Burning...

Tithing is an important commandant that we as LDS faithful try to follow.Through the prophet Malachi, the Lord declared: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10).  We are also taught in the Doctrine and Covenants this, "Behold, now it is called ^atoday until the ^bcoming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of ^csacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is ^dtithed shall not be ^eburned at his coming.
 24 For after today cometh the ^aburning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say, tomorrow all the ^bproud and they that do wickedly shall be as ^cstubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not ^dspare any that remain in^eBabylon." It is a tough thing to teach my children.  Who am I kidding, its a tough principle for me to follow!  But, recently we have been talking to our boys about the importance of obeying all of Heavenly Fathers teachings.  We have stressed the importance of paying tithing not only to follow the commandments but because tithing helps the church fund building and temples and tithing supports missionary work.  Nate will be baptized in a few weeks.  He is getting nervous about his interview with the bishop.  We have done what all LDS faithful parents do and prepped him for the questions that Bishop Murie might ask him.  Questions like, "Do you believe in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?" and "Why do you want to be baptized?"  One other question that the Bishop might ask Nate is if he is a full tithe payer.

Last night Nate came to me with a very serious look on his face.  He quietly asked me if I had already paid his tithing for him?  I quickly responded, without hesitation,"No Nate, I pay tithing on what I make in my paycheck.  You have to pay your own tithing on what you earn."   His face had a little panic look on it and he said, "Crap, I'm gonna get burned when Jesus comes again."  So, I quickly told him that Jesus will not be coming TOMORROW (inspite of what his Dad wishes)and he still has time to repent and pay his tithing.  He left the room for a few minutes and came back with a handful of dimes.  He then asked, "How many days will $1.50 keep me from not burning."  Well, I guess we need to teach this principle a bit better.  We discussed that fact that right now is the time to begin paying tithing and he could repent.  He could ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness and promise to try harder. Nate seemed satisfied with this until a few minutes later he said, "That's sad, Mom.  Why would he (meaning Heavenly Father) burn his own son?"