Anderson's Venezuela bakery story...as a lever to get you to pay tithing

[I Have Questions]

While I was in South America recently, Brother Roger Parra from Venezuela shared the following experience with me:

“In 2019 Venezuela was shaken by problems that caused a power blackout for five days.

“Chaos and anarchy reigned in the streets, and many desperate people did not have sufficient food.

“Some began looting food businesses, destroying everything in their path.

“As the owner of a small bakery, I was very worried about our business. As a family, we decided to give away all the food in our bakery to people in need.

“Through one very dark night riots were everywhere. My only concern was for the safety of my beloved wife and children.

“At dawn I went to our bakery. Sadly, every nearby food business had been destroyed by looters, but to my great astonishment, our bakery was intact. Nothing had been destroyed. I humbly thanked my Heavenly Father.

“Arriving home, I told my family of God’s blessing and protection.

“They were all so grateful.

“My oldest son, Rogelio, only 12 years old, said, ‘Papa! I know why our store was protected. You and Mama always pay your tithes.’”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... n?lang=eng

When looking for food what would be the point of looting a bakery that you knew had already given away all of it's food?
Mr Anderson is trying to get you to believe that if you pay tithing you won't get robbed.

Nelson also tries to convince you to pay tithing with his own little story of success...

As you think celestial, your faith will increase. When I was a young intern, my income was $15 a month. One night, my wife Dantzel asked if I was paying tithing on that meager stipend. I was not. I quickly repented and began paying the additional $1.50 in monthly tithing.

Was the Church any different because we increased our tithing? Of course not. However, becoming a full-tithe payer changed me. That is when I learned that paying tithing is all about faith, not money. As I became a full-tithe payer, the windows of heaven began to open for me. I attribute several subsequent professional opportunities to our faithful payment of tithes.20

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... n?lang=eng

Pay your tithing and get a promotion at work.

And in case you've heard about the secret Hedge Fund...

President Gordon B. Hinckley recounted this childhood experience: “When I was a boy I raised a question with my father … concerning the expenditure of Church funds. He reminded me that mine is the God-given obligation to pay my tithes and offerings. When I do so, [my father said,] that which I give is no longer mine. It belongs to the Lord to whom I consecrate it.” His father added: “What the authorities of the Church do with it need not concern [you, Gordon].

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... n?lang=eng

[Marcus]

I'd love to see that looting story vetted. Something tells me it's another exaggeration.

[huckelberry]

I'd love to see that looting story vetted. Something tells me it's another exaggeration.

I thought the story was clear about the reason, they gave the food away, it had nothing to do with tithing. Lot of gall to twist the story around backward to pressure tithing.

Marcus your other post about uncle being pressured to give too too much shocked me. I am perhaps unaware of how far the church pressure goes. It seems as if it is a long ongoing pressure.

[Marcus]

I'd love to see that looting story vetted. Something tells me it's another exaggeration.

I thought the story was clear about the reason, they gave the food away, it had nothing to do with tithing. Lot of gall to twist the story around backward to pressure tithing.

Marcus your other post about uncle being pressured to give too too much shocked me. I am perhaps unaware of how far the church pressure goes. It seems as if it is a long ongoing pressure.

Thank you for that. Yes, my uncle was wed to the lds church, and he served in unpaid missions to his dying day-literally, in a for profit preserve run by the lds church. His wife, my aunt, knew better, and told me so, after his death. The lds church killed her husband. It also ran my father's retirement almost into the ground, but finally my father decided after three "missions", where he provided the same services as before he retired but also paid the lds church 3k a month and also provided his wife's services for free, that he was done. Thankfully.

But the really hard part is still my uncle's death. He worked for free for a for-profit hunting preserve that the lds church provided for their wealthy members. He died thinking he was doing god's work, when he was just providing services for money-grubbing Mormon Men. Shame. On. Them.

[Kishkumen]

Wow! Talk about a convoluted view of causation. We gave the food away so there would be nothing for looters to search for, therefore tithing saved our place of business.

Whaaa?!?!?!?

It’s a miracle!

[drumdude]

Wow! Talk about a convoluted view of causation. We gave the food away so there would be nothing for looters to search for, therefore tithing saved our place of business.

Whaaa?!?!?!?

It’s a miracle!

Peewee Herman’s breakfast miracle machine.

https://youtu.be/lYDzhLOPD3E?si=bSZ6zNxSq1xJwj-B

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

From OP’s link:

One day each of us will finish our earthly journey. Twenty-five years ago, just days before my mother-in-law, Martha Williams, died of cancer, she received a small check in the mail. She immediately asked my wife, Kathy, for her checkbook to pay her tithing. As her mother was so weakened that she could scarcely write, Kathy asked if she could write the check for her. Her mother responded, “No, Kathy. I want to do it myself.” And then she quietly added, “I want to be right before the Lord.” One of the final things Kathy did for her mother was to hand her tithing envelope to her bishop.

These sons of camel dung know no depth they’ll plumb to get their cut. Absolutely craziness. This poor lady was so worried on her deathbed she tithed on a few bucks. These religions that manipulate the poor into handing over their meager earnings are evil.

- Doc

[Physics Guy]

Widows' mites and tithes on small checks aren't a big income stream in themselves, but if you can use stories like this to hammer home the message that everyone has to tithe no matter what, you have an easier time getting the real money out of the rich people.

[Marcus]

I disagree, but only for the very wealthy. Wasn't Huntsman the one who referred to his tithing as simply the equivalent of paying dues in order to maintain his family's access to and his considerable status in an exclusive club that runs pretty much everything in utah? Stories about poor people making huge sacrifices aren't what the very wealthy Mormons respond to, in my opinion. It's maintaining their status and reputation that motivate that group.

[Tapir Rodeo]

Does tithing also prevent you from getting raped by your bishop and the church covering it up?