Mom occasionally will fish around, trying to figure out whether or not we attend church regularly, send the kids to youth activities, pay tithing etc. During a recent attempt to figure out if we pay tithing, she told the story of a high school friend of mine who is a dentist in our home town. Apparently he got up in Sacrament meeting and said he and his wife had decided to pay tithing on the amount of money they wanted to earn in 2012 - not on their actual earnings. And it WORKED! So far they are half way through the year but have earned two-thirds of their hoped-for income for this year. Did I mention he is a dentist, with many years experience and his own practice? This is more visualization and confirmation bias than anything. He wants this principle to be true so he's going to work harder to prove it is. He can certainly work a few more hours a week by taking on new clients, since he's well-known and so is his whole family. He probably has a patient waiting list so by just increasing his work hours, which he is in complete control of, he can make his belief a reality.

She also told me about a friend of hers who has an ex-Mormon friend currently active in different Christian church. But this Christian church doesn't believe in tithing and the ex-Mormon couple does believe in paying tithing so they pay it to the Mormon church, instead of the church they attend. Because they want the blessings of paying tithing, apparently. I think this last story is utter B.S. Why couldn't the ex-Mormon couple pay ten percent to their Christian church even if it wasn't a commandment? Why wouldn't they prefer to know where there money was going, instead of giving it all to a church that won't account for it...a church they LEFT probably because they found out the LDS church is lying about something. I asked my mom if her friend knew this couple personally and mom swore she did but my mom is so gullible.

I refuse to play when my mom is trying to find out about whether we pay tithing or not. I'm completely unmoved by her faith building stories but I won't say so because I'd rather she were in the dark about our finances. They really are none of her business and since we've been doing much better earnings-wise since we left the church (much better than my TBM sister, in fact) I think she assumes we are still paying. Snort.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2012 02:59PM by CA girl.

At the end of the year the dentist will probably be burnt out and have to take a nice long trip to hawaii or Paris to recover from all the extra work he did.

I used to be a Dental Assistant and I can tell you there are soooo many out there for the production...the bottom line. I worked my tail off in Utah for a DDS who paid me $7 an hour and he had three Jaguars. I would always dream that if I went to dental school I would make sure my staff had full medical, 401 K, college paid for, and bonus' for their birthdays, Christmas and if we had an extra amount of work during the month. I still have neck issues.

wow, your mom knows some really...
imaginary people.

I haven't even introduced you to the imaginary people who visit in her dreams and give her messages from the beyond. I'm surprised she hasn't started her own psychic hotline. On the other hand, her interest in New Age stuff tempers some of the Mormon judgmentalness so I guess I shouldn't make fun of her. The real problem is that she believes crap so readily for someone as intelligent as she actually is. She's so gullible in so many areas, not just religion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2012 08:10PM by CA girl.