Real life MMD: Should I stop my 10% charity payment?

Torry_Quine

Yes in an ideal world you would continue to give your tithe to the church but in your present circumstances that just isn't practicable. When things improve for you financially then you can look at it again. No church will surely expect you to go without.

catnicex

pennypinchUK wrote: »

This is a clear example of the way religion twists words and plays the guilt game to meet their own ends. So the poor widow and all other poor people are expected to shell out money they desperately need for themselves due to the social pressure their Church exerts? And what for? So the church has enough money to polish their vast reserves of gold and other priceless antiquities, while their flock starve, or go without adequate heating and clothing. The Catholic Church is the worst offender - can't people see through their morally bankrupt hypocrisy that leaves so many of their followers throughout the world in abject poverty while standing in the same community is a church building displaying obscene wealth that's been collected from just the people they should be helping?

I love the way you interpreted the passage.

In my understanding the moral dilemma lied in the fact that the person involved truly wanted to give something to the church yet it was finding him/herself suffering from financial constraints.
Something like "I always wanted to give to the church for whatever reason I personally had. Yet now I cannot financially give 10% or anything at all anymore. Shall I a) reduce my personal expenses even more keeping the same amount of payments, b) reduce or even stop my payments completely; c) a mix of the two?"

I didn't read the dilemma like "I always felt guilty if I didn't give to the church so for ages I did, 10% of my income. Now I cannot financially sustain this donations anymore and I feel even worse. Please help my conscience to free itself from this moral burden the church is imposing. I resisted way too long".

Thus when I recalled from my memory the passage I quoted I understood it as "It doesn't really matter to God how much you give as long as you give freely and truly with the heart what you can and want. There is no point in giving if you don't want, there is no point in giving if you cannot afford.".
So, in respect of the dilemma, the answer I got was: "If you, as the person with the dilemma, think that before you truly wanted to give an X% now just freely give as much as you think you can afford and if you can afford nothing just give nothing".

We can of course discuss for ages whether one is really free in giving to any church, to charity or even to companies following their moral suasion via advertisement etc, yet I didn't seem to me the point of the debate.

I truly thought that the passage was self evident in its meaning, actually it wasn't.
And of course I only picked up a passage I found on Google that I recalled from my memory, I am sure different churches had different translations and/or interpretation of their own passages.

I apologize if this quote caused you such a distressful reaction.

KxMx

Voluntering your time would be just as valuabe as others said, that way you are still giving as you clearly wish to.

robpw2

the church of england have 4 million invest in newscorp international its not like they are short of a few bob ..

fox197

pennypinchUK wrote: »

This is a clear example of the way religion twists words and plays the guilt game to meet their own ends. So the poor widow and all other poor people are expected to shell out money they desperately need for themselves due to the social pressure their Church exerts? And what for? So the church has enough money to polish their vast reserves of gold and other priceless antiquities, while their flock starve, or go without adequate heating and clothing. The Catholic Church is the worst offender - can't people see through their morally bankrupt hypocrisy that leaves so many of their followers throughout the world in abject poverty while standing in the same community is a church building displaying obscene wealth that's been collected from just the people they should be helping?

You see the widow gave just two small coins but paradoxically, counter-intuitively, she actually gave far, far more than the others who could probably have given 10-times the amount they were giving without it affecting the quality of their daily lives. God is looking for us to trust in Him totally with 100% devotion. The birds in the trees don't worry about the future, they don't hoard, they trust in God and live day-by-day.


It is incumbent upon us all to trust in Him and devote 100% of our lives to Him. The old tighe system went out with the old covenant, it is not necessary for some to struggle to pay 10% of their income, and yet others could afford to pay 40% of their income yet only pay 10%. God looks at our hearts and sees the truth.


If you are struggling then give all that YOU can give but God is Love, He wouldn't want any of His children to suffer. Take the advice of 'superbabe612' and try volunteering any time that you're able. I'm all in favour of 'giving till it hurts' whether financially or donating time, etc., but it has to be YOUR wish or desire to do so. God loves a cheerful giver, don't give money or time grudingly out of a sense of obligation or misplaced duty. When you are in a better place to give more money or time, etc., it will be of all the more sweet to God as you do so from Love for Him, not obligation to the Church.


God bless you Penelope. You will be in my prayers.

robynprincess

What a shocker, the first page and its turned into a faith debate!

If you cannot afford your gift now, then you canot afford it. Why not donate your time?

guiriman

"I just manage to survive with very little spare money at the end of each month."

In my experience people's interpretation of this varies widely, every individual's definition of "need" is different (and some are quite detached from reality).

If it's a Christian church (as most have assumed) then perhaps the following Bible verse is relevant:
"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7)"

I read that as you can give on the basis of your own conscience, but not as an excuse to dodge giving. If you're getting something out of your church and are in a position to support it then giving something would seem the moral thing to do.

Ashagill

Faith: "Love God, and do what you will."
Charity: Well, I had to recently cancel my DD with the British Red Cross, as I became much more hard up. I intend to set it up again when things improve. That's just me though. I think the donating time and whatnot is a good idea if charity means that much to you. But if it's for a company like British Red Cross, i.e. not the local church, and you can't easily donate time; maybe a sponsored something? Or just donate your bric a brac/set up a stall at a local market and donate the proceeds. There's tons of ways to donate really... Once you think about it. But I really feel this is a more personal money dilema than usual, because chairty means different things to different people, and once you know how much it means to you, you'll probably easily find ways to do the right thing. Whether the right thing is working off what you would be paying with time, or having good intentions, like myself, to setting up the DD again later. Good luck, and I hope you're not feeling guilty or anything. If you are, refer to my first quote. ;-)

addyann

Yes. You need to make sure that your own finances are in order before supporting others. Once you've worked out a budget you might still be able to contribute a smaller amount, but you shouldnt feel obliged to do so.

toadhall

God will accept whatever you can give, explain to the treasurer that your giving will be less for a while, they will understand, after all there are lots of others in the same situation.