Can I pay tithing for someone else?

Question

Gramps,

Can I pay tithing for another person?  As in a person who neglects paying tithing?

Richard

Answer

Dear Richard,

This is an interesting question.

In the Sunday morning session of the April 2002 General Conference, Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Seventy stated:

The doctrine of paying tithing is woven like a tapestry throughout the scriptures. Abraham paid tithing to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20). The children of Israel were taught to bring their tithes to the Lord (Deuteronomy 12:6). Probably the most quoted scripture on the subject of tithing in the Old Testament is found in Malachi:

 

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

 

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”(Malachi 3:8-10)

he then continues:

In this dispensation, the Lord has established the law of tithing as the law of revenue of His Church. Without it, we could not carry out the eternal purposes of the Lord. It is also a law by which we show our loyalty to the Lord and prove ourselves worthy for privileges, ordinances, and blessings. (emphasis added)

Only members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in good standing, can and should contribute an honest and full tithe. If we are to understand that “it is… a law by which we show our loyalty to the Lord and prove ourselves worthy for privileges, ordinances, and blessings”, why would we want to deny anyone of that opportunity to not only, pay their own tithing, but obey AND earn their own blessings?

If anyone “neglects” paying their tithing, in my opinion, they have bigger problems than paying a 10th of their increase.

The Book of Mormon helps us understand this concept a little further: Nephi, as he was writing the third book of Nephi during the time of the Savior’s visit to this continent, states that the Lord inquired of him whether certain revelations had been recorded, things that had been taught by Samuel the Lamanite and other great prophets. Nephi, it says, remembered that these things had not been written, and Jesus then commanded that they should be written. These included a revelation to Malachi, which reads (3 Nephi 24:8-10):

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye said: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. . . .

 

Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

 

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. . . .

Then a little further down he says:

And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to participate and be a witness when the “Lord makes up His jewels’? I would love to be included. I would like to be present and hear him say in the most pleasant voice I have every heard, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into my presence.”

I hope that instead of trying to pay someone else’s tithing we try, instead, (to) help them gain a personal testimony of it by living this celestial law, them self.

Kind Regards,

Gramps