Copied from another post below---- I am wondering if anyone had an experience like mine and has actually told to bishop what they thought at the time... that they were basically "paying for their signature"?

My story:

This was one of the main "last straws" for me.

I went to try and get a recommend. I wasn't a FULL tithe payer at the time, but I had desires to catch up and make good. Even though I had paid tithing for the previous 25 years of my life faithfully. (At this time I wasn't paying simply because we were ALWAYS out of town, and We'd wait to get home to pay it, sometimes MONTHS apart.)

I got an hour lecture about how if I wasn't a full tithe payer, he wouldn't sign my recommend, and then I couldn't get into Nauvoo (or wherever the "last stand" is,) That meant, he sternly asserted, "that when the Lord came, and I would be left out of the group and would not be recognized as worthy, and would be damned. "

All because in his exact words "your recommend was not signed by the proper authority, which would prove your worthiness."

I was shocked. I had gone in wanting to settle up, and came out feeling threatened, belittled, blackmailed, and evil.

For the first time I realized that I was "BUYING MY WAY INTO HEAVEN." and that heaven's way was paved with a signature, that could only be acquired by the whims of a bishop. Can you say ego trip?

I never paid tithing again.

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all is one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

(Robert Plant, 1970)

Sam Brannan said something like that to Brigham Young.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Brannan

DH & I were at our scheduled tithing interview appointment. I had recently been diagnosed with diabetes & we were struggling to pay for meds, before the insurance kicked in. DH was fired from Wally World on trumped up charges & had gotten a new job. The bishop was lecturing us on the benefits of paying a full tithe. I told him we were paying for meds & couldn't be a full tithe payer. He shook his finger in my face & said I lacked faith. The last time I was told this, was when my 19 yr. old son had recently died after a 2-yr. long battle with cancer. Our son had been given a 'health blessing' from a GA so when our son died, I asked why the blessing did not come to pass. I was told because I lacked faith. So....when this bishop said that to me, I stood up & walked out of the meeting, sent in my papers a short while later & never looked back. DH followed me out about a year later.

These men called to 'leadership' positions are business men, not counselors trained in theology, human relations, marriage counseling, etc., so any counsel they give is beyond stupid. Their first & foremost job is to promote corporate propaganda.

Good for you! So sorry about your troubles. That must have been hell.

I never went to a tithing settlement. Bishop never said anything, and when members mention signing up, I ignored them.

I understand members can send tithing directly to SLC and their bishops get a statement saying they paid tithing but not how much. If true, members could pay $1 and lie about being a full tithe payer.

I lied anyway. I was never challenged.

In my former ward, Bishop Sleazy had a habit of discussing people's tithing and speculating on their salaries with the ward council and his wife. I started paying tithing directly to SLC after he hit me up on behalf of his pet charity. He tried to take away my recommend, but I told him I paid to SLC, told him I had copies of the cancelled checks and reminded him that his own big mouth was the reason for my actions. He never bothered me again after that.

I went inactive before I was ever asked for tithing. But I would have welcomed the opportunity to say no to the request. I've never held a temple recommend, or wanted to, so that couldn't be lorded over me. And, I with the responsibilities of raising a family back then and running a farm, I always had better uses for my money.

Ron Burr

I had been inactive for years, but thanks to Mom, the new ward had my name and address and I was assigned HT's and VT's (whom I graciously invited into my home because I was a nice girl). Anyhoo, out of the blue one Sunday morning I get a call from one of the clerks demanding that I show up for tithing settlement at 1:45 pm that afternoon. "Uh, I'm not an active member of your church", says I. "Bishop Debtcollector is insistent that you appear at the scheduled time", says a man I've never met in my life (I pictured him short, with a receding hairline and a pasty complextion). I told him that I didn't know him, the previously mentioned bishop, wasn't paying any money and wouldn't be summoned to anyone's office to discuss my finances. I might've even said Thank You before I hung up on him. He was just assigned to go down the list of ward "members" and I happened to fall in the C's. Asshat.

Never did get a call like that...I've often thought that my Dad could have told the bish to leave me alone. Dad was highly respected in the ward and stake and a big contributor....he also respected my decision to quit attending church and it was never discussed.

Ron Burr

The vindictive part of me would have wanted to go in all black, or in inappropriate attire, and "give him my 2 cents"..... of course, not real 2 cents.

OR, I would go, asking if he had invited me there to discuss how I could be paid back for all the YEARS of tithe I had paid to a crackpot institution.