. See also how the membership is now ministering. But it won't play out that way. The term is too entrenched in nonmormon society.

And Nelson seems to want to make a power play on his revelatory powers. First with the policy being elevated now the name focus. I think he loves the little legalisms, those little things that he can play up to seem more holy but that play as annoying jerkishness to nonlegalists. And outsiders.

[Palerider]

For those of you who may have difficulty determining when it is appropriate to use the word "Mormon". My wife said she thought this was ridiculous.

[Palerider]

New book title. No longer "Especially for Mormons".

"Especially for...Members of Even The Church of Jesus Christ in These The Latter Days Who Are Called Saints."

And that big bug you see in your garden is a shieldbacked katydid called "Anabrus simplex".....it is NOT a Mormon cricket...

[Corsair]

For those of you who may have difficulty determining when it is appropriate to use the word "Mormon". My wife said she thought this was ridiculous.

This is an insane picture and I seriously was wondering if it was some kind of parody. But it can't leave the realm of parody since it was presented by the group formerly known as "Mormon Women Stand" which was already unintentional parody. So now they are Latter-day Saint Women Stand and their official title does include the lower case "d" on Latter-day" which is a legal acknowledgement of the trademark. I suppose they simply have to make sure that when Latter-day Women actually do stand, they make sure that Elder Bednar stands first.

[Red Ryder]

It would have been so much easier to just get rid of garments!

[StarbucksMom]

For those of you who may have difficulty determining when it is appropriate to use the word "Mormon". My wife said she thought this was ridiculous.

Like Corsair, I thought this was going to be a joke. But it actually kind of is, since it says we no longer associate with Joseph Smith and his group, Brigham Young and his group.......

[Brent]

New book title. No longer "Especially for Mormons".

"Especially for...Members of Even The Church of Jesus Christ in These The Latter Days Who Are Called Saints."

And that big bug you see in your garden is a shieldbacked katydid called "Anabrus simplex".....it is NOT a Mormon cricket...

I wonder if Deseret book will no longer publish Mormon books. It is a cottage industry that relies on "mormon" branding.