Hi,
I just signed up for ths forum and have a question about tithing. To clarify up front, I'm aware of another thread discussing whether or not tithing is required. I started reading that with interest. But, my question assumes that God directs us to tithe and I am asking about further guidance.
Having recently relocated to begin a new job, I am looking for a church. I visited two churches and will probably visit a couple others before settling upon one. In the meantime, I’m sitting on a stack of God’s money.
While I attend worship at local churches, and the offering comes around, my understanding is that most visitors are not expected to give a tithe. The church asks that you drop in a new member form, or something similar, that has your contact information. I do put in some cash, but not nearly 10%. This is because I feel a sense of responsibility for the money that God has entrusted me with. I ruled out one of the churches and do not feel comfortable giving the money to them. I do not want to just hand money over blindly because I happened to have attended a particular church on a particular day. So, God’s money is accumulating in my bank account. And with every passing week I am more and more aware that He did not give this to me to simply let it sit there.
It appears that there are 3 options for what I can do in the meantime.
a) Continue holding the money until I find a new church, keeping it segregated from my checking account, and then pass on the full accumulation to whichever church I join.
B) Tithe every Sunday, even if I do not ultimately join the particular church that I attend on that particular Sunday.
c) Use the money to advance God’s work in other ways, such as donating it to Christian charities that feed the poor and shelter the homeless, to Christian ministries whose radio programs I have learned from for years, or use the money to do good deeds.
Is there any guidance in scripture for tithing while one is church searching? My understanding of scripture leads me to rule out option ( B). I am leaning more toward (c ). But I am certainly interested in any insights from scripture that others may have to offer.
Tithing is of your increase, but this doesn't have anything to do with whatever money you have except insofar as you're not willing to offer an actual tithe. In other words, if you raise sheep, you give one in ten. If you only have nine, then you don't tithe, but it you don't want to fork over that tenth sheep, you then present an offering(the value of that sheep) PLUS a 20% surcharge. That's how it's outlined in the bible under the Mosaic law.
So there's the 10% you are to present to the temple, then there's the 10% you are to offer to the poor directly. The temple is GONE, so there is no longer any need to offer a tithe to keep the priests in business. If you want to pay for the upkeep of whatever church you attend, that's up to you.
There is no better way to tithe than with your time, and effort. If you're going to make a financial offering, there's no better way to do that than directly to the poor themselves. I'm not talking about just handing some money to some guy with his hand out, but giving money to those who you know actually need the money.
Here's one way it works. You hire someone to do a job, and you know that they need the money to buy books for their son or daughter's education. So you pay them and add a little something.
You see someone on the side of the road broke down, and stop to help them change a tire, or help pay the towing fee when you discover that they're about to lose their car because they don't have the money to fix it.
There are people all over who are having trouble making ends meet. If we're not really into participating, and would rather just write a check, then there are plenty of organizations that feed, clothe, and house the poor.
When you find one that is doing it better than anyone else, you can even just write out a check for 10% of what you've made, and be done with it until you start making money again. Some people would rather they be seen putting money into the collection basket though so they just keep doing that week after week for the rest of their lives.
I just go to church for the entertainment value.