From Noggin via PostMormon.com
Has anyone else ever taken note of the "Trickle Down Tithing Scam"? My grandfather complained about it a time or two before he passed away years ago and it never hit me as to why he would have such a beef with it until I reformatted my Mormon brain into a more ex mormon state of mind. Basically it goes like this:
Thomas Temple Attender works for the LDS church. He makes $40,000 a year gross. Thomas Temple Attender promptly pays 10% of his salary dollars back to the church in tithing.
Now then
Thomas Temple Attender hires Peter Priesthood to paint him... say... a very nice portrait of his wife, Henrietta Homemaker. Peter Priesthood charges Thomas $20,000.00... to which he is immediately paid upon completion.
Peter Priesthood has now earned $20,000.00 and now Peter Priesthood, being the faithful member that he is, and ever wishing to not burn at the 2nd coming, will now pay the LDS church the $2,000 in tithing that it demands.
To save time and space, I'll forego the rest by explaining that Peter Priesthood then hires Fanny Alger to babysit his 9 children as a nanny and he pays her $10,000.00 to do it. Fanny Alger, very interested in seeing her daughter marry in the temple next month, then pays the LDS church $1,000 tithing dollars in order to qualify and be worthy to go to the ceremony. Fanny Alger then hires Zina Huntington/Smith/Young to do X who then pays prompt tithing dollars on those earnings... and it trickles down down down from there.
In this way, the LDS church is getting many multiples of tithing dividends on the original $40,000 it paid Thomas Temple Attender at the start of this thought experiment. The kicker is that Thomas Temple Attender's salary is generated from... you guessed it....
TITHING DOLLARS!!
Thomas: $40,000 = $4,000 tithing dollars to the church
Peter: $20,000 = $2,000 tithing dollars
Fanny: $10,000 = $1,000 tithing dollars
Right there the church has practically doubled the tithing dollars from the original $40,000 it paid to it's employee.
There is much more to this thought experiment... like for example, the church is notorious for lower paying (by national comparisons and standards) careers. Though the pay is lower by competetion standards, it is even more of a bargain for the church in that the employee basically signs an implied contract with his job that states he/she will be a faithful Mormon... in essence, he WILL pay the LDS church 10% of his salary. So every church employee is an automatic 10% kickback to the Mormon church.
Nice, huh? I'm a small business owner. Man, I cannot tell you what a slick deal that would be if I could get my employees to sign up for a deal like that... oh shoot... see... but then I'd have to offer them benefits like... eternal life and that could get rather complicated... especially if I tested their loyalty by sending them to the other side of the United States on business trips and marrying their wives while they were gone.
****My Thoughts****I used to encourage my kids to pay 10% on the allowance that I paid them, AFTER I had already paid my 10% to the church. Just think how much money the church retains by encouraging their members to do business with fellow Mormons! That money NEVER leaves! It just keeps getting recycled and redistributed to the church one way or another.
Most cults make you promise away all your worldly possessions, inheritances, bank accounts, etc to the uplifting and sustaining of the organization. That's what compels their loved ones to try and draw them out, since it seems completely senseless to live in sackcloth and ashes, devoting all your time and energy to the organization, preaching and attending endless meetings, hoping for a chance to one day GLIMPSE at the guru running it all, and proclaim it to be the most spiritual, uplifting moment of your life.
Look, just because you can get in your car and drive around the block without permission, that doesn't mean you aren't in a cult. Mormonism is a cult of the mind. The "sacred undergarments" are a thought control device, not a physical protection against harm. When your most trusted guides and authority figures counsel you to guard yourself against receiving or seeking information from "outside"....BOOM! There's your cult. It's right there in the words.
" Don't read unapproved literature"
"Don't surf the Internet unprotected"
"Don't question the Lord's anointed"
They don't HAVE to build 25-foot high walls surrounding a secluded compound. You have already accomplished that in your mind. All they have to do is make you afraid to tear down that wall and look on the other side, and they have you, safely tucked away from "evil" and "Satan".
The illusion is that you are free to choose right from wrong. You know you can step in a bar at any moment, just by making a right turn instead of left. You know that you can dive deep into Mormon history in just a few clicks of the keys. You know that you can shuck those garments off and keep them off for a whole day. But the guilt, the fear, the shear panic you will face when you go against the words of the Brethren, keeps you within their control. Why do you follow their advice? Because you believe them! And you feel good when they pay attention to you, praise you, encourage you, and "choose" you for service. All of that would go away if you ever disobeyed their words. You would lose their comfort, their company, and their guidance. But these are MEN. Not God. God will STILL be there for YOU. Even without these MEN to tell you what you must do. Nobody OWNS God. If you believe in God, then that's ALL you need. No handshakes, no tokens, no secret temple names, no sacred underpants. Just belief in God.
