Questions on Tithing:
What does "Tithe" mean?
I highly recommend this article:
How much should I tithe?
Where do payments of money go and what are they spent on?
The IRS says everything we do is charity. End of story.
How can people afford to live if they give most of their income away?
God provides. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE GENEROSITY OF GOD!
Matthew 6:34 Take no thought for the morrow."
Matthew 6.25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
But I'm what if I'm poor?
Jesus expects you to tithe 100%:
Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living
Jesus says you should give everything: EVERYTHING, even your own family:
Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
What happens if I don't have the money and never will?
Take out loans and apply for credit cards. The rapture will take you to heaven before you have to pay anything back. Just take a look at the news: disasters, wars, signs all over the place. Clearly we are living in the end times. Keep one credit card to buy food. Send the rest to LBC.
Remember, you can also give with services rather than cash, becoming a missionary is the best way to do this. For example, our Iraq mission is constantly asking for more missionaires due to high turnover.
Okay, I'll give all I have, but why do you have to be so pushy?
Because it's not your money in the first place, it belongs to God:
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Haggai 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
What happens if I don't tithe?
You are a criminal, and will be treated like one:
Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.