Like others, we tithe out of obedience to God. Its about putting God first in your life.

You will find scandal and corruption everywhere...if my church were using the tithes and offerings for stuff they shouldn't, I would be upset, but that is between them and God. All I can do is trust God with my money.

And when we first began tithing, there were times that our tithe would overdraw our account, but since, we have seen such tremendous improvement in not only our financial lives, but in many other areas as well.

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Julie
Momma to a three year old nugget, and wife to a goofball

I agree. I was going to stay out of this, it is one of those things, that if you don't get it, your not going to get it.
Our church budget is 6000 a week, sometimes they get in it offerings, sometimes they don't. It usually averages out though. I have been told that the budget comes from about only 30 families. That is not saying that they know who tithes what, because they don't. But when you count how many families there are, and what the offering adds up to, it isn't hard to guess. I have no idea how much our pastors get, but I am sure it is not a whole bunch. Both the pastor and the youth pastor have wives that have full time jobs. The pastors wife has told me that she knows a person that fixes up cars that have been in accidents, and that is why she can get a decent car at a good price. She was telling me that, because I needed a car and didn't have much to spend. Our pastors put in so much time. Their cellphone numbers are in the church bulletin, and their email address. They are very busy men, and deserve whatever it is they are paid. You can't have a church without tithing. I understand that you don't need to go to church to be saved, but it is so benificial. I have found life to be so much easier for me(not that I don't have hard times) since I started going regularly. I love my church family. They are not judgemental, they are not perfect. They are there for me. They have helped us in times of need.
Church's need offerings to keep it running.

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I have nothing to declare except my genius."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) upon arriving at U.S. customs 1882

I personally don't think God would care if you gave 1% or 30% as long as you gave b/c you wished to support the church and had the means versus b/c it's mandated you give 10%. Of course I'm not a big fan of organized religion anyway, they seem to pick and choose what to teach in my opinion.

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt