NOM

There’s a family in the ward, we’ll them the Browns. Ever since we moved into the ward 10 years ago, Bro. Brown has been in and out of work. The family has struggled, always been on the list of families to help. Their kids have received clothing from different families in the ward. Their house hasn’t been kept up well (needs some major repairs), presumably since there hasn’t been a steady source of income.

One Sunday Bro. Brown got up in F&T meeting to tell us all about his latest bout of unemployment. He was unemployed the better part of a year. He fell behind on tithing. He was able to get some seasonal (Christmastime) employment and turned the entire paycheck over to the bishop so he could catch up on tithing. And then the bishop gave him church welfare. He was so grateful and so happy. And then he got a job a month later, so yes, you get blessings from paying tithing.

I was so furious about this. I don’t know what kind of self-respecting bishop takes that kind of money from people. My husband pointed out (while talking me down) that it is possible that Bro. Brown insisted on paying so the bishop had no choice. It’s possible, but oh so wrong. This is a family who has had a lot of problems. Whose kids need stability. They need home repairs. The father went and worked a seasonal job – not for the family – but for the church. It just makes me lose my mind.

What's that common lds pioneer story about that sister who doesn't have much and some else says "sister so&so, maybe you shouldn't pay this month.
The sister responds - "shame on you for suggesting that. How could I deny myself those blessings? I pay my tithing because I expect blessings and if I don't how will the lord bless me?"

Seems to me that is what is going on here.

That poor family. The story sounds familiar enough that it might be one of my extended relatives.

Korihor wrote:What's that common lds pioneer story about that sister who doesn't have much and some else says "sister so&so, maybe you shouldn't pay this month.
The sister responds - "shame on you for suggesting that. How could I deny myself those blessings? I pay my tithing because I expect blessings and if I don't how will the lord bless me?"

According to worst apologetics we have ever heard, "taking care of widows" used to be accomplished by polygamous marriages. Now we take care of widows and single sisters by telling them to pay a full tithe and just assume that blessings from heaven will take care of them. This is unfailing logic.

I must have missed the memo about the catching up with tithing. When I was in the calling-that-will-not-be-named, my understanding for those who missed a few tithing payments was to just encourage them to start, and not worry about catching up. How I lasted beyond the seven year mark without being a proper 10% tax collector is beyond me. The worst corporate intern ever!!

Mormorrisey wrote:I must have missed the memo about the catching up with tithing. When I was in the calling-that-will-not-be-named, my understanding for those who missed a few tithing payments was to just encourage them to start, and not worry about catching up. How I lasted beyond the seven year mark without being a proper 10% tax collector is beyond me. The worst corporate intern ever!!

I had a Stake President tell me that tithing wasn't a catch-up thing once. It was the ONLY thing I ever heard that SP say that I liked/actually made sense. Pretty much everything else that guy said was cult-level 100+ CRAZY.

Of course that was all part of an experience that taught me that paying tithing is, in fact the MO$T IMPORTANT THING you can do as an inve$tor in the Corporation of the Pre$ident™. (Or "member in good $tanding" if you want to define it that way.) Even if you mi$$ a few "payment$", ju$t get back on that hor$e and keep paying!

I love the standard testimonies about tithing.
"We don't understand how it work, we just know that if we pay it, somehow we have enough money to pay our bills"

This always bothered me and really bothers me now. Imagine going to a financial advisor - We don't know how this works, but just keep giving us your money and somehow more money magically appears.
Or how the church itself manages its finances - God we have no idea how much money we have, but we wanna build you house. I'm just gonna start writing checks and you make sure they cash.

This just smells to high heaven of ignorance, deceit, and general bad policy - yet these are stories pushed by the institution.

Corsair wrote:

Korihor wrote:What's that common lds pioneer story about that sister who doesn't have much and some else says "sister so&so, maybe you shouldn't pay this month.
The sister responds - "shame on you for suggesting that. How could I deny myself those blessings? I pay my tithing because I expect blessings and if I don't how will the lord bless me?"

