In the April 2011 General Conference, Apostle Russell M Nelson teaches that one must pay tithing to the church in order to receive certain blessings and that if you do not pay tithing, then you will not be counted among the Lord's people and you will not be protected at the day of "Vengeance and burning" -----------------------
People wondering why Mormons would continue to pay tithing to a church that already has a till with over $100,000,000,000 in it probably don't understand how strong the messaging about tithing is for members of the church.
In this brief segment from a 2011 talk given by then Apostle Russell M Nelson (who is now the Prophet), you can see a typical example. In less than a minute the following concepts are conveyed on the subject of tithing:
1. Faith can only be fully developed if you pay a full tithing.
2. If you are faithful, you will see tithing as a *privilege* - implying that those who consider it a challenge or a burden are inherently less faithful.
3. Tithing is an ancient law from God - which belies the reality that modern Mormon Prophets have defined and proscribed tithing in their own manner.
4. The payment of tithes is mandatory if you want to be considered among the people of God
5. Payment of tithing will protect you from being burnt in the day of vengeance - a physical threat of death revealing the coercive nature of the Mormon implementation of tithing.
All of these factors are taken seriously and literally by believing members of the church, who trust their leaders to convey God's will and truth.
This is why, no matter how many hundreds of billions of dollars the church stuffs away in interest-bearing, tax-exempt accounts, kept secret from any external oversight - members of the church will continue to pay tithing. They will even be proud of their ability to do so without holding leaders to any measure of accountability for the ethical and productive use of those funds.
If Mormons saw the governing body of the JW or Scientology continue to issue spiritual threats to their members, coercing them to pay money to the church, while they sat on hundreds of billions of dollars - they would have no hesitation to raise a critical voice.
Not so with their own leaders. This is what it means to sustain the leaders of the church.
Original Source here:
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