So let’s talk abt Jesus. It’s true the Christus isn’t the Jesus for a global church (or even for American Mormons) & it’s true a graphic design choice isn’t the exciting development RMN thinks it is. But my issue w this symbol has more to do w what we’re saying theologically 1/9

What is Mormonism really about? What’s its most fundamental teaching? Is it that Jesus died for your sins? That’s what a Christian church would claim. As a missionary I was instructed to teach as the foundation of all Mormon doctrine that “God is a loving Heavenly Father” 2/9

Compare “I am a Child if God” with “Amazing Grace” & I think you’d learn everything you need to know abt Mormonism’s unique relationship w other believers in Jesus. Our worth as human beings is not as dependent on Jesus’ sacrifice as it is on our inherent, inborn divinity. 3/9

Christians believe the Fall was bad & we inherit Adam & Eve’s sin. Mormons believe the Fall was good & we inherit their agency. Our ability to sin is what Jesus saves us from, say Christians, whereas Mormons see that ability as material the atonement can alchemize into glory 4/9

So what does this have to do w the symbol? Well I think our recent emphasis on JC is missing the point of the Restoration & this symbol is, indeed, symbolic of that blunder. Ofc Jesus is central to Mormonism but in a fundamentally different way than he is to other religions 5/9

Maybe this will be controversial to some of you but I think it’s indisputable: Jesus is not the message of Mormonism. Our Heavenly Parents are. They were the message that Jesus brought, & our relationship to them was the most important thing restored by Joseph 6/9

By refusing to acknowledge Heavenly Mother, embracing traditional Christian language more emphatically, & hiding our unique theology surrounding Jesus, we are erasing the central teaching of the Restoration & replacing it w a protestant statue of a white, mainstream Christ 7/9

The Christians are right when they claim we worship a different Jesus. In some theological sense we absolutely do & that is something we desperately need to embrace if we are going to survive as a living religion built on new, uniquely Mormon truths 8/9

So if we’re gonna choose a new symbol for the Church I’d have picked @ashrowans to do the designing bc this rendition using Caitlyn Connoly’s beautiful depiction of our Heavenly Parents is a far more appropriate symbol for the message we’re trying to bring to the world 9/9