Wasting Tithing Money?

[_sleepyhead]

My feeling, though, is, at least we are AWARE that our tithing dollars go to building temples. Frankly, the building of temples, church buildings, etc. is what tithing SHOULD be for. I would rather have my tithing money going toward perfect construction of a temple than toward a high end mall in Salt Lake.

Hello,

When Moses built the Ark of the Covenant he used contributions. When David and then Solomon built the temple they used money from there treasury. When the temple came into disrepair they placed a lockbox in the temple for contributions. Herod mopst likely rebuilt the temple from taxes. The purpose of tithing is outlined in Exodus through deuteronomy. As far as I know there is no basis for the claim that tithing should be used for either construction or repair of anything.

[_keithb]

I'm sure the window, as it was, represented the best efforts of someone. So what if it was slightly imperfect? Isn't the fact that it was the best effort of someone enough?

This is the kind of thinking that really pisses God of.

Hate to say it, but the Mormon god is kind of a little bitch about things, and the Mormon Holy Ghost is even worse. Nearly everything pisses off the Mormon god and offends the spirit, including women wearing lots of earrings and small flaws in the temple windows.

On another note though, I wonder what kind of a message this sends to the members of the church who actually believe these talks come from god. Are we going to have even MORE Mormons on Prozac, just because they can't measure up to the impossibly high standards of the church?

[_ludwigm]

What is your problem?
It should be pure gold.

Exodus 25
11. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
17. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
24. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
29. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.
31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
36. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.
38. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
39. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
Exodus 28
14. And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.
22. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold.
36. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
Exodus 30
3. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
Exodus 37
2. And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.
6. And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
11. And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about.
16. And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.
17. And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:
22. Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.
23. And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold.
24. Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof.
26. And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about.
Exodus 39
15. And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold.
25. And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates;
30. And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
1 Kings 6
20. And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
21. So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
1 Kings 7
49. And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,
50. And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.
1 Kings 10
21. And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
1 Chronicles 28
17. Also pure gold for the fleshhooks, and the bowls, and the cups: and for the golden basons he gave gold by weight for every bason; and likewise silver by weight for every bason of silver:
2 Chronicles 3
4. And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
2 Chronicles 4
20. Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold;
22. And the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers, of pure gold: and the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.
2 Chronicles 9
17. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold.
20. And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

HOLINESS TO THE LORD

[_Tator]

Come on Ludd nothing is too good for these great and spacious buildings and malls. Are you "idle" when it comes to "idol" worship?

[_Drifting]

Was General Conference a good use of tithing money in comparison to say using the equivalent funds to feed the starving children in Africa?

[_SteelHead]

One of my friends had the contract to do the dry wall in the Rexburg temple. He will never do a temple job again. They took a laser to the walls. Had to be prefect. The amount of redo they had to do for free almost bankrupted him.

One of my favorite scriptures to quote to members who brag about the temples or other fine buildings of the church.

For behold, ye do love money,and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

There are about three times more temples in the morridor now than are actually needed. Seems to keep the members happy. If they are building more temples they must be growing...... ;)

[_zeezrom]

I need to rethink this whole idea of building beautiful edifices for worship. I just saw this (image below), and thought what a shame it would be to not have such buildings on the earth.

Inside architecture at The Blue Church in Bratislava, Slovakia

Can you imagine getting married in this place?!

[_Sophocles]

Zeez, you bring up a good point. The church wants the best temples money can buy, but in this case "the best" refers to a very bland, American middle class aesthetic.

The House of Medici also wasted a lot of money on religious nonsense, but at least the rest of the world got some kick-ass art out of the deal.

[_ludwigm]

The Blue Church in Bratislava, Slovakia

I was there - it is my neighbourhood. We call Bratislava as Pozsony (link).

The city was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, a part of the larger Habsburg Monarchy territories, from 1536 to 1783 and has been home to many Slovak, Hungarian, and German historical figures.

[#img] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ontage.jpg[#/img]
Pictures of the town. No breasts, no genitals...

Zeez, you bring up a good point.

And a picture I can't.

[_Equality]

I'm sure the window, as it was, represented the best efforts of someone. So what if it was slightly imperfect? Isn't the fact that it was the best effort of someone enough?

This is the kind of thinking that really pisses God off.

Yeah, it's a good thing it was a Seventy who made them re-do the work. If it had been an ordinary member who tried to correct it, God might have smitten (smote? smited?) him for "ark-steadying." The God these folks are trying to please has made it clear that he is a colossal dick willing to slay his "children" for the slightest perceived offense.