10/24/2018 - Section 119:1-7

October 24, 2018

Section 119:1-7

Tithing Blessings and Difficulties, Commandments Blessing and Difficulties,

I learned very interesting history as I studied this short section. Earlier the Lord had given the saints the Law of Consecration. Joseph Fielding Smith said that the Law of Consecration is the law of the celestial kingdom. I know the New Testiment speaks of this in the early church.  The last part of Acts 4:34-35 “Neither was there any aong them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold.   And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.” And then Act 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira sold their land but secretly withheld a portion of the proceeds. Ananias presented his donation to Peter, and Peter replied, "Why is it that Satan has filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." And that’s when Ananias “gave up the ghost”. A covenent with the Lord is a serious matter. When we covenenat with the Lord we give our all. If we are trying our best, He helps us work through the difficult times. But we promise one thing and intentionally do another, we have created a very serious problem for ourselves. A very similar thing happened in Joseph Smith’s time. Many of the entered into this covenant and then broke the covenant. Joseph Fielding Smith said that: “…by so doing brought upon their heads, and the heads of their breathrenand sisters, dire punishment and persecution. This celestial law of necessity was thereupon withdrawn for the time…”  He also said, it was after this “While suffering intensely because of their debts and lack of means to meet their obligations Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, Nov 29, 1834, in solemn prayer promised the Lord that they would give one tenth of all that the Lord should give unto them, as an offering to be bestowed upon the por; they also prayed that their children, and the children’s children after them should obey this law.”  Smith and Sjodahl Commentary p 749: “The law of tithing, as undertood today, had not been given to the Church previous to this revelation. The term ‘tithing’ in the prayer…and in previous revelations (64:23; 85:3; 97:11) had meant to them not just one-tenth, but all ‘free-will offerings’ or ‘contributions’ to the Church funds.”

So now, we have Joseph Smith who received this revelation I response to Joseph’s questions: “O Lord! Show unto thy servant how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing.” (History of the Church 3:44)

I love Orson F Whitney’s explaination: “The Law of Tithing was given to supersede, for the time being, a greater law known as the Law of consecration (D&C 42:30-42), the object of which was and is to sanctify the Lord’s people and ‘prepare them for a place in the celestial world’ (D&C 78:7). To that end it wa designed to do away with selfishness, greed, pride, envy, poverty, and all the ills that spring from such conditions. For non of these things can be admitted unto the kingdom of heaven. It was to institute anorder of equality and consequent unity, in which every man, emplyed at that for which he was bet fitted, would be ‘seeking the interst of his neighbor and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God’ (D&C 82:19) ….A brave attempt to practise it was made by the Latter-day Saitns, soon after this Church was organized. But they lacked experience, and did not completely rise to the occasion. Selfishness wthin, and persecution without, prevented a perfect achievement. So the Lord withdrrew th eLaw of Consecratio (D&C 105) and gave to his people a lesser law, one easier to live, but pointing forward like the other, to something grand and glorious in the guture. That disciplinary agent, to bring the Saints eventually up to the practise of the higher law, and meanwhile to keep their hearats open for its reception when it returns. Those who obey the Law of Tithing will be prepared to live the Law of Consecrration. Those who do not obey it will not be prepared. That is the whole thing in a nut shell.” (April 1931 Gen Conf)

John A Widtsoe gave another good explanation: “Tithing means one-tenth. Those who give less do no really pay tithing, they are lesser contributors to the Latter-day cuase of the Lord. Tithining means on-tenth of a person’s income, interest, or increase. The merchant should pay tithing upon the net income of his business, the farmer upon the net income of his farming operations, the wage earner or salaried man upon the wage or salary earned by him. Out of the remaining nine-tenths he pays his current expenses… To deduct living costs…and similar expenses from the income andpay tithing uon the remainder does not conform to the Lord’s cmmandment. Under such a system most epople would show nothing on which to pay tihting. There is really no place for aquibbling on this point. Tithing should be given upon the basis of our full earned income. If the nautre of a business requies special interpretatio, the tithepayer should consult the father of his ward, the bishop.” (Evidences and Reconciliations 2:86)

