The Mistake of Denying Others the Name of Christ

It's a disappointingly popular pastime among a subset of Christianity to take an actively accusatory stance toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  So many times I have heard, "Mormons aren't Christian."  They essentially always neglect to use the correct name of the Church, because it starts to sound absurd to say that members of the Church of Jesus Christ aren't Christian.  While it's possibly useful to go point by point and provide explanations to potentially alleviate people's concerns (e.g., reliance exclusively on the Bible can't be a defining aspect of Christianity because the followers of Christ in His time were definitely Christian but the New Testament hadn't even been written yet and the Bible wouldn't exist as a collected volume until several hundred years later), it's also unlikely to be effective because people are already taking a stance of opposing the Church; even the most basic truths are not convincing to someone who doesn't want to hear them.

When I converse with people who are confrontational or antagonistic, I try to change the tone of the conversation.  I try to ask about their beliefs--independent of mine or of the teachings of the Church they have objected to--so that they can start participating in mutual understanding.  I try to have hope of establishing a conversation free from contention.  It still always depends on the other person, too, but sometimes the tone does improve and very good things come of it.

Recently, another thought occurred to me.  Antagonists often cite Christianity while condemning us in a very un-Christian sort of way.  Here's what I expressed to one such person:

"As to whether or not we should judge others, I think there will be a lot of surprise and embarrassment when, standing before Jesus Christ at the day of judgment, some people will hear Him say, 'You treated some of my disciples very poorly.  You tried to deny my name to them.'  Perhaps they might sheepishly respond, 'Well, we thought they weren't good enough.'  He might, in turn, say, 'I was pretty clear that you weren't supposed to judge others.'  Christ's own words ought to give some people great pause.  Yes, as we read in Matthew 7:21-23, there will be those who thought they had done great things in His name only to find out later that He tells them He doesn't know them, and that they must 'depart' from Him.  But consider this: how horrible will it be for those who have judged others to be unworthy of Christ's name, given His words just earlier in that same chapter?  'Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.'  How horrible it would be for our Redeemer to say to a person, 'You would have denied my name to others, and now I must deny it to you.'  How horrible it will be when He does have to tell people who professed His name to depart.  I really feel like that's something that should make people reconsider their words about other people's beliefs.

Last thoughts for now:
My faith and my knowledge of God aren't deterred or undone by any critical words from others, but I hope that they're always grounded in Christlike love so that I might be able to serve people who would otherwise call themselves my enemies.  Perhaps I will be able to express my concern about the fate of those who judge in a loving way to those who are being overtly judgmental.  Perhaps it will help.