A good friend of mine recently shared a post from another blog with me, and it reminded me of a recent statement by Pres. Packer: "All of the mocking does not come from outside of the Church. Let me say
that again: all of the mocking does not come from outside of the Church. Be careful that you do not fall into the category of mocking" ("Finding Ourselves in Lehi's Dream," Aug. 2010 Ensign).
The accusation put forward by the author was that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resembled a corporation too much. He claimed the emphasis on money was too great, that today Church leaders are asking too much of members. He said some general authorities had been hinting that twenty percent was the appropriate amount for tithing, whereas Joseph Smith actually taught that it was two percent. Elder Oaks said, "Don’t seek to prove your dedication by fanatical excesses or by other evidence of 'holier than thou.' We pay our tithing, but we remember that tithing is a steady 10 percent—not 8 percent and especially not intermittent or frenzied outbursts of 12 percent." ("The Dedication of a Lifetime," CES Fireside, May 1, 2005, Oakland CA). The word "tithe" literally means tenth. The word "consecrate" means everything, (or apparently nothing to the author of the blog post in question).
How can an organization that takes in untold millions of dollars per year be the Church of Jesus Christ? seemed to be his main focus. My question for him is, What do you expect a world-wide Church to look like? Jesus told his twelve disciples in Judea, "Go ye into all the world," and the result was apostasy—thousands of fragments of Christianity everywhere. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," says Paul (Eph. 4:5). Thousands of denominations later, a man who belongs to the actual Church of Jesus Christ is complaining about the correlation committee's attempts to prevent doctrinal contamination. What would Christ's Church have looked like if the original disciples had succeeded, and millions of people had converted to true Christanity instead of numerous corrupted versions?
What Did You Expect?
The mandate to take a pure gospel message into all the world is still present, but this time the technology is available to allow the brethren to speak to millions of people simultaneously. Rather than Paul's frantic epistles warning against apostasy from hundreds of miles away, Church members and anyone else who wants to can hear the voice of a living prophet in their living room. Derek Marquis, manager of BYU Broadcasting, recently outlined the advent of communication technologies, and showed how the current president of the Church in every stage of its growth has been on the cutting edge of that communications boom. Joseph Smith used the moveable type printing press to publish the Book of Mormon in 1830. In Oct. 1861, Brigham Young sent the first message over the new transcontinental telegraph wires (the Pony Express was obviated and disbanded two days later). In 1897, Wilford Woodruff recorded his testimony on an Edison-style phonographic cylinder. In 1922, Heber J. Grant gave the first Church message delivered by radio. Phone lines connected chapels to Priesthood Sessions of General Conferences in the 1970s. Then satellites dishes brought video to chapels. Today the internet carries the message to every corner of the earth (“To Every Nation, Kindred, Tongue, and People” Derek A. Marquis, BYU, April 5, 2011).
The author of the blog complained about the expense of using tithing to publish scriptures and manuals and pamphlets galore. Martin Harris did not just give ten percent of his wealth; he mortgaged his farm in order to print the original 5,000 copies of the first edition of the Book of Mormon. There will always be a mandate to take the gospel to all the world, and so there will always be an expense for it. The bigger the audience, the bigger the expense. Unless someone has a better idea.
De-emphasizing Wealth
After President Hinckley died, I decided to just accept President Monson as the new, default prophet of the Church without asking any questions. But I felt prompted to obtain a witness for myself. Shortly I found myself reading the First Presidency message in the very next Ensign, and President Monson was the author. I had been concerned about money as a common object of idolatry in my community and nation, and the last lines of the article addressed my concern: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." When I read that, I felt a witness that he was indeed the Lord's chosen leader of His Church.
