Names of Christ

Mosiah 3:17-"There shall be ^­no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ"

Acts 4:12-"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

   Both of these scriptures make it clear that Christ is the only name whereby men can be saved.  This seems like a simple enough principle but it became even more meaningful for me as I applied it to a question I had. 

   This last spring term I took a spanish american history class which I really liked.  For my final paper we each got to choose our own book to read and write a book review of.  Since this is BYU and we studied the Olmec and Mayan civilizations, I thought it would be really interesting to read some scholarly works about Central America and the Book of Mormon.  I chose a book about how Quetzalcoatl might have been Jesus Christ.  This belief was based on the fact that early settlers of America claimed that the Native Americans told them that Quetzalcoatl was a "bearded white God from the east", that had visited them and promised to return (much like the Book of Mormon describes Christ visit among the ancient Americans after his resurrection).  There were lots of other obvious connections, such as the fact that he was crucified for our sins.  Scholars believed for centuries that the reason Cortes conquered the Aztecs was because the Aztec emperor thought Cortes was the bearded white God Quetzalcoatl returned to rule.  All of these evidences led President John Taylor to say, "we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being”.  

    However, in recent years scholars have concluded that the Spaniards made up the whole Bearded White God Legend in order to make the natives sound naive and in order to impose Christianity on them.  Although no one can prove either belief, if this later belief is correct, what can we make of President John Taylor's quote?  (Finally to the question that I referred to at the beginning of this post).  Part of me originally felt like these recent scholars were less credable because they are further removed from the age in which these events actually happened and thus could be ignored.  However, as I began to ponder more about this subject I realized that it didn't really matter.

   First off, lets analyze President Taylor's quote more thoroughly.  The key phrase is "we can come to no other conclusion".  This does not sound like a direct revelation from God, it doesn't even sound like his own personal opinion, this sounds like him trying to make sense of the evidences at hand.  It could be read as "due to the evidence given, the only reasonable conclusion using logic is...".  It would have made no sense for him to question the scholars of his day to disprove them because our salvation does not hinge on this issue.  This is where the two verses at the top came into play.  After struggling a few nights over this topic, running it through my mind constantly, I really started to feel discouraged.  The culminating point was one night where I came across something someone that had left the Church had written and used the Quetzalcoatl thing as part of his reasoning.  As I felt even more confused I got on my knees that night feeling completely empty spiritually and emotionally.  As I prayed the answer came to me.  "No other name."  Whether Quetzalcoatl was Christ or not, really doesn't matter.  I won't be saved or condemned based on that single point.  The only name that can save me is Christ.  If I am living Christ's gospel in Christ's Church with Christ's Priesthood that is all that matters.  I would almost propose that out of the over 100 names and titles given to Christ, the only two that we really need to know are Jehovah and Jesus Christ, since those are his premortal name and mortal name/title.  We know Christ visited the Americas but we do not know if the Native American people maintained that belief through the name of Quetzalcoatl throughout history.

    This is another example of why we shouldn't get too worried about non-salvatory debates and remember that the gospel is simple.  Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.  Anything beyond that should never put those in question but only strengthen them.