"Thou Hast Made an End of Tithing": Part 4

Financial Divorce

One of the main reasons couples get divorced is because of . . . money. 

Managing finances as a couple can be stressful.  Why?  Because a partnership is built on trust.

   1.  Like having an affair, financial infidelity is devastating to that trust.

   2.  What is financial infidelity?  Some examples include secret bank accounts, undisclosed debt, and hidden purchases.

   3.  In situations where one partner controls the money, it is easy for emotional and economic abuse to occur.  

   4.  Financial equality is a sign that the partners honor and respect the other.  When there is not financial equality, the partner who controls the money gets to decide the financial goals, means, and priorities without the consent of their partner.

   5.  Secrecy is a red flag.  A desire to not be accountable to the other partner is a red flag.

   6.  Without transparency, there cannot be mutual trust and equality. 

Church Finances

Managing finances as a church can be stressful.  Why?  Because a faith community is built on trust.

   1.  Like having an affair, financial infidelity is devastating to that trust.

   2.  What is financial infidelity?  Some examples include secret bank accounts, undisclosed debt, and hidden purchases.

   3.  In situations where leadership controls the money, it is easy for emotional and economic abuse to occur.  

   4.  Financial equality is a sign that the parties honor and respect the other.  When there is not financial equality, the people who control the money get to decide the financial goals, means, and priorities for the entire group without their common consent.

   5.  Secrecy is a red flag.  A desire to not be accountable to the members is a red flag.

   6.  Without transparency, there cannot be mutual trust and equality. 

The Parable of the Unjust Husband

A man and a woman marry in their early thirties.  Both have successful careers: he is a banker and she is a doctor.  The night before their wedding, the man says to his bride-to-be: "Honey, we love each other.  I want you to trust me always.  I had my lawyer draw up a prenuptial agreement for you to sign."

"What?" the woman says.  "I want us to remain together because we love each other, not because of some contract.  I won't sign it."

"Then we cannot be together.  But you can trust me: I will do what is best for us.  I will do what is right.  You have to honor my position as the head of our household, after all."

The woman truly loved the man and signed the prenuptial agreement, which required her to have her employer deposit her paycheck electronically into a shared bank account that the husband controlled.  One day shortly after the honeymoon she tried to withdraw funds at the ATM to buy a pretty dress. 

ACCESS DENIED, the ATM said.

She called her husband and said, "There is a problem with our bank account.  It won't let me take any money out."

"There's no problem," said the husband.  "Only I can withdraw funds.  The Bank only recognizes my signature."

"Then how am I supposed to get my money?  I want to buy a dress," she said.

"First, there is no 'my' money now that we're married.  It is all 'our' money," he said.  "And you can't buy a dress; it is not in the budget.  I will give you a budget at the beginning of the month and enough money for the expenses I have listed in the budget."

She swallowed.  "If it is "our" money, how come only you can access it?"

"Trust me."

One day the woman asked her husband to print out their bank records so she could see how much money they had saved in the bank.  

"I cannot do that," the man said.

"But it's our money!" she cried.

"Well, yes, but it is my duty as the head of the household to manage our money for the both of us.  Having you looking over my shoulder won't help at all."

"Wait a minute," she said, feeling a heat grow in her chest, "How is it I cannot use 'our' money unless I have your permission, and I cannot even know how much money 'we' have . . . and yet you claim it is 'ours?'  That is not honest."

"It is what the prenuptial agreement says."

"I signed that agreement because I thought you loved me.  But now I see that you do not, for you don't treat me as an equal.  Love cannot exist without trust, and you show me no trust.  Therefore, you do not love me."

What Does It Mean to "Deal Justly" With Each Other?

​​Raise your hand if you believe the husband in the Parable of the Unjust Husband was being fair.  Was he "dealing justly" with his wife?

