I am replying to the below post by "Bruce" in an already closed thread;

Mr. Bruce-

In fair disclosure I resigned my membership in 2006 after spending the first 42 years of my life as a mormon. While a member, I served in 4 bishoprics and had firsthand knowledge in funds collected and sent to SLC. Although monies from fast offerings remain local for local members use, the "majority", tithing & "other" donations are returned to SLC for the corporation to disperse.

Since leaving I have no bad feelings towards the general membership, hell 50% of my family and 90% of my wife's family are practicing mormons. I have many issues with the LD$ church not providing it's members with an accounting of the funds collected. Of course, as an active temple attending member, you are conditioned to trust and therefore not "worry" about how the Lord's appointed spend the funds. And if you ever felt compelled to ask questions, you would than be branded as having lost your testimony and be challenged to focus on increasing your testimony until you no longer "need to know". Sound confusing? Well it is quite a racket. I personally donated more than $150,000 to the LD$ corporation during my lifetime. Just like ALL of my investments and donations, I expect an accounting for where my monies are going.

Do I sound angry? Maybe. I am really mostly sad for my family members who pay tithing and struggle to make ends meet while the LD$ church uses their donations for ????? If they have nothing to hide than disclose!

Oh, one more thing. When you have bad service work done by a mechanic, would you be silent if your parent's or siblings were telling you they were about to have work done by the same mechanic or would you fell compelled to tell them of your experience?

Posted by: Bruce ( )
Date: June 30, 2012 12:45AMRe: Reuter's finance article incoming!

I am reading some of these posts and wondering what makes some of you folks just so vindictive? I mean seriously whether the chuch is the only true and living church on the earth as we claim it to be is really irrelevant considering the incredible good that the church does in the lives of its members each day. Your cynicism and vitriol should be saved for the real bad people in society, not the real sincere people around you. Maybe you should just learn to move on and let it go.

The problem with all the "Bruce"s of the cult is they just want to silence the dissenters with that thought-stopping nonsense they spout:
"...whether the chuch is the only true and living church on the earth as we claim it to be is really irrelevant considering the incredible good that the church does in the lives of its members each day..."

No, "Bruce," it is indeed relevant: and the more money the cult takes in under the pretense of being an institution that does "incredible good [...] in the lives of its members each day," the more need there is for daylight to shine on the connections, flows, and workings of that money. Otherwise you might as well pay protection money to your local Mafia family. They can protect you just as well as the Mormons can from bad things happening, and Italian food tastes better and is better for you than Green Jell-O Surprise and Funeral Potatoes ...

>vindictive? no by saying I am vindictive implies I want revenge that's not at all what I'm after.

I'm after justice. Justice for leaders who hold dishonesty above honesty and excuse their actions away while proclaiming it is for the greater good.

Justice for leaders who's doctrine harm the innocent, while proclaiming it is for their own good.

I won't argue that I am sometimes angry that a church leadership presents itself as a shining example of hope and goodness whereas I know there is poison and rot at the center. I can't stand by and not warn others away when they ask me about it. I choose honesty, believing that it is for the greater good of all that I do so.

In fact I hope questioning members and investigators like you come and read some of the shining examples of devoted members of the church set forth by those who write on this board that they might have a better understanding of the truthfulness of their religion.

Those who are members who truly want only to be humble servants of the Lord I would ask them to review the Lord's mission and the church's mission because a chasm is growing between the two that will eventually become unbreachable.

I'm perfectly willing to concede that the LDS church does good works and is filled with people of good intentions. Here's the trouble:

1. The faith is based on a fraud. This is not in question. It is a fact.

2. The "good works" it does are very small compared to the amount of money collected. It is immoral to continue promoting a totally false belief system while spending billions on useless endeavors such as temples and proselyting. It is inefficient in the extreme as a charity when those things are considered. Think of the good that would result if the money required to build and maintain even one large temple was instead devoted to a hospital or school in a developing country!

3. It is totalitarian and and anethema to the ideals of Liberty and Western Enlightenment. It is sexist. Despite weasel words to the contrary, it continues to promote the ancient Judeo-Chiristian concept that women are subservient because Eve caused the fall.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2012 10:29AM by rationalguy.