Seventh-Day Adventists and Tithing
By F. M. W.
THE recent publication of the statistical report of our church work has elicited some comment on the part of several of our exchanges. The Lutheran for January 14, says:— Seventh-day Adventists believe in tithing; and if religion were to be measured by the amount of money men are willing to part with under some particular system of giving, then Adventists are more religious than most people. Their gifts to foreign missions alone averaged $6.95 per member in 1913. Presbyterians and Methodists North together gave over three million dollars to the same cause, or about fifty-eight cents per member. That seems to speak volumes in favor of the tithing system, does it not? The editor questions whether this larger average of gifts to missions on the part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church indicates a greater spirituality in that church. He is inclined to give the credit to the system rather than to the real love for mission work. Similarly, the editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate for January 15, refers to the large gifts among Seventh-day Adventists, and suggests what might be done by the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches if their8contributions for foreign missions were as liberal as those made by the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church:— The total membership of the Methodist and Presbyterian denominations, as given in their official yearbooks for the year 1913, is 5,215,593. Their combined offerings for foreign missions for the same year were $3,045,328.18, an average of fifty-eight cents per annum for each member; a little more than one cent a week. The official statistical report for 1913 of the Seventh-day Adventists, who believe that God's law of the tenth of income is of the same binding force as his other law of the seventh of time, gives the total membership of their church in North America as 71,863. Their contributions to foreign missions for the year 1913 amounted to $499,713.65, an average of $6.95 per annum for each member, or not quite fourteen cents a week. If the combined membership of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches had given as much per capita as the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, $6.95 each, their combined contributions to foreign missions in 1913 would have amounted to over $36,540,000, instead of a little more than $3,045,000. The publication of our statistical report evidently afforded inspiration for an article on “The Financial Side of Tithing,” by Thomas Kane, in the Christian Observer (Presbyterian) for December 6. Speaking of the benefits which come from the payment of tithes, and citing examples of some who have illustrated this principle in their experience, he says of Seventh-day Adventists:— A much fairer as well as more relevant illustration of what tithing will accomplish in and for a denomination is afforded by the Seventh-day Adventists. There is nothing specially attractive, no special drawing power, in observing the seventh instead of the first day of the week as the Sabbath of rest and worship. The Adventists are neither alone nor singular in their belief in the second coming of Christ. Mr. Moody and the late Dr. Gordon, of Boston, devoutly believed that Christ would come again. So do thousands of Christians in all our churches. Except by their faith in and practice of tithing, how can we account for the remarkable showing made by the Seventh-day Adventists as a denomination? They regard the law of the tithe, the tenth of income, as equally binding with the law of the Sabbath, the seventh of time. Their official reports state that in 1870 they had a membership of 5,440. In 1910 it was 104,526. Their annual tithe in 1870 was $2,182.46; in 1910, $1,338,689.65. In 1913 it was $1,771,989.60. In 1870 the church controlled one sanitarium with 35 employees. In 1910 they had 74 sanitariums with 1,989 employees, with assets of $3,368,000. In 1880 their total contributions to missions and other benevolent causes was $5.39 per capita; in 1910 it was $21.27; in 1913, $23.42. This included the membership in foreign countries. In North America alone it was $28.93 per capita for 71,863 communicants. These figures certainly do not show that they had grown poor by tithing during the thirty-three years from 1880 to 1913. As we have suggested before, the standard of comparison of our benevolence is not that erected by our fellows. It is the standard exemplified in the ministry and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. He laid aside the riches and glory of heaven and sacrificed even his own life for the salvation of lost mankind. The very essence of the gospel is summed up in the one word, Give. And to the extent that Christ dwells in us and we partake of his spirit will we exemplify, even as he did, this gospel principle in our lives. F. M. W.