Tithing Today?

[Lone Wolfe]

This is a subject that I struggle with on a daily basis and I would like to get some input on your views and/or feelings on tithing today? There are many views on this subject during my research online and I still am not sure I found what it is I'm looking for and, I'm not even sure what it is I'm looking for in reference to this subject???

I live on a small monthly income and for me to tithe would be disasterous and that's not being funny! Once I pay my monthy cost of living as far as mandatory bills (electric, gas, water, trash, insurance, etc...), I have roughly $150 to $175 left each month for food, gasoline and prescription co-pays. If I were to follow the tithing rule of 10%, that would be nearly half of this money and I can forget about eating.

I don't believe God intends for us to starve or to go into the hole so, I battle with this as I've said on a daily basis and I would just like to know how others feel on here about this very subject? Now, I do give to CBN each month and I do give in the offering plate at church so, it's not like I don't give anything to the Lord.

Thanks in advance for your input & God Bless.

 

[blackribbon]

I also struggle with this. I believe that if we truly trust God, then He will provide. However, when I have bills to meet and an income that is limited to Social Security...I can't say I tithe 10%. Since my husband died, I kind of have laid that issue in God's hands...I say I will give when You ask and do it (mostly) without question. I have handed my "emergency" cash to people I don't know. I have bought ice skates for a girl who couldn't afford the jump boots she needed. I have bought a box of clothes for a teen girl and left them for her to find without knowing the source. I've even handed money to people and wasn't happy with how it was used...(God told me to mind my own business and not worry about it). At this point of my life, I have peace with type of giving...and I get to be blessed by the giving too. I do make a point that when it is not an anonymous gift that they know this is not from me but from God...and I don't consider it my money either. I do believe that there will come a day when I will tithe in the tradition way again because the church does need to have financial support to survive.

 

[dayhiker]

There are a few ways I consider this.
1. Which is a worse testimony .. not paying ones bills or not tithing.
2. The tithe in one sense can be found all the way thru the Bible. In another it is only talked about in the OT including Jesus' time here.

People like to point out Abraham paid a tithe. But we only know of him doing that in one occasion. We don't know if every time Abraham killed the fated calf that he took 10% and gave it to some representative of God.

Others point out if one pays tithe based on OT law, then the OT really says we should pay 33% because of other types of tithes the law commands us to pay.

So I paid a tithe most of my life. But I've stop paying a tithe and just give offerings now. I figure most of mt family has lived to be 10 yrs+ older than average. That could easily mean I'll have to pay bills 30 yrs after I retire. I think my testimony will be better if I can pay those wills than have to beg for services I need when I'm old. So I save extra money these days.

 

[blackribbon]

I think this is both a heart issue...we are to realize that everything we have (including our money) is a gift from God and belongs to Him. Do we worship our money or we willing to hand it all back without asking why?

I also think this is a practical issue. The church needs money to function. The staff needs to be paid fair wages and the ministries need to be funded. It is just as bad of a testimony for a church to not be able to pay its bill or be able to help the needy.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

For the first 6 years after my husband died, I tithed 10% without a thought. But in the last year or so I have racked up so much debt that now I can either tithe OR pay my bills. And I agree with dayhiker that paying your bills is a better testimony. For that reason I struggle with whether or not to claim bankruptcy, but God has not given me a clear answer on that and, for example, today my a/c is broke. If I had claimed bankruptcy I would not have the "credit" to get my a/c fixed. It is in the 100's here so I need a/c! I also had to buy my son school clothes.
As far as the tithe. I think we "should" give, but God also likes a cheerful giver "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). So I have done as Blackribbon and have given it to God. He knows my heart and He knows my needs.
Also for me, I go to a big church (probably about 4-5,000) and our "budget" for the church each week is more than all of my debt combined! And sometimes I wonder, does my church REALLY need to spend that much? AND my church has debt too! But yet, they still go forward with plans like getting a new logo (really?) and being one church in many locations with broadcasting to different campuses etc. And yet, the only program they support as far as dealing with finances is Financial Peace University, which charges for it's materials! again, really? And some weeks it would be either tithe or buy groceries or get gas, not all three so....I buy groceries and gas, duh.

So the bottom line is, God knows our hearts and he knows our needs, and we are not to give under compulsion so....