I have a friend who is a Jack Mormon. She tells me that she donates money to the church when she can but doesn't pay a full tithing. She says it's okay because she can specify where she wants the money to go, such as to feed needy people, help pay utility bills, etc. Is this the case or is she being sold a bill of goods in order to get her off of her wallet? I hadn't heard of this before and I'm very suspicious.

She is off her rocker. Any money that goes to the church is NEVER accounted for categorically. Your friend is a liar.

I don't think she's a liar. I think she believes what they're telling her.

She may, but TSCC is not telling her the truth. Let's put it that way.

The truth is that things like fast offerings (donations for poor people) are separate from tithing. So people still have to pay their 10%, where they don't get to say how it's spent at all, & then if they want to donate more (why anyone would IDK because it isn't used properly either), they can.

Ask her how she is able to ensure that her donation reaches its intended destination.

Does she contact her bishop and say "Hey, Bish, when does the ward have their meeting for the annual report and budget review?"

My guess is she writes in the memo section of her checks, "Feed the Needy" "Help Needy with Utility Bills" and is gullible enough to think this is all she needs to do, and that TSCC will honor her wishes.

She might very well believe her own rationalizations, but she's just blowing smoke up her own ass.

It requires a bit of effort, research and work to decide where you will donate money in order that it's not wasted by an inefficient and/or corrupt "charity". In addition to being gullible, your friend is also unfortunately lazy. She gets to stroke her own ego about "helping the needy" by taking a few minutes to write a check that is ultimately totally worthless in that regard.

Kind of sad: she's deluded herself into thinking she's being "helpful and charitable", she's being used by a corporation, and the people who need her charity the most are certainly not getting it.

I think you are correct about her writing that on the checks and of course there's no follow up. The thing is that she is in an extremely vulnerable position right now with the very recent death of her husband and as we all know, that's when they'll tell you anything. I'd be hesitant to confront that issue with her considering the fragile nature of her present state.

It is a delicate and difficult issue, trying to point out to someone who is in a vulnerable state that what they're doing is perhaps not the best idea.

Right now, it would appear that her donations are serving to make her feel her grief less intensely.

What is her age? Did her husband die from a disease that she could make donations to a foundation dedicated to fighting that disease?

If she's a younger widow, perhaps she would be particularly interested in helping others in similar stages of life. The American Widow Project http://americanwidowproject.org/ is specifically for women who lost their spouse in combat (military widows) but it's just one of many worthy, non-religious affiliated charities.

There are so many other ways she could really make a difference, but if the church is encouraging her to 'help the needy' by giving them the money there's probably little you can do.

It would definitely drive me up the wall if one of my friends were in the same situation. In a "normal" church, she could just ask the pastor if he/she were aware of a particularly needy family in the congregation having trouble making their rent or utilities, and if she wanted to feel she was making a real difference just donate anonymously to that family for a time. But if she were to ask the bishop, he's obviously just going to tell her "that's what F&T offerings are for."

Maddening, very much so.

We live in different cities so my involvement is limited. Don't know about disclaimers. I just hate to see TSCC rake in money with false promises. Oh wait! Isn't that how they get all their money? Silly me.

Doesn't the new donation slip have a disclaimer of sorts on it that says something to the effect that the church retains the right to spend the money as it wants and not necessarily how the donor wants?

When I was a ward clerk, a high school student won a computer in some type of contest. He already had one, so he decided to donate it to the local ward because he knew a second one would be handy.

Well.. that wasn't very efficient since it's not the normal way things happen, but it eventually got processed.

But, the point of this story is that the Stake Clerk emphatically told the student, parents, etc, that once the computer was donated, it became the property of the church and that the church could do whatever they wanted with it. They could move it to a different ward if needed.

Well... this got a few people upset. You'd think it would be an eye-opener about corporate mormonism. But after a bit of huffing and puffing, life went on, heads went back into the sand, and they all remained good mormons.

(I jumped ship shortly after that event, so I don't know about the final status of the donated computer.)

written like the one true corporation

http://i.imgur.com/3avWh.jpg




The new explanation takes a more general approach to donated funds: "Though reasonable efforts will be made globally to use donations as designated, all donations become the Church's property and will be used at the Church's sole discretion to further the Church's overall mission."
Scott Trotter, spokesman for the Church, said of the changes, "We feel a sacred obligation to make sure that tithing and other donations made to the Church are used prudently and wisely. The new language on the donation slips simply gives some flexibility to meet the changing needs of a growing, global faith as circumstances require."

If anyone tried to just pay 10% on those, they would be told that they aren't full tithe payers.

Years ago an elderly church friend wanted to leave money to our ward. He was told all donations go to Salt Lake. He took someones advice(stake I think) and left his money to whoever would be the bishop at the time of his death. He believed all bishops to be honorable god-like persons who would use the money wisely for ward needs. You guessed it, the bishop bought himself a new full size van as soon as the money cleared probate. He said he felt the brother would understand his need for good transportation to help with his calling. It made the whole thing a little better when he was immediately released.

She can designate the money for different purposes, just not through LDS Inc.

The United Way or Salvation Army would be a better place.

They might help people, but they are still a destructive cult.