Oh, the good the church is capable of!

[_zeezrom]

(how much does it cost to dig a hole anyway, $5.00?).

If you have ever turned on the tap in Salt Lake county between the months of August and February, there is a good chance you have tasted water from one of these "holes". We take it for granted; water comes so easily here. A lot of money went into the infrastructure to get you that water.

[_harmony]

I pay 10% of my income to one of the best charities in the world. That is more than enough for me. I don't care who you "sponsor" or how many holes you think you've dug in Africa (how much does it cost to dig a hole anyway, $5.00?).

Simon, you're embarrassing the church again. You sound whiny and stupid. Give credit where credit it due. You'd come off looking more mature and a better Mormon if you praised Screech for his contributions and efforts to help the poor, instead of attacking him.

Turn the other cheek, man. Show you've learned the Primary lessons at least!

[_harmony]

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. 1 in 2 children in the world live in poverty. 400,000,000 of these children have no access to safe water. 270,000,000 of these have no access to health services.

The average cost of water project in a needy community (i.e. Small village in Uganda) is $6500, which includes long term monitoring and evaluation.

Schools and medical clinics in these areas cost about $15-30k each to build.

If the Mormon church decided to fund these projects instead of the City Creek mall ($4 billion), they could make possible the construction of:

Over 300,000 wells
Nearly 70,000 schools and hospitals

Sources:
http://thewaterproject.org/sponsor-a-well-in-africa.asp

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

The vast majority of these people are the wrong color, the wrong nationality, and the wrong SES. We help ourselves first, our neighbors second, and the world dead last. And we never help anyone else out of the tithing fund. And the way we know this is evident in the amount of money we spend on ourselves.

[_Buffalo]

Belmont,

Will you explain what you mean by that remark?

I simply meant that if the church gave away all of their resources, instead of investing in real estate and building up their business end of things to make more money, they would have a lot less resources to give now. As it stands, because of the business choices, they are in a far better position to help a greater number of people -- and they do.

Except they don't spend their business money on charity. They just spend it on more business.

[_Buffalo]

Then it would run out of resources eventually. In this way they can perpetually help those in need around the world.

How many houses has the LDS church built for the less fortunate around the world? I have, personally, paid for the construction of 3 houses and 1 well in ghana since I decided to stop paying tithing to the LDS church and give my money to people that actually need it....

You're a better Christian than Monson or any of the apostles running the corporation.

[_Morley]

Frankly, I don't think that the leadership of LDS Church considers their primary mission to be charity, but considers their mission to be spreading and maintaining 'the gospel.' Wider charity is left up to individual members. Unfortunately, given the time, energy, and financial demands of the Church, members often have few resources left over to contribute to remedying the ills of a wider world. They logically (or not) consider that they have already done their parts and leave the rest to God.

[_Joseph]

morlie wrote: "Frankly, I don't think that the leadership of LDS Church considers their primary mission to be charity, but considers their mission to be spreading and maintaining 'the gospel.' Wider charity is left up to individual members."
***********************************

And how does this give credence to the FOUR fold mission of l-dsinc?

[_schreech]

I pay 10% of my income to one of the best charities in the world.

CFR...by the way, how many families did your tithing feed this week/month/year?

That is more than enough for me. I don't care who you "sponsor" or how many holes you think you've dug in Africa (how much does it cost to dig a hole anyway, $5.00?).

Yes, I am sure doing the bare-minimum is fine for you as long as you get your temple "recommend". Some of us actually believe in helping our fellow man rather than blindly writing a check to a pseudo-religious social club. Its sad that throwing the bare minimum at the Mormon church is "more than enough".

by the way - I don't "think" I have done anything I have actually gone to ghana, had dinner with the families that got the homes and worked with the people digging the well(s) - why am i not surprised that you actually think a well is nothing more than a hole in the ground...I also continue to help several families put their children through school in africa and my wife and kids give far more than 10% to http://corazon.org/HTMLPages/FAQ.asp - by the way, feel free to check out their year end financials as they are freely published and corazon is a great charity (not that you care...) - We have build houses with them in Mexico several times, their selection process is fantastic and they can complete an entire home in one day...

Thanks for continuing to show how ignorant and shallow you really are....

[_Morley]

morlie wrote: "Frankly, I don't think that the leadership of LDS Church considers their primary mission to be charity, but considers their mission to be spreading and maintaining 'the gospel.' Wider charity is left up to individual members."
***********************************

And how does this give credence to the FOUR fold mission of l-dsinc?

Ahh, Joseph, you're talking about the Church's stated mission. I'm talking about what seems to me to be their in-practice mission. I'm sure you'll agree that these are often not the same for either organizations or individuals. I'll leave the evaluation of "credence" to you and others (though you may be able to read between the lines about what I think).