Posted on 01/25/2012 3:09:38 AM PST by Zakeet
Mitt Romney's newly released tax returns provide more than an accounting of the Republican presidential candidate's remarkable personal wealth. The documents also give a rare glimpse into tithing to the Mormon church by one its most prominent members.
Romney reports he will give a total of $4.13 million to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over two years as part of his overall charitable donations. The former Massachusetts governor reported income of about $43 million for the two years. Separately, over the past decade, Romney and his wife, Ann, have given more than $4.7 million to the denomination through the Tyler Charitable Foundation, a multimillion-dollar trust the couple leads.
[Snip]
Particular to Mormon teaching, Latter-day Saints must pay the tithe to remain a church member in good standing and participate in temple rituals. The Doctrine & Covenants, a collection of revelations from church founder Joseph Smith, says of tithing that Mormons "shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you." Nearly 80 percent of Latter-day Saints said they paid a tithe in a recent survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.
[Snip]
The giving process is private, making the details of Romney's charitable donations that much more noteworthy. No collection plates are passed during worship services. No financial records are used. Mormons are expected to give according to their conscience. Once a year, local LDS bishops hold tithing settlement meetings with families to ask if they've paid their full 10 percent. The church, based in Salt Lake City, releases no specifics of what it collects in tithes annually, although the amount by some estimates is several billion dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Ping.
meh
this is only news to people who cannot imagine their churches being important enough to justify tithing by those able to do it
No payee, no temple recommend from the bishop.
No temple recommend from the bishop, no temple access.
No temple access, no highest degree of glory (celestial kingdom) for that Mormon.
No highest degree of glory, no "forever family" that those Mormon bumper stickers highlight.
No "forever family," no rise-to-full-grown godhood for you.
No rise-to-full-grown godhood for you, no getting to run your own planet and produce spirit kids thru endless sex.
{Yeah...just try having any other candidate tell us these are their this-and-other-worldly worldviews...and see if they'd get a free "no-comment" pass from the masses the way so many advocate for on behalf of Romney!}
I worked with a LDS guy. He literally had to report his yearly income to the local Bishop, which I thought was pretty stupid to admit your pay situation beyond your wife. You could have been almost bankrupt, and still been paying your ten-percent to the church.
Q1 Why are private donations to the Lds church relevant to the average voter?
A Let's look at a parallel situation:
MoveOn was initially funded by the notoriously liberal chairman of Soros FundManagement, George Soros. According to Forbes his net worth is $22 billion (ranks 46th on the list of the world’s richest people). Linda Pritzker of the Hyatt Hotels dynasty has made large donations to MoveOn. A Tibetan Buddhist and trained psychotherapist, Forbes says she is worth $1.6 billion (736th on the list of the world’s wealthiest people). Another person who has given a lot of money to MoveOn is Peter B. Lewis, chairman of The Progressive Corporation. Lewis is well known for his financial support of many liberal causes, including the Marijuana Policy Project ($3 million), America Coming Together ($10 million), American Civil Liberties Union ($15 million), Democratic Party, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies ($750,000), Traction, and Proposition 19, which would have liberalized California’s marijuana laws ($159,000). Soros and Lewis have funded many of the same groups, including more than $2.5 million each to MoveOn. The group claims it no longer has any “large” contributors.
Source: “PROGRESSIVE” = “PRO-ABORTION”? Activist Group MoveOn Seeks To Make Its Mark In Abortion Debate (p. 2)
I know the "private $" defenders will jump on a thread like this...but then they have to be consistent -- and start defending MoveOn's original source funders...like Soros, the Hyatt Hotels heiress, and the Progressive Corporation's chairman all mentioned above.
Consumers have a right to know which corporations -- like Hyatt and Progressive -- are militating vs. their values...just like voters need to have informed decision-making as well...The question to be asked here: Is Mitt's wallet militating against the most important convictions in their life?
Q2 Why should Christians be concerned over big $ supporters of the Mormon church -- and even the fact that 80% of Mormons tithe to the Mormon church?
A Well, what are some of the things that Lds, Inc. does with these tithes?
