“Mormon” Terminology

Great Spirit or God?

When Ammon began teaching King Lamoni, they discovered a communication gap. Ammon adjusted accordingly:

And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: “Believest thou that there is a God?”

And he answered, and said unto him: “I do not know what that meaneth.”

And then Ammon said: “Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?”

And he said, “Yea.”

And Ammon said: “This is God.” (Alma 18:24-28, quotation marks added)

King Lamoni on Google, Ammon the Blogger

If the Internet had come 2,000 years earlier, King Lamoni might have used a search engine to learn about the “Great Spirit.”

google great spirit

Accordingly, Ammon’s personal blog—no doubt—would have mentioned the “Great Spirit.” Then Ammon would have explained, “This is God.”

Use Language That Persons of Other Faiths Will Understand

Non-Mormons commonly look for information about the Church using language that Mormons avoid, e.g. Mormon church, Mormon beliefs, Mormon missionaries, etc. If your neighbor searches for Mormon beliefs but you blog about LDS beliefs, search engines won’t connect the two of you. Good online missionaries bridge language gaps by using the vocabulary that non-Mormons use on their own blogs and websites.

Elder Ballard said, “Use stories and words that [nonmembers] will understand.”