Mormon

Mormon is a term used to describe the adherents, practitioners, followers or constituents of Mormonism. The term most often refers to a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church), which is commonly called the Mormon Church. The LDS Church believes that "Mormon" may only properly be applied to its members; however, the term is occasionally used more broadly to describe any individual or group that claims belief in the Book of Mormon, including other Latter Day Saints groups. According to Latter Day Saint belief, Mormon is the name of the prophet who compiled the book of scripture known as the Book of Mormon.

Origin of the term

The term "Mormon" has its origins from the Book of Mormon, which is believed by Latter Day Saints to be a historical and religious record translated by Joseph Smith, Jr. into English by divine inspiration from golden plates that he received from the angel Moroni. The book relates a history of three civilizations in the Americas from approximately 2700 B.C. until about 420 A.D., written by their prophets and followers of Jesus Christ. Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon is another scriptural witness of Jesus Christ that is comparable to the Bible, which they also believe to be the word of God. The book gets its name from Mormon, the prophet said to have abridged the record during the 4th century.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the earliest published usages of the term "Mormon" to describe believers in the Book of Mormon was in 1833 by the Louisville (Kentucky) Daily Herald in an article, "The Mormons and the Anti-Mormons".

Popular usage

The term "Mormon" is most often used to refer to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS Church). The LDS Church holds that it is incorrect to apply "Mormon" to other groups or their members.

Nevertheless, the term is also often used to refer to fundamentalist groups who continue to practice plural marriage, a practice that the LDS Church officially abandoned in 1890. These groups, while numerically much smaller than the LDS Church, continue to use the term "Mormon" and claim to represent "true Mormonism" as taught and practiced by Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young.

The term "Mormon" is generally disfavored by other denominations of the Latter-day Saint movement, such as the Community of Christ, which have distinct histories from that of the LDS Church since Smith's death in 1844.

The terms "Mormon" and "Mormonite" were first used in the 1830s as pejoratives to describe those who followed Joseph Smith and believed in the divine origin of the Book of Mormon.

"Mormon Church"

The official name of the Salt Lake City, Utah-based church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While the term "Mormon Church" has long been attached to the church as a nickname, it is an unauthorized title, and its use is discouraged by the church, although the use of "Mormon" in other contexts is not generally considered offensive and is commonly used by the church and its members. Leaders of the LDS Church have encouraged members to use the church's full name to emphasize the church's focus on Jesus Christ.

Meaning of the word

In the May 15, 1843, issue of the Mormon periodical Times and Seasons published in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith, Jr., wrote the following on the subject of the meaning of the word "Mormon" (T&S 13:194):

To the Editor of the Times & Seasons:
    Sir:—Through the medium of your paper, I wish to correct an error among men that profess to be learned, liberal and wise; and I do it the more cheerfully, because I hope sober-thinking and sober-reasoning people will sooner listen to the voice of truth, than be led astray by the vain pretensions of the self-wise. The error I speak of, is the definition of the word "Mormon." It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek word "mormo." This is not the case. There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mormon. Let the language of that book speak for itself. On the 523d page, of the fourth edition, it reads: "And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the 'Reformed Egyptian,' being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech; and if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew: but the Hebrew hath been altered by us, also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold ye would have had no imperfection in our record, but the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also, that none other people knoweth our language; therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof."
    Here then the subject is put to silence, for "none other people knoweth our language," therefore the Lord, and not man, had to interpret, after the people were all dead. And as Paul said, "the world by wisdom know not God," so the world by speculation are destitute of revelation; and as God in his superior wisdom, has always given his Saints, wherever he had any on the earth, the same spirit, and that spirit, as John says, is the true spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I may safely say that the word Mormon stands independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation.—Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say that the Bible in its widest sense, means good; for the Savior says according to the gospel of John, "I am the good shepherd;" and it will not be beyond the common use of terms, to say that good is among the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to "bad." We say from the Saxon, "good"; the Dane, "god"; the Goth, "goda"; the German, "gut"; the Dutch, "goed"; the Latin, "bonus"; the Greek, "kalos"; the Hebrew, "tob"; and the Egyptian, "mon." Hence, with the addition of "more," or the contraction, "mor," we have the word "mor-mon"; which means, literally, "more good."
JOSEPH SMITH.

License

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mormon".