#1 Force? Sorry..."no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3)...Sorry, Grig. You or I don't even get the "credit" for accepting Christ.
#2 You "mis-time" the beginning point of God's condemnation. The so-called "threat" of hell that you make it out to be is not some new condemnation introduced. Or have you not read John 3:18...you know, the verse that comes two after John 3:16?
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned ALREADY because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18)
A weak human analogy would be if once upon a time you were married, and somebody asks you, "What if your spouse threatens to condemn and divorce you?" Well, if you were already divorced because that spouse condemned you, what new "threat" would that be?
#3 Is a judge who has the right to levy jail time "extorting" somebody just convicted of crimes & mayhem? Really? Is that the way you would present the best judge on earth? Is that your portrayal, too, of our Heavenly Father and of His Son as our Judge? Really?
Allow me then to "remind" you of our deserved wrath with a quick tour through the apostle Paul's letter to the Church @ Rome:
* The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness... (Romans 1:18)
* But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed...But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. (Romans 2:5,8)
* But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (Romans 3:5)
* What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? (Romans 9:22)
And then Paul gets to the "Good News" about how God the Judge and Savior has dealt with His wrath:
* Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:9)
_____________
The choice to accept Christ, or to pay tithing, are all choices based on faith. All choices have consequences, but in this case the consequences are pretty much limited to what comes after this life.
Sorry...but I don't think even the legalistic Pharisees condemned people to no eternal life with the Father if they didn't give alms or tithes!
Nobody is going to come burn you at the stake unless you accept Christ, and nobody is going to threaten your life or property if you choose to not pay tithing. Your accusation is silly.
Strawman. I never talked about the "hear & now" consequences that Mormon leaders threaten their "sheep" with...it's the long-term supposed consequences they dish out...and it's held over the very family relationships they hold most dear...including even an in-the-presence lockout from Heavenly Father threat.
...people who have FAITH IN THE CHURCH will seek on their own volition to obtain the blessing that come from living the gospel, and people who have faith in Christ will on their own volition seek to follow him.
Faith in the church? Are you kidding me? (My faith isn't even in the earthly Body of Christ, His Church!) You're just like First President Marion G. Romney, who in the early 1960s at a General Conference declared that the Mormon church was "the truth, the way, and the life" -- substituting the Mormon church for Jesus Christ in John 14:6 as the object of faith. Sorry, but that's idolatry! Repent!
Blah blah blah, bottom line is that because a choice has a consequence doesn’t automatically mean extortion is taking place. If it did then God uses extortion too.
“it’s the long-term supposed consequences they dish out...and it’s held over the very family relationships they hold most dear”
If somebody doesn’t believe those consequences exist they have no reason to fear losing anything. If the do belive those consequences exist then they must also believe the church really is the kingdom of God on earth and the presidents of the church true prophets of God, and that would mean the things taught by the church about tithing are true and that the standard for temple worthiness is from God, not man. Why should a person in deliberate rebellion against what God has commanded receive God’s greatest blessing? It isn’t a matter of extortion, it is a matter of faith and having the integrity to live according to what you know is true.
Nobody is ever shamed into paying it, nobody does any account to determine if you are actually paying 10% and if it is of the net or the gross income. It is between you and God and all you let the Bishop know is if you
“Faith in the church?”
Yes, faith (ie: belief) that the church is what it claims to be. It takes faith in Christ to gain salvation, but you can have faith in other people or groups, believing they are good and trustworthy. You appear to have faith in the Bible for example since you claim to believe what it says.