This is for encouragement, ideas, and support for people going through a faith transition no matter where you hope to end up. This is also the place to laugh, cry, and love together.
the self-proclaimed leaders ... punish victims with "public humiliation, additional work, food and shelter restrictions, psychological abuse, forced repentance, sleep deprivation, physical assaults, and threats of divine judgment in the form of sickness, accidents, and eternal damnation" if they failed to meet donation goals....
Always nice to see when religious leaders are arrested.
divine judgment - no holy spirit for you, no temple, no higher callings, lost blessings if you "rob God" of the $$ you owe.
What blessings has everyone received now that you no longer pay tithing? I often think like - this vacation was paid for with the money I no longer give to the church
“You have learned something...That always feels at first as if you have lost something.” George Bernard Shaw When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yeah, sometimes I feel guilty about declaring that I am a full tithe payor in front of my wife and kids and I really haven't been paying tithing. However, I was tbm for quite awhile and paid 10% of my gross income for quite awhile. Then after my faith crisis read that in the early days of the church members only paid 10% of their surplus which means extra spending money right? Anyway if I think about it that way, I figure I'm considered a full tithe payor until 2033. Other churches like the Greek Orthodox don't require 10% tithing but they have the festival every year which probably helps off set the tithing. Maybe the Mormon church will start having a "Mormon festival" if tithing drops too much?
It's encouraging to see this kind of enforcement happening, even if rare. I think there should be much more of it. I suspect there are more abuses going on right under our noses in the name religion than anyone would expect, but religions have to be pretty blatantly horrific before they are called out for it. Look at how many kinds of control and abuse goes on within in the LDS that are perfectly acceptable in religion, but that a corporation could never get away with.
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain
Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."
