In answer to your question: I dunno but I suppose it's as good a reason as any, Donna!

The answer is no but if you're not giving then there's something wrong with your heart.

First of all tithing is NOT a NT teaching, nor was it EVER given to the church.  Tithing is an OT teaching and given to the Jews.  Basically if you really understood OT giving you'd see it amounted to about 23% or so. 

The only thing in the NT is "The Lord loves a cheeful giver." 

If you really want to shake things up a bit.....there were ONLY two examples of giving in the NT.  They both were showing to give ALL that you had so we're talking 100%.  We have the rich widow who gave her last two coins from her heart and we have the rich young ruler who JEsus said to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor.  Of course he went away sad because he had MUCH possessions. 

These examples were to show us that everything is God's in the first place.  Where our treasure is there our heart is also. 

God wants us to give because we love him and to further his work.  If we are giving out of guilt or grudgingly then better off NOT to give at all. 

If any preacher is telling you that you will go to Hell by NOT tithing...then run as fast as you can out of that church.  This pastor is showing he does NOT know the scriptures and he's in business and not necessarily God's business. 

One other note, I do agree with Giving God first and making due with the rest.  This is biblical.   I believe by doing so God will bless you and stretch your dollars so that all your needs are met. 

I agree with you.  I went to a church where they started a building fund and had everyone in church go up and put their financial commitment in a chest during church in front of everyone.  I did a one time donation to the fund which was a significant amount for me at the time but I did not make a weekly committment because I didn't want to commit to something that I may not be able to fulfill.  I definately got some looks because I did not make the weekly commitment.  This was in addition to our regular giving an extra amount to be giving for the new building.  It hurt my feelings at the time and I did feel that they were putting extra pressure by making it such a public issue.

I give now at my church but I do not give a steady percentage.  I give what I can when I can but I am struggling to provide for my boys and I just don't have it.  I hope that in the future I will be able to do more.  I do feel like our church is pretty low key about it and doesn't put a lot of pressure on individuals.  I also love the fact that my church gives 10% of whatever is collected back to the community so they are absolutely practicing what they preach. 

Giving to a church is kind of like the actual reason for taxes - you're giving, with other believers, so that together your funds can do something bigger than each of you could do individually, which is at the least to run a church and there is no upper limit to what this pooling of resources can accomplish.  You're not paying for services rendered, but your money helps the church to render services.

If you're not giving because you can't afford to, you're wrong.  You're also missing a huge part of God's character with this.  You know, when Jesus saw the widow give her money, all she had, he did not rebuke the men for not taking it back out and giving it back to her.  Giving is the privilege of the rich AND the poor.  Do you think that widow wasn't taken care of?  God saw to her needs, and he'll see to yours too.  That's a major part of who He is, that he sees to our material needs as well as our spiritual needs.  He specifically asked you to test Him in this, and God will not fail this test.

As for making it public... that's accountability.  But why would people look down on your for not pledging?  God doesn't tell everyone to give the same amount to a building fund, or to give in the same way.  As long as you looked to God to direct your giving, you are in the right, and their attitudes are wrong.  But if they pledged $100 a week, maybe accountability is the only way they can avoid sinning by breaking their pledge. 

I'm not pointing at anyone here, but I really wonder how many churches in this economic downturn are suffering from a financial and spiritual crisis right now because people decided that cable TV was more important than Jesus.  I'm absolutely sure that at least some people have had to make that decision and have gone with cable.  Or any number of other similar decisions.  And when the people stop pooling their resources, the church cannot run any longer.

As it should be, and the honor system is what I'm sure most people go by, [some would say it is guilty concience] and the tax records is a good thing too!

I think it is ideal that way no one gossips about hos little or how much someone gives.

I agree here and this is how it should be always!

Personally, I don't think so.  I am aware of who and what he is without knowing about him giving money to anyone.

If a family can't give because they can't afford to, how is that wrong?

