Could Tithing Lead Some Americans to Lose Their Homes?

I can only admire those who are able to so concisely prioritize their financial spending. If giving up ownership of a home in order to contribute to your faith community is in keeping with your values, others should respect that choice.

I am not advocating homelessness or dependence on public assistance in order to keep giving a tithe, but if you move from a 4-bedroom house to a 2-bedroom apartment so that you can continue to tithe, that appears to me to be a values-led decision, and a financially responsible one.

There are plenty of homeowners out there who are facing foreclosure but still have 2 cars, cable TV, new clothes and dinners out. These are also values-led decisions.

And while less than 5% of Americans tithe, a far larger percentage give to charity on a regular basis.

In the Psalms, God says: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” God owns everything, and yet He still asks us to tithe. As a Christian, I truly believe that God does own the cattle on a thousand hills, and so any money I have is only because God was gracious to me (even if I “earned” it at my job). Because I believe it is already His, it is not a burden or a struggle to give back ten percent.

Like others have said in some comments before me, the Bible doesn’t teach that God will bless you in proportion to your tithe. We tithe because it requires us to trust in the God who is bigger than the economy, Ben Bernanke, loan officers and mortgages.

As Christians, we place our hope in these words from Psalm 37: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.”

I’m a member of the LDS church and I believe that EVERYTHING I have in my life is because of the Lord. 10% of our family’s income is the least we can give after all He has done for us, even if that means some of our other debts go unpaid for the time being. It takes tremendous faith to make that decision when faced with financial difficulty. We have been there, yes even when facing foreclosure, and we have been blessed because we followed the commandment of tithing and were able to avoid that pitfall.

I believe wholeheartedly that through faithfulness we will be blessed in ways that have much more importance and eternal consequence than just finances. I am inspired by stories of people who live their faith so completely, that they will give up their greatest possessions to follow the gospel. I think that is amazing.

We’ve run into a similar situation, in that my husband lost his job recently–2/3 of the household income gone. Two factors have turned this into a stress-free, semi-leisurely search for new–and better– employment:

1) 6 months ago, I became insanely committed to getting our finances in order. The fed government funded my brand new emergency fund, via the economic stimulus. I read a ton of stuff, we cut spending, started saving, and committed ourselves to a weekly spending plan.

2) The 11.5% of our gross income we normally give away. New Testament doesn’t state ten percent, it states generously. So we started small (3%) and steadily increased as we made more money. Not a lot, we’re talking $65K a year, but disgustingly wealthy by world standards. My feeling is that 10 is a lot of money at low income, and a drop in a bucket at high income. If you’re making 500,000, are you really missing that 50K? Is it hard to live on 450K? Really, I’m curious.

We did call our church and cut our giving back temporarily until we’re fully employed again. It’s minimal now, not non-existent, and as soon as we’re employed we’ll stick to that bare bones budget and replenish the amount we missed, along with our savings if need be. Other folks are making up part of our giving for us, too, on top of their own.

But I look at this as a gift to our family; because we were doing without this money already, we aren’t even close to being as stressed as we would have been. Because we were on track starting six months ago, we were more prepared than we’d ever been for something like this. I am a Christian, and I do believe God knew what was on the horizon, even though it was a total shock to us. I thought at the time I might have been going overboard with how intense I was about finances… but apparently I was as intense as we would need me to be six months down the road.

What it boiled down to was with a bare bones budget and giving downsized, savings on hold, we were short 500 bucks a month. 500 bucks! That amazed me.

Giving away money–a generous amount of money–I consider to be a protection, against greed, against living above your means, and now against unemployment. Sure, had we been saving that much, the situation would have been the same. But I don’t think saving alone puts the same kind of hedge around the greed that can lead to financial ruin in the first place. And parting with money keeps you mindful of how much you have in the first place. All that is beyond what it can do for others…

(And I am sorry I didn’t have the time to write a short comment. I have to plan a budget for October.)

I’m not religious. I certainly support generosity, and generously did I give…when I had the money. For well over a year I’ve been insolvent, and sometimes I still manage to a give a little, but I figure, no one will be able to benefit from me if I become one of those in need. The idea that, if I act irrationally in a crisis, I will be rewarded, is one of the (many) things about religion that I think is…bad. There. I said it. It’s bad.

Excellent post JD

This very subject has been in the back of my mind for quite a while. You see inspite of being long term Christians we’ve never had the cash to give tithe beyond a bit of hit and miss. When my wife and I started attending church again after a long sojourn we both made a decision that we would start giving tithe, we like Melanie started off small and slowly increased it as our faith increased. An amazing thing started as our giving increased, our money started going further and further, at first my Wife wasn’t so sure but after a year of steadily increasing our tithe (still haven’t hit 10% yet) she’s become convinced and said to go for the whole shot. I’m not quite read to set up a standing order (still prefer to write the cheque control thing) but I’m getting there.

