The message of Malachi 3 & 4 for us

It is interesting that Jesus gave the Nephites a recitation of Malachi 3-4 and not the first parts of Malachi as well. It makes me wonder. Did He give the other parts too and Mormon only included the parts he felt were most applicable to us, or did Jesus just give Malachi 3-4?

Regardless of this question, though, it is interesting to study the parts given and see how they apply to us.

The message seems to be about the importance of preparing for the second coming by repenting and purifying one’s self. Two particular issues are raised that need dealing with, which people aren’t aware, and which seem to underline the need for prophets and revelation. 

Problem #1 is the people don’t understand that withholding their tithing’s and offerings constitutes robbing God and brings a curse. The promise is reinterated that blessings are poured out on those who tithe.

Problem #2 is the people think serving God won’t get them anywhere. They think there is no profit in it because the wicked seem to be far more successful.  The problem with this is that it is an implicit rebuke of God Himself, asserting that His ways are less successful than the world’s. However, we are told that the righteous do not have this attitude, but they speak often to one another (to encourage each other to endure) and they fear the Lord (more than the world) and they think upon His name (instead of obsessing about worldly things). 

In the end, those who believe the Lord’s ways are best and who act in line with that belief will be vindicated because the difference will be obvious between the Lord’s ways and the world’s ways.  We are told the proud and wicked whom many thought were so happy and safe from difficulty will be burned up, whereas those who followed the Lord will be saved, healed, nourished, and at peace.

We get reminders about paying tithing from time to time, so the principle of tithing has higher awareness in the church. But how are our attitudes about the source of success and safety in life?

The Societal Trend of Shaming

I ran across an interesting book called Is Shame Necessary?: New Uses for an Old Tool by Jennifer Jacquet that talks about the rise of shaming in society, particularly online through social media. 

Since online shaming seems to be on the rise in society, I wanted to understand shaming better, what causes it, what its uses are perceived to be, and whether there were ways to avert it or recover from it.

Call it what you like—shaming, bullying, persecution, trolling, whatever—the internet has lowered the costs of gossip and shaming and increased its scope and speed like never before.  The power to shame has been distributed to the people and is not longer just the exclusive privilege of opinion leaders and government. 

Shaming involves exposure in front of a crowd in order to damage reputation and incur other negative consequences, such as encouraging others not to cooperate with the shamed individual.  Pillories, dunce hats, branding, tarring and feathering, and other acts were types of shaming used in the past.  Today, Twitter attacks, trolling, online gossip, nasty reviews, angry websites, and other such techniques are forms of shaming.  Backlash of this kind can extend to job loss as companies try to jettison individuals they perceive to be a liability to their reputation.

One reason shaming is used against systemic corruption of companies and large organizations is that the large groups have limited their liability through legal structures and the moral compasses of individuals in the group are undermined, usually by profit motive.  Shaming is used when there seems to be no legal alternative that brings punishment on offenders.

The author was guardedly enthusiastic toward shaming as a technique for social control and policing with respect to ecological and environmental concerns, and seemed to put faith in shaming as a tool for social change.   However, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I found the enthusiasm for shaming rather alarming.

There is a dark side to shaming that we are probably already aware of—its use over trivial matters, shaming in measures far disproportional to the offense, shaming as contempt for the individual rather than just focusing on the offense, and attacks on human dignity, the permanence of the evidence of digital shaming, the lack of clarity on who is doing the shaming, especially with anonymous attacks, and the real debilitating effect it can have on individuals.

The dark side means that it is far too likely and easy for shaming to become unjust.  While the dogpile happens to the offender, there is no one standing by to blow the whistle and say, “That’s enough; any more would be unjust.”

People may perceive Mormons as having high group cohesion and group mind—meaning the group has intentions and makes plans—more than individuals that merely share an identity (like blue-eyed people or basketball players).  Therefore the church may be seen by others as being more responsible for their collective actions, and thus a more worthy target for shaming for behavior that violates perceived norms.

The church has received its share of shaming in the last few years, especially in the debate over marriage.  Those trying to protect traditional marriage have had their names published in newspapers (to shame and expose them to more shame and attacks), some have had property defaced, some have been attacked online, some have lost jobs.

From another perspective, the church’s practice of refraining from publicizing member excommunications and other disciplinary actions shows that the church does not want ex-members or dis-fellowshipped members to be publically shamed at church.

Considering how innovations in communication bring revolutions to society and considering the growth of the internet, I think shaming as a wider practice is probably not going to go away any time soon. If anything, it will get bigger until it saturates the limited economy that competes for human attention spans.  

The risk of disproportional and trivial shaming makes me think that it would be best for us to stay away doing from any shaming ourselves, since we may not know the full facts, we certainly won’t know how much the offender has already been punished by others.  We don’t want to unknowingly contribute to injustice. It would be awful to face the Lord on judgment day and be confronted with the truth that we had ground the faces of our brothers and sisters in the dust.

When I was reading this book, some scriptures came to my mind and gained new significance with reference to shaming.

3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:3-6)

The Lord may use the shaming of His people to refine them, to confront them over their sins and oppression. 

But then, of course Satan uses it too for coercive purposes, in which case we just have to stick to our guns.

