<p>I am seeking advice. My son is a kid who would do better in a smaller school. He has chosen a school that will cost about 12,000 a year more than the state school we budgeted for. If I significantly reduced our tithe to our church, I could fund this school much easier.</p>
<p>Our son is an amazing kid. Good grades, good student, good values. Unfortunately, our income bracket makes him a very unlikely candidate for any help through financial aid. I do not want to take loans. I do not want to take on loans for him because my husband has a chronic health condition that may drastically shorten his working life. My son is on the border of being eligible for a significant merit scholarship with his GPA and SATs, but if that does not come through, his heart is set on this school. And it is a great place for him.</p>
<p>In particular, if someone has experience with the importance of tithing, I'm interested in your perceptions.</p>
<p>First I gotta be a wise guy…a tithe is 10% of your income so in order to reduce a tithe, I would need to reduce my income. (Sorry - I couldn’t pass it up!) But, in August we will have two kids in college and we will most likely be reducing our giving. The church is not first in line in the list of possible budget cuts but it’s on the table. I won’t feel guilty because I believe that God knows my priorities are in the right place.</p>
<p>I know…see, we do tithe…a full 10% and it is a lot of money. I am not so sure because we are taught that if we are faithful, He is faithful. And I have a nagging feeling that we are showing a lack of faith in cutting what we return to Him.</p>
<p>debrockman - I think that you would have reason to feel guilty if you were spending money frivolously. We have not made it to a tithe. We’re around 8%. But we also give considerable time and energy. Maybe if you reduce your giving by 2% you should increase your time and other gifts by 2%?</p>
<p>debrock-while I"m personally not a christian, my mom’s sister is very religious and normally tithes a full 10%. She has two in very good colleges and talked it over with her pastor who said that it would be fine to reduce tithe as long as she donated some other way. So, she now tithes 5%, and volunteers 5 hours a week at the church’s nursery…</p>
<p>rocket…great advice…I think I will talk to our pastor…who will have 3 boys in college at the same time. The difference will be that they will receive significant FA.</p>
<p>Schmaltz, we do after tax after talking with our pastor because frankly, you don’t have control over money that you don’t see…and we are a dual professional family in a high bracket.</p>
<p>Schmaltz - different people and different denominations look at it different ways. I calculate my giving on net income. Some may look at that as wrong. When our Pastor speaks of tithing it really isn’t mentioned how to calculate it. We try each year to give more than we did last year. Perhaps when we hit 10% of net we can strive for 10% of gross. We give considerable time elsewhere within the church and within charitable organizations. I believe God believes that I am a contributing member of the church wide body.</p>
<p>And, we have two children. One will be majoring in Religion and then going on to Seminary to become an ordained Lutheran Pastor. So, I guess you can say that we are giving 50% of our kids to the church!</p>
<p>"Shrinkrap…I’ll bet you miss her, then!! She sounds like a great kid! "</p>
<p>I do, but I will see her next week in New Orleans, where she and her gospel choir are doing a Habitat for Humanity thing. Every day ends with “Bible study and reflection”. Honestly, I don’t know how I “got” her.</p>
<p>I’ve always felt that the 10% figure is what stops some people from tithing at all. Feeling like if they can’t give 10% then they are failing somehow so they won’t give at all. Our pastor recently gave the challenge that if you are not able to tithe 10% (for any reason…job loss, extra expenses, etc) then just give what you can. If that means giving up coffee a few mornings a week to give that money or if it is just putting $1 in the plate each week. It is the givers heart and the consistent act of service/faith that is most important.</p>
<p>I also feel that when reducing your tithe, if you can increase your volunteer time it makes the giver “feel” better and often helps the church in ways the extra funds cannot.</p>
You know what the Bible says about being saved by grace…maybe she was your grace :)</p>