What happens to our tithes and offerings

[Edward]

Some people make a distinction between tithes and offerings. If they do, fantastic. If--like me--they don't, fantastic. In any case, if you're giving money to your church, you should be concerned where exactly it is going and how it is being spent. I imagine people would be pretty upset if they found out their money was going to the pastor's family so they could afford that trip to Disneyland they take every month, or so the staff could have weekly massages. Believe it or not, I've heard of tithes being abused in that way. To me, it is responsible stewardship to know where your money is going and what it's being used for, if you're able to feasibly find out. I don't buy a beer from the liquor store and ask how they plan to spend the money I gave them for it, but when I can find out from the church or the government how my money's being spent, I'm interested.

While I agree that it would make one feel good to know that the money was in fact feeding someone and helping the poor...once we put it in the collection plate, is it really our business anymore, or between them and God? I think it's responsible stewardship to get it in the plate, or if one has a good suspicion that it probably will be mis-used, to give it directly to the poor on the street. I think that giving directly to the poor is just as good as taking it to the church, perhaps better.

 

[DarkWalker]

While I agree that it would make one feel good to know that the money was in fact feeding someone and helping the poor...once we put it in the collection plate, is it really our business anymore, or between them and God? I think it's responsible stewardship to get it in the plate, or if one has a good suspicion that it probably will be mis-used, to give it directly to the poor on the street. I think that giving directly to the poor is just as good as taking it to the church, perhaps better.

We have a responsibility to make sure we know where it will go before we put it in the plate. If we've been giving and we find out it's been misused, we have the responsibility to call them on it and demand the misuse be stopped. Once we put it in the plate we can't really control where it goes, but we should have an idea and see that they follow through on their promise to use it as they said they would.

These problems are largely why I find myself not tithing, and I do not feel convicted to do so.