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Revision as of 09:16, 28 September 2002 by Quintessent (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Mormon is a colloquial term referring to people who believe that The Book of Mormon is divine scripture, and are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or one of the many smaller organizations that have separated themselves from that Church. The term is derived ultimately from the name of the prophet by whose hand, according to Church theology, the history of the Nephites was preserved.
In the past, the term was widely used within the church, as evidenced by the name of the church's most prestigious choir "the Mormon Tabernacle Choir", the names of several church songs, such as "I'm a Mormon Boy", and the tagline "From the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Mormons", which appeared at the end of a series of short television spots produced by the church in the late 1970's. However, as early as 1979 church leaders began discouraging use of the term due to concerns that "Mormon Church" was being used to the exclusion of the church's official name, which is believed to have been decreed by God (see for example ). In 2001, the church issued an official statement regarding the name of the church and the use of the term "Mormon" in the media (see ). It recommends use of the official name of the church and suggests that the term "Mormon" should not be applied to other religious groups, especially those practicing polygamy.
Despite the church's efforts to restrict use of the term "Mormon" some scholars feel it is useful to collectively describe all those groups which derive from Joseph Smith. Sometimes "Restoration Churches" is used for this purpose instead, but that can lead to confusion, since there are an entirely different group of Christian churches (those derived from Campbell, e.g. the Church of Christ) who are also called "Restoration Churches".
Some scholars (e.g. Melton, in his Encyclopedia of American Religion) subdivide the Mormons into "Utah Mormons" and "Missouri Mormons". The Missouri Mormons are those Mormons who did not travel westward to Utah, and the churches formed from them (the RLDS, Strangites, Temple Lot, etc.), while the Utah Mormons are those who did travel westward to Utah, and the churches formed from them (the LDS church, the various polygamy-practising churches). This nomenclature is not common within the church.
According to the theology of the church, Mormon was a prophet who lived in the Americas circa 400 A.D. Faced with the destruction of his people, the Nephites, by a rival tribe known as the Lamanites, Mormon compiled a history of his people on plates of gold. This history, which was an abridgement of more extensive records, was passed on to Mormon's son, Moroni, who buried them in order to prevent them from being destroyed by the Lamanites. Latter-day Saints believe that the location of the plates was later revealed to Joseph Smith by the angel Moroni and translated into English by divine assistance. This translation is published as The Book of Mormon.
The entire canonical scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is available at http://scriptures.lds.org.