Tithing
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Tithing
| Mon, 02-07-2005 - 6:06pm |
Does anyone believe tithing makes a difference? I never did before - I always thought it was just a church's way of making extra money but I know a time in my life when I did give quite a bit to charity and miraculously I still had a good grip on my finances. I donate to a few charities on a monthly basis (one is a foster child from Haiti - I do not want to give that up)but wonder if I'm generous to a fault- my mother who is extremely generous describes me as such, in a very loving, non-judgemental kind of way.

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Travi
I'm with you here. I donate to causes (the tsunami disaster for one) and local charities where I can see that the money goes to the people who need it most. But I do not give to a church anymore simply because I saw my church hold pizza parties and buy flowers for office desks out of the money that was supposed to go toward helping those in need in our community.
As far as tithing, I'm not sure that I expect to receive anything in return. It just feels good to help. :-D
Pat
I firmly believe that "tithing" positively impacts our personal financial health. I am aiming for the Mary Hunt 10-10-80 number--10% to savings, 10% to charity, 80% to live on--though with our debt burden hitting that 10% number is rough. However, we do put 6% to savings and 6% to charity (and more than 10% to debt!). Some would say it's nuts to be sending that much "out" each month with bills so high, but I believe it makes us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthier, and it also has helped us financially.
Hunt explains it this way--she recalls seeing parrots for sale in Central America, and they were all clinging to their roosts even though they weren't tied down. She asked the seller why that was, and he said that they had been taught that the roost was "safety" and that to leave it was to become endangered. She said most of us act that way with our money--we hold so tight to it that we become enslaved to it, bound to it. By taking 10% (or whatever) and sending it out into the universe where it can do someone else some good, we signal that we are letting go, that we are not bound by our money. Only then can we truly be free.
On a more practical note, dh and I have *definitely* seen a material difference as well. I'm not sure how it happens, but it seems that every time we loosen our grip in the interest of charity, the blessings redound upon us manifold. Early in our journey, when we decided to carve some room for charity even though we weren't always sure where our grocery money was coming from the next week, I was juggling the numbers and finally committed to an amount at the cost of reducing our already meager grocery fund. The very next time his paycheck came I realized that I had made an error in calculation by exactly the amount that I had promised in charity, and that we would not have to reduce our grocery allowance after all. I know it sounds silly to some, and the correlation is not always so clear-cut, but it seemed to me a sign from the universe saying, "it's okay. Let go. I've got you."
So it's always a journey, but we are working on letting go. We have some rules--we do not give with an expectation of immediate gain (for instance, I do not request "premiums" from organizations soliciting my donation), and we try to keep it mostly local (the tsunami disaster was one exception, and there are a few others for charities that are dear to our hearts but not available locally, like Bat Conservation International). We do not give to individuals (friends, relatives, etc.--if we choose to help someone out on the individual level, we do so out of funds not already earmarked for charity). And dh and I either take turns choosing a charity each month or we agree on one or two to send our checks to. We have a few favorites that we contribute to regularly, and then we have a few large, national organizations that we maintain memberships in but do not contribute to on a regular basis (the reasoning being that the large national organizations get a lot of grant money based on the size of their membership base, so while my $100--or whatever--won't mean much in their enormous budget, the fact of my membership is helpful to them). We also maintain a small "contingency" charity fund in our checking account that we use for the inevitable fund raisers at work, etc., so we don't look stingy LOL.
Anyway, this is a great question. And I just want to say that I don't think it's a fault to be generous, as long as you're not impoverishing yourself to the point that you have to rely on *other* people to be generous.
Blessings,
Heather
We don't really give much to charity right now, because we can't really afford it. That said, we have annual contributions we make, just because there will always be people that need help, and the fact WE got into this debt is not THEIR fault. And my extended family does a charity garage sale every year, which is where all my old stuff goes.
This year we sent all of our donation money to the tsunami relief fund. We are planning to try to come up with more money in the next couple of months to send to organizations that wouldn't get as much money because everyone sent all of their extra money to the tsunami, if that makes any sense.
