Here's a fun scenario:
You receive your paycheck Saturday from picking turnips in the field or selling turnip futures in the office, but the bank places a 3-day hold on your funds. Oh, drat, Monday is also closed for the MLK holiday . You *really* want to pay your tithing to the bishop at Church, because ... well ... that's what we do. So, you write your tithing check and give it to the bishop, but you request that he not cash it until after Thursday. Whew, glad to get that off my chest! Those funds would have been burning a hole in my pocket, I mean, of course after the MLK holiday and the 3-day bank hold. But I am a full-tithe payer! I an entitled to *all* of the blessings of the faithful [tithe-payers]!
So the "10%-of-your-increase" question of the day: are you really a full-tithe payer? I contend that you are not a full-tithe payer. Or rather, that you are a "qualified" full-tithe payer. Yes, you meet the letter of the law. But if you are placing restrictions on when the Lord can access said monies, I think you are "qualifying" yourself in the blessings department.
If it's just a technicality, then why don't you keep your own tithing envelope until the funds are available? When I, I mean a friend of mine in a bishopric, asked these people to just keep it themselves, they told me, I mean him, that they didn't want to lose the envelope, or they wanted to make sure they could say they are full-tithe payers, or that they really needed the Lord's blessings this week, or some just stared at him like he was daft or something for even asking that or questioning their obedience.?.
I guess we'll never know in this life. But to be on the safe-side, better be sure not to die before the bank clears the tithing cheque on Thursday. I'm not sure how open for "clarifying explanations" St. Peter is at the Pearly Gates.
Comments, disagreements?
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2 comments:
What if you don't pay tithing until the end of the year? Do you miss out on blessing throughout the year?
When you sign a paper check item, you are essentially signing a contract stating that the payee can retrieve the monies at that moment or any moment thereafter. Or in other words, that the monies are available. It has become the common practice to attempt to “future date” a check, by placing a date on the check of when the payer anticipates the monies becoming available or even encouraging the payee to delay presentation of the item; this is ludicrous.
As a result, if someone writes a check, and the money is not available, it is basically a breach-of-contract. I would argue that this is dishonesty. And the last time I checked, Jehovah isn’t a big fan of dishonest people (“Woe unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to…(how does that end? I always forget that part)”).
I would argue that this is a primary reason why the church doesn’t permit Bill Pay, Electronic Check, or ACH payments for tithing payment. The physical signature of the check is an agreement to pay said monies, and enters the signor into an agreement with the payee (God and His Church) for transmittal of said funds. To ask the low-level accountant (Bishop) to delay cashing of said item is to encourage a form of check-kiting, and I don’t think the Bishop should be asked to participate in or condone such an action.
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