According to worst apologetics we have ever heard, "taking care of widows" used to be accomplished by polygamous marriages. Now we take care of widows and single sisters by telling them to pay a full tithe and just assume that blessings from heaven will take care of them. This is unfailing logic.

Funny!

If only the government would copy the church's welfare program. It would be so efficient!! Just insistute a 10% tithing system and then let the blessings that will rain down from heaven take care of all the destitute! ....But, the flaw I guess in such a system is that some people on welfare won't pay tithing. (Probably use their tithing to buy drugs or alcohol. Don't poor people bring it on themselves!). So you would be back to square one. How to take of the destitute? The "everyone pay tithing" welfare system just wouldn't work unfortunately.

I know of a similar situation and wonder about the reasoning.

There was a guy on twitter who was basically taking donations to help people learn for themselves that when they give, they receive.
I smelled scam, similar to lds tithing scamming, and yet, maybe there's some truth at least in the "self-fulfilling prophesy."
If you BELEIVE something strong enough, it may have influence.

Still, tithing is meant to be given to those in need (Deut. 14:28-29) but the church disobeys the part of the tithing laws that involve how tithing money is spent. And members need to realize and feel that it's true that if they have no "increase" then they don't owe any tithing. Some may feel that if they don't PAY and sacrifice until it hurts, that they'll suffer later (the "heaven's reward fallacy" which is one of the listed major cognitive distortions http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-c ... stortions/ - a distortion that the church is named after "latter day" ).

wtfluff wrote:

Mormorrisey wrote:I must have missed the memo about the catching up with tithing. When I was in the calling-that-will-not-be-named, my understanding for those who missed a few tithing payments was to just encourage them to start, and not worry about catching up. How I lasted beyond the seven year mark without being a proper 10% tax collector is beyond me. The worst corporate intern ever!!

I had a Stake President tell me that tithing wasn't a catch-up thing once. It was the ONLY thing I ever heard that SP say that I liked/actually made sense. Pretty much everything else that guy said was cult-level 100+ CRAZY.

Of course that was all part of an experience that taught me that paying tithing is, in fact the MO$T IMPORTANT THING you can do as an inve$tor in the Corporation of the Pre$ident™. (Or "member in good $tanding" if you want to define it that way.) Even if you mi$$ a few "payment$", ju$t get back on that hor$e and keep paying!

It does not make sense to me that one would have to pay back-tithing. What if a person is inactive or doesn’t pay for a year? Five years? Ten? When is the back-tithing not an issue and you just pay from that point on?

I was behind on tithing once in college. I don’t remember if I ever told a bishop I hadn’t paid or if I just figured I was good with god and started paying once again. Probably the latter. It’s how I handled most stuff as I never could understand why telling the bishop would help.

I did ask a family member who was a bishop if there was such a thing as back-tithing and he said no. Leader roulette once again.

Korihor wrote:I love the standard testimonies about tithing.
"We don't understand how it work, we just know that if we pay it, somehow we have enough money to pay our bills"

This always bothered me and really bothers me now. Imagine going to a financial advisor - We don't know how this works, but just keep giving us your money and somehow more money magically appears.
Or how the church itself manages its finances - God we have no idea how much money we have, but we wanna build you house. I'm just gonna start writing checks and you make sure they cash.

This just smells to high heaven of ignorance, deceit, and general bad policy - yet these are stories pushed by the institution.

That never made any sense to me either. After all, if you got money back because you put money in, who wouldn’t invest in that? From my own experience, the return isn’t that great.

All I know is that before my faith crisis, while I was a paying tithing of 10% on gross I was always stressed about money and we were always short. Now, after stopping paying tithing, I'm never stressed about money and things are just falling into place. God is apparently blessing me for my righteous choices that I've been making lately.