I began to agree with this method more than the Captain Qualified the First, when I determined that both of these peeps are attempting to work the system. No worries, because Thomas B. Marsh’s wife, Ananias and Sapphira all figured that the local authorities couldn’t quite grasp their “special circumstances” and nothing bad happened to them as a result of their working the system!
My main problem with this is that it technically is correct, in that the funds have been committed, in the mind of the payer, to the church, but the church is not able to depend upon these funds for budgeting and expenditure purposes.
Let’s examine a case study: Mr. S. Young determines that he will only pay his tithing when his grossly inflated NFL contract of $50 M over 4 years has been completely paid, as opposed to paying tithing on each paycheck he receives. Maria Juana Lopez and her brother Maria Juan Lopez living in Machu Picchu Peru have been paying their tithing faithfully for over 15 years, but unfortunately their tithing over that time period has amounted to $74.33 (US), which hasn’t been enough for those bureaucrats in the Wasatch Front to commit to building a Temple in their region. Obviously Maria Juana and Maria Juan do not have the fundage to travel, and so are at the mercy of Bro. Young’s $5M (US) tithing payment to fund the Urubamba Valley Temple.
Mr Young can assume that as long as he doesn’t die before he gets that tithing check in, they he will be good to go, but I would argue that he had better hope that the Lopez family’s community isn’t decimated by the next animal-named flu, as San Pedro would be a little disappointed in Mr. Young if the Lopez’ weren’t able to complete their temple work in this lifetime.
En fin: paying tithing as it is received is probably the best approach to take.
One final point: I would contend that those who pay their annual tithing in one big lump sum advance, do the church auditors and budget committee a disservice, as the church inflows are inflated for the beginning of the year, causing a discrepancy for the annual expenditures of said funds. The individual thumps his chest and declares that he is justified by the law, while creating additional work for the church auditors (which in turn might cause the auditors to work overtime, increasing their expense and payment of valuable tithing funds as well). Of course, this hinges largely on how the church budget is determined, and if it is examined holistically on the annual, perhaps it’s all a wash anyway.
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