Mormon Church Money
Ok, this is a topic I thought I knew about; but as I began to study and read and find what I could about tithing, I began to find information about the Mormon Church and its for profit ventures/business. As I discovered more and more about the Mormon church and it financial ventures, it makes me wonder if the church I follow and grew up with is a religious organization or is it a business opportunity for those running it all around the world.
Let me explain. Multiple times a year, I hear talks about the importance of paying tithing. (Please go back and read my blog post on tithing to get a better run down about that topic.) All through out my life, it is constant talks about the importance of paying 10% tithing to the church. If you don’t pay tithing, you are not considered a worthy member to enter the Mormon temples and be in God’s House. Now I personally don’t believe God will close the door on someone who is unable to pay tithing. However, the Mormon church teaches that you are not worthy to be in Gods presence if you don’t pony up some money every time you receive a paycheck or some other source of income. If money goes in your pocket, they want you to put some in their pocket.
As I said above, as I studied tithing and the Mormon church, I began to discover the Mormon church has a whole different arm of it that runs for profit ventures. One of the business ventures is the City Creek Center in Salt Lake City, right across the street from the Salt Lake City Temple. The mall is honestly spectacular. It is one of the cleanest and nicest malls I have ever been to. Funny thing about the mall, is that it hosts a Nordstroms E Bar (a coffee café) and a Starbucks on the same block owned by the Mormon church that City Creek is built on. Funny when you think about the Word of Wisdom and the Mormon church profit ventures……. Coffee seems to be okay if the Mormon church can profit from it.
Now the City Creek Mall is just one profit venture the Mormon church has. The church also runs for profit cattle ranches, real estate investing that includes housing developments, business parks, they own a private hunting reserve, and mixed use developments. There is also an insurance and financial firm that is owned by the Mormon church.
Oh, I must not forget the fast offerings that the church collects form its members on fast Sundays. You are supposed to fast for 2 meals and donate the money saved from not eating the 2 meals to the church. So the church collects money from fast offerings, tithing, and its for profit arm. Now church spending is very difficult to come by. It is something very difficult to find and search for. I have not been able to come across a whole lot of information about church finances and what it spends it money on. I can tell you that the Mormon church claims it has a lay clergy, and that is something that I taught on my mission. For those of you who do not understand what a lay clergy is, it means that nobody gets paid. Leaders of the church give and volunteer their time. At least that is what I was always taught and what I also taught to non members of the church as I did missionary work.
Now I was taught growing up that the leaders of the church that have a position that requires them to give up their careers and volunteer to work for the church full time are given a small stipend for their necessary living expenses, and nothing more. These individuals include Area 70’s, Apostles, and the Prophet. (The church does have a huge number of employees, but they aren’t clergy or leaders of the church. And local church leaders for local congregations do not receive any compensation. Local leaders donate and volunteer their time after their day job is over.) What I have been able to discover is that the higher up in the Mormon church, the Area 70’s, Apostles, and the Prophet receive healthy sums of money and perks. The Mormon church says they do not receive paychecks, but they do receive a money. I don’t know if they call it an allowance, or per diem, or other various phrases for anything other than paycheck. But I have discovered through various sources that the higher up church leaders make well over 6 figure incomes, free nice car, money for a nice house, and a rather large food allowance. I wish I could make a 6 figure income tax free as well as a free car, money for food, and money to pay cash for a house. And let’s not forget that these leaders are probably getting free health and dental insurance, although I have not read anything about insurance. All the while, people like you and me are considered not worthy to be in Gods presence if we don’t pony up and give 10% of our income to the Mormon church. The church does not believe in donate what you can.
Is the Church I follow a Church? or is it a Business? I’m trying to figure it out.
The Judged Mormon 