Tithing: Parables of the Bicycle and the Grateful Cat

In Third Nephi chapter 24, Nephi (Son of Nephi, who was the son of Helaman) copies into the record Malachi chapter 3, which talks about tithing. "Will a man rob God?" The Lord asks. He says that we rob him when we do not pay tithes and offerings (3 Nephi 24: 8). Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles asks, "How can we ever repay the debt we owe to the Savior? He paid a debt He did not owe to free us from a debt we can never pay. Because of Him, we will live forever. Because of His infinite Atonement, our sins can be swept away, allowing us to experience the greatest of all the gifts of God: eternal life" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/04/earthly-debts-heavenly-debts?lang=eng).

One story that reminds me of our inability to repay the savior is 'the parable of the bicycle'. In this story a little girl desperately wants a bicycle. When she asks her father for one he tells her that she can work hard to earn money and eventually save up for her own bike. She worked as hard as her age would permit; selling lemonade, doing chores around the house, washing the dog, mowing the lawn, etc. Finally, the day came when she went to the bicycle shop to see if she had enough for her bike...

"There it was! The most beautiful bicycle that had ever been dreamed of! She ran to it, stroking its shiny chrome and running her fingers through the colorful streamers that flowed from its handle grips. Never could there be a more perfect bike than this one. She clapped her hands with the pure delight of it.Then she reached for the price tag.

The next moment in the little girl's eyes had melted away into tears. 'Oh, Daddy,' she wept. 'I'll never have enough. Never.' She threw herself into his arms."

Upon seeing the price of the bike, the little girl became upset and knew that she would never be able to have enough to buy the bike herself. Her loving father took her in his arms and said, "if you give me all that you have, I will make up the rest". This little allegory is similar to our relationship with our heavenly father. He wants us to be happy more than anything else, and to truly be happy, we have to make it back to live with our heavenly father. He knows that nothing we do will ever repay what the Savior did for us through the atonement. However, because of the atonement, Jesus Christ, our father through his sacrifice of blood and water, makes up the enormous slack so that we may return to our heavenly parents. Tithing is the same way. We give 10% of everything we earn back to the church. This amount is nothing compared to everything we have been given by the Lord. Our very lives and spirits we owe to Him. The least we can do is be grateful.

The second parable is the one of the grateful cat, written by James E. Talmage. It goes as follows:

 "He told the story of a naturalist in the nineteenth century who had been called to a grand estate in Great Britain to be honored for his contributions in the world of science. He left his cottage early in the morning to go for a walk, and while he was out walking, he saw two boys down by the lake. He also heard the frantic meowing of a cat; and so, curious, he walked down to see what was happening.

When he arrived he saw the two boys with a mother cat and some kittens. The boys were taking each kitten, tying it up in a rag with a rock, and tossing it into the lake. As you can imagine, the mother cat was just frantic, watching her kittens being drowned.

A little upset, the naturalist asked the boys what they were doing. It turned out to be quite innocent on their part. The mistress of the great estate had an old mother cat that she loved, but she didn't want any more cats around. Whenever the mother cat had a litter, the woman hired the two boys, who were children of some of the servants, to go down to the lake and drown the kittens.

The naturalist talked to the boys and said he would make sure they didn't get in trouble, but he would take care of the remaining three kittens. To the scientist's surprise, the mother cat behaved as if she understood exactly what was happening. As he walked back to his cottage with the kittens, she ran alongside him, rubbed his leg, and purred happily. He took the kittens into his cottage, gave them some milk, and put them in a warm boat.

The next day, when all of the company was gathered together in the great house to honor the scientist, suddenly the door pushed open and in came the mother cat with a large fat mouse in her mouth. She walked to the scientist and laid the mouse at his feet.

In the words of Elder Talmage, here is the marvelous parable that he drew from this story:

"What think you of the offering, and the purpose that prompted the act? A live mouse, fleshy and fat! Within the cat's power of possible estimation and judgment it was a superlative gift. To her limited understanding no rational creature could feel otherwise than pleased over the present of a meaty mouse. Every sensible cat would be ravenously joyful with such an offering. Beings unable to appreciate a mouse for a meal were unknown to the cat.

"Are not our offerings to the Lord—our tithes and our other free will gifts—as thoroughly unnecessary to His needs as was the mouse to the scientist? But remember that the grateful and sacrificing nature of the cat was enlarged, and in a measure sanctified, by her offering.

"Thanks be to God that He gages the offerings and sacrifices of His children by the standard of their physical ability and honest intent rather than by the gradation of His esteemed station. Verily He is God with us; and He both understands and accepts our motives and righteous desires. Our need to serve God is incalculably greater than His need for our service."