Question: TITHING? I don't get the whole giving so much money to churchs. Wether LDS or any religion. Why would the Lord care about money? It's a material thing. A lot of religions make it seem that if you don't dish out the "dough" you're not a true member and will not go to heaven. When a person is on a very tight budget you can't spare 10%, or what ever. Look what happened with Jim Baker et al. Money is God: God wants money. Bull. Money should have nothing to do with religion. Can you explain why tithing? Just seems that it makes churches richer. The LDS church is the richest of all.
Response: Let me see if I can put all of this into proper perspective. First of all, the great blessing and promise of tithing is a thing with which most people are not scripturally familiar with.
In Malachi 3:8, it says, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." Verses 9-10 go on to say, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my 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 will not be room enough to receive it."
I have learned in my life to trust the Lord in all of these things. I have learned firsthand and personally that Malachi's promise as the prophet of the Lord in those days is still true and operative today. I have seen the blessings that come to those who are faithful tithe-payers, and they weren't just wealthy people who could "afford" to pay 10 percent of their income. I have friends and other members of my extended family that you would not be considered wealthy, who have always paid 10 percent of their income, no matter what it is. The blessings promised by the Lord continue to come to them. The law of tithing is also the blessing of tithing. It is not a burden. It is an opportunity.
As to the business of money and the LDS Church, let me assure you that the LDS Church does not "accumulate wealth." The LDS Church, through the principle of tithing and other offerings, builds chapels for worship, temples for sacred ordinances, and provides for the poor amongst us throughout the world. It gives untold millions to people not of the LDS faith who are in great need and are victims of natural disasters, including war, among many other situations. All of this is done in a humanitarian effort to reach out and bless the lives of those less fortunate. There is almost no other religion that does as much with the sacred tithing and offerings from its members as the LDS church in helping the lives of those in need and to provide many beautiful places to worship the Lord. None of this money goes to pay ministers or other clergy. All of our clergy are what is called a "lay ministry". We serve in a variety of capacities to assist and bless the lives of our members. I hope this is helpful to you.
