As a missionary, part of the training included how to present a lesson on tithing. There was some bullcrap from Micah, if I recall correctly. I'm thinking about it now, because there was mention in another thread that getting back three times what was paid in tithes could induce that writer to become active. That would not work for me, because the amount the church would have to pay would be about $150, if that much.

I start working in high school, as a busboy, which because I'm a lamanite, I was born knowing how to do. We made more in tips than we did in our paychecks, but I always forgot to tithe. "Catch you in two weeks, bish..." Never did.

I made $90/per week at Mr. Steak when I was at the Y. This is probably when I paid a bit of tithing, what with being the EQP, but it wasn't a full tithe. And we didn't tithe anything on the money our parents sent us. (I took a ferocious pay cut when I graduated.)

I wasn't very active in New Jersey and don't recall tithing. Then when I went to grad school, definitely no tithing. And then I finally retired from any pretense of trying to be mormon.

Anyway, tithing is a big deal in mormonism. You can't get to heaven without it, and I believe there's an appreciation on the part of the large 15 that tithing is a bitch and it can't be preached until the prospect has swallowed the hook, and the line and the sinker. Then you hit him/her up with it: "All that we've promised can be yours with this one tiny additional thing, called tithing!"

And we explain what it is, with heavy, heavy emphasis on the "...and the windows of heaven will open..." and you'll be as rich and trendy as us missionaries!!

But check this out... I found it... yes! Online!!

"Tithing is an Old Testament concept. The tithe was a requirement of the Law in which the Israelites were to give 10 percent of the crops they grew and the livestock they raised to the tabernacle/temple (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5). In fact, the Old Testament Law required multiple tithes—one for the Levites, one for the use of the temple and the feasts, and one for the poor of the land—which would have pushed the total to around 23.3 percent. Some understand the Old Testament tithe as a method of taxation to provide for the needs of the priests and Levites in the sacrificial system.

"After the death of Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law, the New Testament nowhere commands, or even recommends, that Christians submit to a legalistic tithe system. The New Testament nowhere designates a percentage of income a person should set aside, but only says gifts should be “in keeping with income” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Some in the Christian church have taken the 10 percent figure from the Old Testament tithe and applied it as a “recommended minimum” for Christians in their giving.

"The New Testament talks about the importance and benefits of giving. We are to give as we are able. Sometimes that means giving more than 10 percent; sometimes that may mean giving less. It all depends on the ability of the Christian and the needs of the body of Christ. Every Christian should diligently pray and seek God’s wisdom in the matter of participating in tithing and/or how much to give (James 1:5). Above all, all tithes and offerings should be given with pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to the body of Christ. “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7)."


Now I, like a lot of missionaries, read all the standard works before or during the mission, and I don't remember catching the significance of this. It would be a pretty powerful message to relay to the bishop some tithing settlement!

The mormon church does not seek tithes so that it can do good works for 'the body of christ.' And why should the leadership be granted the power to 'call the shots' on the memberships charity, giving or service? In the mind of a good christian, isn't that ghawd's job?

I think the membership needs to wise up and learn to think for themselves in terms of what to give, just like Paul told the Corinthians. They should be thinking that if it's really ghawd's very own church, he'll take care of it without having to exact a pound of flesh from people who only weigh a pound and a half.

Did you know that in its infancy, the church prescribed that bishops and stake presidents got cuts of the tithing, just like in an MLM? This went on until late in the 19th century. The church has seemingly always been a money grubber.

I say this in my own name, blessed be I, even me, amen.

I found this ... interesting

http://www.tentmaker.org/books/TheTitheisIllegal.html

Poor god.
Can't print his own money, so he has to convince his followers to give it to their leaders. So they can build shopping malls and buy land in Florida and stuff.

I'm not a fan of taxes (not a tithe, of course), but at least after I pay them I get roads to drive on, police to catch bad guys, firefighters to keep me safe, scientific research paid for with my tax money to make my life better, etc.

Tithing? Empty promises of imaginary windows in an imaginary heaven opening. Meh.

In addition to all of the monetary and spiritual blessings that would come from paying tithing, there was also the promise of tithing being your "fire insurance" at the time of the second coming. My policy ran out sometime ago; the world hasn't stopped spinning, nor has it become a post toasty yet.

General Conference:

Obedience.

Tithing.

Overwrought MBT hymns.

A couple of less than amusing stories about GA's childhoods and poor people who tithed.

JS, JS, JS, BoM, BoM, BoM.

Oh, yeah, and Jesus. (I think)

Tithing.

Obedience.



Hey, I did chiasmus--the church is true!

Why is it the Mormons talk about Joseph Smith and other prophets so much?

And Jesus so little???????
I thought this was the Church of JESUS CHRIST of LDS.

And NOT the Church of Joseph Smith of LDS.

So, why do Mormons talk so much (as well as sing) of men so much more than Jesus????????

Didn't the widow Christ mentioned in the NT gave something like a penny and He complimented that she gave all she had? That was good enough for Him.

