Do you have an opinion on tithing?

I believe that tithing is similar to tipping while eating out. Both the church and the waiter or waitress provide an important service that they are severely underpaid for. Thus, if you attend their service, you should leave what you can for them. However, unlike a waiter or waitress, if you honestly can leave nothing, the church isn’t going to get cranky with you—in fact, they are likely to help.

I try to give 10% but I don’t always. I volunteer to do work for the church to help others less fortunate.

I believe people should give what they can if it’s 10% or 5%.. Sometimes 5% can really hurt the person giving it. I

The original purpose of tithing was basically taxation. In ancient Israel, the government was a theocracy, so by tithing you were simply paying a tax to be redistributed by the government. The Israelites got the idea from the Babylonians who did the exact same thing (though less theocratically).

Since churches aren’t governments, I don’t see why they deserve a 10% taxation rate of your income. Though I suppose this makes sense if you’re the type of person who believes your church should act more like a government.

I don’t tithe in the traditional sense in that I am not affiliated with any organized religion. I do donate money and durable goods to several charities and time to a few others. I’m pretty sure it works out to 10% or better.

It really turns me off from religion. a lot of things turn me off from it, that’s just one of them

@casheroo all righty

Old Testament put the tithe @10.% However, Jesus got on the Pharisees because they were so legalistic about the tithe. God tells us to be a cheerful giver, so there is an attitude that should go along with the gift. I think you need to decide in your heart what God is calling you to give. If you make $100,000 then $10,000 might be easy to give, while if you only make $10,000 then $1,000 might be crucial for you to live off of. So, I don’t think there should be a set amount, I think we should give generously and joyfully out of what God provides for us.

That being said, I think there is a statistic out there that most people only tithe 2% or 3% of their income and I think that is a bit sad.

I like our church because we never collect an offering during the service, there are boxes at the back of the church for you to put your offering in as you please. We talk about money stuff maybe once a year. It works for our church.