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.

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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!

I'm not trying to undercut your faith or your larger point, which I understand. I'm just saying that the language of the prosperity gospel is invasive and it manages to appear in a lot of conversations and sometimes I feel like screaming as a result. I feel like the attitude I hear from a lot of Christians is that God is some sort of adult version of Santa Claus and it bothers me. People who are not Christians seem to see it a lot more clearly than non-Christians, hence the snark earlier on this thread. Sometimes you will not get what you want, even if you are Christian. Sometimes you will not even get what you need (at least what you think you need). Bad things do indeed happen to good people, and sometimes they happen a lot, and Christianity doesn't deny this, in fact we should accept it and thank God for what we do have. Sorry this is purely my own pet peeve and is totally a tangent. I just needed to get it out.

And I completely agree. These types of Christians forget that Jesus never promised fame or richness to anybody. He promise to console those who suffer.

Anonymous wrote:Tithing, at least in terms of giving 10%, is not biblical. If that's the number you want to use, great. But the Bible also says that we should give up everything. Are you willing to do that? In another verse, we are told to give according to our ability with no mention of the 10% rule. We give to our Church. I think it's important. But I hate when people pick and choose the parts of the Bible they use. If you're militant about 10%, are you also hanging out in a hut during your period?

Anonymous wrote:Question of those of you who tithe to your church or do other charitable giving--

Do you do it at the expense of college savings?

We make about $240K. Save for retirement. Have a $3K mortgage payment on a $450K loan (1 million dollar house).
Have saved $0 for college for our 3 kids (under 5). Tithe approx. $20K year. Get back 1/3 or so in tax savings.

My husband is very dedicated to tithing. I think we should be putting that money towards college savings. I recognize that his conviction to give the $$ away is very important to him but
still ??

What do you do?

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I give more somehow more money comes in. example made a large church donation and then had a new client. superstitious? Maybe. I assume all the haters out there are very generous and give at least 10% to their non religious charities.

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I give more somehow more money comes in. example made a large church donation and then had a new client. superstitious? Maybe. I assume all the haters out there are very generous and give at least 10% to their non religious charities.

Anonymous wrote:First, I am Protestant so you understand my background. I believe in the OT and the New Testament, but I believe the New Testament fulfills the prophecy of the OT and then gives us an even higher standard.

To me, God gives/ gave me every gift I have; my intelligence, my marketing skills, my finance skills, my selling skills, my job, my salary, my ability to earn a living basically. I don't buy into a 10% tithe. As a matter of fact, I believe Jesus tells us to give what we feel is rightly due God. And truthfully, that is 100%. However, if our gift is given with a joyful heart in true worship, and it's the best we can do (the widow's mite comes to mind, the widow who fed Elijah with her last bit of flour and God provided more each day) God will bless us. No one promises it will be on Earth, but the important part of giving is to both honor God and teach us to rely on God to fill in the gaps.

An added benefit to giving is that it prevents us from becoming greedy or hard-hearted. I give as much as I can, and I wish it could be more. I do think God will use others to show you favor (ie, my sales will be higher, or my bills will be lower) because He does reward us both in this world and the next.

Anonymous wrote:The Bible says to tithe. I would tithe. Leave the college savings in God's hands. He will honor your decision to tithe. My parents have told me they tithed early in their marriage when things were tight, and over time, God multiplied their income such that college savings and other needs were not an issue. God always comes first.