question for those of you who tithe

[Anonymous]

No shortage of brainwashed here.

[Anonymous]

Yes tithing (or charitable giving, for the secular folks) is important. It helps you to focus on bigger issues, other than yourself.

My concern with OP is not about the tithing, but her family's finances in general. Live in a million dollar house, $240K salary, yet have no college savings? This is seriously messed up.

Our situation is exactly the opposite. We make half of OP's salary, live in a modest house we could afford. We have tons of savings - mostly for our retirement, some for things we'd like to have such as a beach house.

My suggestion to OP: Put your own financial house in order. Re-prioritize things, even if that means leaving the million dollar house. Once you've accomplished that, then tithe (and give) generously.

[Anonymous]

You will get that pie in the sky regardless of how much money you throw at the altar. Charitable giving is charitable giving. Give to save the dolphins or homeless cat society.
Jesus will not look down on you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what, saying things like "god will multiply your income if you tithe" to me, defeats the purpose of tithing. You don't tithe or do good works so that you get earthly rewards, at least in Christianity you don't. You could very well tithe and lose everything tomorrow and it wouldn't mean that God is punishing you or whatnot. This prosperity gospel bull has nothing to do with Christianity and irritates the heck out of me.

''

You're missing the point.

We don't tithe to get it back in blessings. We tithe because we want to give back part of what God has given us. The part "he will provide" is just to make it easier to believe that we won't miss anything giving it back.

I remember when I was a kid that my mom had the exact money to tithe that month and I wanted a costume for a recital. The amount was exactly the same. She apologized to me and explained it to me and we prayed together for God to do what was best for us and she gave back her tithe. Guess what? I got my costume for free. One mom from our dance class told the teacher she wanted to pay for another child's costume and the teacher mentioned I was not participating because I could not pay for it so her donation went for my costume. How cool is that for a 10 year old girl? God has never failed me!

If I'd been that other mother, I'd have been pissed. Really pissed. Here she thought she was doing something nice for a kid in need, and in reality that kid's parents had the money - the exact amount - to pay for the costume, but thought something else was more important. That is not a needy family - a needy family is one who couldn't pay for the costume because they needed to buy food, or pay rent. You weren't needy, your parents just found someone else to finance their lifestyle choices.

And god has never failed you? Gimme a break. That other parent didn't fail you, when your parents did. God had nothing to do with it. (Or do you reject the widely accepted notion of free will? Did god make her pay for your costume?).

You were a kid, so it doesn't fall on you, but your mother should have been ashamed taking advantage of someone else like that.

+1 couldn't agree with you more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what, saying things like "god will multiply your income if you tithe" to me, defeats the purpose of tithing. You don't tithe or do good works so that you get earthly rewards, at least in Christianity you don't. You could very well tithe and lose everything tomorrow and it wouldn't mean that God is punishing you or whatnot. This prosperity gospel bull has nothing to do with Christianity and irritates the heck out of me.

''

You're missing the point.

We don't tithe to get it back in blessings. We tithe because we want to give back part of what God has given us. The part "he will provide" is just to make it easier to believe that we won't miss anything giving it back.

I remember when I was a kid that my mom had the exact money to tithe that month and I wanted a costume for a recital. The amount was exactly the same. She apologized to me and explained it to me and we prayed together for God to do what was best for us and she gave back her tithe. Guess what? I got my costume for free. One mom from our dance class told the teacher she wanted to pay for another child's costume and the teacher mentioned I was not participating because I could not pay for it so her donation went for my costume. How cool is that for a 10 year old girl? God has never failed me!

If I'd been that other mother, I'd have been pissed. Really pissed. Here she thought she was doing something nice for a kid in need, and in reality that kid's parents had the money - the exact amount - to pay for the costume, but thought something else was more important. That is not a needy family - a needy family is one who couldn't pay for the costume because they needed to buy food, or pay rent. You weren't needy, your parents just found someone else to finance their lifestyle choices.

And god has never failed you? Gimme a break. That other parent didn't fail you, when your parents did. God had nothing to do with it. (Or do you reject the widely accepted notion of free will? Did god make her pay for your costume?).

You were a kid, so it doesn't fall on you, but your mother should have been ashamed taking advantage of someone else like that.

+1 couldn't agree with you more

+2 ^^^

That's not God paying for your dress as a thank you, that's someone else's hard earned money. As a mother I would feel ashamed to accept charity from someone knowing that I had the money all along. If your mother had that money and it was between food or rent to pay for or your dress and she chose the food or rent that would make sense, but to give from one hand and take from another is not right.

[Anonymous]

You are twisting things and clearly do not understand the meaning of giving.

[Anonymous]

"
I'm not religious, but one of the reasons that I live in the DIstrict is that I believe that I have a duty to help subsidize the poor, so I pay almost 10 percent of my income in taxes, which helps to fund public health and educational facilities for people who actually are poor. This is why I look at most evangelicals and think "hypocrites", and I think they are making poor moral choices. "

seriously?? your big sacrifice / contribution is simply to pay your taxes? where do you get off being all proud of that?It's requried by law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No shortage of brainwashed here.

+1. I'm somewhat shocked to read this on DCUM. Most posters here seem to be highly educated, sophisticated, UMC residents of DC and the close-in suburbs. Not the demographic you'd expect to be worried about tithing enough.

[Anonymous]

Is your husband insane? You need to fully fund your retirement and college funds. You can tithe that much once you have finished saving more or when you die in yr will.

And btw this is a baptist thing, not a Protestant thing. Such a rip off.

[Anonymous]

Baptists are Protestants.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I k ow baptists are Protestants, but they are a subset of Protestants. I have belonged to three different Presbyterian churches and there was zero pressure to tithe. Zero.

[Anonymous]

yes, God will actually pay your college tuition as PP suggested. LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes tithing (or charitable giving, for the secular folks) is important. It helps you to focus on bigger issues, other than yourself.

My concern with OP is not about the tithing, but her family's finances in general. Live in a million dollar house, $240K salary, yet have no college savings? This is seriously messed up.

Our situation is exactly the opposite. We make half of OP's salary, live in a modest house we could afford. We have tons of savings - mostly for our retirement, some for things we'd like to have such as a beach house.

My suggestion to OP: Put your own financial house in order. Re-prioritize things, even if that means leaving the million dollar house. Once you've accomplished that, then tithe (and give) generously.

This.

Be generous with your money, regardless of your religious beliefs.

But learn how to manage your own finances, a skill that OP obviously hasn't mastered, despite her $240K household income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"
I'm not religious, but one of the reasons that I live in the DIstrict is that I believe that I have a duty to help subsidize the poor, so I pay almost 10 percent of my income in taxes, which helps to fund public health and educational facilities for people who actually are poor. This is why I look at most evangelicals and think "hypocrites", and I think they are making poor moral choices. "

seriously?? your big sacrifice / contribution is simply to pay your taxes? where do you get off being all proud of that?It's requried by law.

Hmm. Didn't realize that living in DC or voting for sane, humane policies was required by law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, God will actually pay your college tuition as PP suggested. LOL.

Or not. And the tragic circle of ignorance and superstition will repeat itself.