Is the RLDS church or Community of Christ a Mormon church? I'm confused, I was raised believing it was not.

Answer 1

Well they are differences from LDS from RLDS/Community of Christ Church. COC doesn't believe in the temple ceremonies that the LDS has. They do believe in the Book of Mormon, and have different revelations from God to their prophets mostly in the late 19th century. They didn't practice polygamy, I remember they did built a temple somewhere.
They also own the Kirkland Ohio temple. COC has women practicing in the priesthood, it's very liberal compared to the conservative LDS church.

From what I have read from other posters, they have thrown all what Joseph Smith had written and became more worldly or having the world accept them.

Answer 2

Last I heard about the Community of Christ is that they no longer hold the Book of Mormon up as God's word as they did when they were the RLDS church. I have been through their visitors centers, and they have definitely changed a lot, and no longer teach much of what the prophet Joseph Smith taught. The reason I heard for this is that they were running out of money, so they joined with some evangelical groups which encouraged them to eliminate some of the controversial doctrines (including the Book of Mormon) from their basic teachings. That is when they changed their name too. Again, this is what I heard, and I am sure I am not totally right. This is simply my observation after going through a couple of their visitors centers.

I do know that their temples have a totally different use than those of the LDS church. Although the Community of Christ started off as a Mormon religion, I would say that now they have little in common.

Answer 3

The Community of Christ is the church formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS). They split off from the LDS Church after the death of Joseph Smith. Up until recently they held similar beliefs, like the Book of Mormon was true and such. In recent years they've "evolved" their beliefs and practices; for example they now ordain women to the priesthood. In 2007, they decreed that the Book of Mormon is scripture but no longer required to be studied or followed.

I would classify anyone that believes the Book of Mormon to be true as a Mormon. Others may disagree. However, with the C.o.C.'s new stance, if they qualify under that anymore.

EDIT: Pink, I think you've mixed up the RLDS and the FLDS. The RLDS church has never practiced polygomy.

Answer 4

The RLDS and Community of Christ are the same church. They are break offs from the LDS Church. They thought the prophet should go from father to son. Too bad their lineage of Smith's died off and they had to give it to someone who was not related.

The RLDS (CoC) do believe in the Book of Mormon and also do not practice polygamy.

Answer 5

The RLDS church has NOTHING to do with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some will call themselves "Mormons" but they aren't! The RLDS group practices polygamy. We don't!

They broke away from the LDS church when some of their group thought that Joseph Smith's son should be the next Prophet, instead of who God wanted. They stayed east and the Mormons moved west to Utah.

Answer 6

The "mormon" church's name is:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

We believe that Christ leads the church and that it is HIS.

You may hear some members refer to their church as "Christ's church" or the "church of Christ" casually.

The RLDS is a small "splinter off" church of the LDS (aka mormon) church. They are not the same.

I hope that helps.

Answer 7

huh?

The RLDS is the reformed church of jesus christ of latter day saints. It broke off from the original chruch of jesus Christ of Latter Day saints because when Joseph Smith was murdered, many people thought his son should be the next prophet, but were very angry when Brigham Young was chosen by god. So they broke off.

But I've never heard of Community of Christ a Mormon Church.

Answer 8

Community of Christ is a church with historical ties to the Latter-day Saints that parted ways with us after the death of Joseph Smith. Headquartered in Independence, Missouri, it has lots of great people in it and many who treasure the divine gift of scripture in the Book of Mormon..

You should take the time to visit their official website. http://www.cofchrist.org/

There are also those who are called FLDS (Mormon Fundamentalists) who practice polygamy. Today, however, the LDS Church considers the word "Mormon" to apply only to its members, not to members of other sects of the Latter Day Saint movement. The LDS Church therefore claims that there is no such thing as a "Mormon fundamentalist", nor that there are any "Mormon sects". The LDS Church suggests that the correct term to describe these splinter groups is "polygamist sects".

This kind of feels to me like we're being like those Protestant Christians who want to deny us the title of "Christian." I don't know.

Answer 9

Coc( RCo JCo LDS) is trinitarian,monotheist,rejects eternal progression and most of the things that place LDS Mormonism outside the pale of Historic Christianity. CoC does accept their own version of the Book of Mormon(but not,to my knowledge, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrines and Covenants).

So they would be Christian but they would claim that CoC is the true Mormon Church( restored by Christ himself) and theLDS have lost their way

Answer 10

no,