A lot of us members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a rude (and violent) awakening this week to just how much our fellow Christian “friends” desperately want to un-Christian us. The Michigan church shooting was shocking enough, but more than that was the reaction, particularly from (but not limited to) evangelical protestants. In the comments section of every news article I have seen, these “Christians” have felt it necessary to shout that “Mormons aren’t Christian,” as if the mass shooting itself is little more than a conversation starter and not a shocking tragedy. The bodies of the victims have not even been buried yet, and pastors like Mark Driscoll have been openly exploiting the shooting to promote their own anti-Mormon literature, including some (apparently AI-written) new books published just in the last week since the shooting.
They hate us. They really do hate us. And honestly, I can’t help but wonder: how many Mark Driscoll videos did this mass shooter watch before he decided to take matters into his own hands? How much money has Mark Driscoll made in the last week, because of all the clicks and engagement he’s been able to farm from this tragedy? How many more mass shooters are we going to see in coming years, because of all this anti-Mormon rhetoric? This last week, our Christian “friends” showed us exactly who and what they are. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but frankly, they haven’t left me with much of that to give them.
So what is a “Christian” anyway? What is the best way to define that term? The anti-Mormons who seek to un-Christian us all go back to our rejection of the Trinity and the Nicean Creed, as if the thing that makes you “Christian” is a specific ontological belief about the nature of God (never mind that most of them cannot consistently define what the “Trinity” even is). Meanwhile, the Bible itself says “by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) It also says “by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20) Which says a lot, when you consider how much these “Christians” hate and despise us.
But I think we can avoid the whole debate by this very simple definition: a Christian is anyone who takes the name of Christ.
“But wait!” you say. “What about everyone who worships a different Christ than I do?” To which I would point out that to some degree, every division within Christianity worships a slightly different version of Christ—even (or especially) all of the Trinitarian ones. Otherwise, we would all be of “one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” (Ephesians 4:5) as the scripture says.
“But what about someone who’s first name is ‘Christian,’ but he doesn’t even believe in God! Is he still a Christian? What is your answer to that?” To which, I would probably blink a couple of times, and ask if you heard any of the words that just came out of your mouth. Yes, a person named “Christian” is still a “Christian.” He has literally taken (or been given) the name of Christ. He might not actually believe in Christ, but he’s still a “Christian.” It’s just, that might not mean what you think it means.
It may feel overly broad, but this is the only definition that cannot be appropriated by any particular sect in order to un-Christian any of the others. Which is just as wrong for a single sect to do, as it is for all the major denominations to band together in order to exclude the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.