Health, Wealth and Relationships

Health – My family has a few issues that have been helped greatly in various ways.

Wealth – The Church has blunted my natural inclination to seek wealth, and that has been a very good thing in the long run. I know how different that is than the experiences of many who hear the prosperity gospel preached so much, but it is my own experience. I also have faced unemployment more than once, and the Church’s welfare system has been a great blessing.

Relationships – My most important one can’t be separated from the Church. I am who I am, but I am sure I would be a radically different person without some of what I learned growing up in and attending the LDS Church – particularly with regard to intimate relationships.

Such a tough question for me. This is one of those where I can’t divorce myself from historical revisionism.

Health: The WoW immediately comes to mind when we talk health in the church. I had already made my mind up about most of the WoW don’ts before I even heard the word Mormon. I didn’t like the taste of coffee, tea was the only thing that I had to give up. I don’t think reintroducing tea back into my life would make my health plummet.

Exercise was a part of my life, I didn’t need a WoW for that one either… it’s not like I’d exercise without hearing about it from someplace. I’m pretty sure this one came mostly from doctors and not ecclesiastical leaders.

Let’s talk mental health. Scrupulosity got the better of me. We are in a very demanding church but I still can’t say whether I’d implicate the church. This was likely one of my innate qualities that was only brought out by church culture. Like giving someone predispositioned towards addiction their first drink of alcohol. Give me a rule, I’ll do the rest.

Wealth: I guess I was the only one to immediately think: Well I have 10% less in the bank. :angel:

I’m not sure how I feel about the law of tithing blunting the natural inclination to seek wealth. I worked for a place that always selected a week during the year where they would shut down and force everyone to use vacation time to cover the shutdown. Their motive was to reduce the vacation time all the employees were hoarding, to get it off the books. The problem? Some people would hoard all their vacation time because they knew they’d have to cover that week long shutdown in addition to any vacation that they wanted to take. If you wanted to save up for a nice two week vacation you had to save up three weeks to cover it. People saving up vacation was the solution to and cause of the problem. Sometimes having a little less money can make people grip what they do have a little tighter. This certainly isn’t the case for everyone. I’m just putting out another opinion. Some people might seek more wealth to fill the financial hole that tithing leaves.

Serving a mission helped me focus better in school. I was a much better student when I came back than the student I was when I left. It’s hard to put a price on that. Some of the hard work rhetoric pushes some people to advance through the ranks at work. I’m not one of those, but they do exists in spades in the church.

Relationships: My involvement in the church has both enhanced some relationships and hurt others. This one comes out in the wash. Plus I’m tired of typing right now. I may come back to this one.

Fwiw, tithing has nothing to do with my own natural inclination to seek wealth being blunted.

I see tithing as dues and a way to share the benefits I get with those who are less fortunate financially than I. I make no correlation whatsoever between tithing and any aspect of wealth. I have seen too much real life to make that sort of connection.

Sadly, I see tithing as blunting my capacity for self-reliance, my overall wealth and my enthusiasm for pursuing healthy economic success. It also prompts feelings of angst when I think of the church’s tendency to not show reciprocity when I have needed things that are at the core of the church’s mission. Not financial things, but others things I won’t go into again.

I personally like giving my money to whatever cause I feel passionate about — and giving it directly to causes I am currently trying to further. IN the last year I donated quite a bit by paying musicians out of my own pocket for various charitable events. It had me wondering why a person would give to any charitable organization except to get a tax receipt (you don’t get a tax receipt if you pay for services that help a non-profit without going through their books, obviously).