joheri

Maybe you have a point MOE, but even though we have covenanted to live the law of consecration the law has yet to be systematized. IMO

Elder Dallin H Oaks, “Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings,” Ensign, Nov 2002, 26 Dallin H. Oaks, “Tithing,” Ensign, May 1994, 33 I thought this was a common knowledge in the Church. This is what I have been told all the way.

The whole point with tithing is to prepare us to live the law of consecration properly. Paying off of gross requires no thinking, alas no training. If you have to determine what is sufficient for your needs and what is more than you need you will be trained well before we will be required to live the law of consecration fully. There is a tendency amongst the children of God to wish for detailed commandments, leaving out our own thinking. We are here on earth to learn more than just obedience. IMO

But it´s in the scriptures. Why was it necessary once but not any more?

What about NOT kneeling while partaking of the sacrament? Is that a cultural behavior? Why are we not doing it?

A testimony is in its nature based on experience. You testify of something you have experienced. Somtimes it is something seen, heard, smelled, or (as is most often the case) you have felt something in your heart. Remember that feeling is not necesserily en evidence in it self. We cannot really know if the Church is true because if we knew we don't have a testimony but rather sure knowledge. However, the feeling and sometimes the burning in our heart, to us is equal to sure knowledge. I think we use the words "I know" a little too easy. We must not forget that it is a faith based religion, and that is good because faith induces more power than knowledge. Just look at Laman and Lemuel and even Peter the Rock.

How come the majority of Church members are not following the scriptures? D&C 119 describes how we are to tithe, but still most don't do it that way. The JST Genesis 14:39 says Abraham thithed of "all the riches which he possessed (legal SHARE), which God had given him more than he had need”. If God is blessing you with more than you need to maintain your life, that is what you tithe from. If you have a family you will also need to maintain their lives as well, if you are the caretaker. This is also in harmony with D&C 119 which talks about surplus property, "which is understood to mean income". If you only make enough money to maintain life you don't really have any surplus property or an increase at all. In other words, there is nothing to tithe from. Also, this way of paying tithing requires more of us spiritualy. Why? Because it will not be as black and white as it is for most today. "Just pay on gross" is too easy, in my opinion. People who don't even have enough to eat should get help by those who have too much and not pay tithing. There will come a time when they too will have more than they need. Then will be their time for tithe paying. An interesting question, though, is when did the church members stray from D&C 119? And why has it become an unwritten law to pay on gross? The answer to the first question might be somewhere between when D&C 119 was given and until the presidency of Lorenzo Snow. Pres Snow reinvigorated tithe-paying among the Saints. The answer to the second question is tougher, though. Could it be the members feeling bad about their past? Thinking it is better to overdo it than failing to pay the correct amount? Again, this is all my opinion. :-)

Jesus taught his diciples many mysteries but kept them hidden in parabels from the general public. How come Jesus said in verse 15: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Does he mean to keep them in a state of not seeing for their own good or some other purpose? Why was it so important that they shouldn't see and understand with their hearts? Wouldn't it be great if they could see and understand with their hearts? It seems to me that Christ had a purpose with this. One could say that he spoke in parabels because they were not ready for the truth. Thus, only those who were ready would understand. Has anyone thought of a different reason?

To all of you trying to cut off arguments and other more or less good points: This is in fact a discussion forum. It's in the word, Hello! All threads could easily be cut off by simply stating it is a matter between you and God. However, where would be the discussion??

I don't know how it is done in the US, but in Norway some employees have a car as part of their income - a business car. The government has decided one has to pay for that one way or another, so if one has such a car, a certain amount of money is added to your pay check and taxed. (The amount is based on miles driven from home to one's work place and the amount payed for the car by the company one works for) In that way one is really paying for the car through taxes, but it's usually cheaper than paying for all running expenses of the car. I have been thinking about this and wonder, should one pay thithing on the amount that is added to your pay check? Or, should you ask your employer what the costs of the car really is each month and tithe from that?

Traveller, are you saying that the law of the gospel is of a general nature as opposed to commandments which are more specific? If so, how about the other laws? I find them more specific than the law of the gospel. Or maybe the answer is, as you say, in understanding what the gospel really is about.

I am a little reluctant as to how much I should elaborate on this as I have only heard this phrase in the Temple. Searching the scripture doesn't give any perfect match to that phrase. If you have been through the Temple, you know what I am pointing to...

When talking about the gospel one cannot escape talking about God's laws. For instance, we have the law of sacrifice, the law of obedience and the law of consecration. There are other laws as well, but one in particullar has caught my mind lately. The law of the gospel. Can anyone explain to me what that is? Remeber, it is not the lawS of the gospel but the LAW of the gospel (singular).

For those of you who have been to the Temple, eternal progression (including between kingdoms) should be very obvious. Why do beings from a higher kingdom administer to beings in a lower kingdom? Or, allegorically, why do missionaries preach the gospel to non-members? I would like to see your answers to these questions...

So true! Living the easier part of the WoW is peculiar in the eyes of the world, and it does provide some health benefits. But if you want more than that....