I’m not sure I was clear on what I was saying with the second Scripture I mentioned. While I do believe that family should help family, what I was saying here was that I was questioning whether someone should still be tithing if they are losing their home. Because the Scripture says that we are to take care of our own household, I think providing a roof over the heads of our kids and spouse is a priority. So, I’m questioning whether, while something like this is going on (foreclosure), we should still be tithing. OR should we be doing all we can to provide for our household and wait to tithe until we are better able???

This is why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:6-8 (emphasis mine)

So I guess this argument could be taken a step even further to: how much debt should Christians (or anyone) really take on? I don’t believe it wrong for debt to be incurred at all. I believe there are plenty of scripture that discusses debts and payment of those to know that it’s not wrong to have debt at all, we just need to pay it back. But today’s society lives primarily on credit. We borrow far more than we can afford, with no concrete plan in place to pay it back. Folks are just living paycheck-to-paycheck paying minimums on everything, using credit cards to pay basic living expenses and that’s not always because food and gas prices are high, but because they have made poor financial choices themselves. They have bought houses they could not afford. Cars, vacations and ‘stuff’ they did not need and most of them, bought it on credit. Then they start ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’, which means use one credit card to pay one bill that’s due to free up room on that card to pay something else. They are in over their heads, so it’s no surprise when they lose their job, or hours get cut, it’s not long that they are so behind that foreclosure is looming. If they were still tithing during all this, tithing is not the problem.

So yes, Laurie, I agree, if a family member finally hits rock bottom and they lose their home – whether it was their own poor financial choices that landed them there, or not (and not everyone loses their home because they mis-spent their money!), then I believe family should help family. If there is no family – then their church family should help. This is the way God’s word has said it should be. No where is government mentioned in taking care of us.

I’d be interested to hear more thoughts on this from others.