After giving this law and stating its importance to our own growth and development, the Lord gives us the ‘then’ of the ‘if, then’ presentation we often find in the scriptures. He gives us the commandment first, often along with its accompanying blessings—I think that’s because sometimes we do things to gain blessings, and sometimes we do things to avoid the problems that He clearly informs us that we will bring down on our heads. So the ‘then’ of not paying tithing is found in v 6-7: “And I say unto you, if my people ovserve not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sancity the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes andmy jugements may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy, behold verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you.   And this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion. Even so, Amen”

And so how does this immediately affect me today? I may have spoke about this early, but I realized about a year ago that I the monthly check we get from Met Life had gone up and I had not adjusted my tithing on that income….for more than a year! So I worked it all out and for a little more than a year, I’ve been paying extra in each monthly tithing check. And with today’s study, and my study of several days ago when I kept thinking of the primary song “quickly I’ll obey”, I now know that my next tithing check will be just large enough completely catch me up on all back tithing. I want to live so that I may have Zion in me…which is how I read that last phrase of V 6.

10/15/2021 – D&C 119 

We are told, in the information that comes before the verses, that the saints had been given the Law of Consecration and the Stewardship of Property, and that those who followed this law were “chiefly the leading elders”. At this time, the “term ‘tithing’ had meant not just one-tenth, but all free-will offerings, or contributions, to the Church funds. It goes on to tell us that “Because of failure on the part of many to abide by this covenant, the Lord withdrew it for a time, and gave instead the law of tithing to the whole Church.” 

The Church was in debt, and all the things that the leaders of the Church had done to get out of debt had not been successful. It was during a leadership meeting on July 8, 1828 that Joseph prayed: “Lord, show unto thy servants how much thou requirest of the properties of thy people for a tithing?”  Joseph’s question was answered almost immediately. The saints were to put “all their surplus property …into the hands of the bishop”. (v 1) The term ‘surplus property” was defined as “property, such as land or cattle, that [the owners] could not make use of to advantage” (The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents)

The Lord then continues in v’s 3-4: “…this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people. And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually, and this shall be a standing law unto them forever…”

The saints had been trying to live a higher law, but did not do it very well. The Lord told them in section 101 that because of their “jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them…they had polluted their inheritances.”

Up to now, I had thought of the Lord giving the saints a lesser law to live was a sign of his disappointment in them. But as I read this section today, I thought of it as a parent who realized that his child was struggling in a certain grade simply because he had not yet developed the skills he needed to progress….whether it was a problem with reading, or with the ability to understand, or whatever, then placing him back in a grade that taught the basics he would need would most often strengthen his learning foundation, and he could then go on to progress, feeling the triumph of success.  That is what the Lord wanted for these saints…and for us. In v 4 He tells us that “this shall be a standing law unto them forever”. 

And then He gives the promises that will come from observing this law: that “by this law” the Saints would “sanctify the Land of Zion unto [Him]”. 

Joseph later teaches the saints: “By this principle (tithing) the loyalty of the people of this Church shall be put to the test. By this principle it shall be known who is for the kingdom of God and who is against it. By this principle it shall be seen whose hearts are set on doing the will of God and keeping his commandments, thereby sanctifying the land of Zion unto God, and who are opposed to this principle and have cut themselves off from the blessings of Zion. There is a great deal of importance connected with this principle, for by it it shall be known whether we are faithful or unfaithful. In this respect it is as essential as faith in God, as repentance of sin, as baptism for the remission of sin, or as the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 276).

And in our day, Elder Bednar has taught us that paying tithing refines us: “The honest payment of tithing is much more than a duty; it is an important step in the process of personal sanctification.”  (Oct Gen Conf 2013)