Thanks for all the replies. I really need to strengthen my testimony right now.

Thanks.

Tithing is 10% of our income—so if I earn $100,000 in a year, I would pay $10,000 that year in tithing, total. If you calculate $10,000 a month in tithing, that would mean your annual income would be over a million. I suspect you meant $10,000 a year.

Although it may not seem feasible, I assure you that with faith, you’ll find a way to do it. One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 3:7) is when Nephi is given a task by God that seems impossible. He replied:

I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

God will always prepare a way for us to do what He asks. Sometimes, though, He requires that we first have faith and do what He asks, even when we can’t easily see how things will work out. Another prophet in the Book of Mormon said:

Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

I have had many experiences with tithing, and I can promise you God will provide a way for it to work. I can promise you that if you pay your tithing, and trust the rest to God, miracles will happen.

Okay, now that I got over the shock of that—-

You obviously don’t have sufficient faith in this principle. But as Alma says, if you can no more than have a desire to believe, let that desire work in you and plant the seed. Go ahead and pray and tell the Lord you are going to put it to the test. Ask him to help you recognize the blessings, because THEY DO COME. You probably just don’t recognize them. “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say….” He will keep his promise to open the windows of heaven and bless you that you won’t have room enough to receive it.

1. As for increase, we usually consider it our income from work, inheritance money, and money made from selling things at a profit. We pay on our gross income so that when we get our tax return, we don’t have to tithe it. If we get a tax return of more than we actually paid in taxes, I rant about how immoral it is that they took the money from someone else and are giving it to us,

and then we pay tithing on what we got up and above what we actually had withheld.

2. As for monetary gifts, we pay on inheritance, but everyone is left to his own discretion as whether to pay on more casual gifts. We have a generous grandma who gives everyone $25 on his or her birthday and Christmas. Sometimes the kids pay on their birthday money, and sometimes they don’t. It is up to them. Here’s how I look at it—you won’t be condemned in my opinion for not doing it, but if you do pay tithing on monetary gifts, you will be blessed.

3. I wouldn’t attempt to pay tithing on physical gifts. I mean birthday or Christmas gifts. However, if I feel we have been very blessed by having someone give us something material, I would probably raise my fast offering for that month. I think that acknowledges God’s hand in all blessings.

Once we had just gotten paid, and things were tight as always. We saw that some people, who we only knew casually, had their house burn, and they needed help. We went by to see how they were, and I asked my husband if we could give them some money. He had some cash for his travel expenses for the following week, and the smallest bill he had was a $50 bill. I asked him again and told him I really wanted to help them, and we both cringed a little, because $50 was a quarter of our 2-week grocery budget, and it was definitely a sacrifice. Then he said, “All right. It will come back to us anyway.” The woman I gave the money to was very grateful. We then went about our business, and less than two hours later we were back at home when our next door neighbors called. They had been forced at short notice to close a restaurant they operated inside another business. They said they had a pickup load of food and they wondered if we would take it. We got about 20 loaves of bread and large amounts of all of the following: croutons, lettuce, olives, tomatoes, blueberry cake, black beans, ketchup, mustard, cucumbers, celery, ranch dressing, soy sauce, tortilla chips, green peppers, salsa, #10 cans of garbanzo beans and artichoke hearts, and a bunch of other stuff that I can’t remember now. It literally pushed my kitchen and storage room to a little beyond capacity. (not room enough to receive it….) I laughed heartily about that! It was far in excess of what $50 could have purchased. My “tithe” on that windfall was to make a couple of generously loaded boxes of food and take them to people I knew were struggling.

We pay our tithing faithfully and wouldn’t dare not pay it because we feel that it is the reason we are able to continue to make ends meet. Try it, Jeb, and the Lord will keep his promises.

Do we give freely of our selves or find loop holes to suite our subtle greed? Our savior is our judge, and the scriptures say that he who is a full tithe payer will not be burned at the last day. However literal this maybe will be unveiled the day our lord comes again.

Everyones answer may be different for the lord knows are hearts better than we do. We as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints pay our tithing as a trial of faith, and to raise up those who are maybe even less fortunate than ourselves. For charity is the true love of Christ and we cannot enter the Kingdom of our father without it.

Some say that, because Abraham gave ten percent of his spoil to Melchizedek, we are obligated to pay ten percent of our salary, income, etc to the local church or somewhere, although I could not find one place from Genesis to Revelations where workers (merchants, carvers of timber, cutters of stone, craftsmen, fishermen, tent makers, smiths, etc.) were told, asked or even volunteered to give ten percent of their money earned to anyone: or where anyone else made a practice of giving ten percent of their spoil to a High Priest.

Tithing is a very good way to finance the church. If your church demands you to give ten percent of your income, are they willing to take care of the poor, the fatherless children and widows indeed? Are do they also want ten percent of their assistance from the government, social security, etc.?

I have given tithes for over forty years, but I do know that the Bible does not obligate me to pay tithes to anyone, and that Jesus became a curse for us, therefore people who do not pay tithes are not under a curse. You volunteer to give tithes, you don’t pay it.

