Say a family has an "income" of $50,000. The pay $5,000 in tithing. There are 52 weeks in a year. Roughly each week they will be donating $100 as they sit through the 3 hour block of meetings. Of course that covers the "mutual" and other meetings in the week. But, imagine... What could a family do that is meaningful with an extra $100 per week. Movies (more entertaining than Sac meeting). Now for the families that earn more. It really got me thinking about why Rock Waterman was dealt with so harshly by LDS, inc. Like Stewie going after Brian for his money.

Pay off your house in half the time.

Yup--and they pay 10% right off the top, not on their "increase".

Urrrggghh....

Yeah, continuing revelation says "Pay more."

I would love some old farmer or port-a-pottie business to show up at church with one of nine chickens, or with one tenth of portable toilets as an offering to the bishop. The bishop would have a WTF moment and then try to school the person that the Lord really prefers Federal Reserve Notes or central bank currency. Maybe the next profit will get the revelation that all tithing must be paid in Bitcoin or Bank of International Settlements notes....after all, this is a global church you know?

I am old enough to have seen just that.

Grandpa gave up one in 10 calves to the church ranch.

10 percent of his grain went to the bishop's store house.

Be rarely gave cash.

Once he was pressured to giving cash it was only after he deducted every expense for the farm including any loans, utilities etc.

Some years he gave nothing if the farm was in the negative.

It's retirement savings, college educations, money for homes (both you and your kids,) money to start businesses. It's a big, blowout vacation *every year.*

No church needs this much money. You do! You have a life to live and things to accomplish.

Believe you me, this "church" ain't getting none (never mind the double negative there...it is just for theatre) of my cash. Now, others in my family go into convulsions when they think they might not "get" to pay tithing. That is not the case with me. And, damn I'm "blessed". But should my fortune change tomorrow, that is life. Not some vengeful God acting pissy because I'm not paying for his minion to drive an Audi. If this was such an amazing kingdom being built up, why does it rely on these currencies of man? Why does it not lead the charge and create its own currency that is valuable above all else, such that all seek after it and use it for trade as a medium as pure as the driven snow? .... I guess, why do Ponzi schemes not do that either?

My family could have taken some fabulous vacations and seen the world with what we paid in tithing.

My parents could have easily put all six of their kids though college. Instead not a single one of went until we were in our 30's, 40's, and even 50's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2016 07:59PM by madalice.

The only solace I get is that what ever I paid over the years did have some kind of tax consequence. HOWEVER, in hindsight, there would have been better charities to have donated to, or suffer the tax burden and put it all on RED. I'm sure I would have won at some point.

After the split with my ex-wife she asked how I could afford a vacation in Las Vegas? Tithing gives so few options. You had better enjoy Church a whole lot for that kind of money.

Why didn't I take her to Las Vegas? Even if we had the money (or the time) to vacation, why go somewhere when we all know how she would complain about everything from open gambling to "immodest attire." Much better to travel with a companion who enjoys gambling and "immodest attire."

My ex learned that my current companion and I have dinner in a restaurant at least once a week. I told my ex, "We had a dinner out during our marriage, too, but it was always bread and water."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2016 10:58AM by idleswell.

Put $1200 ($100 per month) into a CD at even a lousy 2% interest rate, and in 20 years you'll have $29,739.98.

Instead of being down $24,000.

That's a $53k swing.

It's more than $100/week too. You have to add a generous fast offering to that number plus the expense to properly do your calling that the church doesn't pay for. And if you live far from the church building, you have to add in all the gas and wear and tear on your car to make trips to clean the building etc.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2016 11:04PM by want2bx.

I am a never mo. I joined a Christian Church in 1979 which had tithing. I tithed for 9 years until I figured out I was a sucker who was supporting people to have a better life while my family got by with less. It's a racket!

My ex was paying tithing while not paying bills and taxes. So add to the initial 10% late charges, interest, charges for bounced checks and oh yeah, the cost of a divorce.

It just occured to me....
Tithing was based on INCREASE because the notion is that as you pay tithing you are blessed with prosperity. So it follows that it would be to the benefit of "god", the church, and the member.
Somehow it got bastardized like everything else.

I wonder if it all stems from the time the 15th and 16th amendment were passed. That got the Fed government thinking that they had a little bit more direct access to tax the individual. So the profit center (SLC) says to itself, it too should have better access to the member's pocketbook and not commodities form the members. So I'm sure some rebelation went out that all god's members were to be taxed and that they could now pay not in just goats and chickens my but the stuff the Lord really appreciates, Gold dollars, Silver dollars and FRNs. So let it be deposited, so let it be done.

It is like God is the big sugar daddy in the sky who needs you to support whatever what some people call a church. If you don't give, then daddy is going to get you and withhold his blessings from you. Plus, Daddy's servants will make life harder for you than it already is.

