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A few years ago I was disfellowshipped for a relatively short amount of time. As I'm sure most are aware, among the things I was not allowed to do were: speak in church meetings, pray in church meetings, partake of the sacrament, hold a calling. However, the one thing I was not only allowed to do but was encouraged to do (beyond personal things like prayer and scripture study) was to pay tithing.

I would like to hear from those who would explain/defend this. I don't believe I need to hear from critics as I can already pretty much imagine what will be said against it. I also think I can think of the explanation in favor of it, but would like to hear from others.

Fire away.

floatingboy wrote:A few years ago I was disfellowshipped for a relatively short amount of time. As I'm sure most are aware, among the things I was not allowed to do were: speak in church meetings, pray in church meetings, partake of the sacrament, hold a calling. However, the one thing I was not only allowed to do but was encouraged to do (beyond personal things like prayer and scripture study) was to pay tithing.

I would like to hear from those who would explain/defend this. I don't believe I need to hear from critics as I can already pretty much imagine what will be said against it. I also think I can think of the explanation in favor of it, but would like to hear from others.

Fire away.

Extra cash encourages sin.

Broke guys have less chance of landing a girl with whom to fornicate.

Booze and cigs cost money. Less money = less Old No. 7.

KA

You should have asked if you paid more than 10% if you could get out of the disfellowship sooner, or if you could pay a lump sum and avoid the disfellowship altogether.

KimberlyAnn wrote:Extra cash encourages sin.

Broke guys have less chance of landing a girl with whom to fornicate.

Booze and cigs cost money. Less money = less Old No. 7.

KA

ha! unbelievably, i never thought of that!

No one, no matter how wicked, should be denied the privileged of donating most of their net (after fixed expenses) income to the cause of building another townhouse for Elder Bednar.

floatingboy wrote:A few years ago I was disfellowshipped for a relatively short amount of time. As I'm sure most are aware, among the things I was not allowed to do were: speak in church meetings, pray in church meetings, partake of the sacrament, hold a calling. However, the one thing I was not only allowed to do but was encouraged to do (beyond personal things like prayer and scripture study) was to pay tithing.

I would like to hear from those who would explain/defend this. I don't believe I need to hear from critics as I can already pretty much imagine what will be said against it. I also think I can think of the explanation in favor of it, but would like to hear from others.

Fire away.

I don't' know if there I'm behind a complete defend of this, but the explanation probably has something more to do with the things you were not allowed to do involved exercising activity with others. Paying tithing is merely supporting the institution--giving because you want to see it built up around the world. I think its pretty obvious the difference between paying tithing and speaking in Church.

floatingboy wrote:

KimberlyAnn wrote:Extra cash encourages sin.

Broke guys have less chance of landing a girl with whom to fornicate.

Booze and cigs cost money. Less money = less Old No. 7.

KA

ha! unbelievably, i never thought of that!

That's because of your darkened mind, floatingboy.

Disabusing the less faithful of excess sin-lucre is an act of kindness for which we should all be grateful.

KA

I can understand how they might be able to sell people on the idea of paying for the privilege of not participating in church. They just have to make sure not to let anyone in on the fact that folks can have those awesome benefits free of charge.

Isn't religion the greatest racket ever? I mean, seriously... they charge money (sorry, I mean, they guilt you into handing over money) for a product of, well, pipe dreams and fantasy. It's money for nothing. And if you're a disfellowshipped mo, it's explicitly money for nothing (Joe would have loved that song, eh? Money for nothing, chicks for free… That’s got Joe Smith written all over it. I guess he went with religion because he couldn’t play guitar).

If I were completely selfish and morally bankrupt, I would start a religion. Certainly, nobody with a conscience has or would ever do it.

floatingboy wrote:A few years ago I was disfellowshipped for a relatively short amount of time. As I'm sure most are aware, among the things I was not allowed to do were: speak in church meetings, pray in church meetings, partake of the sacrament, hold a calling. However, the one thing I was not only allowed to do but was encouraged to do (beyond personal things like prayer and scripture study) was to pay tithing.

I would like to hear from those who would explain/defend this. I don't believe I need to hear from critics as I can already pretty much imagine what will be said against it. I also think I can think of the explanation in favor of it, but would like to hear from others.

Fire away.

Its because they are no different than nazi's :)

That said, I have also spent a lot of time thinking about the LDS church's focus on tithing. I get that the main point of these different religious ventures is to make money while pretending to help the less fortunate but I sometimes feel like the LDS church isn't even trying to be subtle about their focus on money anymore...

The fact that they actually have financial planners come out and do firesides (at least in our area) and their #1 piece of advise is to always pay tithing first seems a bit warped to me...The guy would give a couple pieces of decent financial advise and then say "but the main thing you need to do is make sure set your tithing aside before you pay your bills...." - seems nuts and I don't really understand why the money grubbing attitude permeates down to the volunteer bishops....