I'm not so sure it was a compliment. Just before this scene, Jesus tells his disciples that "LUKE 20:46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

The very next verse is LUKE 21:1-4 the widow's mite story.

The very next verse "5 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, 6 “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

Taken in context, the widows mite seems to be the proof of Jesus' point about the temple system gone wrong.

Yes, there's no such thing as the widow's mite in Mormondumb. I worked for awhile for an insurance and securities firm in Utah Valley. There were so many people who would come in for what I called tithing settlement in December. That is, they would make their yearly trip in to talk to their agent/broker. They'd tell him how much they needed to take out of their investment account for their one-time yearly tithing payment. Sometimes they needed to take more than 10% because they needed a bigger write off. The agent would use that as a time to meet with them to rebalance their accounts, they'd sometimes go to lunch and then say "see you next year."

Those people didn't feel the least bit of a pinch when it came to tithing. But I'll guarantee they are the ones who get up and preach about how blessed they are because they pay a full tithe and how you will be too if you pay tithing (instead of buying food for your kids). I wondered if they ever had a sleepless night in their lives worrying about settling their tithing. I wondered if they ever had to make a decision of what to take away from their family or how much debt to go into to be called a full tithe payer and buy their TR.

I was talking about it with my kid the other day. It's a real sore spot with me right now because my elderly parents are paying a high price for using all their money to buy their way into heaven instead of saving it for retirement and eldercare. I told my son that when we were married students with 2 kids at BYU and would get our G.I. Bill check the first of every month, paying that $50 to the church hurt way more than paying 10% of my current income ever would. And 90-year-olds who paid not only tithing and F.O., but contributed thousands to the ward budget for so many years, have to forego nursing care.

The 10% rule has exactly zero correlation to how faithful and worthy you are. If the student with children can only give 5% and is kept out of the temple when the rich old people make a social event and tax consultation out of paying their full 10%, take that word "Christ" out of the name of your church because there is no connection.

"Those people didn't feel the least bit of a pinch when it came to tithing. But I'll guarantee they are the ones who get up and preach about how blessed they are because they pay a full tithe and how you will be too if you pay tithing (instead of buying food for your kids)."

Isn't that the truth. Your comments reminded me of of a stake conference I attended. My baby became fussy and I walked out with her to the foyer. I had a good view of the parking lot from where I stood. The stake center had reserved parking for members of the stake presidency. I could see a new Mercedes with temp tags, a BMW and a Jaquar were parked in the reserved spots.

While I looked at the fancy cars in the parking lot, I could hear a talk from the sound system in the foyer from a member of the stake presidency. He was crying and blubbering about the importance of tithing, even if you had to do without necessities. I later learned that he was the owner of the new Mercedes.

It was an experience that made my shelf quite heavy.

There was a psychiatrist in SLC who I heard was good at dealing with this and he wasn't covered by our insurance, so I felt that what we paid to go to the psychiatrist to help us save our marriage was worth the tithing (after all, they helped get us in this mess).

Well, that was wasted money as I think the guy himself was gay and he told my ex he could easily find a guy, while telling me that we could work this out. Not to include him taking a call from his daughter for 20 minutes during one of my sessions with him. He died a few years later at a fairly young age. Can't even remember his name.

I'm sure that is why my ex "chose to be gay" according to some members. I haven't paid a cent since. I think my TBM daughter pays extra to cover what she can for her wicked family.

My deaf grandparents couldn't afford to pay tithing and didn't. My mother said they were able to go to the temple.

I've told this story before. My mother died in December. My dad realized just after Christmas that he hadn't paid all the tithing. He had really bad knees and could barely walk, but he chased down the bishop at the stake center and said he had to pay his tithing before the end of the year or my mother would never forgive him. The bishop didn't want to do it as all the books had been taken care of for the year, but my dad insisted. And I do understand why he felt my mom would never forgive him (in this life and if there is an afterlife, I'm sure she wouldn't care). BUT he was telling me this and I said, "But dad, God would understand." And he said, "Oh, you're right." He died a month later. My dad was never much of a strict mormon, but he only did this because of just losing my mom.

Very simple, but Morgbots complicate it.

Take all your earnings and toss them into the air. Now tell god to take what he needs and you pick up what you need from the ground.

Easy peasy :D

Tithing was a property-based tax system in Israel. Only Jews living on and working the "promised land" paid it. Tradesmen didn't have to tithe their wages, fishermen didn't tithe from their catch.

Most of the earliest Christians were Jews, so yes there are mentions in the NT of Christians tithing. This does NOT make tithing a Christian practice. It actually shows the opposite, that it was a tax system for those living on land granted to the tribes and not for gentiles. The NT says early Christians simply shared among one another voluntarily; in fact that they should never give anything "out of compulsion". Tithing is the very definition of compulsion.

Christian tithing simply cannot be justified by scripture. It is a man-made rule--a membership fee imposed on members of many churches and given the fanciful metaphorical name "tithing" in order to sound more biblical. It's like calling the church van "the Ark" or the men's social group "Joshua's Army".

There are about 8 billion reasons per year why.

Jesus now i know why they keep pressing.