5 ¶The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

7 ¶For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

9 Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. (Isaiah 50:5-9)

4 Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more . . . .

14 In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear, and from terror for it shall not come near thee.

 15 Behold, they shall surely gather together against thee, not by me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

 16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. (3 Nephi 22:4, 14-17)

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. (Isaiah 61:7)

These scriptures, especially the ones of Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon by the Christ show me that Heavenly Father knows all about the rise of shaming and wanted to give us reassurance.

Malachi Rebukes the Priest’s Polluted Offerings

6 ¶A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.

8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.

9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts.

10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.  (Malachi 1:6-10)

This block of verses describes a number of ways the priests of Malachi’s day were polluting their service at the temple.

Their contempt for the service they did was the main problem because it led to them giving low quality offerings instead of their best.  Malachi challenged them on whether they thought low quality gifts to a human ruler would receive commendation, and it should have been obvious that if the governor were insulted, God certainly would be.

These comparisons are still useful today.  Do we have contempt for our callings or priesthood service?  If we were to go to our temporal jobs where we make a living and have a bad attitude there, can we imagine our employers being pleased?  Is God any different?  We may think He will not mind, but His greatness and mercy is worthy of our finest and purest devotions.

Malachi reminds the priests that they are the ones who are supposed to intercede for the people and he asks whether God will listen to their prayers if they have polluted their service.  Good question..

Malachi also asks the priests who among them would be so devoted to the service of God that they would “shut the doors” of the temple or “kindle fire” on the altar for nothing (not receiving any part of the offering).  If they would do it even if they didn’t partake in the offerings, then their hearts would be where they should be and their service would be devoted. 

Today our service is without charge, but we still need to be sure that the gift of our service is done with a willing heart, otherwise it is as polluted as Malachi spoke of.

Also, there is the principle Mormon shared in Moroni 7:

6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.

8 For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God. (Moroni 7:6-8)

I noticed about a month or two ago that my service was starting to get a little robotic, just going through the motions.  I’m trying to better at that, to think of it as an offering and to go into it whole-heartedly, rather than with apathy.  It’s taking some effort, I can tell you.  But I try because I anticipate that great spiritual blessings will come from it, and I want those blessings, particularly greater closeness to God.

Unexpected indirect blessing of tithing: learning to de-clutter

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)

This verse contains the great blessing that comes with paying tithing—that there will not be room enough to receive the blessing poured out. However, if we also look at it from the perspective of de-cluttering, it teaches another principle—the necessity of being able to perceive when there is “not room enough.” Finding there is not room enough is an invitation to give away the surplus and be blessed further.

These days many people are not able to tell that they have no room to receive more. They live their lives with homes stuffed with goods that are not important enough to the way they are living their lives now. This verse gives us the hint that an indirect blessing of paying tithing is that we will begin to discern what we need and what we don’t and be able to tell when we have been given more than we are able to receive. If we are able to tell the difference between what we can receive to make use of and what we don’t have room to receive, we will be able to de-clutter, our lives will be simpler, and our possessions will be streamlined in a manner that will really facilitate our lives of discipleship rather than inhibiting us.

How does tithing help us do this? When we pay tithing, we learn it is possible to live with what is left over. It gives us a chance to cultivate greater efficiency in our expenditures. That skill of efficient use can spill over to other parts of our stewardship, such as considering how our space is used and whether the things we have that fill up our space are really serving us as they should. Paying tithing takes practice, and de-cluttering takes practice too. Paying tithing gives us practice in sacrificing, so it will be easier for us to let go of what we don’t need when we de-clutter.

Why Christ wanted Malachi 3 in the Book of Mormon

There’s an evangelical website that I go to every once in a while just to see what kinds of discussions they have, and one post they had last week was about passing the plate in church. The comments on the post went back and forth between the topic of the most appropriate way to solicit offerings without being disruptive or how to make it seem less uncomfortable and the topic of tithing.

I had to put my little oar in and testify to the truthfulness of the principle of tithing and the blessings that come from it. (I suppose I also got carried away and started suggesting things they should do. I used a lot of shoulds.)

The blog owner replied to my post, “Can you justify tithing as part of the new covenant? No.”

I read that and thought, surely there must be something in the scriptures about tithing! So I went and looked in the Topical Guide under “tithing” and I also looked under “tenth”. You know what? I only found three instances in the New Testament about tithing. Here they are:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23)

But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Luke 11:42)

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14)

So I felt kind of frustrated and wondered how there was such an oversight. I couldn’t believe that Jesus would not say something about it.

Well, yesterday in my scripture study I was reading in 3 Nephi and I ran across chapter 24.

And it came to pass that he commanded them that they should write the words which the Father had given unto Malachi, which he should tell unto them. And it came to pass that after they were written he expounded them… (3 Nephi 24:1)

8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my 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.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the fields, saith the Lord of Hosts. (3 Nephi 24:8-11)

For many years I have wondered just why these chapters were included. And now it’s clear to me that Heavenly Father knew that people would try to argue that tithing was no longer a commandment after the Law of Moses had been done away. If it had been done away, Jesus would not have given Malachi’s words about tithing to the Nephites. The repetition of them demonstrated they were still in force.