President Uchtdorf recently said, "Disciples of Jesus Christ...know you could pile up the accumulated currency of the entire world and it could not buy a loaf of bread in the economy of heaven" (You Matter to Him, Oct. 2011 General Conference). Earlier, he said, "Work can be ennobling and fulfilling, but remember Jacob’s warning not to "spend … your labor for that which cannot satisfy." If we devote ourselves to the pursuit of worldly wealth and the glitter of public recognition at the expense of our families and our spiritual growth, we will discover soon enough that we have made a fool's bargain...Remember, we are only temporary travelers in this world. Let us not devote our God-given talents and energies solely to setting earthly anchors, but rather let us spend our days growing spiritual wings. For, as sons of the Most High God, we were created to soar unto new horizons."
How can a Church expect to fill its coffers when the ranking leaders are making statements like this over the pulpit? I was relieved to hear a letter from these same members of the First Presidency, asking the congregations of the Church to be generous with tithes and offerings. You see, I have been a recent recipient of Church welfare, and I was considering not putting any fast offering in the envelope—wouldn't that be counter-intuitive and self-defeating to give money to the system when its goal was to get me out of poverty? But I put in what constituted a generous offering for ME, and handed the envelope to the Bishop. Minutes later he read the statement. Millions of dollars flow, yes, but to what end? I happily, absentmindedly contributed fast offerings for years without really knowing. This year I saw it: putting food on tables for Thanksgiving dinner.
Re-emphasizing Wealth
My personal experiences with a few other churches have not been so stellar. As a missionary, I recall sitting in an evangelical meeting. Unlike my church, there was nothing remotely corporate-looking or international about this organization. It was locally-grown, privately operated. The pastor got up, however, and began sermonizing about how to get rich. He described his visit to a beach resort where people were playing in the sun and surf, and interpreted Jesus' statement, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," (John 10:10) to be about the affluence he saw. He encouraged his congregation to shed attitudes that kept them in poverty. It was like attending a get-rich-quick seminar. On other occasions, people I met described their annoyance with greed in local churches. One man told us about a pastor with two expensive cars "...don't know what he needed them for—one for each foot?" Another person described a church leader sitting in a chair at the front of a chapel while the congregation brought him gifts, including a refrigerator.
In one "mega-church" I attended, there was a donation plate passed. Everyone could see how much you put in. There is a stark contrast between this traditional method and the current LDS model of gray envelopes that could contain a check for $15,000, or just fifteen dollars. I have been a clerk in a previous ward, and know from personal experience that no one gets to brag or share how much money they paid. The widow's mite arithmetic applies here: Contributions and donations are proportional to income. Ten percent of zero is zero, and is therefore a full tithe. Ten percent of a dime or a million dollars is a full tithe. How in the world do those Mormons function with lay-clergy and volunteerism?
These were a handful of negative examples I encountered, and I hope they are not typical of all the churches in the area where I served. One man seemed to think such things were systemic: "Religion is run like a business in [America]!" He thumped his chest, and told us his church was "right in here." My companion was able to reassure him that no one was paid to serve in our Church. That reminder was a balm to my heart, as well as calming to the man.
Picking Off False Gods
Joseph Smith said, "After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost...then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards..." (TPJS, pp. 150, emphasis mine).
That process of "thoroughly proving" includes asking us to make Abrahamic sacrifices (see D&C 101:4). I believe that we are tested to see if we will sacrifice one difficult thing, and when we succeed, we are asked to give up another more difficult thing, and on and on until the Lord has tested our whole heart, examined our whole list of priorities. He eliminates an individual's potential false gods one by one.
Ultimately, tithes and offerings give us an opportunity to show our Father in heaven where our hearts really are—whether they are set on the things of this world, or that He takes priority over them in the catalog of our affections, desires, appetites, values, etc. The rich young ruler could not get over the temptation of wealth versus God; Peter boasted about his success in that area, and the Savior warned him not to congratulate himself too soon. While Peter could forsake his career, he fell short when asked to give his life. In the end, however, Peter succeeded, and died for the Savior. Much harder than parting with money, I imagine.
When we understand that this gauntlet of testing is not just a series of inconvenient accidents or curses, but a process of probing our willingness to put God first "at all hazards," then tithing and a myriad of other challenging requests by the Lord snap into focus. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is all between the individual and the Lord. You and He are the only ones who know for certain if you are paying a full tithe. By the looks of the Church today, however, a substantial percentage of members must be putting a true ten percent into those envelopes.