(1) Lds.org Web site: This site bashes all Christian sects as "apostates"...[do a Google search on "Joseph Smith - History" @ Lds.org...vv. 18-19...the First Vision of Mormonism -- now shrouded in Mormon "scripture"; it claims that ALL of Christianity's creeds are an "abomination" and ALL of its professing believers are "corrupt"...
(2) Lds, Inc. publishes curricula & magazines -- again touting Christianity as infidels (like Islam does)...
(3) Lds, Inc. publishes its "competitors" to the Bible -- the Pearl of Great Price, Book of Mormon & Doctrines & Covenants...
(4) Lds, Inc. translates these into HUNDREDS of languages...spreading the slander of Christians and Christianity world-wide...
(5) & (6) Lds, Inc. supplements two programs paid for (mostly) by families -- its higher ed campuses as well as its overall missionary program...(yes, families pay higher ed tuition & families pay missionaries' way...but Lds have many tucked-away higher ed expenses as part of their propaganda machine + have mission presidents & many other related mission expenses not covered by families)
These 52,000 missionaries out & about have several "main messages." One of the top four ingrained in them since the 1950s was the so-called "universal apostasy"...so they go around the world slandering world-wide Christians as "apostates."
By this reasoning, even ALL of the Christian founding fathers of this land are slandered by Lds as both "apostate" and "corrupt."
And what? So-called "conservative" FREEPERS don't give a flip about a candidate who pays his "fair share" for the founding fathers to be regarded as spiritual "apostates" en masse?
Finally, just as the KKK could not have heavily influenced the Democratic Party in the 1924 Democratic National Convention in NY (called the Klanbake) minus financial support, Romney's Mormon church was an openly race-excluded organization through his first 13 years of adulthood...and the "sacred" books Romney's $ (& other tithers) supports in its publishing and translation (Book of Mormon) still has numerous racist passages in it.
Well...how important is tithing to Lds, Inc.?
If you look at Lds.org like I did -- every single entry they have for carrying out their various add-on "Laws" -- guess what two add-on "laws" get the most mentions by Lds, Inc?
It's near a tie:
(1) The Law of Tithing
(2) The Law of Chastity
That's interesting, too...'cause you would think that based upon what Joseph Smith said, the Law of Baptizing dead people would be #1. But it's not stressed more than the above (& doesn't rank above many other Mormon "laws").
Joseph Smith: “The GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS WORLD that God has placed upon us is to seek after our dead.” (Joseph Smith, Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 356)
{Btw...Mormons are you obeying this? Are you doing three-year missions to the dead to outdo your two- year missions to the living?}
For the Christian, do we follow a "law" of tithing?
No. Giving is an inside-out thing, done from the heart, encouraged by God as part of being godly.
Mormons? They make it an outside-in lock-up, imposed upon from without -- or you're out (of the temple, that is). No chance for special "callings" in the church; don't get to see your son or daughter married in the temple. No "forever family." No living with Heavenly Father forever.
You could pay 9.99% of your income, and still be disqualified from all the above...because you broke their man-made "law."
BTW...the Mormon "law of chastity" does the same thing as the Mormon "law of tithing": It attempts to impose a man-made law from the outside-in. Now am I saying singles should not be chaste and marrieds should not remain faithful to their spouse? Not at all; of course we exercise self-control. But Jesus said no matter whether you engage in physical adultery, God looks at the heart...and if you lust, you have already broken any boundary of heart purity/chasteness.
Mormons (and many Christian church members, too) consistently want to measure things by external appearances. God already knows our hearts perfectly. We can't change His omniscience and omnipresence. That's why Jesus complimented the Pharisees on their outward righteousness and condemned them on their inward tombstone-like lives.
Too many Mormons and even members of Christian churches compare their outward religious lives to the rest of the world, and think they are way out front of the race to heaven.
But God doesn't judge us that way.
It's pass or fail. (James says if we stumble at only one part of the Law, we have broken ALL of it -- James 2:10).
It's inside and outside.
It's internal and external.
All: Stay away from such religious legalism as mentioned above; and, if you're already entrapped in it, run away. Jesus condemned it for a very good reason!
"A" tithe is sure not the same as a FULL tithe!!!
