If you are attending any meetings where you are allowed to ask questions (Sunday School, Zone Conferences, Meetings with G.A.'s, 70's, etc.) PLEASE ask this question and ask it often: How can anyone take the church's membership claims of increase seriously if they continually refuse to produce the number of resigned and excommunicated members? You are making us look like fools and idiots to our nonmember friends and church investigators. While merely claiming the church is growing, the only logical conclusion anyone can make who has half a brain is that the church is not being honest with their numbers. Give all the stats or none at all. But for heavens sake, STOP PROVIDING USELESS NUMBERS THAT CANNOT BE USED FOR ANYTHING REMOTELY ACCURATE!!

Thank you very much.

My plea is that 'church' attendees stop giving them money - stop feeding the beast.

What's worse is that members give the money and don't demand an accounting of how it's spent. It should be no financial transparency = no donations.

Wouldn't it be wild if members went on strike and REFUSED to pay tithing until the church released the financial records!? TSCC should have a yearly report, at every church building, posted on the board by the bish's office for all to see. Ever year, always.

Quarterly reports! :D

Yes that and another 100 questions that never get addressed!

I wrote to Greg Dodge twice while I was investigating and both my letters were sincere and I got NO REPLY, not even an acknowledgement. What was I supposed to think?

I could only conclude the church did have something to hide and did hide it and that was then another matter that bugged me.

I spoke to Greg Dodge on the phone when I first had this issue. At the time I was merely curious as to why I couldn't find the numbers and asked him. He gave the disappointing answer that the info on resignations and excommunications was "for ecclesiastical use only". It felt like a giant slap in the face to my intelligence. That made me mad because he wouldn't say WHY! It's a necessary request if you want to know if the church is being honest. The only conclusion anyone can come to is that the church is not honest. It also bothers me that mainstream media won't point out this glaring absence of information but keeps repeating the PR information supplied by the church. Whatever happened to investigative reporting? The church seems to have a free pass to be dishonest.

Here's a primary song that I've internalized and live by, and wonder why TSCC doesn't do the same:

I believe in being honest
I believe in being true
That honesty should start with me
In all I say, in all I do.

Paraphrased into straight talk:

Greg Dodge said that's for us to know and you to find out.

Resignation facts are for us to use to improve our PR and judge the effectiveness of our lies. It is not for the use of investigators who want facts instead of feelings.

Or academics and others addicted to facts.


Anagrammy

Greg Dodge? Could someone update me?

The LDS church's go-to guy for resigning your membership. I wouldn't know why people ask him questions.

There's only one POC for resignations? Seems an entire battalion would be needed.

Do we know for sure that they count resigned/excommunicated members?

We don't know ANYTHING for certain, thanks to the SECRECY of the Morg !


But if they did not have something to hide, then why keep the resignation numbers secret ???

Greg Dodge seemed to be trying to be as forthcoming as the church would let him when I called. I got the strong impression that he wanted to tell me but couldn't. He totally admitted that they keep good data about excommunications and resignations. He's just not allowed to share it with anyone.

I have told those who will listen that I will give when there is accountability for the dispersal of the gift.

Church president Hinkley once said that he get's his power from those who sustain him. So it's easy to see why the church lies and exagerates those numbers. The only vote you get in the mormon church that counts is expressed by either supporting their madness or by leaving the church and having your name removed. So they try to steal that "right to leave" vote from you too. These tactics don't bode well for people. When the church falls, it's in for a hard landing. As a former insider, I'm going to say "see... I told you so". Until then, I think the best we can do is to expose the truth about their lies, and to attack their sources of income. In a lot of caeses, the same actions serve both purposes. They might kick you out or drive you out, but thanks to the internet, it's all happening on a public stage. The world is watching.

Wait....there's a Church meeting where you can ask questions....what?

My plea to anyone still going to church is quit going.

If every non-believer left, the seats would empty. Doubters still holding on would have a visible support group. Believers would be more likely to become doubters and then unbelievers. I understand why some can't/won't, but if everyone could, we would own our strength.

My plea:

Flee the Cult with glee.

Stop worshiping thee.

Start drinking tea.