OK what about the “what abouts”

Those that give tithe and suffered for it? Well I’d answer it 3 ways.

1. A bit of common sense please!!!!!

I was discussing tithing with a friend who was very big into tithing when he made a comment, ” on occasion when money was tight we cut back but always made up for it latter” in other words he knew he had an obligation to pay his bills, so before buying that “42 HD Ready Flat Screen” he made sure his tithe was paid up.

2. God deals with each person as an individual

I really struggled with how much to share our “tithing” experience as the same time we are being blessed our cleaning lady (a Christian) is struggling greatly Spain goes through a major economic crisis. Why is God blessing us and not her?

I wish I could say that each Christian that gives tithe gets richer, better looking, more popular etc etc but it just doesn’t work that way. All I know is that God deals with us as individuals.

3. God blesses us in different ways, our Pastors Richard and Reijke don’t have much nice, all of there money and time is spent helping others, yet inspite of having a low income high rent and feeding large groups of visitors every week (try hosting a large BBQ every week and see what it does to your food budget) they never seem to run short.

On the issue of 10%

I think Billy Graham put it best. When asked about tithing, he said “ Most Christians find 90% goes further than 100%

I couldn’t agree more.

JD thanks for moderating the comments I really want to hear what people think both positive and negative

The problem is that tithe money for many people is not money you can move around on a spreadsheet. It is simply not _their_ money. When someone is told that they can fend off foreclosure by not tithing then that really translates to: Steal from God. Some would consider that irrational behavior, but I’m reminded that no one person can determine rational behavior for his neighbor. Indeed, it requires omniscience to understand what is objectively rational.

As a Mormon, a full tithe has always been a principle strictly enforced by my church. But unlike many of my more orthodox LDS brothers and sisters, I’ve come to hold a very different interpretation of the scriptural injuction.

As a result, rather than tithe 10% of my gross income, I choose to tithe only 10% of my increase or surplus, the amount of leftover money after my most basic needs are covered. At this point in my life, I define my essential budget categories as rent, groceries, taxes, health insurance, gas and university tuition. I tithe on the rest.

Few other members would agree with my interpretation but I feel that I am following both the scripture and the spiritual promptings from God. My inclination is also to pay more of my tithing to charities, but within the LDS Church tithing is only really considered valid when the full 10% remitted to the church itself.

(The rest of my post is background and sorry it makes it so long…) For reference, here’s what the tithing scriptures (revealed in 1838) say:

4 And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.
5 Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather unto the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law, or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you.
-Doctrine & Covenants Section 119

The Church Handbook of Instructions, a manual used by church leaders, cites a letter written in 1970 from the First Presidency of the Church defining “interest” as income. The only people exempt from paying tithing are listed as members entirely dependent on Church welfare and full-time missionaries.

It is interesting to note that prior to 1838, the Mormon Church did not require tithing but rather communal asset distribution known as the law of consecration. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Consecration
Members turned over all their property to the church, who then assigned them back stewardship of the property, but any excess was given to other members by the church. For better or for worse, members are no longer hold to this but to the more straightforward 10% doctrine.

I am not a Christian, so I’ll talk in general about giving to charity vs paying for your home. I understand that religious obligations are stronger than just charitable giving, but some of the issues may be the same.

If a tenant not an owner chooses to give 10% to charity but then is unable to pay his rent, he not only can be evicted, he hurts others i.e. his landlord who has bills too.

Similarly, if somebody gives 10% and as a result loses his house, this person’s family suffers. But others suffer as well – their neighbors whose house values go down and who now may not be able to refinance; the whole neighborhood may be affected. Additionally, as we can see now, the whole economy suffers when a lot of people don’t pay their mortgage.

A mortgage is an obligation. I firmly believe that if you borrow money you have to pay it back. Is not meeting one’s obligation and indirectly hurting others less important than not giving 10% to the church? I don’t believe that hurting others is the right choice here.

I totally agree that people have to buy what they can afford, actually less than what they can afford. But unexpected things happen – the loss of a job, for example, or an illness. Regardless how one got into this situation, the choice is the same – fail on one’s obligations or reduce the amount of money one gives.

First, I’ll say that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e. LDS or “Mormon” if you prefer) and I have grown up my entire life with the expectation and commandment to pay tithing. I can only speak for myself, but my financial decisions on the whole have been better for myself and my family when I have willingly and completely paid a full tithe as compared to period in my life where I did not.

