General Conference, ‘The Windows of Heaven,’ October 2013; “Spiritual and temporal blessings come into our lives as we live the law of tithing.” – David A. Bednar

 

 

2 Corinthians 9:7; “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

Money, as they say, changes everything…

Oh, how it grieves our hearts to see how the Church continues to be dishonest about the most simplest of things.

On this side of the cross, there is no such thing as a ‘law of tithing’. While tithing in the NT era does have merit, it’s not predicated upon our salvation because that’s a free gift already given to us – Eph 2:8-9.

Originally, Mormonism was built upon Joe Smith’s disdain for the Catholic Church which was passed down from the earlier generation. The prophecies, and many of the early writings found in the LDS Church exhibit their intolerance of Catholics and is seen in the following examples.

 Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 315; “The only principle upon which they judge me [Joseph Smith] is by comparing my acts with the foolish traditions of their fathers and nonsensical teachings of hireling priests, whose object and aim were to keep the people in ignorance for the sake of filthy lucre; or as the prophet says, to feed themselves, not the flock.”

D&C 29:21; “And the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire, according as it is spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet, who spoke of these things, which have not come to pass but surely must, as I live, for abominations shall not reign.”

1 Nephi 14:10; “And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.”

Long story short in this lesson today, is that the Church is still using the verbiage from Smith’s day and applying it to modern times. It has no place in the Lord’s gospel then, or now.

Why is it okay to bash the Catholics, and all others about paid clergy when they ask for tithes, but it’s not okay to question the Church about their income?

Specifically, what blessings will come to the Mormon people if they pony up?

Earlier this month we saw how true salvation is only found in the temple, but you can’t go to the temple if you haven’t paid a full tithe. Isn’t this the same thing the Mormon Church accuses the Catholics of doing?