Book of Mormon Central wrote:The Church is becoming more transparent in some aspects of its operations. For many years we were humble about our sizeable humanitarian efforts in the spirit of (Matthew 6:1–3). With increased public interest in Church finances, we are disclosing more details to the public such as the $1.02 Billion spent to care for the poor and needy in 2022.
Interesting to see them use "we."
Book of Mormon Central is not an official part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but rather an independent organization.
Also
Book of Mormon Central wrote:The amount of corruption at Church HQ is practically nil.
A special shout out to Book of Mormon Central ... these guys have crowd control/gaslighting down. Jesus wants secrecy confidentiality and those who misread the scriptures as saying otherwise are spreading misinformation and should be silenced.
Myth is misused by the powerful to subjugate the masses all too often.
This is tying old school lds people in knots. Read this excuse for the SEC violations recently given by a TBM in his 70s on reddit:
I'm of the opinion that when and if the details of the stock investment come out, we will see things more clearly and will need to change our minds on some things we thought we understood.
One of the things I see on this forum is a tenancy to jump to conclusions with little information available. It would be more reasonable to withhold final judgment when there is only a trickle of facts available.
We live in a so-called information age. But the truth is too often the victim when only partial information is available, yet conclusions are reached in the rush to support our bias. I try to be open minded; it is not easy, but it is worth it in the long run.
When it comes to the church, I don't see the intent by leaders to deceive but I do see mistakes and fallibility. For example, some church leaders made the decision to cover up unfavorable parts of church history because they thought it would be better than letting unvarnished history destroy faith. They defended their thinking by saying "truth isn't always useful". I see that as paternalism not a criminal act. A criminal act would have been to destroy unfavorable history instead of hiding it.
The Mountain Meadow Massacre is the worst part of church history. What was done there was a great evil viewed from our day. What kind of people were they we ask? They lied and killed! When the facts are looked at we see that none of them were killers by nature any more than the young soldiers I went to war with in Vietnam were killers. In a war mentality people do what is needed to win the war--they do things that would be called evil if there wasn't a war. After the war the vast majority go on to live good lives--proving they were not evil. That is what happened with nearly all who participated in the MMM. They went on to live good productive lives
1) The church is afraid that if some members know the specific amount of money in the account, they will stop paying tithing.
2) The church is afraid that if the world knows the specific amount of money in the account, they will tell the church how it should be using the money.
3) The church is afraid of financial ruin and needs to be able to operate for at least X number of years in the event of a cataclysmic disaster.
4) The church is not saving all this money for the second coming of Christ.
1) The church is afraid that if some members know the specific amount of money in the account, they will stop paying tithing.
2) The church is afraid that if the world knows the specific amount of money in the account, they will tell the church how it should be using the money.
3) The church is afraid of financial ruin and needs to be able to operate for at least X number of years in the event of a cataclysmic disaster.
4) The church is not saving all this money for the second coming of Christ.
No. 1 - the church should be afraid because it is only logical to not want to pay an organization that doesn't need the money and only wants to invest it.
No. 2 - that excuse is a bunch of b.s. Can't the church withstand peer pressure for godsakes?
No. 3 - current trends may make this a viable reason to keep saving. It's false as the day is long and it can only fool so many people.
No. 4 - Yeah, the second coming excuse is illogical when, if that myth actually were true, the need for money won't be necessary after it happens. JC will provide, supposedly.
Myth is misused by the powerful to subjugate the masses all too often.
Anyone see it? the best part was when the Church's spokesperson for the interview said some of the most egregious things. This was a small blurb but looks really bad...which I think is encouraging. This news needs to come out.
My wife's sister called my wife the other day, crying. We "left the Church" years ago...but apparently this sister's husband has declared his own apostacy recently and refuses to attend Church or participate in any meaningful way. He also told her, "it's beyond disgusting that anyone would still support this Church." This money issue is one main reason. It's real time for them, kind of going through it.
My wife's encouraging and sweet. Her sister spits out, "don't get excited...I'm never going to leave the Church." My wife hugged her as she drowned in tears, and said, "don't worry. It's ok." and other such nice things.
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
The whistleblower came off pretty sincere while the member of the presiding bishopric was creepy and looked uncomfortable. I guess he is unused to being in situations where he does not control the situation. His long pause and response to the interviewer's question about what's the difference between secret and confidential, was really telling.