My opinion on this is that, outside of the tangible charitable benefits (knowing that my money goes to help missionaries, build temples, and build meetinghouses around the world) and the intangible spiritual and religious benefits (those things that I have a testimony of, but would have a really hard time putting on a balance sheet), I believe that the main purpose of tithing is to make the person doing it change their mental paradigm as far as money is concerned. When we willingly and fully give 10% of our money off the top each pay period, we get into the mindset of being one who is a giver. By being a giver, we are able to see outside of ourselves into a broader community. In my world view, this helps to contribute greatly to a better feeling of contentment and to a willingness to budget and plan in ways that will ensure that the ability to give that 10% each month isn’t stopped.

I do not look at it in any way that God needs my money (he doesn’t, he already has everything), or that God will love me any less if I don’t do it (though I feel he will be disappointed that I’m not doing what he’s asked me to do, same way I feel when I ask my own kids to do something and they don’t; I still love them, but yes, I’d be disappointed in them). I look at it as this is a principle that God wants me to learn, that I should be one willing to share of what I have with others, even when it’s not convenient for me to do so. My being willing to do that has contributed greatly to our family being able to own a home free and clear in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, and to make ends meet on my one income in an area where two income families are seen as almost a necessity. I cannot say that tithing has been the sole reason, but it has helped attune me and my family in such a way that we make different choices and we’ve been able to benefit from those choices. We’ve had our challenges over the years, to be sure, but somehow, we’ve always managed to pull through. I don’t think it’s an accident that our paying tithing through good times and bad had a lot to do with that .

Christianity (and tithing) is not nearly as complex or mind-numbingly stupid as some people think it is.

Clearly, God isn’t going to be better off if we give 10%. Obviously, God is not a guaranteed-win slot machine who will always return our tithe with interest.

There’s a faith-based assumption that underlies the entire Bible: Ultimate satisfaction is found only in God. Wealth will not provide that satisfaction. If a person fully embraces this assumption, tithing is a natural consequence.

It doesn’t seem make a ton of sense. If it did make sense, evangelizing would be much easier. But it makes sense for those who have accepted it and, as evidenced by the fact that they value their house less than they value their conviction, this fundamental assumption is very powerful.

I have to comment one more time: I would really like to know (please email me) what is the biblical authority that tithing comes first–before paying the mortgage.

Under Mosaic law, there were only two types of income that were tithable: one was from agricultural production and the other was the increase of animals. For example, if you owned 100 cattle and during the spring, you were blessed with 50 additional calves, you would be required to give five of the calves as a tithe to God. Individuals with fewer than ten cattle did not have to tithe because the law only required that the tenth animal that passed under the rod was to be tithed. (Leviticus 27:32).

Furthermore, a large segment of the people in Israel did not tithe. For example, fisherman did not tithe. Also, hired hands and people who worked in the mining industry, lumber business and craft or other merchandising business were not required to tithe. Indeed, Jesus himself would not have been required to tithe.

What is the scriptural basis that one should be paying 10% to a church before paying for their home and taking care of their family.

If people are going to use the Bible as their basis for doing something, then they should follow the Bible as it is and not add or subtract from it. None of the churches that I have attended have tithed under the system set forth under the Old Testament. In fact, Christians do not follow any of the other ceremonial or civil laws set forth under Mosaic Law. On what authority from God do the modern day churches choose to obey part of the Mosaic Law and disregard the other? Further, what gives proponents of tithing the right to redesign the Biblically-based system of tithing under Mosaic law into a system they want to follow which will benefit them, but is clearly contrary to the Bible? If Christians want to argue that the Bible requires them to tithe based upon a purported Biblical mandate found in the Old Testament, then the church should follow all of the mandates—this would include the mandates on the minister/pastor not owning property or land, having other income and would also include the number of tithes that should be given, when and where the people should tithe, the purpose of the tithe and who should be given the tithe. After all, in Deuteronomy 12:32, God tells the Israelites that they are required to obey all of the commandments and not to add or subtract from them.

For example, as Christians today, would we support such barbaric practices as stoning to death women who engage in pre-marital sex (Deut. 22:13-21), stoning to death men who committed adultery with a married woman (Deut. 22:22), stoning to death children who are disobedient to their parents (Deut. 21:18), slavery (Deut. 15:12-17), or beating a man with up to forty stripes with a whip for committing a crime (Deut. 25:1-3)? Do we as modern Christians support the practice of men having multiple wives (Deut. 21:15) or the practice of ostracizing a woman by separating her from her family and friends during her menstrual cycle (Leviticus 15:19-24, Numbers 5:2)?

