I dooo believe in the law of tithing spoken of in the bible. But I have such a hard time with the issue of the ward/corporation.

Plus the fact that if you want/need any help from the ward you're better of going to the christian church on the other side of town. We never ask the church for help ----just saying. I guess this makes us an apostate , huh.

Most churches run just fine on an average of 2.6% of their members' incomes. Paying 10% to a church because you feel you have to is outrageous. I'm sure that other charities would love the help.

My feeling is that people would be best served by putting most of that 10% into a retirement account.

You can never be sure of the use of your money unless you keep it local. Any real town or city has a food bank, and every food bank needs donations of money or food and supplies, like diapers. Or just pay cash. Voilà, there's your tithing. There are always all kinds of local charities to consider, where you can see the money helping others. If anyone at church has questions about your tithing, just tell them you pay direct. Many people pay direct to the Mormon church rather than to the ward clerk. Keep records of how much you pay or donate in kind, then give the clerk that number. Whatever you do, do not pay money to the Mormon church, because it does not go to charity, no matter what they say. When it comes to funds, the LDS church is even more dishonest than it is in all its other many dishonest dealings.

The thing with other churches, each congregation is transparent as to where the moneis go. And they stay right there with the congregation.
If tithing is important to you, I would say tithe to your local charities, ie food bank, homeless shelters, women and children in crisis, whatever it is that would be meaningful to you.

angela Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The thing with other churches, each congregation
> is transparent as to where the moneis go. And
> they stay right there with the congregation.
> If tithing is important to you, I would say tithe
> to your local charities, ie food bank, homeless
> shelters, women and children in crisis, whatever
> it is that would be meaningful to you.


That's a generalization that may or may not be true. Some churches have financial transparency, but some don't. Sometimes (as in the catholic church) there may be a level of financial transparency at the congregational level, but what happens at the diocesan level varies greatly, and what goes on at the Vatican level has notoriously been opaque. The current pope is at least making some attempt to improve that. So, a substantive chunk of money raised at the local level goes elsewhere, and what happens to that may be a mystery.

I donate directly to efficient charities that support causes I think are important.

You simply throw two handfuls of money up into the air. God will keep what he wants, and anything that falls on the ground is yours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2015 09:01AM by HangarXVIII.

:)

+1

I make a pledge to my (UU) church. I up it a little each year and I'm up to about 5% of my take home (after taxes, insurance, retirement, health savings, etc.), which is what I would base tithing on if I were still mormon.

But I know where the money goes. As a member we can get on the Web site and get a to-the-penny breakdown of what comes in and what goes out, along with a balance in the different savings accounts. Also, we vote on the budget after the pledge drive each year and it is always tweaked because of input from members. And I feel like I get more than my money's worth from my wonderful church community.

Along with my pledge, I put in money for various things we do and once a month our Sunday offering goes out the door to a local charity that we choose, so I donate well to that. I love knowing it supports something in our city that needs a lot of help.

But I also have smaller automatic deductions come out of my bank for pledges to Planned Parenthood, the gay and lesbian community center, the local PBS station, and another women's health center. I pay for an inner city kid's flights to and from college twice a year, and try to support the things my grandkids do like walks for MS, Juvenile Diabetes, etc.

Anyway, what I'm saying is it adds up to at least what I'd be paying in tithing if I were LDS. But I am not strong-armed into any of it. My salvation doesn't depend on any of it, neither does my status in my church. I am single and my kids are grown so although I could use it for something else, I can manage it now. I do it because it makes me feel good. It doesn't make me feel sick like tithing used to while I was looking at the check I needed to give to the bishop and wondering how I was going to buy food for my kids and gas to get to work after I did.

LDS tithing is such a horrible scam and the temples are the money machines. Tithing itself, as in giving a portion of your income to charity, is a great concept. But it should make you feel good and happy. You should know it is making your life and other people's lives better.

There's no "law of tithing" in the bible.
The "tithe" that Leviticus speaks of instructed people to bring one-tenth of certain things, some of which were to be burnt up on the altar as a "sacrifice," some of which was to go to enrich the Levite priests. As (supposedly) Jesus did away with the need for sacrifices, and there are no Levite priests, there's no "law of tithing" (not to mention that you're not an ancient Hebrew).

And "the Lord," if he existed, wouldn't need your money anyway.

