3 Responses to “How does tithing work? I’m thinking about becoming Mormon, b…”
Gabriel Campos
2009-01-06 08:14:24
Hi friend. There is no need to pay tithing retroactively. There is no need to pay a year's worth up front. I recommend that you just start paying once you become a member.
As you probably already know, these tithing funds don't go into the bishop's pocket. The members of the Mormon clergy are, for all practical purposes, entirely unpaid. The money goes to help the Church community as a whole, to build chapels and temples, and to the Church's various humanitarian programs. It's the ultimate charitable donation.
It seems paradoxical to some who are not members of our church, but tithing really is a blessing. The Church doesn't need our money; we pay tithing to strengthen ourselves and as a sign that we give more importance to God than to the things of this world.
Best of luck to you!
Joe The Drafter
2009-01-14 05:34:27
I'm not sure when this question was posted, hopefully recent enough that you return to read the responses.
First off I would recommend that you speak with the bishop or branch president of the local branch/ward you will be attending. He will be able to give you more specific information as to how tithing works and the reasons behind it.
I mainly just wanted to give you my testimony of the importance of tithing. I too had questions about tithing when joining the church. My first thought was "Why should I give up 10% of my money... I need that just to get by". But what I've found through the years (all 24 of them here on Earth lol) is that if you go out on faith, God will be there to take care of you. My first year where I was contemplating paying tithing my income was little more than $2,000 (I still lived at home at the time). So you can see how $200 can be rather important to a young'in like me. But I went out on faith and gave my 10%. And what happened? The next week I received a check for $220 (the school I worked for had extra funds they had to pay out, but this was completely unexpected). If you do the math on that, I gave another $20 in tithing, and kept $200... The amount of the original tithing offering. Weird... But it showed me that if you just go on faith, good things will happen.
I know this is getting lengthy, but I wanted to offer one more vantage point as to how to look at tithing. The Bible says to give credit for all good things in your life to God. Therefore if you look at any income you have as being a blessing in your life (for without it you'd be in some trouble) then you can see that the reason you have the income in the first place is because of God. So I think of my money as being God's. In this way, God is allowing me to keep 90% of His money... Pretty good deal any way you look at it :) Not to mention the addition blessings he will give you for being faithful.
Hopefully my viewpoints have helped you out. As I'm sure others here reading your question will, I will be praying for you that you may find comfort in serving God.
Anonymous
2009-01-08 06:30:22
Tithing works by giving a small donation (10% of your monthly or weekly increase) back to the Lord. Which is a pretty sweet deal considering he's given you everything including agency to do what you want. And as an added bonus I can testify that when you pay your tithing God does emidiatly bless you more then you will have room for. Granted that doesn't always mean that it is a monitary payment or increase, but I have litrally survived on paying tithing in some seasons of my life.
As you probably already know, these tithing funds don't go into the bishop's pocket. The members of the Mormon clergy are, for all practical purposes, entirely unpaid. The money goes to help the Church community as a whole, to build chapels and temples, and to the Church's various humanitarian programs. It's the ultimate charitable donation.
It seems paradoxical to some who are not members of our church, but tithing really is a blessing. The Church doesn't need our money; we pay tithing to strengthen ourselves and as a sign that we give more importance to God than to the things of this world.
Best of luck to you!
First off I would recommend that you speak with the bishop or branch president of the local branch/ward you will be attending. He will be able to give you more specific information as to how tithing works and the reasons behind it.
I mainly just wanted to give you my testimony of the importance of tithing. I too had questions about tithing when joining the church. My first thought was "Why should I give up 10% of my money... I need that just to get by". But what I've found through the years (all 24 of them here on Earth lol) is that if you go out on faith, God will be there to take care of you. My first year where I was contemplating paying tithing my income was little more than $2,000 (I still lived at home at the time). So you can see how $200 can be rather important to a young'in like me. But I went out on faith and gave my 10%. And what happened? The next week I received a check for $220 (the school I worked for had extra funds they had to pay out, but this was completely unexpected). If you do the math on that, I gave another $20 in tithing, and kept $200... The amount of the original tithing offering. Weird... But it showed me that if you just go on faith, good things will happen.
I know this is getting lengthy, but I wanted to offer one more vantage point as to how to look at tithing. The Bible says to give credit for all good things in your life to God. Therefore if you look at any income you have as being a blessing in your life (for without it you'd be in some trouble) then you can see that the reason you have the income in the first place is because of God. So I think of my money as being God's. In this way, God is allowing me to keep 90% of His money... Pretty good deal any way you look at it :) Not to mention the addition blessings he will give you for being faithful.
Hopefully my viewpoints have helped you out. As I'm sure others here reading your question will, I will be praying for you that you may find comfort in serving God.