The number one criticism I see of the church is it’s acquired a lot of wealth and does very little with it to actually help people. Even the LDS admit there are plenty of religious huxsters getting rich selling religion and healing to the gullible. Joel Olsteen being one of the more current examples.

Obviously Joel is enjoying his money and he really doesn’t hide it. In the LDS realm you just don’t see the top leadership living in big mansions. The CEO of the corporation is always an old man with the best years behind him. They live in an apartment on top of the Eagle Gate Apartment building and they have a nice view of the Salt Lake Temple. They travel underground in an electric golf cart to their office in the old Administration building.

It’s not exactly grand living. The prophet lives an upper middle class lifestyle. Sure they get the perks of office and you certainly have a lot of power over gullible people who really think you are God’s spokes person on earth. But you are too old to old to enjoy the spoils like Joseph Smith or any huxster New Age guru does.

For having the kind of scratch that it does, the Mormon church is really boring. They simply build church buildings and invest the rest. They don’t live large. They no longer have harems or sleep with the women who are mesmerized by them. They don’t even bless and heal people on camera or give any interesting prophecies.

From what I read, most wealthy people look average. They want the freedom of anonymity. They might drive old cars and dress blue-collar. That's what I would do if I were obscenely rich.

I think the church is run by lawyers, not the Q15. Imagine being married to a lawyer who wears the pants in the family. No, they can't just splurge.

Yeah some are that way. The smart mob bosses lived low key because they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.

Well, thank yooouuu for blowing my cover!!

Go sit on a rock.

Depends on the person and circumstances. If they did not adhere to the rules of their image, then others assume the title roll and cast you out. If you do something bad that goes public, then the money stops rolling in, so you keep the image in place.

But even then having seen certain things over my life, they still do well. They have a doctor available to them 24\7 on a moments notice. They do not drive that golf cart, they are always driven. They never have to clean anything like chapel toilets or even their own apartment toilets. They do not cook, it is all done for them. They can fly anywhere they want, and get 24\7 security at anyplace they stay. Furnishing are plush, and people grovel at their feet all the time. They are treated no different that royalty, it would not surprise me if they have not wiped their backsides by themselves for years.

Its a power rush for sure, so they still get a good return on hording all those dollars. And think of Bednar, that guys ego requires some serious feedings, and the current setup will do just that.

Agree...it's the power and narcissism; more than the money, although their yearly salary sure isn't nothing-- $120K/yrly for an "unpaid clergy" with basically no expenses or liabilities (health insurance, children's education, stipends for travel, etc...).

Not bad if you are middle class but a pay cut if you are a famous surgeon or airline president. It would be a pay cut for me and who wants to go to all those meetings and fly that much? Yuck!

Do you know how they condition members to believe that they are living so humbly and frugally?

By putting on a show to the missionaries of course!

They make appearances to various missions to propagate the illusion that they are a "team". We sacrifice so the missionaries are contempt to be eaten alive at night by monster cockroaches then thankful to eat a steady diet of smack ramen noodles 3 times a day.

I am pretty sure that the Gas bags enjoy 4-6 weeks off per year/paid vacations. While I think they avoid Disneyland and Disney world- I am fairly certain they can stay at any Marriott's Resort with all amenities included.

I think the church does well to protect their private lives. I once mentioned that my institute director ran into Tom Perry on the golf greens in SLC. He pleaded them (CES Personnel) not to talk "church" with him as it was his day off.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2022 03:16PM by messygoop.

Talking church should be all they want to do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2022 03:30PM by Elder Berry.

From a former church executive assistant, the church gives the first/second Q70 members 4th of July to Pioneer Day off. Also, Dec 15 thru Jan 4th is winter break. They also take the week off around Easter and Thanksgiving. State and federal holidays too!

I think she also mentioned that many junior level GAs continue to come in to work on holidays to demonstrate their church loyalty. She mentioned that if her assigned Q70 leader worked then she had to be there too. But if the leader took off the entire vacation/holiday then the she couldn't come in to the COB to catch up on her work.

The church is like Smaug. Just sitting on the money is the enjoyment, plus the power that comes with controlling many tens of billions of dollars.

And decent salary, previous high net worth, no expenses, and heaping helpings of adulation.

That’s enough enjoyment.

^^^ this ^^^

There's a Scrooge McDuck component to this. They enjoy knowing it's there. Counting it. Feeling smug about it.