Not all of them can.

My parents had to drive over an hour away to buy groceries, because we bounced checks at ever store near our home.

We never had a car that was not repossessed. Our Power/gas/phone were always turned off, even in the middle of the Utah winter.

We could never answer the door, because it would always be a summons, or an eviction notice.

No food, no TV. My whole family wore hand me down rags bought from DI.

To this day, the best present I have ever got in my entire life was a new pair of moon boots bought from a hardware store. They made me so happy that I cried.

My parents were paying 10% to the church the entire time we lived in Utah

The silver lining in the whole affair, is that like most people who have been poor, I've learned to appreciate everything.

Wow, that is crazy. Their 10 percent - or at least some of it - could have really helped your family. My DH and I really struggled financially our first 10 years (okay - we still do now, but with a higher income), and it amazes me when I think of the THOUSANDS of dollars we spent on tithing that could have really, truly helped us! I believe in giving to charity - not just mandating it, and especially not at the expense of the NEEDS of children - as in your case - the NEED for security - shelter, boots, etc.

Mormon answer: "how can I afford not to pay tithing?"

continued from the last thread: silverlightx, my co-workers husband pays his tithing from his unemployment checks, even thought they are only a small percentage of what he made, he still has to pay tithing on it.

So, in effect, taxpayer dollars from the coffers of the U.S. Treasury are going towards the funding of a religious organization. The CHI states that the only type of income that does not need to be tithed is church welfare assistance. Local bishops are encouraging the payment of tithing from unemployment checks. Hmmmm...I smell a case here.

So did we, when dh was unemployed. Dum dum dum dumb

We paid tithing for years even after I stopped believing. I kept paying with the impression that it was going to help the humanitarian effort, needy families pay bills, YM and YW budgets etc.Then I saw how much of the money gets just gets wasted and I couldn't stand to pay it anymore.
Our ward wanted to replace the sign in front of the building so they tore down a completely functional sign and put in a new modern one that lights up and has the removable letters like all the other churches in the south. Well they didn't check the right-of-way along the road and then had to pour a new foundation and move the sign. they have since widened the road and the old location is now part of a turn lane. But the kicker is they never even change the message on the sign anymore. It looks substantially worse than the old sign.
When I was in the YM program it was pulling teeth to get any event approved if it cost any money at all. Yet they can throw money in hole in the ground only to have to pave over it a few months later.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2011 12:07PM by peregrine.

My brother-in-law was getting the discussions from the missionaries and they had a baptism date set up and everything. Then they had the tithing discussion. The missionaries said he couldn't get baptized unless they commited to paying 10% tithing. My BIC, but inactive, sis said they just could not pay that much (both of them were layed off at the time!!!) but could probably pay SOMETHING a month instead. Well, that put an end to the discussions and the baptism! They said they could probably work something out with the bishop but my sis put her foot down and said "just forget the whole thing!" She was pretty angry about them trying to force their rules on them.