The accusation put forward by the author was that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resembled a corporation too much. He claimed the emphasis on money was too great, that today Church leaders are asking too much of members. He said some general authorities had been hinting that twenty percent was the appropriate amount for tithing, whereas Joseph Smith actually taught that it was two percent. Elder Oaks said, "Don’t seek to prove your dedication by fanatical excesses or by other evidence of 'holier than thou.' We pay our tithing, but we remember that tithing is a steady 10 percent—not 8 percent and especially not intermittent or frenzied outbursts of 12 percent." ("The Dedication of a Lifetime," CES Fireside, May 1, 2005, Oakland CA). The word "tithe" literally means tenth. The word "consecrate" means everything, (or apparently nothing to the author of the blog post in question).
How can an organization that takes in untold millions of dollars per year be the Church of Jesus Christ? seemed to be his main focus. My question for him is, What do you expect a world-wide Church to look like? Jesus told his twelve disciples in Judea, "Go ye into all the world," and the result was apostasy—thousands of fragments of Christianity everywhere. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," says Paul (Eph. 4:5). Thousands of denominations later, a man who belongs to the actual Church of Jesus Christ is complaining about the correlation committee's attempts to prevent doctrinal contamination. What would Christ's Church have looked like if the original disciples had succeeded, and millions of people had converted to true Christanity instead of numerous corrupted versions?
What Did You Expect?
The mandate to take a pure gospel message into all the world is still present, but this time the technology is available to allow the brethren to speak to millions of people simultaneously. Rather than Paul's frantic epistles warning against apostasy from hundreds of miles away, Church members and anyone else who wants to can hear the voice of a living prophet in their living room. Derek Marquis, manager of BYU Broadcasting, recently outlined the advent of communication technologies, and showed how the current president of the Church in every stage of its growth has been on the cutting edge of that communications boom. Joseph Smith used the moveable type printing press to publish the Book of Mormon in 1830. In Oct. 1861, Brigham Young sent the first message over the new transcontinental telegraph wires (the Pony Express was obviated and disbanded two days later). In 1897, Wilford Woodruff recorded his testimony on an Edison-style phonographic cylinder. In 1922, Heber J. Grant gave the first Church message delivered by radio. Phone lines connected chapels to Priesthood Sessions of General Conferences in the 1970s. Then satellites dishes brought video to chapels. Today the internet carries the message to every corner of the earth (“To Every Nation, Kindred, Tongue, and People” Derek A. Marquis, BYU, April 5, 2011).
The author of the blog complained about the expense of using tithing to publish scriptures and manuals and pamphlets galore. Martin Harris did not just give ten percent of his wealth; he mortgaged his farm in order to print the original 5,000 copies of the first edition of the Book of Mormon. There will always be a mandate to take the gospel to all the world, and so there will always be an expense for it. The bigger the audience, the bigger the expense. Unless someone has a better idea.
De-emphasizing Wealth
After President Hinckley died, I decided to just accept President Monson as the new, default prophet of the Church without asking any questions. But I felt prompted to obtain a witness for myself. Shortly I found myself reading the First Presidency message in the very next Ensign, and President Monson was the author. I had been concerned about money as a common object of idolatry in my community and nation, and the last lines of the article addressed my concern: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." When I read that, I felt a witness that he was indeed the Lord's chosen leader of His Church.
President Uchtdorf recently said, "Disciples of Jesus Christ...know you could pile up the accumulated currency of the entire world and it could not buy a loaf of bread in the economy of heaven" (You Matter to Him, Oct. 2011 General Conference). Earlier, he said, "Work can be ennobling and fulfilling, but remember Jacob’s warning not to "spend … your labor for that which cannot satisfy." If we devote ourselves to the pursuit of worldly wealth and the glitter of public recognition at the expense of our families and our spiritual growth, we will discover soon enough that we have made a fool's bargain...Remember, we are only temporary travelers in this world. Let us not devote our God-given talents and energies solely to setting earthly anchors, but rather let us spend our days growing spiritual wings. For, as sons of the Most High God, we were created to soar unto new horizons."
