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We’ve all seen the Mormon memes. I mean, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ memes where the word “Mormon” has been dropped from things in which we are accustomed to seeing the word, “Mormon.” And you all have to admit, they are a little funny.
President Nelson’s Sunday morning General Conference talk, The Correct Name of the Church, got me thinking. Has President Nelson ever spoken on this subject before and have there ever been disagreements, among General Authorities, with regards to the use of the word, “Mormon?”
As I dug around, I found some interesting information. I have edited three talks, two from Russell M. Nelson and one from Gordon B. Hinkley to explore this question.
- Click on the play button below to listen to the podcast version.
- I was only able to embed the Youtube video into this podcast.
While listening or watching, here are some thoughts:
- Do any of the speakers make a direct reference to the other speaker’s talk?
- Do any of the speakers make an indirect reference to the other speaker’s talk, which would perhaps would only be noticed by those with a long institutional memory?
- Do any of the speakers echo what they have said in previous talks?\
- There is a history of apostles publicly disagreeing with each other or with the President of the Church.
- Orson Pratt publicly disagreed with Brigham Young regarding the Adam God Doctrine.
- B.H. Roberts and John Widstoe publicly disagreed with Joseph Fielding Smith regarding evolution.
- Could the talks of Gordon B. Hinkley and Russell M. Nelson be a public disagreement regarding the use of the word, “Mormon?”
- Then, Elder Nelson’s April 1990 General Conference talk
- Then, Elder Hinkley’s October 1990 General conference talk.
- President Nelson’s October 2018 General Conference talk
Miguel Barker-Valdez
Miguel is a Guatemalan-American Mormon living in the Northwest with his family. He is one of the proprietors of the Rational Faiths blog.
All posts by Miguel Barker-Valdez
I was interested in researching this as well. Pres Hinckleys talk does make direct, positive reference to Elder Nelsons talk from the prior conference. I don’t know that there was som big feud, but obviously a difference of opinion.
Other apostles have spoken of using the proper name, but I haven’t seen any talks other than from President Hinckley defending the use of Mormon.
M. Russell Ballard spoke twice, once (4/2014) making reference to his previous (10/2011) talk, and seemed to fall somewhere in the middle, where the full name was preferred, but Mormon was ok as long as we tried to clarify.
Pres Packer spoke of it in April 2011 and there are probably others. This isn’t new.
Clearly this has been a burr under RN’s saddle for many years. His thus saith the lord statement now rings false as he now has a position of power. If it’s true, hasn’t this church lost its authority under the false profits between then and now?
Thanks Miguel.
The echo chamber in SLC is unfortunately alive and well. A victory for Satan? Really? One of reasons I can’t go anymore. Swallowing camels while straining at gnats. There are in fact weightier matters that are ignored due to ego.