The mormon (LDS) church’s teachings and practices of tithing are deeply immoral. Just yesterday, a speaker at their general conference encouraged poor parents to give tithing money to the church instead of buying food for their children. For those of us who have left this church, I notice a subtle way in which we are still validating their narrative: using the word “pay” when we talk about giving money to that church.
>strawberrymilkshake39 said: The thing is, we are simply asked to give 10%. There is no source anywhere that says that we will be separated from our families. Tithing has nothing to do with our eternal marriage. I realize that you have your own ideas about what the church does, but please be aware that the world isn’t as black and white as you make it seem. You want that to be true, but you’re wrong. The LDS church teaches that families are only together forever *if* they get sealed in an LDS temple by LDS authority. What do you need to do before you can so much as *enter* a temple? That’s right, pay your celestial protection money to qualify for a recommend. And what’s the teaching on how to keep ordinances valid after they’re performed? “Stay worthy and endure to the end.” Meaning “keep a current temple recommend”, meaning, among a short list of other things, “give us 10% of your income”. Also note that while the other recommend questions only get asked every two years, tithing settlement comes annually. And it is absolutely used to pressure and shame people into paying up, including in mixed-faith households. “Simply asked”? Please. You are smart enough to know that this is not true. And you are a better person than your evil church deserves.