:Periodic Post: FAQ: SRM Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Buzzwords
Periodic Post
SRM Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Buzzwords FAQ
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***Mormonisms***:
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AP Aaronic Priesthood--the lower order of priesthood, held by LDS
young men starting at the age of twelve.
Bishop The leader of a ward--responsible for the spiritual and
temporal welfare of ward members.
BoA The Book of Abraham, an LDS scripture contained in the Pearl
of Great Price.
BoM The Book of Mormon
BY Brigham Young, second president and prophet of the LDS church.
CoJCoLDS The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the official
name of the religion we discuss in this newsgroup.)
D&C The Doctrine and Covenants, another book of LDS scripture which
doesn't contain very many good stories.
EQ Elder's Quorum--the priesthood organization that includes most
adult male active members of the church from about ages nineteen
to forty or fifty.
EQP Elder's quorum president
FHC Family History Center A genealogical research facility provided
at numerous church buildings around the world. Available for
members and non-members alike at no (or low) cost.
GA General Authority A church leader who has responsibilities over
the church as a whole, rather than a certain geographical area.
GBH Gordon B. Hinckley--currently the president and prophet of the
church.
HPG High Priest's Group--the priesthood organization for men who are
called to higher leadership positions in the church, as well as
most of the others after they reach about age 45.
HPGL High Priests' Group Leader--the leader of the High Priests on a
ward level.
HT Home Teaching/Teacher--an assignment for priesthood holders to go
in pairs to visit assigned members of their ward on a monthly basis,
to deliver a lesson, and also to be available in assisting those
families in their temporal and spiritual needs.
JS Usually, Joseph Smith, the first president and prophet of the church.
LDS Latter-day Saint--a quick and acceptable way to refer to a member
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
MP Melchizedek Priesthood--the higher priesthood, given to young men
before they go on missions, often at age nineteen.
MTC Missionary Training Center--a place where missionaries receive
instruction (and often language training) before going into the
mission field.
PoGP The Pearl of Great Price--yet another book of LDS scripture.
Primary The LDS organization for teaching the gospel to children ages
18 months to eleven years.
RLDS Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A church
tracing its beginnings back to Joseph Smith in the same way as the
LDS Church. The two churches split after Joseph Smith's death.
RM Returned missionary.
RS Relief Society--the organization that includes all adult women of
the church, dedicated to the proposition that "Charity never faileth."
Seminary Religion classes for LDS teenagers, usually taught near their
local high school on a daily basis.
SLC Salt Lake City, Utah, where the headquarters of the church is
located.
Stake A church administrative unit consisting of several wards.
VT Visiting Teaching/Teacher--an assignment for women members to visit
other women on a monthly basis, and keep tabs on the welfare of those
to whom they are assigned.
Ward A local LDS congregation, usually defined geographically.
YM, YW Respectively, Young Men and Young Women--the church organizations
for youth between the ages of twelve and eighteen.
***S/ARMisms***:
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ARM or a.r.m. That _other_ newsgroup, alt.religion.mormon, which isn't
as moderate as soc.religion.mormon.
ARMekite A regular hanger-out at a.r.m.
ARMF Alt.religion.mormon.fellowship, a practically moribund group that
aims to be uplifting. (Phil Striplin said it, not me!)
CFR Call for references. This means you are being asked to supply a
source (an authoritative one) for a statement that you have made.
COTMC (and its plural, CsOTMC) Critic of the Mormon Church--a person
who often expresses disagreement with LDS doctrine, policies or
practices, but does not devote his life to demonstrating how
hopelessly bad it all is.
EEMABNES Evil Eastern Mormons At Big Name Eastern Schools. (These are
often featured in interesting conspiracy theories.)
ITMSOT In the Mormon scheme of things.
NNOT Not Necessarily On Topic. A prefix used in some subject
lines to indicate that the article may be of interest to readers of
s.r.m, but not completely topical (e.g., Subject: [NNOT Utah Baby Names].
SRM or s.r.m. This newsgroup, soc.religion.mormon.
TBM This term is subject to a broad interpretation, ranging from
"True-Believing Mormon" to "True Blue Mormon" to "Totally
Believing Mormon". Accuracy or applicability of use in any
context is not guaranteed.
TC The LDS temple ceremony.
***Words that you might not recognize***
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Sabellianism a view of the Godhead which emphasizes unity to a greater
degree than Trinitarianism, and deemphasizes the separateness of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are seen as
different modes through which God is expressed, but not fully separate
persons. The idea that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are simply different
manifestations of the same Being is as absurd and heretical to
trinitarian Christians as it is to Latter-day Saints (in spite of what
you may have been taught in Primary.)
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Copies of this document are available on the s.r.m homepage
http://welcome.to/soc.religion.mormon