The Law of Tithing

The Law of Tithing: A great blessing of membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Doctrine: Our purpose here on earth is to gain eternal life. We belong to Heavenly Father's family and if we prove ourselves in this life, we can life with Him again.

Principle: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (D&C 130:20-21)

Law: Tithing means one-tenth and the Lord has commanded us to give a tenth of our increase, which is understood to mean our income.

History of Tithing: An ancient law. For example, Abraham paid tithes of all he possessed. (Genesis 14:20, Alma 13:15) His grandson Jacob vowed to the Lord "Of all thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." (Genesis 28:22)

Biblical Applications: Elijah the Tishbite was instructed to arise and go to Zaraphath and there he would find a widow woman commanded to give him food and lodging. When he came to the gate of the city, he met her and asked for water to drink and as she was going to fetch it he called after her asking for a morsel of bread. She answered that she did not have a cake, but just a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse. She said she was going to bake that little bit for her and her son and then die. Elijah responded, "fear not; go and do as thou has said, but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son." He promised her that the barrel of meal would not waste and the cruse of oil would not fail until the day that the Lord sent rain. Some time later, her son fell sick and he died. The woman asked Elijah to save him and even rebuked him by asking if he had come to slay her son. Calling upon the Lord, the boy was healed. "And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth!"
(1 Kings 17)

This wonderful chapter can be compared to the story of Sariah in the Book of Mormon with her murmuring. (1 Nephi 5:1-8) The great lesson however is that we are to trust in the Lord and the blessings will be beyond what you expect. Is this not the great lesson of tithing.

Another great lesson about tithing is found in Mark 12:41-44.

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

And there came a certain poor widow, and she three in two mites, which make a farthing.

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."

Inspired question: Does this not teach you about what the Savior notices? He knows each of us. Our desires, our thoughts, our generosity, and our sacrifice.

Blessings of Tithing:

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Will a man rob God. Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that they may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, 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 3:7-10)

Blessings of the temple: Tithing is one of commandments that qualifies us for temple worship. When asked whether members of the Church could be baptized for the dead if they had not paid their tithing, President John Taylor (third prophet of the Church) answered "A man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead...If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends."

Like the pioneers, the obedient payment of tithing fortifies our faith and that faith sustains us through the trials, tribulations and sorrows in our life's journeys. (Elder Robert D. Hales)

Heavenly Father wants all His children to have the blessings of tithing. Far too often parents neglect to teach their children to live this law because their donation would only amount to pennies. Without a testimony of tithing, children become vulnerable to the distractions and temptations that come to today's teens. President Lorenzo Snow said: "Teach the children to pay tithing, so that it may be perpetually observed. If we observe this law, no matter what our enemies may do, the Lord will preserve us."

Missionary experience. Two missionaries visited a very poor family. It could have been in Guyana or any of the third world countries. The family's home was made of pressboard and sticks, with a dirt floor and no electricity or beds. Each evening the father, a farm laborer, spent his entire day's wages on groceries for dinner. Departing from their humble home, the senior companion thought to himself, "The law of tithing will surely be a stumbling block to this family. Perhaps we shouldn't bring it up for a while." Literally moments later, the junior companion, who had grown up in similar circumstances in his own country, voiced his own thoughts out loud. "I know the principle of tithing is not normally taught during our next lesson, buit can we please teach it the next time we visit? They need to know about tithing nwo because they need the help and the blessing of the Lord so much."

Personal Experience. As young married students in Chicago, Illinois in 1976, we learned that we were expecting our second child. We did not have any savings. We did not have an income. We did know that hospitals charged $1600 for normal deliveries in 1976. (Today it would be over $10,000). We also had faith. We knew the Lord would bless our efforts. Just that week, we received a one time government rebate for all poverty-level families in the U.S. of $160. We paid our tithing and then we opened up an account in a nearby bank. We secured jobs caring for children of working parents that travelled to the Caribbean for a vacation. Soon we had saved $1600 after having paid the tithing and then the housesitting jobs stopped. We had the needed funds for the birth of our baby. The rest of our substance was from student loans. This has always been a powerful lesson to us on the importance of paying tithing even when you could not see the end in sight.

Questions:

What are the blessings of paying tithing?

What is the great lesson to be learned from Elijah?

What do we learn from the story of the Savior and the widow's mite?

How do you calculate tithing?

What did grandpa and grandma learn about tithing when they lived in Chicago with Joelle and were awaiting the birth of Justin?