At the moment, my mother and I are considering joining the Mormon church. However, how does tithing work? Do you have to pay a year's worth up front? Or do you tithe after each paycheck? We are struggling financially, and cannot afford $5000 up front, so we are wondering. Thanks to anyone who answers!
You pay per paycheck/pay period.
Every year, you'll have a "tithing settlement" where you sit down with your bishop, go over your financial records, and insure you've paid your full 10% on your gross (not net) income. If you haven't, and you can't make what you haven't paid, you won't be able to be a fully participating member of the church.
Beware: you'll be told that if you're struggling financially, the *best* thing for you to do is to pay full tithing, because they'll tell you that "god" will return it tenfold to you. Meanwhile, your tithing money is going to pay for shopping malls in Salt Lake City (I'm not kidding), and many thousands of Mormons have been driven to bankruptcy by paying their tithing.
I suggest you think very, very carefully before joining. Investigate everything and question everything, including the masonic-rip off temple rituals, before you join. It's your decision, of course. But don't do it ignorantly.
Please consider that you are about to give your money to an organization that refuses to divulge what they do with it.
They are developing and financing a 3-4 billion dollar shopping mall in SLC. They are building a $200 million dollar luxury hotel in Hawaii. They are building a 20,000 home development at Saratoga Springs UT. The list goes on and on.
They have spent about a billion dollars on humanitarian causes over the last 20 years - divided by 14 million members, that comes to about $4 a year per member. Considering how much they take in each year - that is less than one percent of the their income.
If you want to give money to humanitarian causes, please give it directly. Don't let them take most of it to spend on real estate development. It's making somebody very rich.
Ask them for full disclosure of where their annual income of about 5 billion goes each year. They'll tell you that you have to 'trust' the leaders. That is exactly what con men always say.
Most people pay monthly after they are paid, while some pay one lump sum at the end of the year. It's up to the person on how they want to pay, and tithing isn't even necessary. You only really need to pay if you want to go into the Mormon temples.
That being said, have you done a lot of research into the Mormon church besides speaking with the missionaries? Check out this website run by active Mormon members that think all the information about their religion should be available for everyone to read http://www.mormonthink.com. The missionaries won't tell you everything the Mormon church teaches, or their shady history. Please do a little more investigating before you decide to join. Trust me, you won't regret saving yourself from that religion.
Most people pay their tithing after they earn it. Apparently a few people save it up and pay it at the end of the year.
To correct something a former member wrote about the tithing settlement. The only "financial record" that you go over at tithing settlement is your tithing statement and you don't really discuss it. The tithing statement is simply a record of the tithing payments and other church donations you made during the year. The bishop hands it to you and asks you to look it over to make sure it accurately reflects your tithing payments. He then asks if you paid a full tithe. You answer yes or no and that's it. Your income or your finances will not be discussed unless you initiate a conversation.
The only time your personal finances and tithing would be discussed is if you were to ever go to the bishop in need of financial help. Finances would be discussed to access your level of need and to help you find areas where you could cut expenses and live more frugally.
Another former member answering said that it isn't necessary to pay tithing. Tithing is a commandment, so of course you can choose not to obey a commandment, but why make covenants if you are going to break them right away?
Some people don't pay a full tithing in a year. Their bishop might not let them go to the temple until they begin paying again. It will probably depend on the situation and the individual.
Another person implied that the Church is so greedy they want your money to pay for malls even if you are struggling financially. Generally when a person is struggling financially, yes, the bishop will encourage you to continue to pay a full tithing, but usually in cases where there is a valid need, he will arrange for you to receive a food order with enough food and other supplies to get your family through the next two to four weeks. Which is probably worth more than what the average person pays in tithing.
as others have said - you pay it when you want to and how you want to. it is 10% on your increase....interpretation of that is yours. also paying tithing @all is a personal choice. it is not a requirement to join the LDS church.