Under these same laws, we could not have tattoos on our bodies ( Lev. 19:28) or wear clothes made out of two different types of materials such as linen and wool. (Deut. 22:11) Our judicial system would put to death a woman who was raped who did not cry out for help (Deut 22:23-24). Kidnappers would also be put to death (Deut. 24:7) and a woman who grabbed the genitals of the man fighting her husband would have her hand cut off. (Deut. 25:11).

In coming to grips with such antiquated practices, I can only believe that these Laws were written to a very specific group of people (the Israelites), at a very specific time (before Christ’s Resurrection), for a very specific purpose (Until Christ Redeemed Us). In fact, I would argue that anyone who relies on following the Law is in grave danger. As Paul stated in Galatians 3:10: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.’” Stated otherwise, you cannot choose randomly which of the 600-plus ceremonial and civil laws in the Old Testament you will obey.

If you choose to follow the Law, you have to follow all of the Law. If you break one, you are cursed. Moreover, if we were bound by all of the ceremonial and civil laws set forth in the Old Testament, would we follow Moses’ instruction on the Laws to the Israelites when he spoke to them after their exodus from Egypt at the foot of Mount Sinai as set forth in the book of Leviticus (the instructions to the Priest) or would we follow Moses’ instruction to the new generation of Israelites about to enter the Promised Land on the east side of the Jordan River as set forth in Deuteronomy? These are questions that must be answered by proponents of tithing if they are going to use the Old Testament as the basis for supporting this practice.

Furthermore, even if a church is somehow going to reason that we are under these old laws with respect to the issue of tithing only (which there is absolutely no Biblical basis to separate the issue from tithing from other ceremonial and civil laws like the ones set forth above), then, at a minimum, the church should attempt to achieve the same purpose that God achieved when he imposed the duty on the Israelites to tithe in the first place. For example, if one reads the Biblical references to the system of tithing set forth under Mosaic law, it is clear that the purpose of the tithe was to make sure that those who had food would take care of those without food- i.e. the “Levites (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee), the stranger, the widow, which are within the gates. . .” so that they can “eat and be satisfied.” (Deut. 14:29) As set forth above, the only tithe that did not go to feed others was the festival tithe that was personally consumed before God. (See Deut. 14:22-29 quoted above).

This is exactly why I am against organized religion. Seems to me that people should be able to worship any god they like without paying for the privilege. I simply don’t understand why anyone would donate to the church to the detriment of their well being. I understand making sacrifices for those less fortunate, but not at the expense of making you one of them. Like another commenter said, this goes against the whole “love thy neighbor” thing, because when you lose your home, you drive the value of your neighbors homes down. Sorry if my comments offend anyone, but I just don’t understand giving up your own well being for something that may or may not exist.

Anyone who puts tithing above their mortgage (or other bills) is by *my interpretation* of Scripture worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV): “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

I don’t think tithe is a salvation issue. I haven’t read the comments, but by now I’m sure someone has addressed this . I tithe because I am called to do so. It feels good to give, and God himself is a giver (John 3:16!), and we were made in his image.

Very interesting. I was raised Catholic, though I am currently not a member of an organized religion. When I was Catholic, I always gave as generously as I could to the church, though usually in terms of direct work for the church instead of money. When I see stories like these, where people deliberately give up in order to “trust to God” I am reminded of a story I was told.

A man is stuck on his roof during a flood. A rescue boat comes by to pick him up, but the man refuses, saying that he will trust to God. A helicopter comes by a little while later to rescue him, but the man again claims that he will trust to God. Eventually, the man drowns, and when he gets to heaven, he cries out “I trusted you! Why didn’t you save me?” God replies, “I sent a boat and a helicopter! What more did you want?”

Moral of the story, God doesn’t want you to kill yourself trusting to him!

JD, thanks for the post. I have been contemplating a post on tithing for months and you just lite the fire. We have been tithing for three years this fall. A series of very bad financial decisions led us to a point of no return with our finances, or so we thought what the heck, why not get God involved. We did not actually hit rock bottom with our finances until after we began tithing and then things took a huge turn. Now we are within a year of having everything paid off except our home. I don;t think tithing in itself fixed our problems, but rather our attitude towards God and money led to solutions for our financial problems.

Brian (nr. 22) says… “The lady who let the bank foreclose her house showed integrity in one commandment (tithe) and showed duplicity in another (paying your obligations). God also tells us to not cheat, steal, or lie. Failing to pay a debt is the same as cheating,stealing, or lying.”

This is what I thought. The Biblical command in the New Testament is to give as you are able. But there are many commands to pay your debts or meet your obligations, etc.

