Christian. According to LDS teaching, a Christian is generally a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to an October 2012 general conference message (“Being a More Christian Christian”) delivered by then-Apostle Robert D. Hales, a Christian can be defined by these distinctives:

• Has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
• Has repented, forgiving others while keeping the commandments
• Takes the name of Christ through in the LDS Church while receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (confirmation). This is given only by those who hold restored priesthood authority
• Knows that God’s prophets have always testified of Jesus Christ. God the Father and Jesus are said to have appeared to the church founder Joseph Smith in the year 1820 and later the church was restored from apostasy
• Believes that God (Heavenly Father) has a glorified and perfected body of flesh and bone
• Understands that Jesus Christ is God the Father’s Only Begotten Son in the flesh
• Knows that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit whose work is to testify of the Father and the Son
• Believes that the Godhead is comprised of three separate and distinct beings, unified in purpose but not in essence.

Since these definitions require a person to hold LDS doctrine as truth, those outside the church who cannot hold to these very specific tenets are not a “Christian” in the same sense of that word.

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