Pros and Cons of Tithing: Should You Really Include It In Your Monthly Budget

Advisor January 28, 2018

Tithing is a religious tradition where people have to give 10% of what they make every month. During the biblical times, since people are not earning lots of cash, they will give 10% of their harvest or livestock. It is a concept found in the Old Testament but not as much in the New Testament.

In the United States, almost 10 million people exercise tithing, giving about 50 billion in church annually

Working people with a strong relationship to their local church always find the dilemma between tithing and saving. The original concept of it should be of generous giving. But because some churches have strict regulations with tithing, the essence of it starts to fade. One of the reasons why you are reading this article is to get some answers to the dilemma you are currently facing. Here are some pros and cons of tithing and how we can still give back without feeling the financial restraints.

Pros

It is in the Bible that Jesus will bless those who have been generous to the church. There are a lot of testimonies from believers that religious tithing opened a lot of opportunities and blessings for them. Some get promotions, job opportunities, and salary increase. Blessings just don’t come in monetary form, some of it are disguised as healing, happiness, and clarity. We can also practice our generosity by giving back to those who needed it the most. There are Christian financial advisors that continue to preach the limitless benefits of tithing. Because of these testaments, most people get attracted to the idea of giving, for the hopes that they will get something in return.

Cons

Kenneth Copeland is one of the pastors who are under federal investigation for his massive wealth

If there are a lot of people who are trying to tithe, some also are getting away from it. This is the situation of the believers who have been relentlessly giving back to the church but don’t see any difference. One contributor to this are the pastors and ministry workers (though not all who are living an expensive. Some pastors are under investigation for their wealth. They can afford to travel with their own private planes, have huge mansions, and first-class cars, which is very opposite to the kind of life Jesus has led. It’s really hard to answer where our tithes go, especially if our church doesn’t give us a liquidation. This is the reason why financial advisors discourage their clients to give the entire 10% of their income. We might think that we are giving back to the congregation, when in fact, our tithes are directly funding the wealthy lifestyle of the workers.

What’s the best thing to do?

Tithing will depend on two factors: your faith and your bank account. If you can’t afford the 10%, you can give lesser amount of money that will fall on the category of ‘offering’. This way, you can still give back back not to the point of becoming broke. There are more churches that don’t impose strict tithing, instead, they will make do and be thankful for the contributions given to them.

Helping in ministry works is a way to compromise if you can’t afford to tithe, yet

If tithing is your main priority, then better make some cutbacks. They tend to cut unnecessary expenses like going to movies and dining out. Because 10% can already do so much, offering it to the church should be balanced by limiting these expenses.

Other ministries will also accept non-monetary tithes. This includes time and effort. They encourage people to do more ministry works if they can’t afford giving money yet. People also have the option to divide the 10%. Some will give 5% of their salary and 5% of their time to the community.

Bottomline

Tithing is a personal preference and some churches will not really keep a tab on their follower’s offering. Tithing shouldn’t be a reason to loan money and be indebted to any money-lending corporations. It should be taken from what you make every month, and not somewhere else. You can also try doing the volunteer works if you have still existing debts that need to be paid. If you are still in doubt, it’s best to talk to your local pastor to help you sort this thing out. In that way, you can adjust your options according to what the ministry needs and how you can help out effectively.