Tithing is a law of God, and members are expected to pay a full tithing in order to receive the blessings of heaven. It is always paid after someone has had an increase - either weekly, monthly or even yearly, in some cases. Some people own businesses that are extremely seasonal. Farmers get paid after the harvest, etc. Tithing is never used to build shopping malls. The mall at Temple Square is being built with private funds. Tithing funds are sacred, and the utmost care is given to their use. The church regularly employs audits to determine that the funds are used appropriately. Theft is rare.
Despite proselyting success primarily among the lowest wage earners, Mormons have one of the highest standards of living. The Lord has blessed us greatly, in part because we have obeyed the law of tithing.
You pay 10 percent of your gross income. You don't have to pay up front, you just start now on your next paycheck. The Lord's law of tithing is designed to teach you sacrifice and charity. God has given us 100 percent of what we have and He gives us the opportunity to develop Christ-like attributes by obeying His law of tithing. God doesn't need the money, this law is for our benefit. You'll discover that by giving something you become more loving, more selfless, more willing to help others and give of your time too...you become more charitable. The world needs more selfless people who give instead of just take.
There are no rules. You can tithe whenever you wish. Now that's not to say you won't hear different things from different people. Even your new bishop may have opinions about how you should do the tithing thing, but officially the church won't even tell you how to calculate your tithing. It's up to you.
When I was Mormon I wasn't earning enough to itemize deductions on my taxes every year, so I would actually do what they call "bunching deductions," where you itemize every other year and take the standard deduction on the off years. Long story short, this meant that some years I would withhold my tithing for the entire year and pay it all the following January. And when tithing settlement would come around in December I would still tell the bishop I was a full tithe payer.
There are no audits or anything, it's just based on your word. In fact later when I was making more money I started tithing through a charitable gift fund that went directly to church headquarters. Again, long story short this meant that the local bishop would see a big ZERO on his records at year end, and yet I was declaring myself a full tithe payer. To their credit, I never had a bishop question this. They take your word.
By the way you picked an expensive church for someone who is struggling financially. That's your prerogative of course, but if you chose Mormonism because you thought its truth claims were factual you should know there's much more to the story than what the young missionaries know. Good luck.
RoscoKnopfd: "Tithing is never used to build shopping malls."
This is something the church's previous president used to state and I'm sure it's technically true. But he's mincing words here. OK, so you're not taking the church's tithing revenue for the year and spending it on malls. But all the funds the church owns originally came from?where else??member donations (and earnings on those donations). If building a mall in downtown Salt Lake City is really the best use of church funds, why the need to point out it's not coming from the tithing fund?
You can see by the answers that even the Mormons are confused as to whether tithing is payed on gross or net income. Maybe this is because the current church position is different from their original position.
Here's what the revelation recorded in the D&C section 119;1-5 by Joseph Smith states:
1 Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my church in Zion,
2 For the building of mine house, and for the laying of the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the Presidency of my Church.
3 And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people.
4 And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their INTEREST annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them FOREVER, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.
5 Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you.
In 1847, Orson Hyde as the editor of the Millenial Star, a church publication, wrote:
"IF IT REQUIRES ALL A MAN CAN EARN TO SUPPORT HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY, HE IS NOT TITHED AT ALL. The celestial law does not take the mother's and children's bread, neither ought else which they really need for their comfort. The poor that have not of this world's good to spare, but serve and honor God according to the best of their abilities in every other way, shall have a celestial crown in the Eternal Kingdom of our Father."
However, the church has changed it's position. In their April 2005 General Conference, Elder Lynn Robbins said,
"if a destitute family is faced with the decision of paying their tithing or eating, they should pay their tithing."
New members are no longer required to pay when they come into the church. The early members, truly had to sacrifice!
As for gross or net, current leaders will leave it up to you. When my husband and I were members, we felt we should err on the side of over-paying to make sure we were doing it right. Our church leaders would never directly answer our questions regarding net or gross, so not wanting to cheat the Lord, we payed on gross.... then even payed on the money a second time when we got a tax return.
Sometimes I wish I could get the money back, but mostly I wish I had known how it was all being spent. I will never again donate to any organization that won't tell me what my money is funding!
