Christians and the body of Christ

The Mormon Church has gone out of its way in the past two decades to ensure the message gets out they want to be known as a Christian church.  The top-notch commercials on television and the appearance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on various stations are nothing short of brilliant in the advertising venue.

Our question is this:  Throughout the Book of Mormon the body of Christ is referred to as the “whore of Babylon”.  1 Nephi 14:10 says; “And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.”

Why, after 175 years of trying to ensure they are known as a “peculiar people”, do they suddenly want to associate themselves with the body of Christ if they’re referred to as a whore?  This one verse is what kept me from leaving the Church for 30 years as I didn’t want this type of reputation!