It is a lack of faith to demand people to pay something because you do not feel that you will get as much money from them if you do not put them under bondage.

Will someone have to give an account to our Lord for leading His sheep into the confusion that I see among the saints of God?

I think the case you mention has to do with whether one tithes from his/her gross income* or tithes from his/her net income**. I believe one should tithe from their gross income and not from their net income because the gross income is what one in reality makes. By tithing from the gross income, this includes tithing for the money one receives from pension, if he/she has any.

* a person’s income before subtracting costs and expenses
** a person’s income after subtracting costs and expenses

I hope I answered your question.

2 & 3) According to my definition of “tithe” above, anything one receives for free does not have to be tithed. Receiving something for free means you had no obligation to work to obtain what you received freely. But, let’s say one receives a car for a work he/she has done. In this case, he/she should tithe like in the old days where there wasn’t really a monetary system like the one we have today. So, it would be fair for that person to estimate the value of the car and tithe; besides, that’s what they used to do in the old days.

There are many more things to consider when you are dealing with investments and the like. (#17)

Absolutely. Selling stocks at a loss, etc. One fairly simple way of dealing with various sources of income and loss is to use your federal income tax form figures a reference. That will give you your total income from all sources, less any losses you may have incurred.

You can estimate those if you aren’t tracking them in a spreadsheet or with a computer program, pay what you think you owe in December, and pay any shortfall the following March if you later find you have underestimated. We overpay our December estimate, and have rarely needed to pay more once the final figures were in.

Many members with complicated finances actually pay part or all of their tithing directly to the Presiding Bishopric’s Office in appreciated stock, thus avoiding the capital gains taxes. The Church immediately sells the stock, and credits the donor with whatever amount it sold for.

I had always paid tithing on my take home pay, that is the amount that gets put into the bank (this was in days way before I ever had voluntary paycheck adjustments like 401k or insurance coverage, didn’t get a job like that until I was nearly done with school). My wife on the other hand had always paid tithing on her gross pay (ie: pre-tax amount). So we discussed the issue to decide how we what amount we were going to pay tithing on once married.

The following is only my experience, and in no way should be construed to be taken for specific advice or implied church position:

I felt a little slighted by the concept of paying tithing on pre-tax earnings as I felt that since I never saw that money it wasn’t truly my increase. If anything it is the government’s increase and they should be responsible for paying tithing on it. However my wife argued various reasons why this is not the case. In the end, we decided to pay tithing on our gross pay (which occasionally still makes my cringe when I see how much difference there would be in the tithing check if we only paid tithing on post-tax earnings) as we felt that we didn’t want to try split hairs in this issue. One upside is if we ever get a tax refund at tax time, I have a clear conscience in doing whatever is needed with that money as it has already been tithed!

Once last comment, I’ll agree that things are simpler when you just get a paycheck from time to time. There are many more things to consider when you are dealing with investments and the like. But since I haven’t had to deal with those things too much, I have no specific comments on the issue.

That’s the way I see it. Since we don’t really have a system for tithing in kind, I translate that to mean a monetary increase, something from which I can take 10% and give it to the Lord.

Chris says:

I have had the same questions. Here are my thoughts:

1. Increase isn’t meant to be defined. Its ambiguous on purpose. What does the spirit tell you?
2. You don’t pay tithing on gifts. So keep your wedding money – the lord wants you to have it :)
3. See 2.

On a similar note, I don’t think tithing is a issue for a guy like you. You’re going to pay what the law and the spirit tell you to pay. Its what you pay in fast offering that’s the real test.

Connor replies:

Thanks for your reply… you state “You don’t pay tithing on gifts.” That sounds a bit “final”, I’m wondering if you know of a GA quote/scripture or something that states this, or is this just “accepted practice”. In discussing this recently with others, I’m just trying to figure out what is right, rather than what is common practice. When it says “increase”, I take that to mean anything you’ve gained in addition to what you already have. For example, I sold some DVDs tonight that I had previously purchased. I sold them at a loss, so the money I received in exchange was not an increase, therefore I won’t pay the tithing on it. However, if I made more money on them than I had previously paid, I would pay tithing on that increase… thoughts?

Chris responds:

Maybe I shouldn’t be so final. Like I said its up to you. “Increase” is not defined on purpose – its one of those things you have to work out with the Lord. I know – I struggle with that on tithing too since the punishments for not paying an honest tithe are outlined clearly in the scriptures. So its a hard thing. Like also said, I really believe the test isn’t so much in tithing as it is in the faith involved in paying an “honest” fast offering. I really believe this is the real meat of the money issue – not tithing – because most of the faithful pay tithing. Where does fast offering money go? To the sick, poor, needy, etc. right in you ward boundary – your neighbor! Think about that. So the Lord wants to know what you’re really going to give where the “rubber hits the road” so to speak. Think Jacob 2 on that one. I’m finally getting that principle at 33. I tell you – I don’t just throw $20 in the blue envelope anymore. Its become a much deeper thing to me.

Good exchange…