Why I am thankful to pay tithes and offerings during the coronavirus pandemic.

I was recently reading comments on my Facebook page when someone suggested that during the Coronavirus pandemic the Church should suspend tithing to help the members who are financially suffering. This comment missed the mark so much that it caught me off guard, and more so the people who liked and agreed with it. My mind flooded with thoughts regarding tithes and offerings in reply to this comment, so here are some of the reasons why I am thankful to pay tithes and offerings during the coronavirus pandemic.

To give thanks for the sacrifice of those who have gone before.

This past August I was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. This temple was built by the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saints who had endured pandemics, plagues, walking across the country to get to Utah, frozen limbs, and even extermination orders by the government. During all these trials they held faithful to their covenants, gathered to Utah and over 40 years built the Salt Lake Temple.

To have personally benefited from their sacrifice during their trials, paying my tithes and offerings is just a small way to say thank you to the early faithful Saints who built the temples and the Kingdom on earth.

To pay it forward.

Growing up my dad went to prison right after he baptized me. This caused my mom to have to raise us by herself. When money was tight and times got hard, I remember lying awake in the middle of the night and hearing my mom, thinking all of us kids were asleep, praying and asking God for help.

During this time we received help from the Bishop’s storehouse. For a few months, we went to the local Bishop’s storehouse. I have always been thankful that in our time of need that the Church was able and willing to help because members paid their tithes and offerings. Paying my tithes and offerings is a small way to express my thankfulness for my aid in the time of need, and to pay it forward to enable the Church to help others in their time of need.

To give thanks for my job.

We are only at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, many economists are forecasting unemployment of 20-30% in the comings weeks and months. Unfortunately, no one knows how long this will last or how bad it will be, but I have already had friends who have lost their jobs.

I am thankful for a job that I can do from home, a job that provides enough for my family, and enough to share with those in need around me. Am I rich? Nope, but by being frugal with what we are given, saving for a rainy day, and having food storage we are enabled to have our needs taken care of and to assist our friends and family in their times of need. Truly this alone would be reason enough to give thanks of tithes and offerings.

The blessings outweigh the sacrifice.

When the Saints in Southern Utah were suffering from a devastating drought, Lorenzo R. Snow visited St. George. While there, he felt impressed to emphasize the importance of tithing. When Saints in Africa needed help during a famine, the Church emphasized tithing. And during the great depression, Elder Widtsoe also encouraged obedience to the Law of Tithing

Why do I bring this up? Because in the middle of financial hardship God wants to bless us, but He can only bless us if we are obedient to the law upon which it is predicated (D&C 130:20-21). Examples like the above, and countless others through Church history paint a clear picture: extraneous circumstances do not excuse us from obedience.

I think the story of Mary Fielding Smith, the widow of Hyrum Smith, as told by her son President Joseph F Smith perfectly relates to why we pay tithing during hard times:

“My mother was a widow, with a large family to provide for. One spring when we opened our potato pits she had her boys get a load of the best potatoes, and she took them to the tithing office; potatoes were scarce that season. I was a little boy at the time, and drove the team. When we drove up to the steps of the tithing office, ready to unload the potatoes, one of the clerks came out and said to my mother, ‘Widow Smith, it’s a shame that you should have to pay tithing.’ … He chided my mother for paying her tithing, called her anything but wise or prudent; and said there were others who were strong and able to work that were supported from the tithing office. My mother turned upon him and said: ‘William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold His blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to prosper and to be able to provide for my family’” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1900, p. 48).

Because I covenanted to.

The ultimate reason I, or anyone else, should have for paying tithing is that we have covenanted to live the Law of Consecration. The Law of Consecration is where I covenant to dedicate my time, talent, money, and my very life to building up the kingdom. That’s 100% of everything. The Law of Tithing is asking that I live but a tenth of the Law of Consecration, to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. That’s a small fraction of what could be required by the Lord.

Obedience to this law brings blessings, disobedience brings punishment. President Thomas S. Monson, in speaking about God’s laws, stated: “Violate them and we suffer lasting consequences. Obey them and we reap everlasting joy.”

The false idea of ‘my money.’

One of the most dangerous ideas about tithes and offerings is that it is ‘my money’ therefore I have the right to it, and if I donate it, I should have a say in how it is spent. This idea is dangerous and the first step in the road to apostasy for many apostates. Reading Saints clearly outlines that money causes people to leave the Church more often than almost anything else.

Today we have people upset with how the Church is spending or, in some cases, saving for a rainy day. When news broke that the Church had been setting aside some tithing money each year to prepare for a rainy day, people were furious. They think that they have the right to dictate to the Lord how His Church should spend our offering to Him.

Imagine this in any other setting and you will realize how ridiculous this idea is. For example: Pretend I give you a birthday gift of $100. Then two weeks later I demand you tell me how you spent every penny, and then I criticize how you spent it. Did I really give you anything? Or have I refused to let go?

Ultimately I have made covenants about what I do, not about what others or the Church do. So I would pay my tithing even if I knew that the money was being burned. And I would pay it knowing I would be blessed for my obedience because I am only held accountable for what I do. I want to close with the words of President Hinckley:

We never felt that it was a sacrifice to pay our tithing. …We did not do it with the expectation of material blessings, although we can testify that we have been so blessed. The Lord has opened the windows of heaven and poured out his blessings in marvelous measure. (See Mal. 3:10.) I am satisfied that he will bless all who walk in obedience to this commandment.

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not here to say that if you pay an honest tithing you will realize your dream of a fine house, a Rolls Royce, and a condominium in Hawaii. The Lord will open the windows of heaven according to our need, and not according to our greed. If we are paying tithing to get rich, we are doing it for the wrong reason.