I think you have to do what is comfortable for you. You first have to make sure your own needs are being met, before you can help others. If you don't have the money, you just don't have the money, and there is nothing you can do about it. It doesn't make you a bad person.
I do tithe and I understand the tithe to be for your local church. Other giving I consider offerings. This is based on my bibical beliefs. It has helped us so much.I don't really look around to try to find the "return" on my money . I do it out of obedience to what I believe. I try to look at what my church does with the money but I also know anyone anywhere can misuse the money I give. That's why foremost I do what I believe is right and let God handle the rest. He gave it to me and I give back in obedience.
Great question.
Michelle
All my best,
Danni
I was wondering if you had been at my church recently?
Becky
CL of 4th, 5th & 6th grade Scoliosis
I'm not sure what you mean by the question "does tithing make a difference?" Catholic parishes rarely use the word "tithing" the way Protestant churches do, but we Catholics *are* asked to contribute our "time, talent, and treasure" towards building up the universal Church - which means not just giving money to our parish church but sharing our time, talent, and treasure with all of humanity. Maybe the reason we don't put a number on it ("tithe" derives from "tenth" or 10%) is that we should not limit our generosity. If you have a billion dollars, for example, your "tithe" would be $100 million - but do you really need the other $900 million, or does your obligation to the rest of humanity require more generosity than 10%? Conversely, if you are living off charity (whether private or state-sponsored) because of circumstances beyond your control, clearly this is not the time to be giving up cash, but you can still use your talents and time to bulid up the kingdom of heaven through kindness and a Christ-like attitude.
I think those of us who are living in debt because of things we *could* have controlled but didn't (i.e. buying our "wants" on credit, as opposed to someone who found themselves in debt due to a medical crisis) have a special obligation to think good and hard about how we are spending our money for God. If we have $10,000 in credit card debt because we furnished our homes with brand new furniture and this leaves us unable to contribute to those less fortunate, then clearly we have made a mistake that we need to rectify. Do we sell the furniture and live more simply? Maybe. If that isn't practical, then we need to do everything we can to pay off the debt and look for other ways to contribute. Maybe we're at a point where every dime is accounted for and there is nothing we can do financially, so we need to contribute our time and talent instead at this point in our lives.
I do not think it makes a bit of sense to be in debt and then to further get into debt by contributing lavishly to charities in order to assuage our consciences. Personally it is a very bitter thing for me to realize that every month I spend 10x more on credit card repayment than on my financial contributions to humanity (parish & other charities), and when it is repaid, I will not find myself again with my priorities so out of whack. I recently got a raise and decided that 10% of that raise will go to charity, and that every incremental increase in my compensation will be treated the same way, until I am out of debt and can realign *all* of my income to be consistent with my true values. I do give of my time and talent as well, but when I am able to give more money than I do today, I will *still* be called to contribute my time and talent - it's not an either/or, it's both.
This is a much bigger issue than "how much am I expected to give to others" or so-called "prosperity gospel" that says if you give more, you'll get more material stuff. It's about the core of Christianity, the great commandment.
Kelly
I most certainly believe that tithing makes a difference. Not just to me, but to those people and organizations that are on the receiving end of my chuch's gifts. I have total faith that my church is a good steward of the funds that it receives and will distribute it appropriately. I don't mind if certain groups have pizza parties because it is sometimes a tool to reach out to those who otherwise might not have ventured into the church or is a reward for work done well.
Although we are only giving 5% of our gross, this is up from the 2.5% that we were giving last year. We also teach a Sunday School class of pre-schoolers, so we are giving of our time, as well. When we made our stewardship commitment last November, I took a good long look at the numbers, and knew it would be tight. However, I told myself that it must be done and it will work out. So far, everything is smooth and somehow I have been able to put more money towards debt reduction and savings. I do not tithe in order to get something back, but God has provided in more ways than one. He has taken care of me and my family by making sure that all of our needs are met, and by providing a sense of calm and reassurance that everything will be all right.
Sometimes, a leap of faith is needed in order to get you where you want to be.
Travinski,
DH and I pay 10% before taxes each pay period.
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