Church Finances Are Used In the Lord's Way For the Lord's Work

[Tacenda]

Well, per the OP by Maidservant, how is this using the money how the Lord would want? I guess for investment? Just sharing for sharing's sake!

https://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-owned-developer-proposes-new-high-rise-in-downtown-slc

[Calm]

A for profit business for development is developing, apparently without requiring tax incentives from the government.

I don't see a problem with it.

[The Nehor]

Why do so many people seem to think that the Lord hates nice housing? I mean, have you seen his houses?

He pointed out the lack of accommodation for him personally when he was mortal: “And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”

[rpn]

On 3/5/2018 at 6:40 AM, sjdawg said:

My stake president once told me what when a General Authority visited our stake the first question asked was "what percentage of the stake are full tithe payers"?  From that they knew exactly how spiritual everyone in the stake was. 

Tithing isn't about money (I'm not sure it has ever been about money, though I concede that financing church operations has historically been hard for most faiths and the restored Church of Jesus Christ has been in dire need of money at times).  It iIS about sacrificing in a way that recognizes Him as our Savior and God as the One who gives us all that we have, and bonds us to Jesus Christ.   It is the fact of voluntary sacrifice that identifies the faithful, not the money.   That is why it makes no sense at all for parents to force their children to pay it, to take their money from children who don't want to and submit their money as tithing.   Paying to play, or paying under force is not tithing, and is pointless.  Tithing done the way it is supposed to be done is cleansing and healing and commitment, which is how it matters.

[mnn727]

On 3/5/2018 at 12:18 PM, Maidservant said:

  I look forward to when my bishop prays (and some of them have knelt) over my family and unlocks the blessings of heaven for my family (for the next year).  I count on that to the degree as I see it as a quasi-ordinance. 

Never had that happen. never heard of that happening. 

[mnn727]

On 3/6/2018 at 1:22 PM, Amulek said:

. Seriously, just go to a Baptist (or some other Protestant) church sometime and you'll see. I was really caught off guard the first time I went to another church and they started passing the plate (multiple times).

 

Coming from a Protestant background, I was amazed the first time the Missionaries invited me to the LDS Church and they didn't "Pass the Plate"

[ksfisher]

On 3/5/2018 at 4:40 AM, sjdawg said:

My stake president once told me what when a General Authority visited our stake the first question asked was "what percentage of the stake are full tithe payers"?  From that they knew exactly how spiritual everyone in the stake was.  That always bothered me

I don't think that knowing the percentage of full tithe payers tells you how spiritual people are.  But, those who pay a full tithe are also more than likely reading the scriptures, praying,  hold a temple recommend, and attend church regularly.  I wouldn't think that there would be an exact correlation, but close enough to give you a good idea of how people are doing.

[Joshua Valentine]

On 3/5/2018 at 5:40 AM, sjdawg said:

3.  Why is tithing a larger focus than other commandments?  Do we have an annual "keeping the sabbath day holy" settlement meeting?  If money is not the focus then why does it seem that finance's get a disproportionate amount of attention? (or is that just my perception?)

 

On 3/5/2018 at 12:18 PM, Maidservant said:

#3

I think what is the largest focus in the church is up to individual perspective and experience, because I would have said something else (i.e. sexual purity commandments).  So maybe it's not so much what the Church focuses on as what is in large focus in our lives?

 

On 3/5/2018 at 12:51 PM, bluebell said:

As for #3, i think tithing settlement is about reconciling records and making sure the money is where the members think it is.  Other than tithing settlement though, i don't think that tithing get's more of a focus than other commandments.  Other than tithing settlement, what do you see as a 'disproportionate amount of attention' going towards that commandment?

 

On 3/5/2018 at 11:57 PM, The Nehor said:

3. It is not. It is your perception. Other then Tithing Settlement which serves an explicit purpose in regards to temple worthiness we have maybe one tithing focused meeting for each of the hours of the three hour block a year. It takes a disproportionate amount of my time but that is because I am a clerk and actually have to mess with donations, budgets, and checks but I am not the norm.

While you each bring up justifiable nuances, I think sjdawg´s example of emphasis - the very tithing settlement meeting - is the emphasis that surpasses say purity. Insofar as it has to do with temple worthiness - it is not enough to simply say that it does, because other things like personal purity are investigated in much less intrusive and honor code kind of ways - bishop meetings and temple recommend meetings. So, just as swdawg first said, the very Settlement meeting itself is the overemphasis on tithing over other things like purity, word of wisdom, honesty, etc. (Two of the responses sidestepped this by actually saying ¨other than Tithing Settlement¨.)

[The Nehor]

6 hours ago, Joshua Valentine said:

 

 

 

While you each bring up justifiable nuances, I think sjdawg´s example of emphasis - the very tithing settlement meeting - is the emphasis that surpasses say purity. Insofar as it has to do with temple worthiness - it is not enough to simply say that it does, because other things like personal purity are investigated in much less intrusive and honor code kind of ways - bishop meetings and temple recommend meetings. So, just as swdawg first said, the very Settlement meeting itself is the overemphasis on tithing over other things like purity, word of wisdom, honesty, etc. (Two of the responses sidestepped this by actually saying ¨other than Tithing Settlement¨.)

Please explain how tithing settlement is intrusive and honor codey while temple recommend and Bishop interviews are not when the Bishop does all of them and they are all equally confidential.