Deep Waters: Disclaimer

I’m creating a new category called Deep Waters. It is where all the really deep doctrinal discussions will go. I’m sure everyone understands that all of my posts are my own, personal opinions and beliefs and not the official doctrine of the church, but I want to warn you all that the Deep Waters section is enter-at-your-own-risk. Each subject will be preceded with the heading Deep Waters: [and then the subject.] This is so that when you see it, you can skip over it, if you want. If I could, I would put all the Deep Waters posts in the Deep Waters category’s page only, but Word Press will not allow me to do that. Everything automatically gets posted on the front page, too, so just be aware of this.

Update: I’m going to try to password-protect the Deep Waters posts, so that only those who really want to read them will be able to do so. The password will be:

Deep Waters

The password is case sensitive, so make sure you type it in exactly as written above.

2nd update: As of today, 1 October 2010, I have removed the password protection from all the Deep Waters posts.  You can now read these articles without entering a password.  I have done this because I am no longer certain that the Deep Waters section is any more controversial (or any “deeper”) than the rest of the blog.

Next Deep Waters article: Deep Waters: How many wives? How many husbands?

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Are there Clergy Response Teams in the LDS church?

On 24 May 2006, Paul Joseph Watson of Alex Jones’ PrisonPlanet.com broke a story about Clergy Response Teams, a “nationwide FEMA program which is training Pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to ‘obey the government’ in preparation for the implementation of martial law, property and firearm seizures, mass vaccination programs and forced relocation.”

Then on 16 August 2007, Watson ran another story on the same subject, this time posting evidence that their story had been confirmed by a KSLA 12 news report.

What I wonder is if this program has been implemented among the LDS leadership. I do not know. If any bishops or stake presidents or anyone else who would be privy to such information could please post a comment here and let us know if the LDS Church is involved in this program, it would be much appreciated.

Next Secret Combinations article: Is the topic of “secret combinations” taboo in the LDS church?

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The law of tithing (part two)

Continued from part one.

The Lord, when talking about who is required to pay tithing, speaks of three groups of people. Those who already are in the land of Zion, those who are gathering to the land of Zion and those who are in the stakes of Zion:

“…my church in Zion.” (D&C 119: 1)

“…those who gather unto the land of Zion…” (D&C 119: 5)

“And this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion.” (D&C 119: 7)

The law of tithing has only two parts to it. The first part requires the donation of our surplus property:

“I require all their surplus property to be put into the hands of the bishop…and this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people.” (D&C 119: 1, 3)

“Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties…” (D&C 119: 5)

The second part requires the payment of one-tenth of our interest (income) annually:

“And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually…” (D&C 119: 4)

The second part is known as the standing law:

“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…” (D&C 119: 4)

“Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law…” (D&C 119: 5)

Only those who pay the first part are the ones who pay the second part:

“And 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…” (D&C 119: 4)

Both the first and second parts must be paid:

“Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you.” (D&C 119: 5)

All of the above requirements apply equally to the saints who live in the stakes of Zion.

“And this shall be an ensample unto all the stakes of Zion.” (D&C 119: 7)

It appears to me that we LDS are not fully complying with the law of tithing. Even those of us who give 10% of their income annually are not fulfilling the requirements set forth above by the Lord. Tithing is begun with a donation of one’s surplus properties, but we don’t do this.

I’ve been taught that when section 119 was first received and presented to the saints, that hardly anyone donated their surplus and so the leaders just stopped asking for that part of tithing and instead focussed on the standing law, which is 10% of interest (income) annually.

Now, some people are fine with giving only what the leaders are asking for (the 10%,) but I have a hard time pushing aside the rest of this revelation and feeling good about myself. The revelation is, after all, still canonized and therefore binding upon us. So once I realized that tithing came in two parts, that the leaders had been ignoring the first part for decades and that I had been paying only the second part since my baptism (as that was what I was taught to pay by my leaders,) I made a personal correction and began paying tithing as the revelation defines it. In other words, I took an inventory of my surplus property, converted it into cash (the Church will not accept payment in kind anymore,) and anonymously donated that to the church as tithing.

Some might consider this unnecessary, but I’m not so sure. The Lord requires both the letter and spirit of the law. If he didn’t require the letter of the law, why even have section 119 written before us? Why even give the definitions of the law of tithing that he did? If the first part of the law of tithing wasn’t important, why even mention it in the first place?

My feeling is that the Lord will deal with his priesthood leadership in his own due time. If they are not doing a proper regulation of the church and teaching the doctrine he has revealed and canonized, they will be corrected by him when he is ready to clean up the church and leadership. But we members do not covenant to follow every whim of the leadership. We covenant to obey the commandments of God, which laws are written and canonized in the scriptures.

I’d rather use the CYOA* principle of the gentiles and follow the letter of the law, as that is what the letter of the law is for. (It is written down so that we can follow it.) Only if we don’t have that law before us are we not required to follow it. I just don’t know that the excuse of “I was just following the orders and counsel of my current priesthood leadership and since they never said I had to pay the surplus, I never paid it!” is going to be sufficient to justify my ignoring the written law in section 119.

I suspect that at the last day (the day of judgment) the Lord is going to point to section 119 and ask me if I followed his words as they were written there. I am reminded of 2 Kings 18 when the book of the law was discovered (verse 8.) When the book was read the king rent his clothes (verse 11) because he realized that God was angry with his people because his written words found in the book of the law had not been followed to the letter.

So, I ask the reader, since the leaders have stopped even mentioning the surplus part of tithing, are we off the hook in paying it? Or, is the fact that the revelation is still canonized going to condemn us at the last day, despite the fact that the leaders don’t care whether we are complying with the first part of tithing or not? What do you think?

I, personally, believe that the Lord is going to use the Standard Works to measure both us and the leadership. And if we are found to be partially complying, it will be the same as not complying, at all. The truthfulness of our answer to the temple recommend question of, “Are you a full tithe payer?” will be judged by the Lord according to whether we complied with the entire section of 119, and not just a portion of it.

That is my opinion. What’s yours?

There’s more to come in part three.

*Note: CYOA=Cover Your Own A__

Next Tithes and Offerings article: The law of tithing (part three)

Previous Tithes and Offerings article: The law of tithing (part one)

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