(Perhaps hard to explain...
The system in our country works differently than in the US. so don't hang up on the details.. but.. )


My TBM mother is 74 yrs old. She lives in a care home for the elderly. Has all kinds of health issues and has trouble walking and such. SHe has a tiny pension and has social benefits that also pays for things like walking sticks and a mobility scooter and things like that.

Now the church insists she pays thithing...
the government says: She is not allowed. as it is seen as a gift to charity and if she can give so much money to a church, she doesn't need so much money from the benefits...

She tells this to her bishop. Bishop says: fine, you don't have to pay thithing if you do voluntary work like clean the church building...

....

I am bloody furious!!!
and I've got a good mind to contact that idiot and tell him exactly what I think of him and his bloody cult! ..
The woman is an elderly lady! SHe's paid her dues and MORE to this cult.. leave her the F alone!!

they don't need her money... she can barely walk, let alone clean the ffing chapel!

I hate that cult..

oh god how I hate that cult!..

And to add to that, she won't be able to keep her position as temple worker either but she is away to give that up anyway cause they want her to stand on her feet all day and she just can't do it anymore. I am with you sis, I hate it more and more each day.

Indeed.

and they guilt her by sending her cards saying how much they miss her at the temple....

I just wanted to add that this is sickening. I cannot imagine anyone could feel good about doing these things. I guess some people will do absolutely ANYTHING if they are convinced god wants them to do it. I call that effin' crazy and not fit to live in society with other people.

Also, I think you should definitely call this guy and tell him what you think of his behavior. Maybe a dose of reality from a clear thinking person will cause him to reconsider his actions. He definitely needs to hear from someone who sees this from your perspective.

Raging Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, I think you should definitely call this guy
> and tell him what you think of his behavior. Maybe
> a dose of reality from a clear thinking person
> will cause him to reconsider his actions. He
> definitely needs to hear from someone who sees
> this from your perspective.

===============================
Yes
Yes
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet Mission Presidents and GAs do not have to pay tithing on their huge church "stipends"...

I feel for you.

My parents were told to pay on their GROSS income. Now, in their retirement years, the church still expects payment on both retirement and social security. **The church IS double dipping, as they have already collected tithe on these portions.

To top it off, my mother spends her limited income on crafts and activities for the youth AND cleans the church.

Same here. My TBM 71 year old TBM dad pays the morg about $300 or more a month in tithing, paying for my TBM nephew's mission in Arizona and fast offerings. He's semi-retired but he still works. So he's basically paying the morg "double tithing" from his social security, his retirement from the Postal Service etc..

Now that my mom's passed away last November and I'm still without my Social Security or a job all I see this money that he keeps giving the morg and no accounting for it. All of this money he gives them could fill our fridge with food, fix our pasture for our goats, the riding lawnmower, getting another car since my younger sister got a job and she uses the only car we have when she's at work etc...

Your story reminds me of one from back in the early 1980s when snake oil evangelist Oral Roberts was still alive to fleece the flock. I don't recall all the details, but the late Atlanta Constitution columnist, Lewis Grizzard, wrote about it.

An elderly woman who had been sending a portion of her meager fixed income to Roberts's "ministry" had died, and her children were cleaning out the house when they found a letter from Roberts, obviously one he had sent to many other "senior citizens," in which he suggests that if the recipient doesn't have the money to donate to whatever "special" cause the letter had been soliciting for, that that person go borrow the money.

The daughter contacted Grizzard because she was outraged at the nerve of a minister to suggest that an elderly person on a fixed income borrow money to send to HIM.

This is just as disgusting, and illustrates that fake "religions" are really just money pits. Your family has my sympathy.

Lewis Grizzard ain't around, so who has a suggestion on what to do or whom to tell?

Start with the local press, proceed to Youtube and Facebook.

This is a complete failure of compassion and of empathy on the part of the mormon bishop.

This is complete success in business terms as money or services will continue to flow from a nearly empty source.

Yes I am wondering what to do. I can chew out that bish. But he has no authority on me, as I don't on him.

I can tell him what I think, but he doesn't have to listen.
I do not think my mom would appriciate press coverage, although I might use it as a threat..

Remember we are in the netherlands, so USA law or media do not apply

I think, if you really choose your words carefully, the bishop might see your perspective. She is too old to be asked to go that, and a reasonable person would realize that if corrected.

Even if he doesn't want to listen, you should tell him anyway.

Until these people are called out and made to contemplate their actions as they lie awake at night, nothing will change.

Plus it sounds like no one else is going to fight your mother's corner for her.

Yes. You are right. Thank you

Just goes to show the mormon church is really the "Church of What Have You Done for Us Lately". Tell the bishop to put his request in writing, then post the letter on social media. Too many of these bishops act like little dictators. One will insist paying tithing on this or that and another one won't.

If a call to SLC, UT is not out of the question, I would call and ask them to clarify their tithing policy. Let them know you are outraged and will do what ever you can to blacken the church's reputation in your country and elsewhere. You may not be in the USA, but with the internet, you may have access to the SLC Trib. or other US media.

I got my name removed with a letter to the editor to the SLC Trib. even though I don't live in UT. My bishop wouldn't honor my request. Calling the church's office in SLC did no good either. But, once my letter to the editor appeared, I had my official "you're no longer a member" letter from the church with in the week.

Becca,

Tell the bishop to leave your mother alone. Tell him that if he continues, you will contact the requisite government agency and put him in hot water with them. If necessary, tell the government agency that the bishop of the LDS church is shaking down your mom! There's gotta be a department of elderly protection there who has investigators who could pay a visit to the bishop. He needs to understand that he is disobeying the law.

Tithing is (supposed to be) a personal choice, a "donation" from your "surplus" to help further the WORK of CoJCoLDS. One should never be expected to pay twice on the same income, EVER, regardless of the circumstances. These are not earnings. Retirement or broke mentally, physically, spiritually and psychologically?

The thing that gets me about stuff like this, is that it's supposed to be the church of Jesus, but like heck any of the teachings of Jesus are actually followed. I was always taught in church how exemplary the widow was who cast her two mites into the treasury. In fact, I think I heard Bednar talk about this very thing last October. But if you actually read the pretext of the widow's mite in Mark 12:38-44, you notice an entirely different story. Jesus wasn't commending the widow at all, he was bashing the oppression of the widow by the "chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: which devour widows houses." Bednar completely missed the point as he talked about how responsible he and his colleagues are with the widow's mite. The dork doesn't get that Jesus was calling him a wolf in sheep's clothing, who fleeces the poor and the weak for their farthing. Jesus was telling his disciples to beware of those haughty priests who devour widows' houses.

The bishop wants her to clean the facilities at 74? At that age you're lucky if you can use the facilities. What a jerk that man is. He'd be defrocked if they gave a frock.