Cool story. I remember when I stopped tithing. The extra money helped me get through school. School helped me get my job and I have been financially sound since.
Giving should always be from the heart, from the people that can give. Not a mandatory tax from those that can not.
I don't think I ever was financially prosperous when I tithed or when I "abundantly shared". I even let myself get talked into going up to 14% at one time. We dropped back down to 10% for one reason or another and the "leadership" started hitting us to "increase the proportion of our giving", which we didn't. Right about that time we were able to trade our clunker in for a nicer car; the leadership immediately assumed it was because we had increased our percentage and announced that that's what we had done in a meeting. They were pretty peeved when I told them later that we had not increased. I still chuckle at the BC's response: "So you just were able to buy a car using worldly means, like saving money?"
Once I stopped tithing I got out of debt and have been in the best financial position ever.
I don't think I ever was financially prosperous when I tithed or when I "abundantly shared". I even let myself get talked into going up to 14% at one time. We dropped back down to 10% for one reason or another and the "leadership" started hitting us to "increase the proportion of our giving", which we didn't. Right about that time we were able to trade our clunker in for a nicer car; the leadership immediately assumed it was because we had increased our percentage and announced that that's what we had done in a meeting. They were pretty peeved when I told them later that we had not increased. I still chuckle at the BC's response: "So you just were able to buy a car using worldly means, like saving money?"
Once I stopped tithing I got out of debt and have been in the best financial position ever.
You can still ABUNDANTLY SHARE with others....even if it isn't in a church setting.
My opinion and experience is that giving is not all that bad of a thing. It is my experience that is talking, and you may have another experience. To me, giving to TWI, whether that was a total of 3 thousand or 5 thousand, it was the intent that made it giving. Firmly, I believe this principle has come back to me, in money or things, that were necessary for me to receive so far during my life. Yes, the Tithe, I believe is merely LAW, OT law, and has no bearing on today, as a percentage, and yes TWI went way beyond the pail on the Tithe specifically...I recall Uncle Harry and statements about its not real giving until you are at 15% or more, yet in the end of it, the conclusion I feel is rational, well, isn't our crime of practicing something specific washed clean by the fact that we practiced something dictated by someone else. And I may sound pretty flaky, its like from the Shakespeare play Henry V, and around the campfire before the battle with the French, the English soldiers are talking about the justness of the Kings cause and the Kings responsibility if his cause is not just. I am unhappy about not receiving/hearing what feels like the real truth with regard to giving with TWI, the changing story of what giving is over the years of my involvement with TWI...and yet, in counting up what has come my way, in whatever form, the balance appears to be well, well beyond whatever I provided to TWI. And it may even be that the principle of giving by so many of thousands of honest folks, over a stretch of time to TWI, worked against TWI in the long run as well, a part of that big picture...TWI had abundance and the abundance was not funnelled back into keeping or supporting those in need in TWI..the elderly, the weaker of us, including myself...michael
You can still ABUNDANTLY SHARE with others....even if it isn't in a church setting.
You're right, and I do, after careful consultation with my wife and when my own family's financial needs are taken care of, and usually to individuals and groups that I feel are doing so quantifiable good, or have a dire need. Not an automatic percentage come h*ll or high water.
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antiscenekid
Cool story. I remember when I stopped tithing. The extra money helped me get through school. School helped me get my job and I have been financially sound since.
Giving should always be from the heart, from the people that can give. Not a mandatory tax from those that can not.
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Oakspear
I don't think I ever was financially prosperous when I tithed or when I "abundantly shared". I even let myself get talked into going up to 14% at one time. We dropped back down to 10% for one reason or another and the "leadership" started hitting us to "increase the proportion of our giving", which we didn't. Right about that time we were able to trade our clunker in for a nicer car; the leadership immediately assumed it was because we had increased our percentage and announced that that's what we had done in a meeting. They were pretty peeved when I told them later that we had not increased. I still chuckle at the BC's response: "So you just were able to buy a car using worldly means, like saving money?"
Once I stopped tithing I got out of debt and have been in the best financial position ever.
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brideofjc
You can still ABUNDANTLY SHARE with others....even if it isn't in a church setting.
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mchud11
My opinion and experience is that giving is not all that bad of a thing. It is my experience that is talking, and you may have another experience. To me, giving to TWI, whether that was a total of 3 thousand or 5 thousand, it was the intent that made it giving. Firmly, I believe this principle has come back to me, in money or things, that were necessary for me to receive so far during my life. Yes, the Tithe, I believe is merely LAW, OT law, and has no bearing on today, as a percentage, and yes TWI went way beyond the pail on the Tithe specifically...I recall Uncle Harry and statements about its not real giving until you are at 15% or more, yet in the end of it, the conclusion I feel is rational, well, isn't our crime of practicing something specific washed clean by the fact that we practiced something dictated by someone else. And I may sound pretty flaky, its like from the Shakespeare play Henry V, and around the campfire before the battle with the French, the English soldiers are talking about the justness of the Kings cause and the Kings responsibility if his cause is not just. I am unhappy about not receiving/hearing what feels like the real truth with regard to giving with TWI, the changing story of what giving is over the years of my involvement with TWI...and yet, in counting up what has come my way, in whatever form, the balance appears to be well, well beyond whatever I provided to TWI. And it may even be that the principle of giving by so many of thousands of honest folks, over a stretch of time to TWI, worked against TWI in the long run as well, a part of that big picture...TWI had abundance and the abundance was not funnelled back into keeping or supporting those in need in TWI..the elderly, the weaker of us, including myself...michael
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Raf
I would be happy to tithe once the Temple is restored and the Levites are back in charge of taking care of it.
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Oakspear
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