I'm a Billing and Collections Specialist. I have been for 11 years. Right now I work for a company that collects past due credit card debt for one of the largest banks in the world. It's not a U.S. bank. Anyway, when I call people I sometimes know when I am leaving a message for a professing Christian. Their voice mail greeting might have some kind of Gospel music in the background, lots of Praise God or Jesus remarks, God Bless yous, and things like that. Some of them are also Pastors.
I am not being critical or judgmental of these people for being in debt. Our economy is tanked and good people are suffering everywhere. But this did make me think of a question.
Which is more important to God. . . to pay your debts or pay your tithes and offerings?
In Luke 11:39-41 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for being more concerned with how they appear on the outside while inside they are unclean. He says in v 42, Luk 11:42 "But alas for you Pharisees! for you pay tithes on your mint and rue and every kind of garden vegetable, and are indifferent to justice and the love of God. These are the things you ought to have attended to, while not neglecting the others." (1912 Weymouth NT)
My point here is that some Christians might be tithing because it's "the right thing to do" while their debts go unpaid.
As for debts, the Bible says Pro 22:26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. and Pro 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
I think giving in NT is way different from the OT. In the NT it says give what you can from the heart. For some it may be 10% for others it could be 50% or 80% and still others it may only be 1%. If you are in debt that is not your money to be giving. Get out of debt then give generousely from the heart.
I am not starting a new denomination on this just my thoughts.
That's an interesting question. I'm assuming a situation where a person won't be able to pay off an agreed-upon amount at an agreed-upon time if that person uses the money for tithes instead of debts. In such a case, I think it is more important to pay off the debts. I think using the money for tithes when there are debts to be paid is dishonest, since the person promised to repay the debt. A person cannot give what (s)he does not have, and money that could go towards paying a debt is not really money that can be given away, in my opinion.
i think it's another situation where we must be responsible stewards of our gifts. Mark 12:17 (King James Version)"And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him." what does God really want from us? Romans 13-7 "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour."
it also speaks to the principle outlined here --> Matthew 12:11 (King James Version) "And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?"
sometimes God is testing our faith, and sometimes we are to apply it.
Tithing is recorded in the bible since Abraham, and it is the one time Gods to prove me, then you have those that say tithing is not in the new testament. Our father promised to meet all our needs, there is a condition, you must seek first the kingdom and all these others thing's will be added unto you.
I do financial counseling at my church. I have seen all sorts of situations with Christians. Typically they wait until they have checks bouncing, can't pay their bills and cannot adequately support their family before they seek help. All of the Christians I have counseled who were in this situation were not tithers. They might "tip" God occasionally when they felt they could afford it. When we steal from God we will never be able to make ends meet.
In the first session I have with them I explain tithing to them and go over the Scriptures. I tell them that I cannot help them out of their situation, but that God can. They have to include Him as a partner in their finances. If they are not agreeable to do so I do not meet with them again. If they are agreeable to begin tithing, I lead them in a prayer of repentance for not obeying God's Word. I tell them that they can trust that God will give them a new beginning and will help them out of the mess they are in.
I then tell them, "You cannot pay your bills anyway, so why not trust God? Do not steal from God any longer. Pay your tithe FIRST before anything else and watch what God does!"
It takes boldness on their part to follow through with it and it takes faith. I have seen miracles happen in people's lives and their finances...many times over! It really does work!!! Seek His Kingdom first and He will take care of you. (I know that is not the exact quote.)
I remember when I first started tithing back in 2001. I had some debt too, but I realized, I'd been robbing God for so long. Satan I do believe was playing devils advocate with me at the time I decided to begin tithing! I figured I had too much debt to tithe, but as I got more into the word, and trying to apply it in my life, I realized, how would I ever know if God's word was true unless I put it to test, which I did.
Little by little, I could see... I started tithing 10%, and, while I thought it was tight... that there was no way I could tithe and get all my bills paid... I mean utilities and creditors. What I began to see was, that when I gave God first, then I paid my necessity bills, and minimal to creditors, and slowly things began to change. For the better!
As what others prior posted, we should be paying off our debts, but we have an obligation I feel to give back to God, and give to Him first. God knows our hearts in our giving, and that has much to do with the outcome, and our blessings.
As gracegrace referenced and I personally experienced... God worked miracles in my life, from my obedience to His word. There are mixed views about this... tithing when debt it present, but I can only share what happened for me.
First of all I gotta say, I'm not living in a tithing system. Here the churchs gets the money from taxes, the state collects the taxes from what you earn and gives part of it to the church you are in if you are in church.
But I thinkfirst of all you have to get your debts under control. I can gess quite some people feel ashamed if they don't tithe any longer while having problems with the income, so they tithe more than they can to uphold the image. Some might even think that by tithing they can make God help them in their finances. I don't think you can push God that way.
I think tithe is to be given from what you have or earn. And if you earn nothing or less than you need to pay back your debts, there is nothing left from which you can give the 10% or whatever. 10% of 0 is 0.
I also think one should not approach this issue too legalistic. Like the question "what do I have to tithe". What do you want to tithe would be better, I think, because after all, it is not a burden to be in church, is it?
Sometimes we want to give more than we have. Then we should thik about being honest rather than fearing shame for not tithing so much any more.
Sometimes (or maybe more often) we want to tithe less than we have or could tithe. Still, there is no reason to judge those. Obviously they do not yet see why to tithe, so the church might be doing something wrong, or at least not good enough for those people to see their tithes being used for a good thing. This depends on different individual thoughts. Some might think the pasttor earns too much, some might think some church group needs too much money and could do with less and they don't see the sense in giving their money for this...
Which is more important to God: to apy debts or pay your tithes and offerings?
When I look at the way of life of Jesus and his disciples, paying tithes is not what it is about at all. Far more is being done. Actually everything they have, they share and even then they manage to give to the poor. Jesus Himself gave his everything, his time, his dedication to teach, heal, and eventually he gave his precious blood.
In Marc 12:41-44 Jesus draws the attention to the widow who by giving just the smallest coin, gave her everything while the rest is merely giving part of their abundancy.
From that I dare conclude that God is not interested in any part that we give. Be it partly money, be it partly our heart. He does not accept we love him just partly or believe in him just partly
Marc 12:30 states the greatest commandment and it does not say anything about giving part of what you have.
Of course if we make debts, we must pay them. If we cannot pay them how it was originally stipulated, then we must renegociate. It must be renegociated in such a way that you can keep paying all financial obligations you have and that includes the tithes, if you think that you should pay them.
On the other hand, if you live in very deprived conditions and you need all your little earned money to survive on a day to day basis, it would be ridiculous to make debts in order to pay tithes.
I find it really very strange to think that without paying tithes, God would not hear your prayer or when paying tithes first, He will hear your prayer better.
Grace, merci and blessings are given because God is good not because He is getting paid so well. Also the lack of these things do not imply that if you start paying tithes, things will improve.
I think God is not interested in either (be a good debt payer or pay tithes) as far as his relationship with us is concerned. We will not be judged nor rewarded for it.
But I think He expects us to simply keep our promise or not to prejudice others (in paying our debts) and submit to the laws (to pay tithes). Neither is more important than the other.
We're only supposed to pay "tithe" on our increase...so I guess you could say that if you're in debt then you're not making any profit. I think the bigger question is...do you think God will help you if you put Him first? Do you think if you give Him the best of what you have...with a willing spirit...that He won't open the windows of heaven for you? I do agree that being in debt is kind of irresponsible, even though it's unavoidable at times...but I guess the point is that we should have faith that God will take care of us, and that he loves a cheerful...and responsible...giver.