Of course, this is a given that this is how it is!

the only way you "can't" give is if you have no income.  If you have income and you desire to do the will of God, then giving is part of that.  Think about it, if you decided "tithing," which is 10% of your income, is what you decide than you're talking 10 cents for every dollar.  You keep 90 cents.  That's not unreasonable. 

I don't actually believe in tithing per se although I think if you're looking for a number that's a good place to start.  I think tithing can actually limit our giving.  We must remember that it's all God's to begin with and we are only giving it back to God to further his work.  One thing I found out by experience is that you can NEVER outgive God.  The more you give, the more you receive.  It's amazing how that works. 

There was a famous preacher back in I think the 1800's (I'm thinking it was John Wesley) who figured out how much he needed to live on and gave the rest back to God.  So every year when he would earn more and more money, he gave more and more away and only kept a pittance for himself being content with his needs being met and not worrrying about anything else.  It got to the point where he was giving the larger percentage to God and keeping the smaller for himself. 

So there is no one really who can use the excuse they can't afford to give to God. 

To underscore how important the subject of money and possessions is to God, sixteen of thirty eight parables speak about how people should handle earthly treasure.  In fact Christ taught more about such stewardship (one of every ten verses in the Gospels) than about heaven and hell combined.  The entire Bible contains more than two thousand references to wealth and property, twice as many as the total references to faith and prayer.  What we do with the things God has given us is very important to him. 

It's really astounding that you can't recognize that there really are some people who are unable to give -- who, frankly, don't even make enough to live off of to start with.  If given a choice between paying rent and feeding your kids  -- I'd hope you'd feed and shelter your children -- not add to the bank account of the church.  

nobody understands that more than I do.  If you looked at a 10 year period on our tax returns you'd see less than 20K for many of them...well under that for a few years with three kids and a step-child.  One year we made 8K.  Another we made 13K.  Do the math.  How much is 10% of 8K over the course of a year?  Not much and not much of a difference. 

The year we made 8K, our church gave us 500 for Christmas and put boxes of food on our porch.  That 500 was more than we ever spent up until that time on Christmas.   Like I keep saying....you cannot outgive God. 

It is better to give than receive. 

I stand by my comments. 

There's a lot of dead matchgirls whose angels came only after death. Whatever happened to 'God helps those who help themselves'?

I guess that depends on what you think tithing is really about.  If it's just about money to you, then you are right, but to me the money is just the tool, faith is the point.  If I take that 10% and spend it on anything that comes down the pike, instead of paying my tithing, I'm teaching my kids that the money is more important to me than my faith in Jesus Christ.  On the other hand, if I pay that tithing, and feed them, but maybe miss a meal myself, then that is an object lesson for them too.

Shades:

Which is why I've missed a meal or two to pay tithing, and so has my wife, but there has always been food for the kids... that food may have been breaking into our reserves of Popcorn and Peanut Butter, but they did eat.

True enough. But if I'm going to tell my kids that it is important to pay tithing, the lesson is lost if they see me using that 10% for myself instead.   More to  your point though, if all they see me donating is money, that teaches them something I'd rather them not learn from me also.

Funny thing, though.  When I'm tithing, I seem to always have enough money.  When I don't, I always seem to be short.  It's almost as if God is taking care of me when I give... because that's exactly what's happening!

Is there anything wrong with giving to the Turkey basket program at church, and then going and picking up a basket?  I agree that the church needs to be there for you as well, or it's not really doing it's job either.  You give your 10% and the church needs to be there to help do God's work of giving back.

Cute!LOL!   It comes in whatever form you need!

I've been down the road of not knowing where my next meal is coming from or feeding my kids and not eating much before. I've been down the road of not knowing where the next cent is coming from to pay a much needed bill.  Once I even went to a church to get help, before they could give me help they wanted so much information and copies of documents that I just gave up and left in frustration!  It is not a nice thing not knowing where the next dollar is coming from when you are in a crisis! So how would it be nice to give what you don't have?  I don't see the sense.  One thing I remember the bible says, to not forget yourself in prayer.  I think that God doesn't expect us to short change ourselves as that would be stupid don't you think?  Most definitely give what you can, when you can, a reasonable thing to me!