The Power Brokers within a church (tithing). What God wants us to do about giving money to the church and how.

Question

< What does the Morman church require large amts of money? (recent post)
I was wondering why you are required to spend part of your income on Morman church >
Mormons are a sectarian fellowship. My answer was referring to such on previous post!
Money in a Christian fellowship is often misunderstood or ignored. The basic truth that God wants to teach us regarding our money is that all of it ' belongs ' to Him. Many Christians still believe that God gets 10% & we get the rest. God can use his part & we can use our part the way we wish, not true! God will not merely judge us on basis on what we gave, but what we do with what we kept! This too belongs to him! God is not so concerned with how much we have, lots or a litle, he evaluates our attitude about it! To emphasize, Paul says that, if our hearts are right, we are acceptable to God even when we cannot give anything "If you are really eager to give, then it isn't important how much you have to give. God wants you to give....

what you have, not what you haven't" (2 Cor.8:12). Paul also write each should give as God has prospered him.
In the Old Testament, tithing was a form of taxation (Lev 27:30,33) Deu. 12:5-6; 14:22-24) Deu. 14:28-29). This was mandatory.
Today Christian leaders admit privately that tithing is not a New Testament requirement but justify an emphasis on tithing by saying that since God demanded 10% under the law, it is not asking too much to require that much or more under grace. Such reasoning is based on the fear that, if tithing is not taught as a requirement, Christians might end up giving nothing at all. So to insure the fact that some money will flow into the depleted coffers, tithing is taught despite the fact that it lacks scriptural support.
Everything God has given us is a test of our loyalty and one of the most accurate description of ourselves in spiritual maturity is in the way we use our money.
The first step, we must recognize is that everything we have belongs to Him!

I was referring to ' Sectarian Churches ' when I said ' power brokers '. The Mormon Fellowship falls under this description - a dominating leadership circle. Because their fellowship tends to rely upon a central, powerful and charismatic leading figure. The group will never see themselves as part of a wider fellowship and claim ' novelty ' as an attraction. " Here's something new & fresh that I bet, you never knew was in the Bible!"
Back to ' power brokers ', total loyalty is required in the fellowship and the followers money, homes as well as their decisions and relationships, will be controlled by their leaders. And I was also too, referring to the previous post I answered regarding ' Mormons and Why they want money, money, money!"

Answer 1

All that we have, including ourselves, belongs to God. I don't know what you mean by "Power Brokers."

Answer 2

Ok, this is an interesting question and I'll answer it as one from the other side of the coin(pardon the pun) as I am going into ministry. Why does God command everyone to give money? because for one, it's not our money anyway, it's Gods. "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." yeah sure, you can give you money to a random homeless person on the street, but what good is that really going to do? the old proverb "give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime" statement applies well. The tithe, (which did you know that less then 3% of people actually give 10% of their income?) is so that the Church can send out support to missionaries in foreign countries so they can literally teach people about Christ- this is a full time job, and often a part time job of teaching people pratical everyday stuff too. Another reason that you should give money to the church is for the church staff. These people go to school and have student loans as well, and this is a full time position, much study goes into a sermon each week, much time is spent at hospitals comforting the needy. Read 2 Corinthians 8-9 as well as 1 Corinthians 9. This is also a way to show praise toward God. God knows us, he knows that money is the thing that most people value more then anything else, he wants us to be good stewards (or asset managers might be a better term for it). There are multiple examples from both the new and the old testament where giving an offering are upheld as worship. To the answerer who used the Jeremiah quote, I would like you to keep one thing in mind whenever you read scripture, context is king. This will help you understand things a little more clearly about the quote, as well as all the others that you used. I hope that this answer was helpful.

Answer 3

The Church does not require us to give large amounts of money. In fact, they don't REQUIRE us to give anything at all. Only if you want to go to the temple are you asked if you are a full TITHE payer, meaning 10%. If you can't sacrifice just 10%, how are you going to sacrifice more if more is someday required at the Lord's command?

The money we give to the church goes for building new chapels, temples, bishop's storehouses, cannerys, farms, visitor's centers and historical sites, mission homes and training centers, office buildings, distribution centers, clothing factories, and towards salarys and pay for those who work for the church. If one is a member, it's quite easy to see where all our money goes.

As for those who complain about some multi-million dollar apartment for the prophet, hey, it belongs to THE CHURCH, not the prophet. He lives there, he doesn't own it. I don't know how much it's worth and I doubt seriously that it has more than the man can use in an ordinary day. He is almost 100 years old. I think he deserves it.

Answer 4

I should be giving more then 10% to the LDS church since for a while they paid my rent and gave me groceries and all I had to do was have faith. They do this for other members as well, I will always be so grateful :D Also so many people have helped my husband and I out, medically, spiritually, and financially, even a little menatlly too (call them when you need someone to talk to) Many familes have given us things for our daughter and been true friends. I pay tithing so that if they are ever in a situation like I was, the money will be there to help them out :D
I LOVE TITHING!

Answer 5

God may judge you for the good you do in the world but you also have to show God that money is not a big factor in your life. Giving a dollar then thinking well i will do something good to make up for it because i dont want to give alot more. that is greedy and God should be more than a dollar.

Answer 6

With the skyrocketing cost of the legal fees the Diocese have to pay in all the pedophile priests law suits, giving money, lots of it is a necessity. That is certainly God's will non ?

Answer 7

you are to give of your means,,and it says not to brag or boast about what you give,,, the story about the lady that gave almost nothing,because she had nothing,but gave anyhow gave the most of all