Sharing our Links to the Past
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The Law of Tithing and of the Fast (See article on tithing in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism at Tithing.) Definition of Tithing Classic Tithing Stories President Heber J. Grant: "I heard a very splendid illustration given by a Sunday School teacher of the Primary Class. She brought to her school ten beautiful red apples. She explained that everything that we have in the world fame to us from the Lord, and she said, 'Now children, if I give one of you these ten apples, will you give me one back again? Now anyone of the children that will do that, hold up your hand.' "Of course, they all held up their hands. Then she said, 'That is what the Lord does for us. He gives us the ten apples, but He requests that we return one to Him to show our appreciation of that gift.' "The great trouble with the majority of the people is that when they get the ten apples, they eat up nine of them and then they cut the other in two and give the Lord half of what is left. Some of them cut the apple in two and eat up one-half of it and then hold up the other half and ask the Lord to take a bite. That is about as near as they see fit to share property and show their gratitude to the Lord." (Improvement Era, vol. 44, pp. 9, 56.) President Joseph F. Smith: "I recollect most vividly a circumstance that occurred most vividly in the days of my childhood. My mother was a widow, with a large family to provide for. One spring when we opened our potato pits, she had her boys get a load of the best potatoes, and she took them to the tithing office; potatoes were scarce that season. I was a little boy at the time, and drove the team. When we drove up to the steps of the tithing office, readyto unload the potatoes, one of the clerks came out and said to my mother: "'Widow Smith, it's a shame that you should have to pay tithing.' He said a number of other things that I remember well, but they are not necessary for me to repeat here. "The first two letters of the name of that tithing clerk were William Thompson, and he chided my mother for paying her tithing, called her anything but wise or prudent; and said there were others who were strong and able to work that were supported from the tithing office. "My mother turned upon him, and said: 'William, yhou ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and the other laws, I expect to prosper, and to be able to provide for my family.'" (Conference Report, April 1900, pp.48-49.) President George Albert Smith: (Following a stake conference he was accompanied home by a friend, and this conversation ensued:) "'You know, I have heard many things in this conference, but there is only one thing that I do not understand the way you do.' "I said, 'What is that?' "'Well,' he said, ' it is about paying tithing.' (The man then went on to explain how he did it.) "'If I make ten thousand dollars in a year, I put a thousand dollars in the bank for tithing. I know why it is there. Then when the bishop comes and wants me to make a contribution for the chapel or give him a check for a missionary who is going away, if I think he needs the money, I give him a check. If a family in the ward is in distress and needs coal or food or clothing or anything else, I write out a check. If I find a boy or a girl who is having difficulty getting through school in the East, I send a check. Little by little I exhaust the thousand dollars, and every dollar of it had gone where I know it has done good. Now, what do you think of that?' President Grant: "I think you are a very generous man with someone else's property." (And he nearly tipped the car over.) President Grant continued: "You have not paid any tithing. you have told me what you have done with the Lord's money but you have not told me that you have given anyone a penny of your own. He is the best partner you have in the world. He gives you everything you have, even the air you breathe. He has said you should take one-tenth of what comes to you and give it to the Church as directed by the Lord. You haven't done that; you have taken your best partner's money, and given it away." (The man repented and latest started paying tithing the correct way." (Conference Report, April 1910, p. 6.) The Faithful Keeping of the Law President Heber J. Grant: "The law of financial prosperity to the Latter-day Saints, under covenant with God, is to be an honest tithe payer, and not to rob the Lord in tithes and offerings. Prosperity comes to those who observe the law of tithing. When I say prosperity I am not thinking of it in terms of dollars and cents alone, although as a rule the Latter-day Saints who are the best tithe payers are the most prosperous men, financially. But what I count as real prosperity, as the one thing of all others that is of great value to every man and woman living, is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind." (Conference Report, Apr 1925) President Grant discussed his own experience at paying tithing: "I have never made
a dollar on which I did not pay tithing. A president of the stake begged and pleaded with
me to quit paying tithing. He said I did not owe any tithing until I got out of debt.
Would not that have been a fine record for a man who now stands as president of the
Church, not to have paid tithing for thirty-two years? I have had friends beg and plead
with me to take bankruptcy, saying that I would never live long enough to pay my debts.
"If there is any man living who is entitled to say, 'Keep out of debt,' his name is
Heber J. Grant. Thank the Lord that I was able to pay it all, and pay it all without
asking a dollar discount from anyone. "I do not believe I ever would have paid it if
I had not been absolutely honest with the Lord. When I made any money, the first debt I
paid was to the Lord." (Gospel Standards, p59) The Sanctity of the Funds The Use of Tithing Funds Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained: "[Tithing] funds are spent to build and maintain temples and houses of worship, to conduct our worldwide missionary work, to translate and publish scriptures, to provide resources to redeem the dead, to fund religious education, and to support other Church purposes selected by the designated servants of the Lord." (Ensign, May 1994, P35) Origin of the Fast Brigham Young counseled the Saints in 1867: "Let it be sent forth to the people, that on the first Thursday of each month, the fast day, all that would be eaten by husbands and wives and children and servants should be put in the hands of the bishop for the sustenance of the poor. I am willing to do my share as well as the rest, and if there are no poor in my ward, I am willing to divide with those wards where there are poor. If the sisters will look out for rooms for those sisters who need to be taken care of, and see them provided for, you will find that we will possess more comfort and more peace in our hearts and our spirits will be buoyant and light, full of joy and peace. The bishops should, through their teachers, see that every family in their wards, who is able, should donate what they would naturally consume on the fast day to the poor." (Journal of Discourses, 12:115) On these Fast Thursdays, the Saints would leave their regular occupation and attend
Fast and Testimony meeting. President Joseph Fielding Smith recalls seeing businesses with
signs hung on their doors that read, "Closed for fast meeting" (Answers to
Gospel Questions, p92). The members brought with them the equivalent of several meals
in foodstuffs. After one meeting in 1856, the Salt Lake Eighteenth Ward recorded receipt
of the following from different individuals: 12 eggs, 8 lbs meal, 1/2 lb coffee, 1 lb
pork, 4 lbs flour, 5 lbs flour, 1 1/2 lbs pork, 1/4 lb butter, 12 lbs flour, 5 1/2 lbs
meal, 13 lbs flour, 6 lbs beef, and 2 lbs pork (The Mormon Experience,
p210). In 1896, the common fast day was changed from the first Thursday of the month to
the first Sunday of the month. Over time, the fast offering has evolved to being primarily
a cash offering rather than the donation of foodstuffs. President Spencer W. Kimball: "Sometimes we have been a bit penurious and figured that we had for breakfast one egg and that cost so many cents and then we give that to the Lord. I think that when we are affluent, as many of us are, that we ought to be very, very generous … and give, instead of the amount we saved by our two meals of fasting, perhaps much, much more—ten times more where we are in a position to do it." (Conference Report, Apr 1974, p184) President Gordon B. Hinckley: "Think … of what would happen if the principles of fast day and the fast offering were observed throughout the world. The hungry would be fed, the naked clothed, the homeless sheltered. Our burden of taxes would be lightened. The giver would not suffer but would be blessed by his small abstinence. A new measure of concern and unselfishness would grow in the hearts of people everywhere." (Ensign, May 1991, pp52-53) President Heber J. Grant: "Every living soul among the Latter-day
Saints that fasts two meals once a month will be benefited spiritually and be built up in
the faith of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ—benefited spiritually in a wonderful
way—and sufficient means will be in the hands of the bishops to take care of all the
poor." (Gospel Standards, p123) Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Main
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