Covid-19 was ghawd, putting the kibosh on an in-depth investigation.
What? You think Covid-19 "just happened"!?
Remember, everything happens for a reason. No way could an epidemic catch ghawd off-guard.
ETA: If the Japanese hadn't decided to switch out their bomb loads, the USA could have lost the Battle of Midway and we'd all be typing in Japanese and worshiping the Sun God Emperor.
And we'd be all yin-yang about it, grateful that it happened the way it was meant to be.
(ouch! I hurt myself with that sudden zig!)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2020 04:38PM by elderolddog.
Sure! I grew up on "Victory at Sea"! I've read all the novels, I know it was all meant to be! When Byron Henry found his little boy, I cried like a baby! ("War & Remembrance" by Herman Wouk)
I'm on board! Jesus loves the USA! God was behind the USA all the way in WWII!! Might makes right!
Donald J. Trump was also given to us by God? DJT is part of God's plan? Sure, why not...
I think it depends on circumstances.
If you had a point of view that your government wanted to suppress, and you had to take to the hills, would you want to be aided by all the troops the US sent to Vietnam, or would you want to ally with the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese? So much depends on 'commitment'...
I don't mind Black & White thinking at all. I do a lot of it myself.
It's not a lawsuit, it's an IRS investigation. These are not public record as far as I know. If the IRS rules the fund income is taxable, I guarantee LDS Inc will appeal the decision, and I expect word will leak.
1. We all know the church takes in a lot of cash, much/most of which comes in the form of donations and the church is in a position to shield that cash from federal taxation.
2. The federal tax laws are VERY complicated.
3. It is alleged that the big bundle of money could only be spent on church doings. It's alleged that on two occasions, the big bundle of money was used to a) pay off Beneficial Life Insurance debt; b) pay expenses incurred in the building of City Creek
4. It is bruited about that this two outlays of funds 'tainted' the entire fund, and made the entire fund taxable.
So the premise, and the line of attack is simple...
A small cadre of defense attorneys and tax gurus are paying off big boats and summer homes billing tons of hours in defense of the church's money.
As is usually the situation in tax cases, justice is not the goal; something the two sides CAN & wILL live with is what's sought,
When you look at the world of politics these days, it doesn't matter which side of the aisle you're on. People from both sides should be going to prison by now. But do any of them ever go to prison? Of course not. The laws are not for mega-corporations like the Mormon church or for government officials. They only apply to the little people like you and me. If you hold up a convenience store for a few hundred dollars, you're going to prison for twenty years. But if you commit a white collar crime to steal millions of dollars, you can use a small amount of that money to hire an attorney to help you go Scott free. The Mormon church will buy their way out of that tax fraud with no embarrasment at all on the church. They will benefit from their fraud, more than it cost them. Wasn't it Satin in the temple movie (pre-1990 at least) who said something like "money can buy you anything in this world"?
I’m reminded how any time all these holdings and investments come up that the big guys always claim it’s not tithing money. Right! With a simple accounting entry, tithes become investments. So it’s not tithing money (any more).
I'm no expert but I don't think the problem is whether or not the money is from tithes but that it is a great deal of money just sitting there earning interest and not being used for charitable purposes, which could jeopardize LDS Inc.'s tax exempt status.
I don't think there is a certain amount or percentage of money that has to be spent, for a charity to maintain their tax exempt status. If the church has religious beliefs that Say they're saving up for the second coming, no one can fault them legally. But I think they may have co-mingled the tithe money with investment money for their taxable businesses.