Tithings and Blessings -- Cause Effect Relationship

[_Imwashingmypirate]

I agree.

[_charity]

So are only the priest hood to pay tithes or is it that the tithes are for his holy priesthood? But what really are the blessings?

Everyone in the Church. We explained the law of tithing to our children as soon as they had allowances. They were very proud to give their pennies to the bishop.

The answer to the question of what the blessings are, has to be answered by each person who pays. I suspect it is, or can be different for everyone. I know what my blessings are, because I have been shown them. But I can't speak for anyone else.
[quote="Imwashingmypirate"]
I am a student. I get a student loan which mostly goes towards rent. Which is really expensive.

I wish you luck. My advice, having been a college instructor or years and saw many students racking up piles of debt without much forward progress on their eventual careers is this: Get through school as quickly as you can and limit your school loans to just what you can get by on. Those student loans can really put a damper on your life for years. Now, bakc to the topic.

[_Imwashingmypirate]

The first part I was not being all that serious. I know that everyone pays tithes. I don't pay the loan back until I am earning 15K per year and then they only take a very small percentage a month. Something like 5 pounds per month. I don't even see it come out. My degree finished in 2011. So I can't really get through it any quiker than that. But thank you.

[_Moniker]

As a Mormon, I was scared not to pay my tithing! It wasn't a joy for me to give, it was more like paying a bill to a creditor of whom I was afraid. I no longer feel compelled to pay a ten percent tithe, but I do feel that generous giving is a virtue.
Sharing with others is a pleasure to me when I do it out of love, and not fear. And I don't expect blessings in return anymore. Giving is a blessing in itself when I enjoy it so much!

Cngratulations on acheiving a higher level of moral development. At one stage of moral development, the individual does tend to obey rules because they are afraid not to. As they progress, they are more likely to make moral choices based on other reasons. I am glad you no longer are fearful, but it isn't whether or not it is tithing. It is your own moral development.

I find this interesting. Aren't morals (sin) defined by God (religion) as a reward punishment system? Isn't the entire premise behind the often cited blessings that is correlated to tithing nothing more than a reward for a certain behavior??

I agree that there is a process most people go through where they learn rules of societal ethics/norms and learn that certain behavior is rewarded and other punished -- and at some point (hopefully) some go on to do ethical/moral acts because they enjoy the intrinsic reward. Yet, a system created upon the entire premise of reward (heaven) and punishment (hell) doesn't really seem to further this goal, imho.

Of course I could be wrong.

[_Moniker]

Addendum to last post:

I was never indoctrinated with a reward punishment system via religion and understood instinctively, as a young child, the intrinsic rewards of empathy and charity.

Perhaps because the alternative was never offered? Never was "forced" to be charitable in order to gain an extrinsic reward (blessings) or eternal reward (heaven).

How does telling people they will be "blessed" for charity further the goal of intrinsic meaning of charitable acts?

[_Scottie]

Addendum to last post:

I was never indoctrinated with a reward punishment system via religion and understood instinctively, as a young child, the intrinsic rewards of empathy and charity.

Perhaps because the alternative was never offered? Never was "forced" to be charitable in order to gain an extrinsic reward (blessings) or eternal reward (heaven).

How does telling people they will be "blessed" for charity further the goal of intrinsic meaning of charitable acts?

Along these sames lines, how does saying, "If you do these immoral acts, you will spend eternity of torment burning in a lake of fire" teach anybody to act morally on their own accord?

Fear is a powerful motivator, but a poor teacher.

[_charity]

I find this interesting. Aren't morals (sin) defined by God (religion) as a reward punishment system? Isn't the entire premise behind the often cited blessings that is correlated to tithing nothing more than a reward for a certain behavior??

I agree that there is a process most people go through where they learn rules of societal ethics/norms and learn that certain behavior is rewarded and other punished -- and at some point (hopefully) some go on to do ethical/moral acts because they enjoy the intrinsic reward. Yet, a system created upon the entire premise of reward (heaven) and punishment (hell) doesn't really seem to further this goal, imho.

Of course I could be wrong.

.

In LDS theology, there is no hell. Everyone (except the Sons of Perdition which is a very small group) ends up in "heaven."

[_Imwashingmypirate]

Ah yes that is true. Only the murderers and those that deny the holy ghost after knowing of it join satan and his angels in outer darkness and even the telestrial kingdom is far more glorious than Earth. There I was panicking about going to Hell. Good. Now that I have actually realised that I have nothing to worry about. Who wants to rule kingdoms anyway. To be entirely honest. If God is my heavenly father. I'd much rather sit by his side or at his feet basking in glory and free from iniquity that worry about my future spirit children on earth. To me worrying is not pleasurable. Is that selfish of me?

[_Yoda]

I find this interesting. Aren't morals (sin) defined by God (religion) as a reward punishment system? Isn't the entire premise behind the often cited blessings that is correlated to tithing nothing more than a reward for a certain behavior??

I agree that there is a process most people go through where they learn rules of societal ethics/norms and learn that certain behavior is rewarded and other punished -- and at some point (hopefully) some go on to do ethical/moral acts because they enjoy the intrinsic reward. Yet, a system created upon the entire premise of reward (heaven) and punishment (hell) doesn't really seem to further this goal, imho.

Of course I could be wrong.

.

In LDS theology, there is no hell. Everyone (except the Sons of Perdition which is a very small group) ends up in "heaven."

The sense of possibly being separated from your family for eternity if you don't pass all of life's challenges is it's own hell, though.

[_Imwashingmypirate]

But the person in the higher kingdom is allowed to visit people in the lower kingdoms.