Posted by:
connedvert
(
)
Date: October 07, 2017 07:25PM
Why do LDS church members refer to "the church" like it is an entity that is separate from them?
My FB friend just posted one of those promotional ads from LDS Inc. with a picture of boxes of food being shipped to hurricane victims in Texas. My friend commented about how generous "the church" was. I wanted to scream: "YOUR tithing money made it possible, not "the church!"
And then there are members that I have known who have given thousands of dollars and volunteer hours to LDS inc. most of their lives. When they needed help and went to their Bishop and were given food form the church storehouse - only possible because of tithing money from the members (including them), they were so grateful to "the church." Didn't they realize that they were only getting back a small amount of what they donated to "the church?" Why should they be grateful to "the church" when money from THEIR and millions of other members' donations made it possible for the billion dollar corporation to give a little bit back to them?
I was curious about LDS Inc.'s huge land purchase in Florida and googled an article in the Deseret News. I scrolled down to the comments (most of the comments not in support of the purchase were deleted). Most were in favor of "the church" for their wise investment. Heres an example: "I have no problem with what the church does." Again, they refer to "the church" as an organization that makes decisions independent of its members - almost like it is totally separate from its members.
Is it just me or do any of you get a sense that Mormons talk about "the church" like it's got a life of its own? It's something separate that guides them - tells them what to do with their time and money and freely spends its huge stash of cash without input from the members who donated it. The LDS church members seem to forget that THEY ARE THE CHURCH! They provide the free labor and money that make "the church" possible. It makes it so much more clear to me how cleverly those in charge have manipulated the members and made them feel beholden to those who took from them - made them feel that their contributions were to feed "the church," almost like "the church" is a deity to be worshiped and not an organization they belong to. Weird.