Allow me to begin with some keys verses from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, revealing what the true "church" actually is: an organically mystical Body of Friends:
John 15:1-17 (EXB):
Jesus Is Like a Vine
15 “I am the true vine [contrast Israel, the unreliable vine; Ps. 80:8–18; Is. 5:1–7]; my Father is the gardener [farmer; vinedresser]. 2 He cuts off [or takes away] every branch of mine [in me] that does not produce fruit [whose lives bear no indication of a relationship with Christ]. And he trims and cleans [prunes; the verb implies both trimming and cleaning] every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit [Heb. 12:4–11]. 3 You are already clean [or pruned] because of the words I have spoken to you. 4 Remain [Abide] in me, and I will remain [abide] in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone [by itself] but must remain [abide] in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain [abide] in me. …
... 7 If you remain [abide] in me and follow my teachings [my words abide/remain in you], you can ask anything you want, and it will be given to [be done for; come to] you. 8 You should produce much fruit and show that you are [or become] my followers [disciples], which brings glory to [glorifies] my Father. 9 I loved you as the Father loved me. Now remain [abide] in my love. 10 I have obeyed [kept] my Father’s commands, and I remain [abide] in his love. In the same way, if you obey [keep] my commands, you will remain [abide] in my love. 11 I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have [my joy may be in you] and so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy [might be complete].
12 “This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends [No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends; Jesus’ death is the ultimate expression of this principle]. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you servants [slaves; bond-servants], because a servant [slave; bond-servant] does not know what his master [lord] is doing. But I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me; I chose you. And I gave you this work: [appointed you] to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last [remain; abide]. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name [see 14:13]. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
1 Nephi 15: 15:
... Yea, at that day, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine? Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God?
Alma 16:15-17:
15 And thus did Alma and Amulek go forth, and also many more who had been chosen for the work, to preach the word throughout all the land. And the establishment of the church became general throughout the land, in all the region round about, among all the people of the Nephites.
16 And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming—
17 That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God.
John 17:22 (EXB):
I have given these people the glory [honor] that you gave me so that they can be one, just as you and I are one.
Mosiah 18:8-10:
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
Here's a radical idea: with the above scriptures in mind, what if the restored gospel was not a litmus test of "which boxes do you check off" to hold a temple recommend, and it wasn't about attending Chapel; but instead, what if being "the church" meant being part of a fold of friends as described in the verses above? What if we took seriously John 13:35 (EXB), "All people will know that you are my followers [disciples] if you love each other [one another].” What if we took the Book of Mormon passage above to mourn with those who mourn seriously? What if we took the passages about what it means to be a Zion-People seriously in Moses 7.
Or will we focus on our clothing or doing our "duty" without being friends, or feeling "perfect" and righteous like the Pharisees did? Or will we live as if we are branches on the true vine, as if the sap of God's love flows between us as an interdependent spiritual organism, regardless of our leadership position, Church-building attendance, outward attire, or whether or not we wear a certain kind of garments or have a Temple recommend card in our pocket.
For me, to be "Mormon" is to embrace the Smith-Rigdon Movement, the restored gospel or LDS Christianity. I am not Catholic or Protestant. I am Mormon. There are many ways to mormon. I served the second half of my mission in Independence Missouri and met many "Book of Mormon believers" who did not follow the tradition of the Brighamite saints that settled in Utah. These other Saints were just as devoted to the restored gospel as any member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I encountered. On my mission in Missouri I learned to consider them members/branches of the church/vine, as in the word "church" in Greek means Ecclesia: meaning an assembly of people seeking to take upon them the name of Christ or follow in his steps.
For me, the word "church" means the Vine and the members are the branches on the Vine. The church is not a sect or religious institution. Its not a corporation, nor an elite leadership or a church manual or handbook. The "true church" is the true vine with its fruits/results of a loving community.
What if instead of focusing on doctrinal or creedle differences we focused on the doctrine of Christ in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 31: 1-2, 20-21), and did not get hung up on doctrinal or restorationist-sectarian differences, especially since the original "doctrine" of the "restored church" (which was bound in LDS Scripture in 1835) was the Lectures on Faith, a monotheistic trinitarian document, that is no longer considered doctrine today in the Brigmite sect, nor in most other restorationist sects. Hence creedle doctrines do in fact change and develop. What if we considered the doctrine of Christ: which is simply to repent (apologize for wrongs, make restitution, and re-choose the better path), be baptized (as symbolic of becoming a fruitful branching member on the vine); and receive God's Spirit, in Greek Pneuma (pronounce Numa). The Spirit or Pneuma, is a person or member of the Godhead but also is in part an empowering fluid power (as Mormon apostle Parley Pratt and modern biblical scholar Engberg-Peterson explain); thus, it is literally poured into us like sap flowing in a Vine, enlivening and uniting the branches (see Prov. 1:23, Isaiah 32:15, Acts 10:45; D&C 19:38; Mosiah 18:10, 3 Nephi 20:27).
If we all had Christ's pneuma (spirit) to be with us, then would it matter which Book of Mormon sect we attended or if we attended a "church building" at all? Would it not matter more that we gathered anywhere and everywhere as true friends, as braches on the same Vine? What if being an LDS Christian became about our love one to another and by our fruits (loving friendships) others knew us; i.e. they could recognize us by our joyful and radiant show of love one to another. The most important question on our minds would continually be: are we a Zion-People, united as genuine friends, as pneumatic filled branches on the Vine bearing good fruit (results) that demonstrate that we have taken upon us the name of Christ and have his pneuma to be with us?
