This is not making a splash with the believing mormons.

My husband reads the online SL Trib every morning. It's had FRONT PAGE exposes about the fines the church has to pay for their deceit, deception, etc.

And this deception was perpetrated by the leaders--the president and counselors. Not just the Ensign people. The leaders signed off on it.

But husband hasn't said ONE WORD about it. He's paying his tithing as usual. Going to church as usual.

How is this possible, I wonder.

I don’t know one TBM that cares. One told me the church wanted to hide the funds to avoid being a target for lawsuits.

Exactly. the indoctrination by ChurchCo is about 80 to 90 % effective, maybe more;

Especially since they’ve ignored mostly eliminated Honesty & Kindness from their ‘doctrine’

>> One told me the church wanted to hide the funds to avoid being a target for lawsuits. <<

And only those in league with satan would bring a lawsuit against the church so it makes sense.

"It is only the unsure that are doubly sure."
- Reinhold Niebuhr

All these Mormons who are going "la la la I can't hear you" are totally aware of how damaging this is to the church. They are putting on a good show, but they know.

You reprise the movie Doubt, in which Phillip Seymour Hoffman is persecuted relentlessly by a woman who is absolutely sure her doubts are wrong.

Yes, it's absolutely mind boggling dimmesdale. I have shared the news with many of my TBM brothers and ppl I helped to baptize into the church and they just won't listen. They act offended.

What I think is funny is that I am offended by their shared testimonies that lack thorough examination of the facts.

In the end, I think the whole view of the 3 kingdoms of glory and being a god etc... just is the prize they covet. It makes them blind to reality.

dimmesdale Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... husband hasn't said ONE WORD about it. He's
> paying his tithing as usual. Going to church as
> usual.
>
> How is this possible, I wonder. >

Because: Mormons are Followers. Not thinkers. Not doers. Not unifiers... Definitely not leaders (misleaders maybe).

Cog Dis? Maybe

Mormons don't think about money, unless it's their own.
Even then... Thinking is not their strong point!

I watched Mike Wallace ask GBH very simple questions. Hinckley's responses were dumbfounding as he proceeded to lie and downplay every question that was controversial. Here I as a missionary took every criticism of the church on the cheek, lots of angry people out there.

And the following week at church, the brethren were discussing the Wallace interview- Ah, the prophet was real keen when that snake reporter tried to trick him with those questions. Another said- Yeah, I think Hinckley gave an extraordinary interview. He did just fine.

And then they asked me- Hey Messy, what do you think?

I said- I'm not sure that he answered very truthfully. We do teach that men can become gods.

And they told me that I didn't watch the right interview and that I didn't hear right. One reminded me that there are temple ordinances about speaking ill of church leaders and that I could be in trouble for not supporting the prophet.

I think some members will ignore the dishonesty part because they believe that government has no right to interfere with religion (violation of religious freedom).

"You and each of you do covenant and promise that you will pray and never cease to pray to Almighty God to avenge the blood of the prophets upon this nation, and that you will teach the same to your children and to your children's children unto the third and fourth generation."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_vengeance#:~:text=The%20officiant%20of%20the%20ritual,children's%20children%20unto%20the%20third

This oath was part of the temple ceremony from about 1845 until the early 1930s.  The leadership is probably pissed enough right now...

I couldn't believe how he obfuscated.
And I'm also old enough to remember Phil Donahue's interview with Barbara Smith, Gen Pres of RS.

She must have been told to "spread the gospel" because during the last 60 seconds of the show, she started a long shoutout of missionary phrases and the wonders of the church that had nothing to do with the topic at hand.

She made a fool of herself.

Many people, especially in Utah are calculating how their own finances will be affected by this. Will son-in-laws lose jobs? What if the church is a client?

The church has it's fingers in so much of the Utah economy I think many are just waiting it out and playing along. They know what the church did was dishonest but they are looking after themselves right now.

I think some members actually see the wealth of the church as a sign of divine favor. The investing success and accounting hokey pokey are the result of God's guidance. God approved it all. Besides, men are only speaking as men (except when they need to use God as an incentive to get people to do what they want).

I think some members might be proud that their secret is out about how filthy rich the church is. Maybe it makes them feel the church is powerful and all that. Maybe some people are so programmed to pay tithing that they will never question the investment they made in the belief.

I wonder if some members also believe that they are effectively "shareholders." Like if the bottom ever drops out of the economy, they'll be able to count on TSCC. But I suspect that if the chips are down, only very few insiders will be able to count on TSCC.

I think a perfect example of the attitude in play will be Mitten's negative attitude about Covid relief: "someone has to pay for that" (or some words to that effect). The recipients of Covid relief by and large were taxpayers. In other words, they WERE paying for it. I see this as somewhat analogous to tithe payers expecting to get some back if they ever "need" it. Like it's money in the bank. But the people who control it aren't likely to let that happen.

Anyway, just my suspicion.

When I was a believer, and Hinkley said his, "I don't know that we teach that" I knew it was a lie. I even said something about we do too teach that, to family I was with.

But somehow it bounced right off not long after. And didn't shake my faith. Now I think that I was bonkers for not letting it crash my shelf down.

But I can easily see others letting this knew lying, cheating, illegal behaviour news just bounce right off. Such as it is when you are born into a cult.

While I think all of the above answers are correct, I'll add one more: namely, rote tradition. A lot of us do it whether or not we're religious. We do things every day at the same time in the same way without thinking about it--it helps keep our lives running smoothly. I suspect your husband is trying to keep his traditions alive even if it means not acknowledging even to himself that what his church did was wrong.

“If it weren’t for tradition, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof.”

Stability counts more than the truth for most people.

I'm beginning to wonder at what point the Mormon church has "jumped the shark" in terms of believability as a non-profit organization. And yes, I know that it meets the technical definition of a non-profit. But when you accumulate massive financial wealth, and massive wealth in terms of non-church oriented real estate and businesses, with a paltry by comparison charitable outlay, how can you in good conscience call yourself a non-profit?

It’s not uncommon to use front companies to hide a company or individual from doing something. It’s commonly done when a wealthy entity is buying up property. The Walt Disney Company did it when they were buying up property for Disneyworld.

John Rockefeller Jr. Had a front company buy up land in the Jackson Hole area. Some of that land became Grand Teton National Park.

Somehow everything is faith promoting for my active lds mom. This gives the lds church an opportunity to repent like the did when they lifted the priesthood ban for the blacks. The lds church paid a 5 million dollar fine and has apologized for the mistake. My mom’s faith is not shaking by the lds helpline either. The temple changes are also faith promoting to her. The god who is everlasting and never changing has changed quite a bit. The church is so rich because the leaders are guided by the spirit yes some mistakes have been made and they have paid a 5 million dollar fine. The lds church has donated covid vaccines through different organization during the pandemic. That also promoted my moms faith. The church was reduced from 3 hours to 2 hours before the pandemic hit that was god preparing us. The church can’t do anything wrong.

Before you ask the bishop for money ask your family.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRWmkxsU/

That TikTok video made me think a widow comes to the bishop to help. The bishop tracks down her brother that she had lost contact with. Where are the boundaries? In this story it worked out and it was a happy reunion but why can't a rich church just help out it's members?

If the church could get away with it, they would set up their own go_fun*_me account to pay the fine. They have no shame

Sure, no mass or immediate exodus. Yet seeds of doubt are planted.

Which is a key reason TSSC did the coverup in the first place.

This would be a good plot for a Captain Cook novel.