From the book jacket of LDS author Joseph Fielding McConkie's Here We Stand: "…as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are the recipients of the glorious message of the First Vision and the glorious record of the Book of Mormon. To downplay them--indeed, to fail to emphasize them--is to undermine the very foundation of our faith."

Why, then, has this message been replaced with an emphasis on Jesus Christ and the Bible in LDS Visitors Centers and in LDS commercials airing on TV?

It has not been replaced. Many misinformed people feel Latter-day Saints are not Christian, therefore I think church leaders have responded to that, though not dramatically, our story is still the same. Throughout my entire life, the Savior and the Prophet Joseph Smith have both been emphasized. The question above is inaccurate. Christ, Joseph Smith, The Bible, and The Book of Mormon have always been emphasized in Visitor's Centers are still today. The church has a wonderful "informercial" I guess we could call it, that is on cable and it's all about the Book of Mormon, it's wonderful. I have been in Joseph McConkie's class and heard him talk about this idea, I don't think that we back down from the 1st Vision and Book of Mormon in our preaching, maybe he does. -W.S. (LDS)

First, Joseph Fielding McConkie, though a respected member of the LDS Church, he is not a spokesperson for the LDS Church. Second, the Church is not "downplaying", or "failing to emphasize" the Book of Mormon and the First Vision by fashioning the evangelical ministry to appeal to, and reach, specific audiences who have specific questions about the LDS beliefs in Jesus Christ and the Bible. The actions of Christ's later-day Church are similar to the actions of Christ's early-day Church, where the "emphasis" of the gospel messages was tailored differently to reach both Gentiles and Jew, bond and free, male and female. -W.E. (LDS)

I think the shift has occured because most people throughout the world do not even think "Mormons" are christians. they are, there church holds the name of the savior. read in the Book of Mormon, 2nd. Nephi, vs.25-26. After reading this there can be no question that Mormons are christians, and very strong ones at that. The emphisis has been placed on the bible recently to reiterate that the bible and book of mormon go hand in hand in the bringing down of false docterines and in the proclomation of the truth. -K.G. (non-LDS)

i would say the reason they emphasize jesus christ is because mormons are not christans. for if mormons are christans then why do we belive in the trinty and they dont, we belive god has always been god but they belive he was once a man. there is so much christans believe that mormons deny, they need to place more focus on the bible-- so many people only have a surface knowledge of it, that they think if mormons say we're christans, people will believe it. if i told people i was a mormon but denied their teachings they would put a stop to it, so why am i to accept them as christans when they deny so much of what i believe? to talk futher e-mail me at "[email protected]" -RB (non-LDS)