An interesting post on RFM today and we can see this when dealing with FR mormons...
----------------------------------------------------
Mormons can't seem to tell the difference between "The Church" and "Jesus Christ"
Saturday I came home to find the ward newsletter in our mailbox. Like most ward newsletters, there were missionary letters, announcements, trivia, birthdays and a bishopric message. Our message was written by one of the counselors, reminding us of the youth theme "Stand in Holy Places." It talked about how the Savior is a firm foundation you can stand on to weather the storms of life, which is a nice Christian thought. However, the one page article went on to talk about the Savior and the Church interchangeably - like you'd use the terms Jesus, Savior, Son of God to describe the same entity.
This inability of members to distinguish between the church and Jesus gives the church incredible power to do whatever it wants and adopt the roll of an actual God in peoples' lives. How often have we all heard people say "I don't know where I'd be without the church?" Not, "I don't know where I'd be without Jesus" like in other Christian religions. They put pictures of religious buildings on their walls with the same frequency as you see pictures of the Son of God, they claim to worship, honor and serve. The songs they teach their kids are mixed between songs of God and the teachings of Jesus and things like "I Love to See the Temple" and "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ."
It's also why they are so irritated by us. We haven't just changed religions, like people do when they become Mormon. Since the church and Jesus are interchangeable in their minds, we apostates have actually turned against Jesus. It's inconceivable to them that people may leave because they want to follow Jesus or that someone's spiritual path would lead them in a different direction. They can't give respect to those who don't accept the Mormon church because it's also the Mormon God. To them, you have literally abandoned God himself.
And what's really weird is they can't even see it. They can't see how they worship their church, their temples and their membership/status in the religion. If you called them on it, they'd deny it. Yet if you listen to them, it's obvious they can't or don't differentiate between the church and their God. It's literally the same to them. That's why they can so confidently claim the church is perfect but the members aren't. Because it's like saying "God is perfect but people aren't."
Link
/div
