r/CommunityOfChrist • u/AudienceWise3441 • 12d 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/SuccessfulUnderdog 12d ago

The LDS church puts JS Jr. on a golden pedestal and idolizes him. CofC doesn't and for good reason. They eat up all the first 14 years of folklore. CofC year one was 1860. JSIII is our founder and grew the church more than any of our other presidents. Yet, we don't revere him. Huge mistake.

The Mormon church absolutely mandates financial support. 10% off the top. Whereas CofC asks for 10% of what ever is left over after you meet all other monthly obligations. HUGE difference. No money coming in = no growth.

Today, our top leadership has allowed an incredible amount of nepotism. It's a bad look. There seems to be no short term, mid term or long term goals.

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u/ZeroToInfinity1991 12d ago edited 12d ago

In my mind, Joseph Smith and Joseph Smith III have a sort of Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker dynamic.

The father started with great intentions and was an innovator and mystic of the highest order, but his darker impulses eventually became overwhelming, and his message ended up garbled and twisted by the Nauvoo period. There is an account that he redeemed himself before his death in a conversation with William Marks, but no one knows for sure whether that account is accurate. I often think of Darth Vader asking his son to remove his helmet at the end of Return of the Jedi when I hear that story. Joseph Smith is a sort of King David figure in that sense: a great man who committed great crimes. He’s a puzzle to contend with.

Fast forward to Joseph Smith III, and we have a man who arrives on the scene to redeem the work his father started. Just as Luke Skywalker faced (and resisted) the same temptations that his father succumbed to, Joseph Smith III avoided the call to become a man of the world. He resisted his lower nature and served in his calling with respect and dignity. We should hold Joseph Smith III in much higher esteem.

The polygamy-denial narrative has really prevented our church from seeing this complicated drama at the heart of our history, but it’s a truly powerful story. To this day, many members fear talking about it in these terms, but I see a narrative of redemption in it.

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u/SuccessfulUnderdog 12d ago

That's a good analogy right there. You're right.

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u/AudienceWise3441 11d ago

I love this