The LDS church was always cash poor until Lorenzo Snow made tithing a cash system to raise money to save the church from bankruptsy. Before this change, tithing was mostly paid in some form of barter, stored locally and distributed to the needy in the area. Basically a local system to help the poor and needy was raided by the the church officials to keep the church in Salt Lake from going bankrupt.

Once the cash started coming into Salt Lake they soon paid off all their debts and ended up with a surplus which they invested in businesses like sugar production and utility companies. This was the begining of the corporate church we know today and the end of the bishop's storehouse in the local areas that helped the local poor and needy.

In short, the church raided the welfare system to invest in commercial ventures.

Exactly, that's what I've been pointing out for a long time.

Tithing should be used to help the poor but the morg has shifted that to additional Fast Offerings, while using tithes to pay for their pet projects.

ALL money the church has originated from tithes since, as you correctly state, the morg was broke under Lorenzo Snow.

Let me add that I would not object to tithing if the morg functioned like a commonwealth, with every family being stockholders and reaping financial benefits for their efforts.

But the curret setup exploits the members while benefitting only the people at the top.

It is also very disturbing that the church's finances are a closely guarded secret from the very members who do most of the work.

This is NOT how God's true kingdom functions!!

I am just guessing, but I think that if the LDS records on how tithing as spent was made public tithing would drop off.

Of course, it will not happen with the consent of the leadership. But what a shock and wake-up call THAT day will be for many Mormons, when the leadership can no longer spin the truth or weasel out of it!

It's a 10% flat tax that the Levites lived off of.
Levites did not produce anything other than laws, and lived off taxes. Just like congress today.

BadGirl Wrote:
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> It's a 10% flat tax that the Levites lived off
> of.
> Levites did not produce anything other than laws,
> and lived off taxes. Just like congress today.

It was the ONLY tax levied in the kingdom and was limited to 10% because of the belief that that was enough to tax people. It was used for the Levites, for charity, the king's expenses, etc.

Most Mormons today are unaware that there was a time when bishops and stake presidents received regular pay, based on the amount of tithing they collected. The bishop kept 10% of all tithing collected in his ward, and the SP got 1% of what was collected in his stake.

In addition, SPs got a pension after they were released, which I presume was paid for from tithing.

On a similar note, patriarchs charged $2 for a blessing (a lot of money in those days, when a dollar was often a day's pay).

Wow, the similarities to the hated tax collectors of ancient Israel are clear....Matthew, for instance, was considered so foul at the beginning because he kept a percentage of the taxes he collected for the Romans. When Christ called him to be an apostle, it probably drove Peter insane.

RPackham: This is the first I've heard of this. Do you have a source or link handy? (I believe it, but would love a source.)

According to Lucy Mack Smith, father Smith gave blessings as a patriarch to make some extra money. So he was like a Chinese fortune teller basically.

The Levites ran the temple system and like the LDS temple system, it was designed to control the members of the church and make the leaders who ran the system rich and powerful. Many scholars now believe Solomon's temple was based more on a Babylonian control system than Moses portable tabernacle which was a storage area for the Ark of the Covenant. Solomon's and Herrod's temples were money collection centers, population control programs, and a storehouse of wealth. Jesus knew what he was doing when he called the place a den of thieves. It was a real racket.

What is so pathetic is to see how "sisters" flock to stake dinners and couples come to Relief Society conference dinners. There is never enough food. You plan on 100, and 250 show up. Always have to run to KFC, etc to buy more food. But, you know most Mormons, "If it's free and I don't have to pitch in to help, IT"S FOR ME"! How many dinners did you go to if you waited, there were crumbs left...And the low lifes with 8 kids would bring a small bowl of potato salad but their herd were knocking people down to get in line 1st !!!

Rubicon Wrote:
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> tithing was mostly paid in some form of barter, stored locally and distributed to the needy in the area.

the main purpose of tithing:
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/mal/3/10#10
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be ***meat*** in mine house"

the lds church turned the church into a business instead... and i would say there is ENOUGH MEAT in his house now... a phony revelation about doing away with tithing while giving more to the poor and needy would be the church's best step forward if they want to stay alive and improve their image. (we actually shouldnt say stuff like that though =)

Nick Humphrey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rubicon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > tithing was mostly paid in some form of barter,
> stored locally and distributed to the needy in the
> area.
>
> the main purpose of tithing:
> http://scriptures.lds.org/en/mal/3/10#10
> "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that
> there may be ***meat*** in mine house"
>
> the lds church turned the church into a business
> instead... and i would say there is ENOUGH MEAT in
> his house now... a phony revelation about doing
> away with tithing while giving more to the poor
> and needy would be the church's best step forward
> if they want to stay alive and improve their
> image. (we actually shouldnt say stuff like that
> though =)


So tithing originally was meat. I just gave them money when I should have just killed the dog and dragged in the corpse.

How the church uses tithing to emotionally and spiritually control and manipulate its members makes my head ache. I used to believe in the fairy tale, but the magic faded years ago.

Maybe it was never there...
Maybe it was never there...
Mabye it was never there...

006 wrote:
>RPackham: This is the first I've heard of this. Do you have a source or link handy? (I believe it, but would love a source.)

See Michael Quinn's "Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power [vol 2]" page 206

This is one of the problems I have with the mormon church (as an outsider... never-mo... or whatever it's called). It's a business, and whenever money is involved you get corruption and anything you do becomes bastardized. That is why I'm not a fan of any kind of religion, though I still consider myself Christian.






(i'm the guy dating the mormon girl)