Are we in alignment with God in how we spend our time, talents and money resources? or are we out of balance?
Last week I took this photo of an alignment of Venus and the Moon in complete vertical alignment in the heavens. I couldn't help but think on my own personal alignment with Heaven and if I am off even a slightest degree.
I just came across a older article in the world religion news that stated the LDS Church has spent 1.2 Billion on Humanitarian and Welfare Aid..The headline to the article was impressive... :"LDS Church has spent 1.2 Billion on Welfare and Humanitarian Efforts" However, if you read the entire article, you will find out that the 1.2 Billion is the combined total over the past 30 YEARS. Elder Dallin H Oaks in a lecture last month stated that the LDS Church only spends "around" 40 million a year.
From the article, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is widely known for the humanitarian services that it provides worldwide. Last month, during a lecture given at the University of Oxford, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church said that the Church spends around $40 million on humanitarian, welfare, and other charity projects, worldwide, each year. It has been doing that for the past 30 years. Also, volunteers from the Church devote millions of hours of labor each year to assist in the projects"
Read more at World Religion News: "LDS Church has Spent 1.2 Billion on Welfare and Humanitarian Efforts" http://www.worldreligionnews.com/?p=29124
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It is estimated in this article that the Church brings in 7,000,000,000.00 a year in tithing. So if I am doing my math correctly... less than 1% of our tithing goes to help the less fortunate through welfare and humanitarian aid. (exact amount is .57%)
It is like earning ten bucks and then only spending a nickel to help someone in need.
Sidenote: Someone might even want to compare the 40 million a year spent on humanitarian efforts with the estimated 4,000,000,000.00 that the church spent in a just a few years on building a mall in downtown Salt Lake.
Divide that $40 million by the number of tithe paying members ( maybe 2 million out of 5 million active members) and the contribution is $ 20 per year. Seems like a pittance doesn't it. Perhaps we should remember the Lords admonition that the assets of his church are to be used for the poor D and C 83:6
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete3 Nephi 13:3
3 But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth;
So I guess this would mean no press releases and t-shirts?
If you'll allow me, I'll make a modest correction to your statement, "It is like earning ten bucks and then only spending a nickel to help someone in need."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say it's like EARNING ten bucks then only spending a nickel to help someone in need. Because the Church didn't earn that ten bucks. All that money was GIVEN to the Church by people who THOUGHT the Church would be using it to provide for the needy. Instead, the Church took their ten bucks, spent the major part of it on often wasteful extravagances and corporate salaries, then only spent a nickel on the needy.
The giver, who trusted the Church to be a wise servant with the funds he contributed, has been royally conned.