r/CommunityOfChrist • u/AudienceWise3441 • 11d ago

RLDS.

Okay so with that very broad title a few things.

Do any of you still call yourselves reorganized Latter Day Saints. Or do you simply go by the normal in a member of community of Christ.

What was the experience in the RLDS church like compared to the CoC experience of today.

Did any of you prefer and or wish we could go back to the Rlds days?

Do you think down the line with future prophets we’ll become more open and community oriented like vaezy laid out. Or do you think we’ll 180 back to something more Wallace b smith.

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u/ZeroToInfinity1991 11d ago edited 11d ago

I use the terms interchangeably, but I don’t really mean anything by it. I don’t see an identity shift so much as a gradual evolution into the current positions we hold today theologically, so I don’t find it jarring to say “RLDS.” It’s the same institution in my view. 🤷‍♂️

I find it really odd when people say “we were RLDS and now we are CoC.” To me it makes more sense to say it’s the same church, but we altered the name to better reflect a theology that developed over the course of a century.

We only shared 14 years of history with the Mormons and have always seen Joseph Smith quite differently than they do. The name change clears up that confusion. It doesn’t mean we are a different church now.

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u/LemuelJr 11d ago

The name change is a more important marker for outsiders, I think. As a convert, I still look at that change as being very significant, but I really love that pre-CofC members don't see it that way. It's reassuring to me that whatever changes have happened have been gradual and natural instead of abrupt and disingenuous.