I would like to give my new son a baby blessing in sacrament meeting just like I did for his older brother. But I've attended church less than 10 times this year due my own guilty feelings for not having paid tithing (more on that later). My temple reccomend has expired and I haven't tried to renew it due to my lack of tithing payments. Is it possible/likely that my bishop will allow me do bless my new baby son in sacrament meeting still?
Now for why my tithing hasn't been paid.
In March my oldest ended up in the emergency room overnight due to a illness that caused him to have a hard time breathing. They helped him and he's happy and well to this day, but even after insurance we still owed around 3 thousand dollars in medical bills. We've been paying it off in monthly increments since then and as such a large portion of my monthly paychecks disappear to that. While this is a big financial challenge sometimes I pay it happily because that visit to the ER saved my son's life.
Due to this my wife and I decided to put tithing on hold until those Bill's have finished being paid in April 2019. This was after attempting to tithes on 10% of our surplus (net paycheck after mortgage payment and monthly medical bill payments). My bishop told us that paying tithing that way was wrong and told us that if we wanted to pay an honest full tithes we needed to start paying 10% of our gross paycheck before any bills including our mortgage payment and the unpaid medical bills. Though we told the bishop we'd try to pay that or st least consider paying that way, the result ended up being that we started not paying anything and we stopped going to church almost entirely. My bishop since then has made two attempts to contact us in the last 3 months via the ward clerk, presumably to ask why we aren't coming or paying tithing anymore. One time we just ignored the text messages and the other the ward clerk called us so we just made noncommital excuses.
To put it simply, I haven't gone to church to avoid being cornered by my bishop into a discussion on tithing I don't want to have.
So presumably to do this baby blessing I need to go to church and try to schedule it with my bishop as well as get his permission to do it.
I will not start paying tithing again minimum until the medical bills are paid off in April. As the sole provider for my family I feel I've made a good responsible decision to take care of my family first and not pay tithing. Why should I pay tithing and risk putting my family into debt and a forced dependency on the church for paying my family's bills and food costs. Isn't it more responsible to be self sufficient at taking care of my family rather than burdening someone else with my family's needs? I don't think God would count my actions or my intentions evil over that.
------
Anyway sorry for the long post. I just want my kid to receive a baby blessing from me, as well as to maintain the image that our family of 4 is still a good faithful family. If my all LDS extended family (parents, siblings, uncles, grandparents, etc.) ever found out we weren't 'worthy' temple reccomend holders I fear the falling out, scorn, and accusations that would follow.
As an aside: the Relief Society started bringing dinner today to my wife aftera checkup visit yesterday. Now I feel inclined to go to church tomorrow to show appreciation for that. But the thought of it terrifies me...
Any thoughts or similar experiences please?
Edit: Blessing Performed Successfully
Tyler Goodman wrote: ↑27 Jan 2019, 00:09Well I'm happy to report that everything went well! It turned out to be a great experience! I have to admit I was a little nervous but it went by without anyone saying anything negative.
I've done pretty well at attending since the start of the new schedule in January. Which ended up revealing that I now have a new Bishop. The bishopric was changed back in July, and since I've only made it to Sunday school or priesthood the few times I went last year I never noticed. So this new bishop tried to contact me through his clerk twice during the end of last year, and I came up with any excuse possible for my wife and I to not meet up with him due to busy schedules (which was only true to an extent). The truth was I thought it was the previous bishop still and i was scared I was being called in with my wife to meet and get scolded for poor attendance and lack of paying tithing.
I was probably scared for no reason.
So I have a new bishop now and I'd like to try and get a current reccomend maybe by my birthday in April. But that means paying tithing again and I'm scared that no matter how I pay it might still be a problem that I'll get cornered over.
Any advice on getting the courage to pay tithing again?