Tithing is a fundamental doctrine in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), requiring members to contribute 10% of their income to the Church. It is framed as a commandment from God, essential for spiritual growth, obedience, and blessings. Paying a full tithe is also a requirement for temple access, making it a key factor in a member’s ability to participate in sacred ordinances, including those necessary for eternal salvation (or going to heaven).
While Church leaders emphasize that tithing is about faith rather than money, the LDS Church has accumulated nearly $300 billion in financial reserves alone. Members are not given transparency regarding where their contributions go, yet they are expected to pay—even in times of personal financial hardship. The church shows a pattern of manipulation surrounding tithing in the LDS Church, presenting it as a test of faith, a measure of loyalty, and even a spiritual debt—rather than simply a donation. They use coercive rhetoric to pressure members into financial obedience while sidestepping the vast wealth the Church has amassed. They are doing their best to make this money commandment to be associated with anything but money.
Paying Tithing All About Faith, Not Money
Russell Nelson’s anecdote about tithing attempts to frame the practice as a personal faith-building exercise rather than a financial obligation. However, his message contains contradictions, manipulative undertones, and an inherent disconnect from the real financial struggles of everyday members.
When I was a young intern, my income was $15 a month. One night, my wife Dantzel asked if I was paying tithing on that meager stipend. I was not. I quickly repented and began paying the additional $1.50 in monthly tithing.
Was the Church any different because we increased our tithing? Of course not. However, becoming a full-tithe payer changed me. That is when I learned that paying tithing is all about faith, not money. As I became a full-tithe payer, the windows of heaven began to open for me. I attribute several subsequent professional opportunities to our faithful payment of tithes. Paying tithing requires faith, and it also builds faith in God and His Beloved Son.
President Russell M. Nelson, October 2023, General Conference
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/51nelson
Misrepresenting Tithing’s Impact
Nelson claims that paying tithing is “all about faith, not money,” yet his story demonstrates the opposite. He directly attributes his later professional success to his decision to pay tithing, reinforcing the transactional idea that financial obedience leads to material blessings. This is a common theme in prosperity gospel rhetoric, where religious leaders promise divine rewards in exchange for financial sacrifice. However, this belief is problematic for those who faithfully pay tithing yet never see their financial situation improve. It also conveniently shifts the blame onto the struggling member: if they aren’t experiencing “opened windows of heaven,” then the fault must lie in their faith, rather than in an exploitative system.
A Wealthy Leader Speaking to the Poor
Nelson’s example of tithing from a $15 monthly income feels like an attempt to prove he, too, understands financial sacrifice. However, he fails to acknowledge that his early struggles were temporary—he was on a path to becoming a highly paid heart surgeon, a career that would secure his financial stability for life. For many members, paying tithing is not a short-term inconvenience; it is an ongoing burden that prevents them from meeting essential needs such as rent, food, and medical care. Unlike Nelson, they will not go on to earn substantial wealth, nor will they receive a lifelong stipend from church funds, as he does now.
Does the Church Need the Money or Not?
Nelson casually admits that the Church was “not any different” because of his increased tithing—yet the Church continues to insist that every member, no matter how poor, must pay to remain in good standing. If the Church is financially unaffected by small contributions, why does it demand them? Why does it require destitute families to give up their means of survival while hoarding nearly $300 billion of investments in what they call a “rainy day fund”? Nelson’s statement subtly reveals that tithing is not about supporting the Church’s operations—it is about control and compliance.
Manipulating Faith for Financial Gain
By insisting that paying tithing “builds faith,” Nelson reinforces the idea that financial sacrifice is a requirement for spiritual growth. This doctrine ensures a steady flow of money into the Church’s coffers while making members feel guilty for questioning the system. If members struggle financially, they are encouraged to pay tithing before their bills, trusting that blessings will come. This is a hallmark of coercive control, where individuals are pressured into compliance under the guise of spiritual development.
The Underlying Message: Obedience Over Well-Being
Nelson’s story subtly promotes an alarming idea: personal financial well-being is secondary to Church obedience. His example portrays tithing not as a charitable act, but as a personal litmus test of faithfulness. This narrative effectively shifts focus away from the Church’s immense financial reserves and places the burden of sacrifice solely on the member. The message is clear: even if paying tithing makes your life harder, it is worth it because it proves your devotion.