Give what you can and want to, to *people* who need it. Decide for yourself. Don't let the ancient ignorant "laws" written by the Levite priests in order to guarantee themselves a very comfortable living drive your actions today.

How about this?:

Matthew 25:38-46King James Version (KJV)

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Even though I'm not a Christian, Jesus is very directly saying is that you give to Him by giving to those in need. In this scripture, he doesn't mention giving to a church.

In my Mormon days I gave 2% to a nonprofit corporation in Central America and 8% to the church. This came up during my typing settlement. The bishop told me that I was doing right by the Gospel but not by the church. Which I found significant. He said he could not possibly give me a temple recommend. He stated that the 10% belong to the church and and that I owed the church 10% of my gross and that I could do whatever I wanted with the rest. But that the 10% have to come to the church first.

I asked him to clarify why the church and the Lord would be on different sides of this issue. He said he was just representing the interests of the church. I told him that my debt with us with Jesus Christ not with the corporation.

I told him fine don't give me a recommend my conscious is clear and now the church will get nothing for me.

That was the last time I had a temple recommend and was one of the final steps of me leaving the corporation.

If you don't care about the temple just don't pay tithing.

In fact, not having a recommend might help you be less "qualified" for future church jobs and give you more free time on Sundays.

Donate $20 to some charity that actually helps people.

Remember: the LDS church doesn't actually spend any of their own money to help people.


Fast offerings: funded by members of the church
Humanitarian Aide: funded by members. Church pays for something and then takes credit for doing good with member donations.

Tithing: Who knows where this money really goes.

Bottom line: The church doesn't pay for anything that previous years funds and interest in investment had gained to pay out to members in need.

St Jude's

Or your local food bank. Give to organizations that help people directly. And, follow the money closely.

Find an local organization or charity which does good work for the homeless or which supports persons with developmental disabilities and give them all your charitable donations. And ask what percentage of their budget goes to support their clients and how much goes to admin. We do.

Ron Burr

If you want to "tithe" without giving money to the church, look into what options are offered through work. I shifted my tithing money to payroll deductions through work to United Way. You can choose a percentage or a flat donation, plus the money comes out pretax so you have nothing to mess with at tax time. It's a nice option.

Find people in your life, or your friends' lives who are in need and help them directly. Anonymous giving is lots of fun. Way way way more fun than filling out tithing slips and giving money to a real estate empire.

If you feel compelled to tithe, find a worthy charity and give it to them. Or help out a needy person, like a poor college student and give them money directly. Or hire them to take care of your lawn and pay them generously.

There are lots of ways to "do the Lord's work". Giving money to a church to do it for you is lazy and irresponsible.

That is easy. Pray to God. When or If Jesus finally appears to you then go ahead and give Jesus the money that you have been holding for Him. Until then, do not give Jesus' money to any one else.

Remember, billionaire, big time philanthropist and home teacher to MORmON prophets Jon Huntsman says that paying tithing to LD$ Inc does not constitute veritable charitable giving, because LD$ Inc is NOT a real charity, its a club and tithing is club membership dues, NOT genuine charity. If a person wants to do genuine charitable giving then they need to find a genuine charity to donate to, instead of giving money to LDS inc.
No doubt that this statement greatly upset the shysters at LD$ Inc, but Jon tells the truth on this one EVEN IF THEY WILL NOT. Sometimes a person just gets tired of all the blatant self promoting LIES that LDS Inc continuously pumps out and then that person refuses to automatically jump onto LDS Inc's PREDATORY OPPORTUNISTIC PARASITIC LYING THIEVING MORmON bandwagon.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewcave/2014/06/23/giving-to-your-church-doesnt-count-jon-huntsman-snr-and-twitters-biz-stone-on-new-philanthropy/

^5
+1



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 01:02AM by momto15kids.

I don't believe in tithing at all. It's part of the priestcraft tradition of Judeo-Christian religion. "God's money?" I never got a receipt from God. Put your money in a bonafied secular charity that does actual good instead of trying to indoctrinate people.

So, the lord that created the universe and all the wealth in it needs tithing from you?

Makes no sense to me. Such a lord has all the wealth in the universe already.

We do a fair amount to local charities.

I'm an elementary school librarian and I donate lots of money for books for the school library. It makes me happy to get exactly what I want for the students.