Posted on 11/01/2023 9:17:20 PM PDT by algore
The Mormon church is being sued by three men who claim that it took $348,000 in donations they believed were for charitable causes, then used the money for its own investments.
The trio, who filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, are seeking to make their case a class-action suit, and want an independent entity to oversee collection and use of donations made to The Church
Their lawsuit is separate from, but similar to, one filed by James Huntsman, the scion of a prominent Mormon family whose brother Jon was the governor of Utah and a presidential candidate, and U.S. ambassador to Russia, China and Singapore.
James Huntsman in August told DailyMail.com that the institution is 'in dire straits' as followers begin questioning the integrity of its leadership.
The three men behind Tuesday's suit - Daniel Chappell, of Virginia, and Masen Christensen and John Oaks, both of Utah - are challenging the spending by the church of tithes, the 10 percent donation that all members are required to make.
Chappell said that, since January 1, 2013, he has donated $108,000.
Christensen, who in the court documents states he remains a member of the Church, and will continue paying tithes provided the structure is changed, says he donated $120,000 plus $46,000 though 'donor-advised funds' - a tax efficient way of giving.
Oaks says he has given $74,000.
The church does not make its finances public, but a group calling itself The Widow's Mite estimated that the church had a fortune of $236 billion in 2022, with $175 billion of that in cash.
The Widow's Mite reports are produced by 'current and former church members whose professional and educational backgrounds include business, finance, law, investment management, economics, journalism and history,' and created through an analysis of 'publicly available sources
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
My experience with Mormons has mostly been positive.
In fact I support their views on prepping and back in the 70s and 80s they were the only 'church' that I knew of that old help pay bills to help parishioners who had fallen on hard times.
On the other hand my brother in laws sister was murdered by one on the Quorum and was not judged on earth.
Until...the person decides they don't want to be a Mormon.
Then they are outcast and shunned to the extreme.
Not exactly a Christian response.
(We won't talk about how men believe they will be a 'god' over their own planet one day - having multitudes of 'celestial wives' to produce 'spirit babies' to fill their planet).
(We also won't talk about their genealogical efforts for the sole purpose of 'baptizing the dead' into their cult during temple ceremonies).
Once made the mistake of walking into a Mormon temple in Los Angeles and witnessing the gospel of Christ to the menu inside. I have never, ever been under so much spiritual attack. It was extremely stupid to do on my part.
Mormon church is based on volunteering and tithing. So, no wonder, they have some money left over.
I do not see any problem with having an investment fund, even with a lot of money.
The problem would be, if some people used that fund as their piggybank and helped themselves to these money.
you and me, we'd get jail time if we tried to hide money like this....
lets face it...here on earth there are few "saints" and many criminals and they like to hide in churches....
they make me sick....
and I see no reason why the mormon church isn't treated like a business and get taxed appropriately....and no tithes should ever be tax deductible since the whole system is a fraud...
Bookmark for later.
**(We also won’t talk about their genealogical efforts for the sole purpose of ‘baptizing the dead’ into their cult during temple ceremonies).**
I’ll talk about it: Their interpretation of 1 Cor. 15:29 is a classic example of taking a verse out of the context of the passage and making an erroneous doctrine from it.
In that chapter of the letter, said to be written in about 57 AD, Paul addressed the question of the resurrection, because someone(s) in the Corinthian church was saying that Christ hadn’t risen from the dead.
That would mean that everyone being baptized, was being baptized in vain since Christ was still dead 24 years later (and those that had been baptized, and since died, were baptized in vain). So, Paul said (hypothetically), why then be baptized if the dead rise not.
But, with the church of Joe Smith, baptizing stand-ins for unbaptized dead folk has been a very effective tactic to add members and money.
I’ve only encountered some of their door knockers a couple of times. My method: be just as polite as they are, but don’t let them assume they are representing the ‘high ground’ of scriptural understanding. And 1 Cor. 15:29 is the first place to go, showing them their misinterpretation of it.
Then I tell them to obey Acts 2:38 while they are still alive. When they are dead no one can do it for them.
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