Nelson’s statement is designed to reinforce faith in the Church’s financial demands while downplaying the harm tithing causes to struggling members. It is an example of spiritual manipulation—making financial sacrifice seem like an essential component of faith while the institution itself stockpiles billions. If tithing is truly about faith and not money, then why does the Church require it as a condition for temple attendance? Why does it continue to collect from the poorest members while claiming to be unaffected by their contributions? These contradictions expose tithing as a tool of control rather than a principle of charity.
Not So Much a Matter of Money, But Faith
The reason we pay tithing isn’t just to provide the Church with money. Paying tithing teaches sacrifice and obedience. Obeying this law will help with your personal development as well as helping build Christ’s Church on the earth. “It is not so much a matter of money as it is a matter of faith,” President Gordon B. Hinckley said.
New Era March 2003, Q&A: Questions and Answers: Why should I pay tithing on the money I’m earning now since I’m planning on using my earnings to pay for my mission? Won’t all that money go for the same purpose anyway?
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2003/03/q-and-a-questions-and-answers?lang=eng
We never felt that it was a sacrifice to pay our tithing. We felt it was an obligation, that even as small children we were doing our duty as the Lord had outlined that duty, and that we were assisting his church in the great work it had to accomplish…
We hear some these days who say that because of economic pressures they cannot afford to pay their tithing…
We can pay our tithing. It is not so much a matter of money as it is a matter of faith. I have yet to find a faithful tithe payer who cannot testify that in a very literal and wonderful way the windows of heaven have been opened and blessings have been poured out upon him or her.
Gordon B. Hinckley, First Presidency Message: The Sacred Law of Tithing, Ensign, December 1989
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/12/the-sacred-law-of-tithing
This quote frames tithing as primarily about spiritual growth rather than financial contribution. However, this is a false dichotomy—tithing is about money, regardless of how much they try to reframe it as a faith-building exercise. If it were truly about faith and not money, why does the Church make temple worthiness (and therefore eternal salvation) contingent upon full tithe payment? This turns tithing into a pay-to-play system, where blessings are withheld from those who don’t comply.
The claim that tithing “teaches sacrifice and obedience” is also concerning because it suggests that obedience for obedience’s sake is a virtue. This aligns with authoritarian control, where submission to leadership is more important than independent decision-making or personal financial well-being.
Test Our Faith is Living the Law of Tithing
My beloved brothers and sisters, the eternal blessings of tithing are real. I have experienced them in my life and in the life of my family. The test of our faith is whether we will live the law of tithing by our obedience and sacrifice. For, in the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.”
Robert D. Hales, LDS Apostle, Tithing: A Test of Faith with Eternal Blessings. October 2002 General Conference
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2002/10/tithing-a-test-of-faith-with-eternal-blessings
This quote employs high-demand control tactics, equating willingness to sacrifice money with one’s standing before God. The mention of “sacrificing all things” is particularly manipulative, as it implies that if you are not willing to give up your financial stability for the Church, then your faith is insufficient.
Why does the Church require the poor to make financial sacrifices while it hoards billions of dollars? If sacrifice is necessary for faith, why does this burden only fall on rank-and-file members and not the institutional Church, which refuses to use its vast reserves to ease members’ financial struggles, or even pay janitors to clean the buildings?
Tithing is Our Debt to God
The tithe is God’s law for His children, yet the payment is entirely voluntary. In this respect it does not differ from the law of the Sabbath or from any other of His laws. We may refuse to obey any or all of them. Our obedience is voluntary, but our refusal to pay does not abrogate or repeal the law…
The Lord has established the law of tithing, and because it is His law, it becomes our obligation to observe it if we love Him and have a desire to keep His commandments and receive His blessings. In this way it becomes a debt. The man who doesn’t pay his tithing because he is in debt should ask himself if he is not also in debt to the Lord.
