LDS Church History Blogspot; “In August 1844 the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued an epistle which required all Mormons to immediately pay ‘a tenth of all their property and money . . . However, two weeks later the Twelve voted to exempt themselves, the two general bishops Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, and the Nauvoo Temple Committee from any obligation to pay tithing. This was due to their services to the church.
Apostle John E. Page’s enforcement of the full-tithing requirement for the rank-and-file led to his disaffection from his own quorum. Exempted from tithing himself, Page felt guilty about collecting tithing from others such as one Mormon who gave $4 which was ‘the tenth of all’ the man and his impoverished family possessed. Upon abandoning the Quorum of the Twelve in 1846, Page complained that he ‘believes that many paid tithing & in consequence of [this, were in] want of money enough to procure misc. necessaries of life.’
History of the Church, 7:358.
Heber C. Kimball diary, 29 Jan. 1845, in Stanley B. Kimball, ed., On the Potter’s Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Signature Books/Smith Research Associates, 1987), 94; Nauvoo Trustee-in-Trust Tithing and Donation Record, 220-222 (29 Jan. 1845), LDS archives. For the term general bishop and its meaning in early LDS history, see Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool and London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-86), 22: 34 (O. Pratt/1880); D. Michael Quinn, ‘Evolution of the Presiding Quorums of the LDS Church,’ Journal of Mormon History 1 (1974): 34; Dale Beecher, ‘The Office of Bishop,’ Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Winter 1982): 103; Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, 69-71.”
Luke 16:15; “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
It looks like John Page had a conscience! Why would it be okay to collect tithes from the destitute while you consider your “works” to be tithe?
Where in the Bible does it say you can justify yourself by this?
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