So, IMO, she is being ‘strict’ about a derived principle (the amount is from the OT but the command to give is from the NT), but ignoring a COMMAND about being honest, trustworthy, etc in her obligations.

There are plenty of biblical principles about money in the Bible. I think she should cut back on all her expenses equally and then see what she can do. She could see about working at the church (janitorial, gardening) and just having them “not pay her” in lieu of tithe.

Usually it isn’t an either/or situation. That’s usually just something drawn up to make controversy.

JD, if you do want to give and aren’t a member of a church anywhere, find a charity that you really believe in and start by giving 1%, etc. work up from there.

When you don’t really believe in anyone else, it is easy to keep it all, but when you begin to see others (worldwide) who have needs far greater than anything you have ever experienced and can find a trustworthy group who are helping, you will want to help.

(I’m writing from Poland where “hungry” people are thin.)

I don’t think tithing is the point of this article. Tithing does not bring you to the brink of foreclosure. Neither does any other spending we do. It is the mishandling of ALL of our funds that brings us to the place of losing a home, car, or bankrupcy. The Bible does address money issues in many ways. It talks about planning for the future, diversivying your investments, and being prepared for a crisis. The Proverbs 31 woman referred to as the “wife of nobel character”, bought and sold, dealt with merchants, made investments, planned for what would come and was not found unprepared. If we make sound decisions with our finances, we won’t have to choose between giving and living. Deciding to leave off tithing may temporarily put a bandage on the situation, but in all probability not fix the underlying problem…overspending and underplanning.

The word tithe basically means tenth. If someone is doing it as a religious observance then they should just keep their money because they are missing the point. It is an individual decision whether to take on the discipline of systematic charitable giving. Generosity is a principle built into the very fabric of life.

During financial counseling if the right questions are asked you will usually find that the problem is not related to tithing but other factors such as poor work or spending practices.

Jesus made some of his harshest statements to religious people who practiced ritualistic tithing but missed the greater revelation of generosity.

Thanks of the post and all the comments. I really enjoyed it.

I see plenty of Mormons are posting here. How about a view from an ex-Mormon?

Just do a quick search for Utah and bankruptcy rates. Utah is always in the top few.

Make of that what you will.

The article does really have any statistical correlation.

“While nonprofits around the country say tithing is an issue in some foreclosure cases, little data exist on the phenomenon because many counselors are trained not to bring up the sensitive issue with struggling home owners.”

The article claims only 5% tithe but makes no mention on what percentage of the %5 are actually going into foreclosure. Even if its 25% (which I’m sure it is much less) that is not a very large number.

The author has only one example and no other statistical data. Sounds like a stretch for a correlation between the two. The author should check the % of people under foreclosure that also have cable, internet, or their entertainment expenses (casino, eating out, movies).

Thanks for contributing to this larger conversation on church stewardship and giving. I missed the USA Today article. I expanded on your thoughts @ http://tinyurl.com/3rhhkl.

Thanks, Ben.

Parker (Comment #14) has a good point. Anyone who tithes regularly really needs to consider the amount that they tithe when purchasing a home. If your salary is $50,000 per year then you need to treat is as though you only make $45,000 per year when you’re deciding how much you can afford to borrow.

My wife and I have chosen to tithe 10% of what we earn. We’re also in the early stages of buying our first home. As we’ve been looking at our financial situation and evaluating what we can afford, we’ve had to keep this in mind. When using one of those online “how much can I borrow” tools I’ve found it’s easiest, for calculation purposes only, to list the amount that we donate weekly as a debt so the mortgage calculator accurately calculates that you’ll have $XXX less money each week. It was tough for us and for our banker to wrap our heads around that one.

I think what Dave Ramsey means is that tithing is a discipline that shouldn’t be stopped just because you struggle with debt or live paycheck to paycheck. It is something that teaches you to put God 1st in your life even though you have other things going on. But in severe cases (foreclosure, creditors after you all the time, literally not being able to buy any food) then it is ok to stop tithing.

As an amateur Bible scholar, I find it interesting that the Old Testament does set forth 10% gross as the tithe, but Jesus in the New Testament says after you have taken care of your most basic needs, give *everything* away to the poor.

I’ve been in churches where it doesn’t matter who you are and what you do, you’re going to Heaven as long as you give the church 10% of your money. I didn’t last in those churches long.

I give money to my parish church, and I give money to four other organizations locally and abroad, religious and secular. I also donate time and my organizational skills to two of the groups I donate money to, and to top it all off, I sit on the Board of Directors of my church. I know where my money’s going. Because I’m the one directing it.