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My brother-in-law called me last week to get my advice about a tithing question, in part, I think, because I have an accounting degree. He had inherited his parent’s home, and needed to pay tithing on it. But it would take time to sell the home, if he decided to do that, and the value of the home might change between the inheritance and when it sells. How should he decide what the home is worth in order to calculate how much tithing he should pay?<\/p>\n
I know that this type of question has been asked a lot\u2014my brother-in-law is far from the first to ask what the rules are. And actually, he isn’t the first to ask ME about what the rules of tithing. And the Bloggernacle is full of post after post addressing tithing and what the rules are.<\/p>\n
Many Church members are aware of the Church’s stated policy about what tithing is:<\/p>\n
The simplest statement we know of is the statement of the Lord himself, namely, that the members of the Church should pay ‘one-tenth of all their interest annually,’ which is understood to mean income. No one is justified in making any other statement than this.[1. Ensign<\/i>\u00a0(December 1986), 14 and many other places, including the Church Handbook of Instructions.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And Church practice makes this lack of further explanation clear. There is no equivalent of the US government’s Internal Revenue Service to audit or verify members’ tithing. There is no code of rules published. So if you want to know if you should pay tithing on what you grow in your garden, or your Christmas gifts, or what you inherited from your late relative, there is no stated guidance. You pay what you feel is correct.<\/p>\n
Of course, the result is that two equally faithful persons, with exactly the same financial situations, could honestly decide to pay very different amounts of tithing on exactly the same increase.<\/p>\n
Should we be ok with this?<\/p>\n
Apparently many members aren’t sure. They feel uncomfortable with different treatment\u2014perhaps because our political culture in the United States sees the potential for injustice in different treatment of individuals\u2014and rightly so. This potential injustice also bothers many members when a Bishop treats some members differently than others, or when different Bishops handle the same situation differently (often called “Bishop roulette” or “leadership roulette”)[2. Please note that I am NOT suggesting that the differences in how bishops handle problems is always correct. I’m merely suggesting that some of this is really about how we see rules and comparing ourselves to others when we shouldn’t. I haven’t addressed here everything that needs to be addressed about “leadership roulette”]. A comment I found addresses this to a degree:<\/p>\n
In my view, all the concern about what other people are paying sounds a lot like the first hour laborers\u2019 concern that the eleventh hour laborers were getting the same penny. If the Lord is telling me to pay gross, what does it matter if he tells somebody else to pay net? To paraphrase from the New Testament, if I will that he pay net, what is that to thee? [3. See: https:\/\/bycommonconsent.com\/2007\/02\/28\/questions-about-tithing\/#comment-68839<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The desire that everyone follow the same rules may be what is behind an account from Ernest L. Wilkinson’s diaries:<\/p>\n
May 11, 1961, conversation with [First Presidency Member] Henry D. Moyle about the need to provide authoritative definition of what constituted full tithing, particularly that it should be paid before the payment taxes. Moyle agreed, but said as long as President McKay and President Clark were in the First Presidency there was no chance to get any authoritative interpretation.[4. D. Michael Quinn\u2019s typed notes of excerpts from Ernest L. Wilkinson diaries, 1952-196, 1 Uncat. WA MS.119, Beinecke Library, Yale University. As cited here: https:\/\/bycommonconsent.com\/2007\/02\/28\/questions-about-tithing\/#comment-68958<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is also likely behind the questions that accounting and tax professionals who are members, bishops, stake presidents and general authorities frequently get about what the rules are. And it is the reason for the Church’s statement above, which basically says that there aren’t any rules except “10% of your increase”.<\/p>\n
Seeking specific detailed rules for tithing, or any other doctrine for that matter, has been tried many times by many different groups\u2014I think its actually been common among small and conservative religious groups. As I understand it, its the motivation behind those we know as the Pharisees. And, from what I read, much of the Talmud is very specific rules like this. For that matter, isn’t much of Deuteronomy and Leviticus detailed rules that seem obscure today?<\/p>\n
And today our system of laws is built on this kind of thinking — detailed rules made even more specific by formal interpretation, often addressing exceptions to the rule. The detail of the tax laws and regulations reached the point a couple of decades ago that by law the IRS must publish estimates of the amount of time it takes to fill out each form.<\/p>\n
This last fact \u2014 the requirement that the IRS publish estimates of form preparation time \u2014 demonstrates the where this problem leads. What we spend our time thinking about matters. In the case of taxes or of tithing, do we really want thinking about money to take up so much of our lives? Is the gospel really about spending our time thinking about how to follow the rules?<\/p>\n
So lets ask ourselves, do we really need rules for every situation?<\/p>\n
President Oaks in particular has weighed in on this. He said:<\/p>\n
As a General Authority, I have the responsibility to preach general principles. When I do, I don\u2019t try to define all the exceptions. There are exceptions to some rules. \u2026 But don\u2019t ask me to give an opinion on your exception. I only teach the general rules. Whether an exception applies to you is your responsibility. You must work that out individually between you and the Lord. [5. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Dating versus Hanging Out. CES Fireside, Oakland, California May 1, 2005. in Ensign, June 2006, https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/ensign\/2006\/06\/dating-versus-hanging-out?lang=eng<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And in one of the comments I came across elsewhere, the commentator related hearing President Oaks say in a stake conference:<\/p>\n