"This statement contains a record of voluntary contributions to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints made by the above named donor during the year 2011. The Church provided no goods or services in consideration, in whole or in part, for the contributions detailed below, but only intangible religious benefits."
THE BOOK OF MORMON CHAPTER 8 32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.
You get to go to the Tempbull in this life, and spend eternity with your own planet, only having to pay Joe Smith tribute of his choice of any of the wives from your harem.
Intangible religious benefits? Yeah- like being given some of the hardest women's callings for over 10 years, babysitting kids, forking over $, but having very few real friends in TSCC. And, interestingly enough, my husband and I have no children in the church so none of what we did benefited our kids! I am so glad that I just put a stop to it last week. I am sad that I ever believed I was "golden" at all. Now I am just myself again and glad of it.
I think the blessings and benefits of obedience to the commandments, teachings, etc. are meant to be spiritual, on the whole. There is also the connection to the other parts of a believer's life: a new job, a promotion, cured of a health problem, and on and on, that can be seen as a connection.
Paying tithing, in our case had a clear "blessing" -- we got a good portion of our taxes back which I called Tithing Refunds -- just a little humor! It was a nice "blessing" as we fell in a category that could itemize and were never audited, another "blessing" in my view, at the time!
It's all in how it's interpreted. Some people are more optimistic,k think more positive, and see more positive results ..or connections that may or may not be there.