Yes, the cult is dangerous, a fraud, & psychologically damaging. Their "doctrine" is false, they lie about their history, & they are just backwards.

But really, it's just a big ponzi scheme scam so that the cult can run their corporations, the GAs can live in extreme wealth, & so that they can make business deals for their family & friends (cronyism). I have talked about this a few times, but it's been at least two years since I've mentioned it.

Tithing is a scam, fast offerings & canning (Deseret foods, & other church food brands) are a scam, the missionary fund is a scam, the perpetual education fund is a scam. ***It's all a scam.***

Meanwhile, the members have to clean their own buildings, provide their own supplies, do their own grounds keeping (in some areas, this has always been the case for decades), & sacrifice time & energy to lay callings that they aren't even trained for. Newer buildings in most areas, including temples, are being built more & more shoddily & cheaply. (That is unless you're in a rich area, then the cult really pulls out the stops. But that is for show.)

The members are being drained, & we need to get the word out. We need to let everyone know that tithing is never optional. It's mandatory in the cult in order to receive blessings. So they are being scammed into thinking that they need to pay money in order to be blessed. Sick, just sick.

Shaking down members for money and free labor is what cults do, mostly. As a member, I wondered why the church was spending so much money making pretty doctrine books for members to read and giving them out for free at church. It's because they care more about making sure the members are propagandized and continue to donate time and money, than about giving that money to humanitarian causes. They were primping their flock of sheep so they can continue to shear their wool off every year. That's the same reason they spend so much money making the church buildings look pretty, instead of building charity buildings for programs for the poor and endangered youth like some other churches do. Those buildings remind me of this:

Matthew 23:27
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."

The church looks pretty, but it's financially built on ill gotten gains from generations of Mormons and the blood of the 18th century tragedies, like the Martin Handcart Company that was told Young prophesied their safety, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2013 05:22PM by raiku.

Not to mention they have been directly involved in politics which is a violation of their 501(3)(C) status. Why the hell are they tax exempt when that money goes to fund their political ideals?

I told my mom that I wasn't going to pay any tithing as an adult because I didn't want my money going towards political causes that I didn't agree with. She actually told me that I could choose where my money went. She told me that I could just give fast offerings only instead. My mom is multi generational BIC, but she can be very ignorant about stuff. She doesn't realize that people who give only to certain things & not tithing, will be counted as non-tithe payers.

I agree 110%! That's exactly what's going on. It's a giant scam for money. It really hit me when I found out DH couldn't baptize our son unless he had paid a full tithe. To me that was the equivalent of paying for the privilege to baptize my son...

That was part of what made me start to research TSCC, even though I wasn't active.

What is really upsetting is the church denying that they make people pay in order to participate in family events.

THIS should be one of the cats let out of the bag.


Anagrammy

Agreed! Once you make that connection it is hard to ever look at TSCC the same. People need to be aware.

They made him pay to baptize his own child??? So, if you're morally pure by their standards, that means nothing. You have to pay them off???
Unbelievable! It's a friggin' racket!

My dad was a convert, broke, single dad in his mid 30s when he married my mom. He paid tithing when he could, & thought it was enough. The SP made him pay back tithing on every single penny earned in the 18 months he had been a member before he could go to the temple.

Wow! I totally believe that! That's why we never got to the temple. I just refused to let DH tithe. I'm a realist and pretty skeptical of giving away money especially since the church refuses to disclose how it uses the funds...so even though I didn't drink, didn't smoke, was a good person, never cheated, prayed etc...I was not worthy because I hadn't paid.

Yes, basically in order to perform the baptism on his own son he must have paid a full tithe. He hasn't, so he was not allowed. Technically I could have let someone else baptize my son, but once I made the connection that my husband had to pay in order to do a baptism I was done. My son is not baptized. :-)

Fast Offerings are a scam?

I've been reading here/ Mormonthink for at least 9 months, I somehow missed that. I thought Fast Offerings weren't that bad...

I honestly believe they are. I don't have any solid proof yet, just anecdotes that have led me to believe that it is.

Also, the people that really need those fast offerings are made to jump through such ridiculous hoops to get it, that most people who need them don't even ask for help.

We don't really know unfortunately because they can do whatever they want with the money and they keep their financial statements secret. The tithing slips which provide for the other funds which members can donate to has the following disclaimer on the bottom of the slip:

"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."

When the LDS church builds a multi-billion dollar mall and spends billions on temples and then starts begging members to donate more to the missionary fund, even though members already are paying for their own missions, I have little faith in whether they actually use the tithe offerings for their intended purpose. In their eyes providing temples and missionary work probably counts as "helping people."

These threads are right on the $money$---literally.

Plus the quote,"They were primping their flock of sheep so they can continue to shear their wool off every year" is right on the $money$ too, and has a very nice ring to it and is easy to remember.

The quote summarizes very well the "true" first article of faith of the MORmON church, which is, "I believe with all of my heart that my first duty to the church is to faithfully pay 10% PLUS of my income to the one and only true church of Josesph Smith guaranteeing me an awesome plush condo in the celestial kingdom somewhere in the vicinity of God's condo. Amen and Amen."

About members cleaning the church buildings, I see people go on about that a lot on here, but to me it's not a big deal, and probably wouldn't even rank in the top 100 "problems" with the church.

Yeah, asking members to clean out the toilets is a bit disrespectful, but there's so much worse that goes on imo. I sometimes had to wash the windows and sweep the pavement when I was a TBM (like once a month, there was a rota), and it was really the least of my problems.

The continued multi-generational fleecing of the membership is what I'm taking about here.