Missionaries living with members

[_Jason Bourne]

I thought no one was paid for (insert correct term here as relates to priests/preachers in LDS) their work in LDS?

I could sware that I read that before on MAD. That was what made LDS so much better than evangelical preachers. Is this two different things?

Local leaders (bishops and SP) are not paid. The higher up the food chain you go, the bigger the stipend. The Twelve and the FP are all paid, supposedly out of the profits of the for-profit businesses, but since the books are closed, no one can prove that. It may come out of tithing for all we know. And they let the myth of being non-paid continue.

What myth. It is well known that LDS top leaders are paid.

[_barrelomonkeys]

They should live no better than the average member, since it's the average member that is supporting them. Personally, I think it's shameful that men in expensive suits are telling poor people in 3rd world countries to pay their tithing.

Don't forget the perks: car and drivers, maid service, penthouse condo in a $5million building, extensive world-wide travel, and let's not forget the veneration bordering on hero worship. They are inaccessible to the members and the public alike. Both Pope and Prophet live like kings, on God's dime.

I thought no one was paid for (insert correct term here as relates to priests/preachers in LDS) their work in LDS?

I could sware that I read that before on MAD. That was what made LDS so much better than evangelical preachers. Is this two different things?

Top leaders, GAs, about 100 of them, are paid. The rest of the ministry positions are lay and not paid. And the Church does have a lot of paid employees as well, to run the Church, seminary and institute teachers, facilities, etc

Okay. I've actually attended a ward near my home and I'm sort of embarrassed to ask some of these questions. Not that it really matters to me; it's just confusing when I get contradictory information.

[_harmony]

I thought no one was paid for (insert correct term here as relates to priests/preachers in LDS) their work in LDS?

I could sware that I read that before on MAD. That was what made LDS so much better than evangelical preachers. Is this two different things?

Local leaders (bishops and SP) are not paid. The higher up the food chain you go, the bigger the stipend. The Twelve and the FP are all paid, supposedly out of the profits of the for-profit businesses, but since the books are closed, no one can prove that. It may come out of tithing for all we know. And they let the myth of being non-paid continue.

What myth. It is well known that LDS top leaders are paid.

And yet BarrelofMonkeys heard the myth, over on MAD. Kinda interesting, that, don't you think? The church's apologists are telling non-members that no one is paid for their in the LDS church.

Myth, indeed.

[_barrelomonkeys]

Jason, to be fair to whatever MAD poster talked about that (although I'm pretty sure there was more than one that talk about this) they weren't talking about the higher ups. So I probably didn't know the right questions to ask.

[_Yoda]

Can anybody show me how much a 70 makes?

How about an apostle?

A member of the FP?

Five star hotels? Not when GAs come to my town.

You think their job is cushie? Could be. Not sure what cushie is. Many of them travel almost every weekend and they all take only one day a week off. One I know, who was an attorney told me one thing he misses about his old life is his income is much lower now and it is harder to make ends meet. He is allowed to do legal work on his day off to supplement his income.

As I have noted before, the job description of a GA is upper mid level management and to management if it were the corporate world ( and I know the critics argue it is, but any large institution these days is going to be business like in many aspects) so personally a low six figure income does not bug me.

OK, guys....this is the deal. My husband's uncle is an apostle, so I do have an idea of how this works.

They are paid according to what they need. If they have made money in their own personal careers before being called (like my husband's uncle...he was an engineer and made good money)....then their travel is covered, and they provide for themselves as far as daily living expenses. There is also medical insurance in place if they don't have it. The only other "perk" that is blanket is free tuition to Church schools for immediate family members...and preferred status for entrance to those colleges (which I don't agree with).

[_barrelomonkeys]

They are paid according to what they need. If they have made money in their own personal careers before being called (like my husband's uncle...he was an engineer and made good money)....then their travel is covered, and they provide for themselves as far as daily living expenses. There is also medical insurance in place if they don't have it. The only other "perk" that is blanket is free tuition to Church schools for immediate family members...and preferred status for entrance to those colleges (which I don't agree with).

And when you say "they" who are you talking about precisely? Is there a chart somewhere that illustrates the hierarchy? This is very confusing.

[_harmony]

Many of them travel almost every weekend and they all take only one day a week off.

I think used to be the case, but I think it is not the case now. My stake was told we would not be having GA's again for stake conference. Those meetings when they would have come would now be broadcast from SLCentral. The reason given was our leaders are getting too old to travel.

So was my stake the only stake that is denied personal visits from our leaders, or do they actually travel every weekend?

[_harmony]

They are paid according to what they need. If they have made money in their own personal careers before being called (like my husband's uncle...he was an engineer and made good money)....then their travel is covered, and they provide for themselves as far as daily living expenses. There is also medical insurance in place if they don't have it. The only other "perk" that is blanket is free tuition to Church schools for immediate family members...and preferred status for entrance to those colleges (which I don't agree with).

And when you say "they" who are you talking about precisely? Is there a chart somewhere that illustrates the hierarchy? This is very confusing.

They = The Twelve Apostles, the First Presidency, and often the Seventies.

[_Jason Bourne]

Many of them travel almost every weekend and they all take only one day a week off.

I think used to be the case, but I think it is not the case now. My stake was told we would not be having GA's again for stake conference. Those meetings when they would have come would now be broadcast from SLCentral. The reason given was our leaders are getting too old to travel.

So was my stake the only stake that is denied personal visits from our leaders, or do they actually travel every weekend?

I have never heard such a thing and we ger a GA once a year. Maybe they were referring to the 12 not the 70.

[_ajax18]

]Top leaders, GAs, about 100 of them, are paid

Jason what about mission presidents? How many of them are their?

Secondly, can't the top level GAs just write books and make a killing anyway? Why do they even need a Church salary?

The first time this bothered me was listening to them tell us to make our donations, be generous with the poor, live frugally, and then I saw TSM riding away smiling in the back seat of his lexus. It just didn't add up to me.

And missionaries are hard working salesman, maybe they should be paid as well. Sales people are usually paid well in corporate America since we're using that as our model of what things should be like. I just hate corporate America and what I call the new age feudalism that we live in. The attitude that it's ok to mistreat and abuse people because they're at entry level sickens me. I don't think God sees it this way. It's not just the salary. It's whose mistakes are focused on, it's the ethics as they see it on quitting a job or getting fired. Maybe you're higher up the totem pole Jason so I can see where you might not be bothered by it. The fact that the Church uses it as a model to how its organized leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I had always expected a better system than corporate America out of the one true Church. It simply doesn't look very fair to me, and if you can't find fairness in your religion, that's a very discomforting feeling to say the least.

I promise if I were ever the mission president I would never be living in a mansion while the elders serving under me were living in a hole. I would be out tracting regularly if I expected the elders to do it. I wouldn't be drinking black soda pop if I asked the elders to give it up. Lastly if for whatever reason I didn't, I surely would not preach that I would be the most exalted among them in the afterlife or even that I would be their equal. Those who suffered most have the most to gain in the next life and those that deny this are the true "testimony destroyers" in my opinon.