Whistleblower to IRS: "Mormon Church has amassed $100 billion in tax-empt fund

[robocop (actually)]

You decieve yourself, as they decieve you and themselves (1 John 1:8).

Nope, we all have sin, but we have something precious to help!

The gift of the Holy Ghost warns people before they make grave errors. It has worked for me since I got rebaptized.

I have schizophrenia and it still gets through.

(I don't think the gift of the holy ghost was available to ancient prophets or apostles before Jesus' death).

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Nope, we all have sin

But, you have been claiming your modern prophets are free of skeletons in their closet. You are claiming they are free of corruption as a whole. The Bible does not support that claim. Psychology does not support that claim. Humanity as a whole does not support that claim. They are, afterall, humans in positions of power. That alone and automatically attracts the worst our species has to offer.

 

[dianaiad]

The accumulation of wealth is always immoral.

Oh, that's just silly.

Accumulating wealth isn't immoral in and of itself.

HOW one does it can be, and what one does with it can be, but those are very different things.

Oh, and just as a by the way....deciding that someone ELSE's methods of accumulating wealth or what they do with it is immoral mostly because you resent not getting any of it yourself is called 'avarice,' and is generally not considered a virtue.

Frankly, all the objections to the LDS church having this money boils down to that. Avarice. As in 'well, WE don't have any of it, so it's immoral that they do"

never mind that nobody can find any fault with how we deal with welfare OR criticize the life style of our leaders as being extravagant.

 

[dianaiad]

Did I? I don't recall having written any such conclusion. This thread was posted to highlight a news story which seems to want following up -- but I made no accusation of guilt whatever.

I dunno. There is just something about this:

Not at all. I just care if there are tax rules that are being avoided/broken. Avoiding taxes is exactly tantamount to robbing the American people. And even Mormon's must agree that ought to be wrong.

That's a pretty good hint that this was where your mind was going, and that was what you were intimating.

 

[robocop (actually)]

But, you have been claiming your modern prophets are free of skeletons in their closet. You are claiming they are free of corruption as a whole. The Bible does not support that claim. Psychology does not support that claim. Humanity as a whole does not support that claim. They are, afterall, humans in positions of power. That alone and automatically attracts the worst our species has to offer.

Modern prophets have the prophetic mantle and gift of the Holy Ghost. The LDS Church has never had a financial scandal. Psychology does not know about the Holy Ghost. Humanity does not know about the Holy Ghost. The "top 15" leaders get 5 figure incomes and nobody else earns anything. The total amount of free help the Church gets is amazing!

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I dunno. There is just something about this:

Not at all. I just care if there are tax rules that are being avoided/broken. Avoiding taxes is exactly tantamount to robbing the American people. And even Mormon's must agree that ought to be wrong.

That's a pretty good hint that this was where your mind was going, and that was what you were intimating.

Once again, notice the "if." And "if" it looks like there might be something afoot, it wants to be looked into.

Tax exemption is ostensibly about the notion that those monies are being used for charitable purposes. If (and again, I say "if") that is not the case, then one has to ask whether the tax exemption is being properly claimed.

 

[dianaiad]

Once again, notice the "if." And "if" it looks like there might be something afoot, it wants to be looked into.

Tax exemption is ostensibly about the notion that those monies are being used for charitable purposes. If (and again, I say "if") that is not the case, then one has to ask whether the tax exemption is being properly claimed.

the tax laws say that this is fine.
the purpose of the fund is to prepare for future charitable needs.

Not your idea of what those needs might be.

After all, I might have a problem with, say, tax free donations meant to fund tattoo removal for circus clowns. (I don't, but I MIGHt)...but such a charity is absolutely tax exempt. It's not my call.

 

[idea]

Modern prophets have the prophetic mantle and gift of the Holy Ghost. The LDS Church has never had a financial scandal. Psychology does not know about the Holy Ghost. Humanity does not know about the Holy Ghost. The "top 15" leaders get 5 figure incomes and nobody else earns anything. The total amount of free help the Church gets is amazing!

Robocop - you do know that all religious organizations are led by the Holy Ghost, right? It is not just a Mormon thing?
See:

"Spiritual Witnesses" Lehora, links to other compilations

Please ask yourself-what is the lesson of Judas? The moral- don't rely on any arms of flesh, not even apostles and prophets. If you want to believe in God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost -great! Have faith in God! Do not have faith in any religion though, do not lean on any arms of flesh- they will betray you like Judas, will hurt and abuse you until you turn your faith towards what warrants it.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

the tax laws say that this is fine.
the purpose of the fund is to prepare for future charitable needs.

Don't be so sure of that.

I used to be on the board of a small not-for-profit. We had a contingency fund in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; our auditor advised us to not let it grow any bigger, because it might start to raise questions with Revenue Canada about whether we really were "not-for-profit," since one of the requirements for that special tax status is that we use our revenue for certain worthy purposes... and the tax people didn't consider amassing wealth beyond what was reasonably needed to qualify as a "worthy purpose."

Of course, since American churches aren't required to do the filings with the IRS that legitimate charities have to do, maybe the question of what the IRS would think of the giant horde of money never came up.

 

[robocop (actually)]

Robocop - you do know that all religious organizations are led by the Holy Ghost, right? It is not just a Mormon thing?
See:

"Spiritual Witnesses" Lehora, links to other compilations

Please ask yourself-what is the lesson of Judas? The moral- don't rely on any arms of flesh, not even apostles and prophets. If you want to believe in God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost -great! Have faith in God! Do not have faith in any religion though, do not lean on any arms of flesh- they will betray you like Judas, will hurt and abuse you until you turn your faith towards what warrants it.

Idea, I have been a member of many religions, so I know that other religions feel the Holy Ghost. However, we are the only ones with the gift of the Holy Ghost, to warn us when we are about to do something reallly bad.

(I can't watch the video now)