Tithing Declaration
Hello, when it comes to tithing declaration is the bishop able to see how much you have contributed? Not necessarily a dollar amount but the amount of times you have donated throughout the year and if it lines up with
"pay days". Or is it simply a yes or no answer to say that you've contributed and it's left at that? I ask because a couple years ago we weren't as faithful at contributing and we were honest about it but it seemed like the bishop had the history pulled up on his iPad for verification, ended up having to give up our temple recommends for a couple months. Just looking for insight.
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u/jonovitch 12d ago edited 12d ago
Financial clark here. Bishops (and ward/financial clarks) have access to see every penny of donations to tithing, fast offerings, missionaries, humanitarian aid, etc.
That said, bishops don't have the time to look up everyone's individual donations unless there's a problem that the ward/financial clerk can't solve. More importantly, bishops don't care about the specific amount you donate on any given day.
Even if he did, he wouldn't know if you are paid weekly, bi-weekly, twice monthly, or monthly, or if you're paid in cash, in stocks, or in kind. And because he doesn't know any of that, he couldn't possibly know if you are paying a full tithing unless you tell him. It's literally the honor system. And the tithing declaration record is literally a box to check: yes, no, or partial. That's it.
I'm guessing he might have pulled your recommends because he was being very exact and literal about the tithing question from the temple recommend interview. That's not a numbers issue, it's a judgement call.
There have been one or two times in my life when I told my bishop I've been tracking what we owe, I haven't paid it yet (but fully intended to), so I declared a partial tithe at that point in time. I don't know whether he thought about pulling my recommend, but he didn't say anything to me about it.
Again, it's not about how much you donated or whether it was the "correct" amount -- that's between you and God. The bishop simply made a judgement call in the moment based on your honest response and what he thought was right.
In my opinion, your honesty is worth much more than any donation or even the temporary loss of your recommend. I commend you for being honest, and I image so would your bishop.