Jana Riess: Feel Good About Tithing, and Here's Why
I know you have a lot of concerns about how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practices its policies and administers its funds and duties, but let me inform you about a few things that might help you feel reassured that the money is in good Christian hands. And that your dollars and donations and good intentions through your charitable efforts are doing great things, both for you and God. And your fellow man, and woman and child.
Every local bishop and by default Relief Society President has access to fast offering funds to help most anyone that they meet to receive immediate food and other aid. This happens all the time.
This happens in your ward, your stake, your region and area, your country. This happens in well over a hundred nations around the earth and is growing every day, substantially.
Members of your faith do not, will not go hungry. Others receive of Latter-day Saint sustenance as well. Apart from government to government and other humanitarian aid groups roving the planet, which are arbitrary and often fleeting in their abilities, our Church is a tremendous resource across the globe.
This is a blessing, real and tangible. You, we, I, the community of faithful and willing make this happen, through appointed officers of the Church. Thanks for fasting and sharing those funds.
This is the beginning, or end, of the work of the Lord. The here and now.
But there's more!
Tithing goes to a multitude of the parts of the building of the Kingdom of God, what believing members of the Church of Jesus Christ understand as chapels for refuge and worship and consecration and wholesome activities, temples for the holiest of holy ceremonies and the actions of covenants to redeem and link us to our kindred dead. The whole human race. Do tithing funds go into ancestral libraries? Do these have a benefit for peoples across the earth?
Is this not a worthy endeavor to invest in, to donate to?
If you do not believe in these acts through holy temples, redeeming billions upon billions of our ancestors, then maybe tithing does seem a bit more onerous.
Weddings, sealings, baptisms for the dead... Donations and charitable contributions for those who cannot afford these buildings, in lands where the economy of scale is not as fortuitous as in the United States or first world economies...
Temples are dotting the earth in places like Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, where people rarely drink clean water or have nice silver ware or toilet paper.
Do you believe the blessings offered from the holy temple can elevate these peoples, or should it all be converted to goods for their material wealth in the immediate temporal day?
Could one beget the other?
Food for thought...
But wait! There's more!
Latter-Day Saint charities directly donates to those who are hungry or suffering people around the world. The more members, the more offerings, the more relief.
Would you, Jana, Dr. Riess, feel better to know that your personal check went to a village of people, probably members of our faith, to a missionary that they are supporting, in Peru or Cambodia or Mozambique? A young man or lady who is able to serve as a full time representative of the faith?
Well, without you knowing it specifically, you are.
The chapel that they use? From your check. In many countries the church you helped build with those funds is the best building in town. Again, in place where their membership does not go hungry.
Too good to be true?
It isn't.
But it is too private to know that that is precisely what your tithing settlements are helping in.
In the United States, in Canada, Mexico, and much far beyond.
You do not have to believe me or feel good about it.
But you should.
And finally, you do receive U.S. tax breaks for much of the charitable donations that you proffer yearly, individually up to about 14,000 USD and as a married couple 24 thousand or so. We have a great government that allows us these privileges and freedoms.
If you are collectively making as a family 240,000 US dollars per year, then please do not be penurious with your mites. Please soak in the blessings of giving to a cause and many sub-causes so much bigger than ourselves.
I thank you, the Lord thanks you, your bishop thanks you, and thousands upon thousands around the world receive the direct benefits because of you and the millions of others like you.
I hope that you can feel better about your tithing and other donations! I realize that this message may not have all the facts that you require or desire, and a lot of it is by faith.
Faith, as Paul explained, requires a lot of believing of that which is not directly seen.
But the evidence is everywhere.
Members of your faith do not, will not go hungry. Others receive of Latter-day Saint sustenance as well. Apart from government to government and other humanitarian aid groups roving the planet, which are arbitrary and often fleeting in their abilities, our Church is a tremendous resource across the globe.
This is a blessing, real and tangible. You, we, I, the community of faithful and willing make this happen, through appointed officers of the Church. Thanks for fasting and sharing those funds.
This is the beginning, or end, of the work of the Lord. The here and now.
But there's more!
Tithing goes to a multitude of the parts of the building of the Kingdom of God, what believing members of the Church of Jesus Christ understand as chapels for refuge and worship and consecration and wholesome activities, temples for the holiest of holy ceremonies and the actions of covenants to redeem and link us to our kindred dead. The whole human race. Do tithing funds go into ancestral libraries? Do these have a benefit for peoples across the earth?
Is this not a worthy endeavor to invest in, to donate to?
If you do not believe in these acts through holy temples, redeeming billions upon billions of our ancestors, then maybe tithing does seem a bit more onerous.
Weddings, sealings, baptisms for the dead... Donations and charitable contributions for those who cannot afford these buildings, in lands where the economy of scale is not as fortuitous as in the United States or first world economies...
Temples are dotting the earth in places like Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, where people rarely drink clean water or have nice silver ware or toilet paper.
Do you believe the blessings offered from the holy temple can elevate these peoples, or should it all be converted to goods for their material wealth in the immediate temporal day?
Could one beget the other?
Food for thought...
But wait! There's more!
Latter-Day Saint charities directly donates to those who are hungry or suffering people around the world. The more members, the more offerings, the more relief.
Would you, Jana, Dr. Riess, feel better to know that your personal check went to a village of people, probably members of our faith, to a missionary that they are supporting, in Peru or Cambodia or Mozambique? A young man or lady who is able to serve as a full time representative of the faith?
Well, without you knowing it specifically, you are.
The chapel that they use? From your check. In many countries the church you helped build with those funds is the best building in town. Again, in place where their membership does not go hungry.
Too good to be true?
It isn't.
But it is too private to know that that is precisely what your tithing settlements are helping in.
In the United States, in Canada, Mexico, and much far beyond.
You do not have to believe me or feel good about it.
But you should.
And finally, you do receive U.S. tax breaks for much of the charitable donations that you proffer yearly, individually up to about 14,000 USD and as a married couple 24 thousand or so. We have a great government that allows us these privileges and freedoms.
If you are collectively making as a family 240,000 US dollars per year, then please do not be penurious with your mites. Please soak in the blessings of giving to a cause and many sub-causes so much bigger than ourselves.
I thank you, the Lord thanks you, your bishop thanks you, and thousands upon thousands around the world receive the direct benefits because of you and the millions of others like you.
I hope that you can feel better about your tithing and other donations! I realize that this message may not have all the facts that you require or desire, and a lot of it is by faith.
Faith, as Paul explained, requires a lot of believing of that which is not directly seen.
But the evidence is everywhere.
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