Ensign, March 2013, Howard W. Hunter, LDS Apostle, Our Law of Tithing: The following excerpt comes from a general conference address given in April 1964.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2013/03/our-law-of-tithing
This passage contradicts itself. Tithing is presented as voluntary, yet non-payment is framed as a spiritual debt—implying guilt, obligation, and duty. This is a manipulative guilt tactic often seen in high-control religious organizations.
Comparing financial debt to spiritual debt is particularly harmful. Many Church members struggle to afford basic necessities, and telling them that they are still “in debt” to God if they don’t pay tithing forces them into a cruel moral dilemma—choosing between feeding their families or paying the Church. This rhetoric is not just manipulative but outright exploitative, as it pressures struggling individuals into giving money they can’t afford to lose.
Tithing is a Loyalty Test
Obedience to the law of tithing affirms our loyalty to the kingdom of God.
God requires one-tenth of our increase to be put into His storehouse; and this is given as a standing law to all of the Stakes of Zion.
By this principle (tithing) the loyalty of the people of this Church shall be put to the test. By this principle it shall be known who is for the kingdom of God and who is against it. By this principle it shall be seen whose hearts are set on doing the will of God and keeping his commandments, thereby sanctifying the land of Zion unto God, and who are opposed to this principle and have cut themselves off from the blessings of Zion. There is a great deal of importance connected with this principle, for by it it shall be known whether we are faithful or unfaithful. In this respect it is as essential as faith in God, as repentance of sin, as baptism for the remission of sin, or as the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The law of tithing is a test by which the people as individuals shall be proved. Any man who fails to observe this principle shall be known as a man who is indifferent to the welfare of Zion, who neglects his duty as a member of the Church, and who does nothing toward the accomplishment of the temporal advancement of the kingdom of God. He contributes nothing, either, toward spreading the gospel to the nations of the earth, and he neglects to do that which would entitle him to receive the blessings and ordinances of the gospel.
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith: Chapter 31: Obedience to the Law of Tithing
Gospel Doctrine, Pages 225-233.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-f-smith/chapter-31
This is perhaps the most blatant use of fear and social control. Tithing is explicitly framed as a test of loyalty, and non-payers are positioned as opponents of God’s kingdom. This language is dangerously divisive, suggesting that those who do not pay tithing are:
- Unfaithful
- Neglectful of their duty
- Not truly part of “Zion”
- Unworthy of receiving gospel blessings
This creates a culture of fear, where members feel intense pressure to pay tithing—not just for their own spiritual well-being but to avoid being ostracized or judged by their faith community. It is a form of financial coercion masked as religious devotion.
For those who have left or are questioning, did the Church’s stance on tithing contribute to your faith crisis? If so, you are not alone. Many have recognized these manipulations and chosen to share their experiences. If you have a story about how tithing affected your faith, consider adding your voice to wasmormon.org and helping others see the truth behind the Church’s financial demands.
Tithing is a Tool of Control
All these quotes reveal consistent assertions from church leadership, tithing isn’t just about money, but more about control. The Church’s rhetoric on tithing aligns with the BITE model of cult control, particularly in these ways:
- Behavior Control: Tithing is mandatory for temple attendance, which is required for eternal salvation.
- Information Control: Members are not openly told about the Church’s $100+ billion reserves while being pressured to pay.
- Thought Control: Leaders insist that tithing is about faith, not money, discouraging critical thought about where the funds go.
- Emotional Control: Guilt, shame, and fear of disloyalty are weaponized against those who question or struggle to pay.
If the Church truly believed that tithing was about faith and not about finances, they wouldn’t withhold blessings from those who can’t pay. If it was truly about helping others, they wouldn’t demand it from the poor while stockpiling wealth. If it was about sacrifice, the institution itself would sacrifice some of its excesses before forcing struggling members to give their last dime. Some of the leadership might even show examples of sacrifice rather than collecting the living allowances from the church.
For many, recognizing these manipulations has been a turning point in their faith journey. Did the Church’s teachings on tithing affect your beliefs? Have you struggled with the financial burden imposed by these doctrines? If so, you are not alone. Your story matters. Consider sharing your experience at wasmormon.org to help others see through the financial manipulation and control disguised as faith.
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