Does the Lord care about justice?  Here's a clue: the prophet Samuel made a big deal about his handling of the people's finances when he gave his own accounting to them:

   I am old and grayheaded;
   and I have walked before you
   from my childhood unto this day.

   Behold, here I am:
   witness against me
   before the Lord,
   and before his anointed:
   whose ox have I taken?
   or whose ass have I taken?
   or whom have I defrauded?
   whom have I oppressed?
   or of whose hand
   have I received any bribe
   to blind mine eyes
   therewith?

   And they said,
   Thou hast not defrauded us,
   nor oppressed us,
   neither hast thou taken
   ought of any man's hand.

(1 Samuel 12:2-4)

Here's the point:  Samuel proved his prophetic calling by the way he dealt justly with the people's possessions.  

(Detail from “Vision of Ezekiel of the Valley of Dry Bones,” a 1579 engraving by Johann Sadeler in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.)

Don't Mess with Ezekiel

Ezekiel is one of my favorite books in the Bible.  I think it is telling that Joseph Smith frequently turned to Ezekiel for his preaching.  

Long after the prophet Samuel, the prophet Ezekiel spoke about what it means to be "just":

   If he . . . hath eaten upon the mountains,
   and defiled his neighbour’s wife,

   Hath oppressed the poor and needy,
   hath spoiled by violence,
   hath not restored the pledge,
   and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols,
   hath committed abomination,

   Hath given forth upon usury,
   and hath taken increase:
   shall he then live?

   he shall not live: he hath done
   all these abominations;
   he shall surely die.

(Ezekiel 18:10-13)

Here's the point:  Notice how Ezekiel mirrors adultery with financial unchastity?

"Just" Jesus

Stephen, the great martyr, gave one of the most triumphant sermons of all time in Acts 7.  At the end of his life, as he was being tried for blasphemy before the Jewish Council, he gave Christ one of my favorite names. 

In the midst of agony he found something beautiful to focus on.  

   Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised
   in heart and ears, ye do always
   resist the Holy Ghost:
   as your fathers did, so do ye.

   Which of the prophets
   have not your fathers persecuted?
   and they have slain them 
   which shewed before 
   of the coming of the Just One;
   of whom ye have been now
   the betrayers.

(Acts 7:51-52)

I don't think that it is a coincidence that Saul (who stood watch over Stephen's execution and heard Stephen testify of the Just One) was later told by Ananias after his conversion, "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth" (Acts 22:14).

There is Just One who can save us: Jesus.  Those who follow Him are described as coming forth in the "resurrection of the just."  We can be just like the Just One.  

And what did Jesus say to do?  

   When thou makest a feast,
   call the poor, the maimed,
   the lame, the blind:

   And thou shalt be blessed;
   for they cannot recompense thee:
   for thou shalt be recompensed
   at the resurrection of the just.

(Luke 14:13-14)

Here's the point:  When we require compensation from the poor and needy, we are "oppressing" them.

​Oppress Not the Widow

The backbone of the law of Moses was its spirit of compassion and mercy (really).  And if a lesser law could show such generosity of heart, imagine what a higher law requires of us!

The prophet Zechariah said:

   Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts,
   saying, Execute true judgment,
   and shew mercy and compassions
   every man to his brother:

   And oppress not the widow,
   nor the fatherless,
   nor the stranger,
   nor the poor.

   But they refused to hearken,
   and pulled away the shoulder,
   and stopped their ears,
   that they should not hear.

   And they made their hearts
   as adamant stone, 
   lest they should hear
   the law, and the words
   which the Lord of hosts
   hath sent in his spirit
   by the former prophets.

(Zechariah 7:9-12) 

Extortion

"Adamant" means to "refuse to be persuaded or to change one's mind."  It is also a legendary rock, sometimes associated with diamond.  

Here Zechariah is saying, "Stop oppressing the widow, orphans and poor," and instead of changing their practices, the people hardened their hearts into diamonds.  "Where's the profit in it?" I can hear them asking.

