TithingWhat is tithing?
Anciently, Abraham and Jacob obeyed the commandment to pay a tithe of one-tenth of their increase (see Hebrews 7:110; Genesis 14:1920; 28:2022).
In modern times the Prophet Joseph Smith prayed, ³O Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing (D&C 119, section introduction). The Lord answered: ³This shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people. And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto
them forever² (D&C 119:34). The First Presidency has explained that ³one-tenth of all their interest annually² refers to our income (see First Presidency letter, Mar. 19, 1970).
Tithing is used by the Church for many purposes. Some of these are to:
1. Build, maintain, and operate temples, meetinghouses, and other buildings.
2. Provide operating funds for stakes, wards, and other units of the Church. (These units use the funds to carry out the ecclesiastical programs of the Church, which include teaching the gospel and conducting social activities.)
3. Help the missionary program.
4. Educate young people in Church schools, seminaries, and institutes.
5. Print and distribute lesson materials.
6. Help in family history and temple work.
Other OfferingsFast Offerings.
Church members fast each month by going without food and drink for two consecutive meals. They contribute at least the amount of money they would have spent for the meals. They may give as generously as they are able. This offering is called the fast offering. Bishops use these fast offerings to provide food, shelter, clothing, and medical care for the needy. (See chapter 25 in this book.)
As part of the fast day, members attend a meeting called the fast and testimony meeting, where they share with each other their testimonies of Christ and His gospel.
Other DonationsChurch members may donate to other efforts of the Church, such as missionary work, the Perpetual Education Fund, temple construction, and humanitarian aid.
Service. Members also offer their time, skills, and goods to help others. This service allows the Church to help needy members and nonmembers around the world at community, national, and international levels, especially when disasters occur.
Obeying the Law of TithingWhat is an honest tithe?
“While tithing is paid with money, more importantly it is paid with faith. I have never met an individual who paid an honest tithe who complained about it. Rather, he put his trust in the Lord, and the Lord never failed him.”
-Pres. Hinckley
Does this mean that it¹s not an honest tithe if you complain about it?
Why do we pay tithing?
What¹s our motivation?
Last week during Alan’s lesson we talked about how some commandments are pretty black and white and we can feel confident in ourselves that we are obeying, even mastering, this one part of God’s commandments.
Is the Law of Tithing black and white?
I admit, when I saw the lesson I would be teaching, I felt like there might not
be a way to encourage us all to do a better job paying our tithing.
We Are Blessed When We Give Tithes and OfferingsLatter-day revelation tells of another blessing for those who tithe: Verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed
Shall not be burned at his coming (D&C 64:23).
Sheldon Child told a story in conference of the first money he ever earned selling a calf. He said, “When Sunday came, I reluctantly put two shiny coins into my pocket to pay my tithing. As hard as it was to surrender my precious silver dollars to the bishop, I still remember now how good I felt being obedient to the Lord.
On the way home from church, my mother told me how proud she was of me. Then she said, Your grandfather always told us children that if we would faithfully pay an honest tithing, the Lord would bless us and it would be the best investment that we could ever make.”
The Lord promises to bless us as we faithfully pay our tithes and offerings. He
said, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it (Malachi 3:10).
President Heber J. Grant stated, I want to say to you, if you will be honest with the Lord, paying your tithing and keeping His commandments, He will not only bless you with the light and inspiration of His Holy Spirit, but you will be blessed in dollars and cents; you will be enabled to pay your debts, and the Lord will pour out temporal blessings upon you in great abundance.
Are these real promises?
Does perspective change our views?
Elder Sheldon F. Child remembered a faithful father in the Philippines telling of paying his meager tithing to the bishop one Sunday and then leading his children home from church, knowing full well that there was no food for them. As they were walking along, a huge breadfruit dropped from a tree right in front of them. He immediately looked up and thanked God for opening the windows of heaven and sending him a breadfruit to feed his children. Speaking to Latter-day Saints in the Philippines, President Gordon B. Hinckley said that if people ³will accept the gospel and live it, pay their tithes and offerings, even though those be meager, the Lord will keep His ancient promise in their behalf, and they will have rice in their bowls and clothing on their backs and shelter over their heads. I do not see any other solution. They need a power greater than any earthly power to lift them and help them (Inspirational Thoughts, Ensign, Aug. 1997, 7).
Those who take the leap of faith to pay their tithing testify that the windows of heaven are opened to them. The blessings we have been promised are both material and spiritual. If we give willingly, Heavenly Father will help us provide for
Our daily needs of food, clothes, and shelter.
President Hinckley said: This is not so much a matter of money as it is a matter of faith. I urge you, every one of you, to take the Lord at His word in this important matter. -Hinckley, 1985
I like this challenge to take the Lord at His word. In all things isn’t that the ultimate test of faith? Can this apply to us as we pay our tithing today? Can it apply to other commandments we want to obey?
How do we teach this to our children?
A mother in West Africa shared her testimony about tithing. She was a trader in a marketplace. Every day she would come home, count out her tithing, and put it in a special place. Then on Sunday she would faithfully take it to her bishop. She shared with us how her business had grown and how her family had been blessed with health and strength and enough food to eat. Then with tears in her eyes she said, But the greatest blessings of all are that my children love the Lord and we are a forever family.
Sheldon F. Child, Conference 2008
When I was a small boy, each December my father would take us all across the street to the home of Bishop Duncan for tithing settlement. The bishop
did not have an office in the ward building, and so he had to conduct business
in his home. We would all sit in his living room and, one by one, he would invite us into the dining room. Our tithing might be 25 cents, or maybe 50 cents, but it was a full tithing. He wrote out a receipt and recorded the amount in the ward record. The amount may have been so small that it cost more to record it than it was worth. But it established a habit which continued through all of these years. With the payment of tithing have come innumerable blessings as the Lord has promised.
President Hinckley, YW Conf. 2007
Do your children see you paying your tithing?
Finances are on paper and sometimes not as visible these days. How can we keep tithing visible to our children?
We were refugees from Mexico. During the years that followed, father had a difficult time getting enough food to feed his family. I remember about two years after we came out of Mexico (that would be about 1914), father got a job in Oakley, Idaho, teaching in the Cassia Academy for $80 a month. When father and his brother came out of Mexico, they both had large families. Knowing that they would have a difficult time to make a living (they brought nothing out of Mexico except what they could bring in one trunk), they joined together and pooled their earnings. After a short stay in El Paso, Texas, they went together to Los Angeles, California, where they worked as carpenters. Later they moved to Oakley, Idaho, where they could raise their families in a Latter-day Saint environment. When one of them was out of work, they divided the income of the other and thus eked out an existence for both families. My uncle got out of work one winter in Idaho. That left them the $80 that my father received for teaching with which to support about 17 people. They had to pay rent, they had to buy everything they ate, and they had to buy fuel, except that I went out on the side hill and dug the sagebrush from under the snow for fuel. I kept warm digging and mother kept warm poking it into the stove. The rest of them nearly froze.
The question came up in the family council- did father pay tithing on that $80? If he didn’t, he would have $40 a month to care for the family; if he did, it would be cut down by $4 and he would have $36 a month. I remember that council, and I remember that they decided that they would pay their tithing, and I remember that they sent me with the tithing to the bishop. It was cold, and I didn’t have warm clothes, and I wondered what really had gone wrong with father. I learned from the training of my parents that there is truth in the Lord’s promises.
-Marion G. Romney
What are some blessings you, your family members, or your friends have received through the payment of tithing and other offerings?