(See #10)
|
Temple Recommend Questions
1 Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost? 2 Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer? 3 Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days? 4 Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church? 5 Do you live the law of chastity? 6 Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church? 7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? 8 Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel? 9 Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen? 10 Are you a full-tithe payer? 11 Do you keep the Word of Wisdom? 12 Do you have financial or other obligations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations? 13 If you have previously received your temple endowment: Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple? Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple? 14 Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been? 15 Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances? |
#11 of the TRQs REQUIRES them to follow these:
THE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTSSECTION 89Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, February 27, 1833. HC 1: 327–329. As a consequence of the early brethren using tobacco in their meetings, the Prophet was led to ponder upon the matter; consequently he inquired of the Lord concerning it. This revelation, known as the Word of Wisdom, was the result. The first three verses were originally written as an inspired introduction and description by the Prophet.1–9, Use of wine, strong drinks, tobacco, and hot drinks proscribed; 10–17, Herbs, fruits, flesh, and grain are ordained for the use of man and of animals; 18–21, Obedience to gospel law, including the Word of Wisdom, brings temporal and spiritual blessings.
The history and language (the two-step, 'surplus,' then 10% of 'increase' bit) of Doctrines & Covenants 119 are interesting. D&C 120 and interpretations from the First Presidency..
But tithe away, Mitt. It's your money, your church, your revelations, and your doctrine.
I support the right of Mitt and others to their religious beliefs (I don't always support acts in support of religious beliefs, such as honor killings or flying planes into buildings).
Yes, it is taught throughout Christianity but more accurately it is an O.T. mandate not an N.T. mandate. Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly and I'm not bound by O.T. Mosaic/Levitical law. I pay a free will amount that amounts to more than a "tithe" but it's not mandated by my church.
So what? My evangelical preacher tells us we are supposed to tithe nearly every Sunday.
After reading this story I am wondering why Rachel Zoller wasted her time typing it.
All: Stay away from such religious legalism as mentioned above; and, if you're already entrapped in it, run away. Jesus condemned it for a very good reason!
Well put and that's why I'm not running out to get circumcised.
The yearly membership dues for that exclusive white boys social club are expensive..
You could have been almost bankrupt, and still been paying your ten-percent to the church.
__________________________________________
Yes
about 5 or so years ago the Mormons were told in one of their twice yearly conferences in SLC that they had to tithe rather than feed their children...
Years ago a young lady I lived with became enamored with the Mormon Church. She attended services and came back thrilled, they didn’t even pass a collection plate.
She changed her mind a couple weeks later when the Bishop sent her a bill.
From the general conference April 2005
If A Destitute Family Is Faced With The Decision Of Paying Their Tithing Or Eating, They Should Pay Their Tithing
Among those who do not sacrifice there are two extremes: one is the rich, gluttonous man who won’t and the other is the poor, destitute man who believes he can’t. But how can you ask someone who is starving to eat less? Is there a level of poverty so low that sacrifice should not be expected or a family so destitute that paying tithing should cease to be required?
One reason the Lord illustrates doctrines with the most extreme circumstances is to eliminate excuses. If the Lord expects even the poorest widow to pay her mite, where does that leave all others who find that it is not convenient or easy to sacrifice?
No bishop, no missionary should ever hesitate or lack the faith to teach the law of tithing to the poor. The sentiment of “They can’t afford to” needs to be replaced with “They can’t afford not to.”
One of the first things a bishop must do to help the needy is ask them to pay their tithing. Like the widow, if a destitute family is faced with the decision of paying their tithing or eating, they should pay their tithing.
(Mormon Elder Lynn Robbins, Spring General Conference April, 2005)
BTW Shortly before this conference Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch passed legislation that allowed members to pay a full tithe even while they were in bankruptcy court. (See S. 4044).
Good. And I support the rights of those who shine the light on the coercive practice of the mormon church that ties salvation to the almighty dollar.
I think it's pretty important that the country should know that Mitt thinks it's perfectly OK that the "forever family" that is touted so much is only possible by providing the "forever money stream" for the mormon church to use in spreading its "forever bigotry" toward Christians around the world.
So does mine; but I forgive him for it.
God love 'em; but SO many slip into the LAW of the OT, trying to get lazy 'christians' to support their church.
You'd think they've NEVER read the 15th chapter of ACTS!
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