It could have been a tithing Faith-Promoting Rumor...

[_silentkid]

I don't pay tithing. I haven't paid tithing in a long time. The other day I got a check in the mail. I hadn't been expecting any money from anyone. The check was from my last apartment complex. I guess that I had overpaid on some rent or something; it wasn't a deposit because no deposit was required upon move in. Cool, some extra cash. It got me thinking...had I been a faithful, tithe-paying member, would I have viewed this unexpected money as a blessing of my obedience to the tithing principle? Would I have stood up in fast and testimony meeting and proclaimed that God blesses those who pay their tithes? Maybe. Under the Mormon paradigm, these stories are commonplace. Everyone has heard the story of the family struggling to make ends meet. They don't have enough money for groceries but they still pay their tithing. Money appears from some unexpected source. All is well. The windows of heaven and all that. So, if you pay tithing and receive unexpected money it's a blessing; if you don't pay tithing and you receive unexpected money, what is it...coincidence, serendipity, or just the way things roll? I think it's just the way things roll. I'll take my filthy lucre and roll with it.

[_KimberlyAnn]

Silentkid, you have to be keeping at least one commandment. You don't just find your birth certificate and get unexpected money in the mail for nothing, you know.

So, what is it? Are you keeping the law of chastity? Refraining from all loud laughter and light-mindedness? Did you give up the booze and the face cards or finally stop coveting your neighbor's wife?

No? Well, then you must be in league with the devil! You've sold your soul to him. That's the only explanation. Well, it explains the check...

KA

[_asbestosman]

I'll take my filthy lucre and roll with it.

I wouldn't mind taking your filthy lucre and rolling with it either. I might even be generous and help pay for a missionary with your filthy lucre too. ;)

[_Blixa]

Hahahaha! I was just thinking about this same thing!

As some of you may know, while I've been doing some work here in SLC, my grandmother passed away (visiting with her was another reason I was in town). A few weeks later I found that over 15 years ago she had set some money aside for me---and it turns out to be enough to cover a very pending tax bill. In fact this money appeared just in the nick of time! It's total Faith-Promoting Rumor fodder, except for one thing: I've never paid tithing even once in my life and I'm currently breaking all kinds of Mormon taboos and sinning up a blue streak. Woohoo! Being a libertine pays off once again! Let's hear it for hedonism folks!!!

[_Zoidberg]

Oh how I hate tithing FPRs. Whenever someone got up to bear their testimony which included one of those, I saw one of Skinner's superstitious pigeons at the pulpit.

[_charity]

I don't pay tithing. I haven't paid tithing in a long time. The other day I got a check in the mail. I hadn't been expecting any money from anyone. The check was from my last apartment complex. I guess that I had overpaid on some rent or something; it wasn't a deposit because no deposit was required upon move in. Cool, some extra cash. It got me thinking...had I been a faithful, tithe-paying member, would I have viewed this unexpected money as a blessing of my obedience to the tithing principle? Would I have stood up in fast and testimony meeting and proclaimed that God blesses those who pay their tithes? Maybe. Under the Mormon paradigm, these stories are commonplace. Everyone has heard the story of the family struggling to make ends meet. They don't have enough money for groceries but they still pay their tithing. Money appears from some unexpected source. All is well. The windows of heaven and all that. So, if you pay tithing and receive unexpected money it's a blessing; if you don't pay tithing and you receive unexpected money, what is it...coincidence, serendipity, or just the way things roll? I think it's just the way things roll. I'll take my filthy lucre and roll with it.

I have heard some testimonies about blessings from paying tithing. But they are usually more specific. Generally they go something like this: "I needed 500 to pay my rent. I was desperate. I prayed for some way to open up for me to earn the money. The next day, I got a refund in the mail. . . ."

I don't recall ever having heard anyone just talk about receiving money out of the blue and calling that a blessing of paying tithing. We usually count it more a blessing when there is a real need, real earnest prayer, and then an answer.

[_bcspace]

Under the Mormon paradigm, these stories are commonplace

Surely you aren't saying this is a strictly Mormon thing? After all, Malachi 3 is believed by other Christians too.

[_Always Thinking]

I don't pay tithing. I haven't paid tithing in a long time. The other day I got a check in the mail. I hadn't been expecting any money from anyone. The check was from my last apartment complex. I guess that I had overpaid on some rent or something; it wasn't a deposit because no deposit was required upon move in. Cool, some extra cash. It got me thinking...had I been a faithful, tithe-paying member, would I have viewed this unexpected money as a blessing of my obedience to the tithing principle? Would I have stood up in fast and testimony meeting and proclaimed that God blesses those who pay their tithes? Maybe. Under the Mormon paradigm, these stories are commonplace. Everyone has heard the story of the family struggling to make ends meet. They don't have enough money for groceries but they still pay their tithing. Money appears from some unexpected source. All is well. The windows of heaven and all that. So, if you pay tithing and receive unexpected money it's a blessing; if you don't pay tithing and you receive unexpected money, what is it...coincidence, serendipity, or just the way things roll? I think it's just the way things roll. I'll take my filthy lucre and roll with it.

I have heard some testimonies about blessings from paying tithing. But they are usually more specific. Generally they go something like this: "I needed 500 to pay my rent. I was desperate. I prayed for some way to open up for me to earn the money. The next day, I got a refund in the mail. . . ."

I don't recall ever having heard anyone just talk about receiving money out of the blue and calling that a blessing of paying tithing. We usually count it more a blessing when there is a real need, real earnest prayer, and then an answer.

I've heard plenty of vague tithing testimonies.

What about Blixa's story? That's pretty specific. She had a pending tax bill and just as it comes due, she finds that her grandmother had set aside money for her. Just enough to cover that bill.

I'd be willing to bet that Silentkid had some pretty specific needs for it too.

[_silentkid]

I don't recall ever having heard anyone just talk about receiving money out of the blue and calling that a blessing of paying tithing. We usually count it more a blessing when there is a real need, real earnest prayer, and then an answer.

You and I obviously have not attended the same wards. The point of my post is that all tithing Faith-Promoting Rumor's are bogus. What you see as a blessing I see as a simple matter of life, a coincidence. Also, what about all those faithful members that pay tithing, have "real need", kneel in "real earnest prayer", and don't receive an answer? You don't hear about those because they're not faith promoting. Your response will probably be something along the lines of "it's a test" or "maybe it's not God's will" or "they need to pray more, read their scriptures more, fast more, etc."

BCSpace: I view all tithing Faith-Promoting Rumor's, Mormon or not, as bogus. I was addressing the Mormon paradigm specifically because that is what I'm most familiar with. I'm not only picking on us (yes, I'm still Mormon). I have seen televangelists make similar promises. I understand that Malachi is in the Old Testament and that all Christian denominations have access to it.

KA: I was going to put the birth certificate thing in this post as well to further my point, but decided against it. I'm not sure which commandment I'm keeping. I think I'm receiving these blessings because my sister keeps putting my name on the temple prayer roll. That has to be it. ;)

Finally...when I paid tithing as a member, I viewed it as a way to help support the church's temporal needs (i.e. buildings, chairs, pews, hymnals, etc.) and never viewed it as a test of obedience or a way to receive unexpected monetary blessings. I understand that the church needs money to operate. If I'm going to church and benefitting from the temporal surroundings, I'll give money. It's kind of like belonging to a club, ya know. That's how I view it.