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The “tithing settlement” patter has begun in our ward. I’m not trying to avoid it but I’m not working too hard to get it done. My wife thinks it’s important so I shrug and say, “Okay, sign us up.” But she has a hard time remembering appointments and last year (because I wasn’t proactive) we scheduled two appointments that we missed. I think we finally did meet with the bishop but it always feels like such a meaningless exercise that I don’t even recall what we talked about. I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of tithing settlement. So we’ll see what happens this year. Are all wards & branches doing the virtual tithing settlement this year? Like I said before, mine is. I really dislike the virtual experience. Maybe it’s because of my age. What is the next step?
Virtual Endowment sessions?
Minyan Man wrote:
Are all wards & branches doing the virtual tithing settlement this year? Like I said before, mine is.I really dislike the virtual experience. Maybe it’s because of my age. What is the next step?
Virtual Endowment sessions?
My ward has not said a word about any type of tithing settlement.
We have not sat down for tithing settlement for several years. I just tell the clerk to tell the bishop “we pay online. Put us down for full.” That keeps everyone happy.
If we pay, it’s online and it’s been that way for years. Putting us down for full isn’t saying we are full in what they might consider full, but it is what we consider full and appropriate, and we usually consider multiple years and not just a single year.
Cnsl1 wrote:
We have not sat down for tithing settlement for several years. I just tell the clerk to tell the bishop “we pay online. Put us down for full.”That keeps everyone happy.
If we pay, it’s online and it’s been that way for years. Putting us down for full isn’t saying we are full in what they might consider full, but it is what we consider full and appropriate, and we usually consider multiple years and not just a single year.
About the second year in with the previous bishop I told the bishop something similar because he used the “I have to check a box” excuse. I told him to check the full box and that I didn’t need to come in to declare that. He never bothered me again. This will be the first year with a new bishop, but as I said previously there have been no announcements or emails of any kind about tithing settlement this year and it seems as though if they were going to do it we would have. We normally start in November.
And I think the question “Are you a full tithe payer” only has to do with your own perception as to whether we’re a full tithe payer. If you say you are, you are, period.
I really like the idea of telling the Bishop (or clerk or secretary): Quote:“I have been a full tithe payer all my life, but I really dislike tithing settlement meetings. I think they are a complete waste of time in my situation. You can check the full-tithe payer box. I will tell you if that ever changes.”
Old-Timer wrote:
I really like the idea of telling the Bishop (or clerk or secretary):Quote:“I have been a full tithe payer all my life, but I really dislike tithing settlement meetings. I think they are a complete waste of time in my situation. You can check the full-tithe payer box. I will tell you if that ever changes.”
I’m not sure that would go down well here.
But are tithing settlements really necessary for temple recommends? Not with the two year ones, IMHO.
SamBee wrote:
But are tithing settlements really necessary for temple recommends? Not with the two year ones, IMHO.
I was typing a response that basically said that a bishop can deny a recommend based on information outside of the TR interview. Thus if the bishop believes that you are being evasive about your tithing status (such as not going to tithing settlement), he may withhold a recommend.
However, I think I misread your statement. If you mean that the church could do away with tithing settlement and TR’s and TR interviews would be unaffected then I agree with you 100%.
Roy wrote:
I was typing a response that basically said that a bishop can deny a recommend based on information outside of the TR interview. Thus if the bishop believes that you are being evasive about your tithing status (such as not going to tithing settlement), he may withhold a recommend.
I suppose he could withhold a TR (or ask for it back) if he was aware of and had evidence for something like adultery or perhaps not paying child support but I think he’d have to talk to you first. I’m not going to say they aren’t out there because of leadership roulette but I have never known a bishop who would take/refuse a recommend because you didn’t go to tithing settlement especially when you declared your status. I think you could make a good case with the SP or higher in that case. No bishop I have known has ever made the connection between tithing settlement and the TR interview, but I’m sure there are rogues out there.
Roy wrote:
SamBee wrote:
But are tithing settlements really necessary for temple recommends? Not with the two year ones, IMHO.
I was typing a response that basically said that a bishop can deny a recommend based on information outside of the TR interview. Thus if the bishop believes that you are being evasive about your tithing status (such as not going to tithing settlement), he may withhold a recommend.
However, I think I misread your statement. If you mean that the church could do away with tithing settlement and TR’s and TR interviews would be unaffected then I agree with you 100%.
Kind of. If you pay your tithing in year 1, then you can pass the TR interview, which takes you to year 2, and many people hold onto them regardless of an annual settlement. In theory, your TR could take you through to year 3 (i.e. year 1+ 2 years of TR) if your TR expires at the end of the year.
We have one or two people who are inactive or less active who have TRs. And this year, it’s hard to tell who is active or tithe paying.
SamBee wrote:
Roy wrote:
SamBee wrote:
But are tithing settlements really necessary for temple recommends? Not with the two year ones, IMHO.
I was typing a response that basically said that a bishop can deny a recommend based on information outside of the TR interview. Thus if the bishop believes that you are being evasive about your tithing status (such as not going to tithing settlement), he may withhold a recommend.
However, I think I misread your statement. If you mean that the church could do away with tithing settlement and TR’s and TR interviews would be unaffected then I agree with you 100%.
Kind of. If you pay your tithing in year 1, then you can pass the TR interview, which takes you to year 2, and many people hold onto them regardless of an annual settlement. In theory, your TR could take you through to year 3 (i.e. year 1+ 2 years of TR) if your TR expires at the end of the year.
We have one or two people who are inactive or less active who have TRs. And this year, it’s hard to tell who is active or tithe paying.
But the TR interview and tithing settlement are unrelated. Using your logic there’d need to be Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity settlements as well.
And who are any of us to judge who is and isn’t active? We don’t know what’s happening in everybody else’s life and it’s none of our business most of the time.
FWIW, temple recommends were not always good for two years, that happened in the early 90s. Prior to that the interviews were annual and always done by the bishop (as opposed to a counselor).
FWIW part 2, less than 20% of members are full tithe payers. So that the stat isn’t skewed, the average US ward outside the Corridor has about a 35% activity rate (meaning 65% of the people on the ward lists don’t come to church). So when you look around SM, over a third of the people sitting there are not full tithe payers. But that’s really nobody’s business either.
DarkJedi wrote:
And who are any of us to judge who is and isn’t active? We don’t know what’s happening in everybody else’s life and it’s none of our business most of the time.
No one knows who is or isn’t active round here. The elderly are under house arrest and we have attendance limits…
I believe we are a harder judge of ourselves than the judgement that comes from others. (is “harder” a word?) It is so easy to feel guilty or that we don’t measure up to other people in our circle of friends & relatives.
Minyan Man wrote:
I believe we are a harder judge of ourselves than the judgement that comes from others. (is “harder” a word?)It is so easy to feel guilty or that we don’t measure up to other people in our circle of friends & relatives.
“Harsher” is probably a better word here, but “harder” makes sense too.
🙂 Thank you SamBee
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