JOEL - Sounds like you're doing fine to me on this principle.
It is completely up to you and your child about paying
tithing on monetary gifts. We pay our tithing
according to our faithfulness and willingness to
sacrifice. If you want to sacrifice a little more, you
will be blessed accordingly. Normally we would of
course not pay tithing on any gifts or presents that
someone has purchased for us. However, a good way for
parents to train young children in the concept of
paying tithing is to have them pay on gifts of money
that they might receive as a birthday present from a
grandparent or other relative or friend or perhaps from an allowance we give them.
That's what we did with our kids and it did help get them into the
good habit of paying tithing as they got older and
started working.
I can't tell you what to do; this is your decision to
make. As a 1970 statement from the church leaders tells us
"every member of the Church is entitled to make his
own decision as to what he thinks he owes the Lord and
to make payment accordingly" (Mar. 19, 1970; quoted in Doxey,
Roy W. Tithing: The Lord's Law. Salt Lake City, 1976).
PRECIOUS - Does the Patriarch have a title name like bishop, president, elder so and so? How do we refer to the Patriarch of our stake? Do we call him Brother _______, or Patriarch _________?
JOEL - Some use the term Patriarch________, but it is best not to use such titles in casual conversation. Patriarch is an office in the Melchizedek priesthood, so the most proper way to address him would be the same way one would address an Apostle or Seventy of the Church; either "Elder" or "brother".
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