I have _specifically_ avoided calculating how much tithing I gave to the cult.

I'm afraid it would be too depressing and I don't want to know.

My younger inactive brother and I have roughly estimated that all of our TBM family members(parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles etc..) have given the morg millions of dollars over our lifetime. I know my TBM dad gives them about 5K a year. It was like that before my mom died. Now it's online so I have no clue....

That's one thing I feel *very* lucky about.
I got out just after my mission, at 21. Before I started making any real money.
So all they got out of me was 10% of my teenage earnings at Jack-in-the-Box. Which, back then at $1.60 an hour minimum wage, wasn't much.
Whew.

Don't know how much my parents paid in their lifetimes. High 6 figures I'd guess. And in the end it got them nothing.

RB

You can pay your kids tuition for a year or buy them an old car. The Mormon approach to Tithing is evil and NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY.

With my Mormon parents in their later years, there's so many things that they could've done instead of giving to the morg. They could've properly fenced our property(we live in the county), fixed our pasture, fixed our flooring the basement(most of it's concrete, but not my room)and lots of other things. Or even gone on vacations. But alas no, the morg get their cut.

The last vacation my father and I went was last April to Phoenix, Arizona to see TBM family for a week. It was my first vacation in years(even though I'm not working any more). We have another TBM family wedding in Virginia in October. But I doubt we're not going as it's going to cost a lot just to fly there! Now if we're(my TBM dad) wasn't paying the morg tithing etc..We'd might be able to go!

When I was TBM I believed that the tithing money would help the 3rd world. I truly believed that the church was led by a prophet who talks to god. I thought the church was better than UNICEF and Red Cross. I was single making 50k per year and I sure paid my full tithing. When I got married and started having kids we did hardly any kids activities and paid full tithing. Once I found out that the church probably was not true I decides to search where the tithing money is going to. Not the 3rd world but the city creek mall my jaw dropped. We have resigned over 2 years ago and have since not paid a penny on tithing anymore and finally have donated money to UNICEF and the red cross (I am not doing a commercial here lol). I enjoy choosing where my donation goes and actually helping the poor and when money is tight it is nice to say this month we will not donate but maybe next. The kids finally got some activities (cheerleading, swimming, soccer, violin and lego camp).
But tithing has thought me a lesson I lived on 90% for so long I could do it again if needed.

During my TBM days, I thought that tithing went to build churches, temples, and helping the poor. I slowly stopped paying tithing after discovering the truth about TSCC (the history, contradiction in doctrine, etc.). I'm glad that I did after finding out about the City Creek Mall that was built, AND finding out that tithing goes towards the GA's income (which is my blowing considering how many times I hear TBM's brag about how EVERYONE volunteers their time to their callings/positions and don't get paid).
What I would have paid in tithing now goes into my savings account. Which works for me, since I don't make much. Every Christmas, I do find a charity to donate to instead of contributing to high end malls under the LDS, Inc. name, or paying the rent on a GA's penthouse.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2016 09:57AM by severedpuppetstrings.

Tithing is a very poor "investment", if it can even be called that. The benefit vs cost doesn't even make logical sense.

I'm a 32 degree mason and belong to my blue lodge, the Scottish Rite and am a Shriner. My total annual cost (dues) to remain a member in good standing in these three organizations is about $300 annually.

I think a person is a damn fool to give 10% (more like 30%-40% of their freely available funds) to any organization regardless of what it is. As much as I love being a mason, I would never give that amount of my hard earned money - the benefits are simply NOT THAT GREAT! Honestly, $300/year is about right and from what I can recall (I've been out since 1970) it would be about the same for Mormonism.

That is an interesting way to look at it, what would be adequate membership dues to the Morg? For a youth? Adults? What does only one really get from it? Since I've stopped tithing, I've though about donating something for scouting or some other things the kids are wrapped up in. But now that I think about it. The $70k or so already donated should suffice.... God Damnit! Have I really wasted that much on it? Shit! Why God?! Why!?

As want2bx stated above, it didn't end with just 10% tithing, add on some fast offering, scouting drive, food drive, scout banquet, ward dinners, etc. Then to top it off, my TBM wife, at the time thought that if 10% was good then 20% would be better. Jesus, sometimes I could barely contain myself and not say something I would regret.

Having been morgified my entire life in the ways of the prophet, the one principle I always had a problem with was tithing. Ever Since I was a small child and got ten dollar bill for my birthday, I have hated tithing. Yeah, my Parents made sure that the bishpop got one dollar of that ten.

One more thing, my Brothers and Sisters, "the Lord doesn't need your money, he has plenty". I had a bishop who told me this all the time. However, there is that little thing called obedience and the Lord wants you to sacrifice and be obedient. Remember your promises in the Temple? Everything you now have and will ever have? Yeah, you promised and now it's time to pay pay pay.