How can a Church expect to fill its coffers when the ranking leaders are making statements like this over the pulpit? I was relieved to hear a letter from these same members of the First Presidency, asking the congregations of the Church to be generous with tithes and offerings. You see, I have been a recent recipient of Church welfare, and I was considering not putting any fast offering in the envelope—wouldn't that be counter-intuitive and self-defeating to give money to the system when its goal was to get me out of poverty? But I put in what constituted a generous offering for ME, and handed the envelope to the Bishop. Minutes later he read the statement. Millions of dollars flow, yes, but to what end? I happily, absentmindedly contributed fast offerings for years without really knowing. This year I saw it: putting food on tables for Thanksgiving dinner.
Re-emphasizing Wealth
My personal experiences with a few other churches have not been so stellar. As a missionary, I recall sitting in an evangelical meeting. Unlike my church, there was nothing remotely corporate-looking or international about this organization. It was locally-grown, privately operated. The pastor got up, however, and began sermonizing about how to get rich. He described his visit to a beach resort where people were playing in the sun and surf, and interpreted Jesus' statement, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," (John 10:10) to be about the affluence he saw. He encouraged his congregation to shed attitudes that kept them in poverty. It was like attending a get-rich-quick seminar. On other occasions, people I met described their annoyance with greed in local churches. One man told us about a pastor with two expensive cars "...don't know what he needed them for—one for each foot?" Another person described a church leader sitting in a chair at the front of a chapel while the congregation brought him gifts, including a refrigerator.
In one "mega-church" I attended, there was a donation plate passed. Everyone could see how much you put in. There is a stark contrast between this traditional method and the current LDS model of gray envelopes that could contain a check for $15,000, or just fifteen dollars. I have been a clerk in a previous ward, and know from personal experience that no one gets to brag or share how much money they paid. The widow's mite arithmetic applies here: Contributions and donations are proportional to income. Ten percent of zero is zero, and is therefore a full tithe. Ten percent of a dime or a million dollars is a full tithe. How in the world do those Mormons function with lay-clergy and volunteerism?
These were a handful of negative examples I encountered, and I hope they are not typical of all the churches in the area where I served. One man seemed to think such things were systemic: "Religion is run like a business in [America]!" He thumped his chest, and told us his church was "right in here." My companion was able to reassure him that no one was paid to serve in our Church. That reminder was a balm to my heart, as well as calming to the man.
Picking Off False Gods
Joseph Smith said, "After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost...then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards..." (TPJS, pp. 150, emphasis mine).
That process of "thoroughly proving" includes asking us to make Abrahamic sacrifices (see D&C 101:4). I believe that we are tested to see if we will sacrifice one difficult thing, and when we succeed, we are asked to give up another more difficult thing, and on and on until the Lord has tested our whole heart, examined our whole list of priorities. He eliminates an individual's potential false gods one by one.
Ultimately, tithes and offerings give us an opportunity to show our Father in heaven where our hearts really are—whether they are set on the things of this world, or that He takes priority over them in the catalog of our affections, desires, appetites, values, etc. The rich young ruler could not get over the temptation of wealth versus God; Peter boasted about his success in that area, and the Savior warned him not to congratulate himself too soon. While Peter could forsake his career, he fell short when asked to give his life. In the end, however, Peter succeeded, and died for the Savior. Much harder than parting with money, I imagine.
When we understand that this gauntlet of testing is not just a series of inconvenient accidents or curses, but a process of probing our willingness to put God first "at all hazards," then tithing and a myriad of other challenging requests by the Lord snap into focus. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is all between the individual and the Lord. You and He are the only ones who know for certain if you are paying a full tithe. By the looks of the Church today, however, a substantial percentage of members must be putting a true ten percent into those envelopes.