The general rule of tithing is that we give a tenth of our increase. Most of us take that to mean ten percent of our paycheck, but that's really up to you as the individual. I know some people who pay in services or other goods, as they don't make much actual money. Some pay as soon as they get their checks (that's what I do, because it's just easier). Others pay in a lump sum at the end of the year. Again, that's up to you.
If you're converting, though, you won't be asked to pay "back" tithing. You weren't a member of the church before, so why would we expect that of you? You'll only be asked to pay that tenth of your increase from here on out.
To actually pay, run down to the bishop or branch president's office. There should be a stand outside the door with envelopes and slips of paper. Fill out the slip, shove it in the envelope along with the check, and give it to a member of the bishopric or branch presidency (very small congregations are called branches).
Tithing is an amazing concept. I know some people just think of losing money and cringe, but it's not about that and never was. God doesn't need our money, after all. We do this to show obedience to God, and in return, as we're taught in the Bible--Malachi--God opens the windows of heaven and pours out the blessings. I have seen this happen and have no doubt at all that tithing is of God. I also like knowing that my money will never go to buying my preacher a new Ferrari, either. The money comes straight back to us. It pays for the electricity in the chapels, for the chalk the teachers use, for the hymn books. It's for our benefit, and even when we're struggling financially, it's still for our benefit. God always gives it back to us somehow.
The exact timing of your tithing is up to you. Some people choose to pay it up front for the year, some pay each paycheck. Some let it accumulate and pay once they owe a fixed amount, for instance $1,000. The most important part is that you pay it and do so for the right reasons. Exactly when and how you pay it are less important.
I have never heard of people paying tithing upfront before. When I think about that idea it seems to contradict the whole premise for the Law of Tithing. In the Guide to the Scriptures (a sort of bible dictionary created for members of the church) we read that tithing is "A tenth part of a person?s annual increase given to the Lord through the Church. Tithing funds are used to build churches and temples, to sustain missionary work, and to build the kingdom of God on earth."
To base tithing off of a person's increase is to base it off of what they have received not what they think they might be getting or should be getting.
As far as when people pay tithing, I pay it whenever I get a check, some pay it once a month, others will only pay it when they go in for their tithing settlement at the end of the year with the Bishop.
I have even talked to someone who found out that he could set up a way to automatically transfer money from his checks to some bank account the church has in Salt Lake and then he never has to worry about it from there. I mention that because, even though the church offices know where the money came from, they do not send that information back to his local congratulation, so when he goes in for tithing settlement at the end of the year and they give him a transcript of his donations for the year, the paper they give him shows that he did not pay any tithing or make any other donations. And when his bishop asks him if he is a full tithe payer he simply answers "Yes" and leaves it at that.
We are a church built upon self government. When asked about how he got his followers to obey him so well, Joseph Smith responded "I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves." That is how the church works.
Yes 10 %, plus a building fund and also the fast offering once a month and if a child goes on a missions trip, you will be required to pay for the child's mission trip as well.
I'm not sure how tithing works, and it isn't technically required to be paid, but you will be frowned upon if you don't pay it, and you supposedly won't receive all of the blessings of heaven because apparently God has an accountant and keeps track of these things.
As someone with experience with Mormons and the Mormon church, I would make sure that you seriously research everything you can about the church before you join, and don't just take the members' testimonies and the missionaries' stories as your source of information. I'm not saying that Mormons are bad people, but I personally feel that the church is a seriously corrupt institution that takes advantage of people and is bad for the equality of society in general, especially women. They have a way of portraying the church one way to the public and to possible members, but it's a whole different discourse if you're a member. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mozpatron@yahoo.com
Please read up on the religion first. This guy they follow, Joseph Smith wrote himself into the Bible which they call the Book of Mormon. None of his prophecies have ever came true. Join a real religion that follows the Holy Bible and everything in it. Check out the links below, they are facts from Mormons that have left the Church and other Christians.
How does tithing in the Mormon church work?