As for myself, don't judge my journey as a road map for everyone. I chose to extend beyond Christianity, beyond religion itself for a short time. And I'm not stating that it is the right choice for everyone. But you at least owe it to yourself to look around and be WILLING to change your belief based on what you see, not limit yourself to what you are told.
4 comments:
You can leave the Church, but you will never be able to leave it alone. That's because of one simple fact... it is true.
My posts cannot logically be used as proof of your church's "truth". That's ignorant.
Some wise ass in your religion came up with that couplet as a way to convince yourselves that it really must be true, or their wouldn't be so much opposition against it. The more negative you hear about it, the more it solidifies your belief in it's obvious truthfulness.
That's not proof, anonymous.
Let's put that statement in another context. Suppose that some equally shrewd Taliban extremist spouted off such obvious false nonsense to their followers and sympathizers. Would that make the Taliban philosophy "true" in your eyes?
There are millions opposed to the extreme tactics that this movement uses to promote their agenda, and they are just as convinced as you are that their motivations and beliefs are just as "true".
Sit back and think on that awhile. Try to comfort yourself some more by repeating that phrase: The church is true, I know it must be true, because these no-good apostates can't leave it alone. That MUST mean they still believe it's true!!
I can leave the church alone just fine, ask anyone how many times I've knocked on someone's door to tell them how their current religious beliefs are lacking the "fullness of the gospel". I don't go around telling Mormons anything, I just write it down on a simple blog, and vent my personal beliefs. You don't have to read them, or adopt them. Just move on if it's too much for you to handle.
Prove the church is "true" using something other than your feelings, dude. That's what defines fact from fiction. Not burning in the bousom, not thoughtful prayer, not confirmation of the invisible and unverifiable Holy Spirit. That's like me stating to you that I know my philosophy is true because the invisible Pink Unicorn told me so in a dream, and I get a convincing warm feeling in my toes whenever I pray to her.
Use your intellectual, factual, logical brain for once and set aside this foolish nonsense of the warm fuzzies. Read some more posts and refute them all. But don't step in here telling me all the proof you need that the church is true is someone telling you that it isn't. Boy it's a wonder you can still draw in breath all by yourself...
Mormans....I have always had an interest in the Mormon religion, however the problem is I lost my job along with 40 other people. The money I make now is survival money. I have no problem tithing although, I don't feel I have enough money to be a Morman, especially when the church may call you in at the end of the year. The money is just not there now. How do I handle this. Also there is NOTHING IN THE NEW TESTIMATE OF THE BIBLE THATGIVES AN AMT. ON HOW MUCH TO GIVE TO A CHURCH. MOST CHRISTIAN CHURCHES WOULD RATHER HAVE A MEMBER CONTRIBUTE, THEN NOT GO TO CHURCH. WITH MORMONS IF YOU DON'T GIVE 10% IT IS LIKE THEY DON'T WANT YOU GOING TO CHURCH. IS THIS NOT TRUE ??? PLEASE ADVISE.
Here's my advice: Read my past posts regarding tithing. They are located on the sidebar. Actually you could just do a search on the word "tithing" and everything I've ever written on the subject will come up. Here--> I'll make it even easier for you. From my archives on the sidebar, find 2007, then the month of March, and click on "Tithing Tidbits".
My advice, of course, is to avoid the LDS church at all cost. It is a money machine, and a soul harvester, nothing more.
You are much better off using your money to support yourself, your children, and your immediate family. If you have SURPLUS after all those needs are met, you are to pay a tithe on that portion ONLY. And, you can pay it through ANY charitable organization that follows Christ's admonition that we should "clothe the naked, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and care for the infirm." The American Red Cross, the Christian Children's Fund, your local food bank, and the nearest women's crisis center for abused and battered women and children are better places to deposit that SURPLUS of your earnings (after your own needs are met) than anything the LDS church would provide to help those people, especially since they are reluctant to help those who are not members of the church themselves.
The Mormons are in it for the $$$. Keeping up appearances is what brings in those dollars. Lying to their members and making them believe their very place in heaven is determined by how much tithing they have paid, even to the detriment of their own children, is what makes them a cult. Self preservation above everything else is their underlying cause.
Do yourself a favor and NEVER answer that doorbell when they come knocking.
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