The Pharisees, too, were expert at twisting oppressive practices into "faith promoting" traditions.  Which is why the Lord said they were "full of extortion and excess" (Matt. 23:25).  

"Extortion" means to "obtain something, especially money, through force or threats."  

Is it "extortion" to tell someone, "I know you can't buy food for your children, but if you don't pay tithing, you can't receive the ordinances necessary for exaltation, and thus you'll go to a lesser kingdom.  Sorry." 

Is this an example of "devouring widow's houses" (Matt. 23:14)?

Here's the point:  Religious systems are especially prone to extortionist behaviors because they hold the threat of damnation over their adherents.  

Corban

Okay, this part gets real.  

Jesus called out the Pharisees for their perverted ingenuity in which they rendered "the commandment of God of none effect" (Matt. 15:6) by not taking care of their parents.  Sure, one of the most important commandments was to honor their father and their mother, which included providing for their needs in old age; so how did the Pharisees, who were such spiritual giants, manage to turn the word of God on its head?

By using a creative loophole called "Corban."

This is how it worked:  Instead of giving ol' mom and pop the financial help they needed, a "dutiful" son would make a vow, or gift, called Corban, in which he dedicated (i.e., consecrated) his possessions to the Temple Treasury instead.

Let me paraphrase:  "Too bad folks, this all be God's someday."

Conveniently the Pharisee didn't have to give the Corban to the temple until he died.  "The vow to consecrate his savings, even at death, to the temple absolved a man from the duty of succoring his parents," one bible commentary explains.  Another says, "The gift was irrevocably dedicated to the temple . . . thus reserving [the Corban] to their own selfish use."  

Now let's look at the scripture itself:

   Why do ye also transgress
   the commandment of God
   by your tradition?

   For God commanded, saying,
   Honour thy father and mother:
   and, He that curseth father or mother,
   let him die the death.

   But ye say, Whosoever shall say
   to his father or his mother,
   It is a gift ("Corban"),
   by whatsoever thou
   mightest be profited by me;

   And honour not his father
   or his mother, he shall be free.
   Thus have ye made the commandment
   of God of none effect by your tradition.

   Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy
   of you, saying,  This people
   draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,
   and honoureth me with their lips;
   but their heart is far from me.

   But in vain they do worship me,
   teaching for doctrines
   the commandments of men.

(Matt. 15:3-9)

Are we using the same excuse of Corban when we say, "Oh, I'd really like to help you out, but I have to pay God my tithing, so I can't.  Sorry."

Here's the point:  A religious practice that excuses us from keeping God's law in the name of Corban is abominable.

Time for a Fresh Start

Where do we go from here?  How do we reset?  How do we cleanse our financial palette? 

The Lord has an app for that:  the Year of Jubilee.

Now, I understand we don't live the law of Moses.  But how cool is it that a lesser law includes such a generous principle?  It makes me believe the higher law, or gospel of Christ, must contain something truly remarkable to top the Year of Jubilee!  

Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25)

Seven is a special number.  Seven times seven must be really special.  So the 49th year was declared to be the Year of Jubilee.  What happened every 49th year?

   1.  Slaves were set free.

   2.  Prisoners were set free.

   3.  Unpaid debts were forgiven.

   4.  No farming or harvesting of the fields, since it was a like a Sabbatical Year of rest.

God's Debt Forgiveness Program

Has the time come for everyone to be set free from the lesser law of tithing?  Has the time come for the church to declare a year of Jubilee where all debts are forgiven?  

John Taylor in 1880 declared a year of Jubilee and forgave 1/2 of everyone's debt belonging to the Perpetual Immigration Fund.  

If President Taylor could forgive 1/2 of everyone's debt when the Church was financially struggling, can we forgive 100% of everyone's debt now that the church is rich?

Is it time for a new beginning?  I hope so.  I am looking forward to a new heaven, and a new earth.