GOD is so amazing! Another miracle this week for me when I trusted him.

@Amish That's a great point. While the Bible teaches us to love, the same cannot be said about many of the church leaders. Misuse of devotees money happens. I prefer helping the poor directly rather than giving it to any organisation or atleast I need to make sure it reaches the right people.

@Explorer I agree. Directly helping the poor with the 10% of income sounds to be the right choice.

@Amish As long as we are doing it for God and giving to the Gospel, he promises that it will not be in vain. He tells us to test him on his promises. Immediately after I tithed I got a phone call and and proved he heard my prayer and will give me money to pay my bills!

@Amish We first give 10% of our gross income monthly to God, [i]then [/i] we can give to people!

@Amish

The Bible tells us first to support our own local church and then give accordingly to what God is telling us to give out of our hearts.

Also in the New Testament doesn't tell us how much to give it tells us to give accordingly to our heart. So if you have more than 10% you are supposed to give more than 10%. It says give accordingly to your riches.

@Amish Why don’t they do something useful?

@Kygirl Beautiful!

@Carazaa I am happy that God helped you when you were unable to pay the bills. I also agree to the idea of giving first 10 percentage of our income to God. But the real question is when we give that to church are we really giving it to God? In most of the churches there are many unfair practices happening and it's hard to believe that when we are giving it to church we are giving it to God. Instead we can better make use of that money by helping poor.

@Kygirl I agree with you. We need not restrict ourselves to 10%. We can give more, however when wen give that to the poor it would be actually giving it to God. I don't believe that the church uses that money in a fair way. When I see many church leaders, I feel like a fashion show is going on. That's not serving God.

@Adeptlinguist I agree. Doing something useful such as helping poor actually serves God. I have no idea what church will do with that money.

@Amish There is no perfect church, but we should give to a Biblical church that spreads the gospel to the world. A church that teaches the Bible, that Jesus came in the flesh, rose again, and that we are sinners who need to repent our sins and put God first.

@Amish

We have a small church that I attend. We used to have two hundred people easily and now because of age and death we're way down. We still have our building but we sold it to another church ⛪. Thankfully they pay all of our bills.

I'm the church treasurer and I know were every penny of our money goes. I write or at least sign each and every check. I have no say so in where our money goes. I only follow what I'm told according to our Elders and other leaders of the church. I can assure you that every penny is acounted for.

@Kygirl Thank you for this information. I agree with you that there are some good churches who do great things and I would be glad to contribute to the cause they believe in. However, I have to point out that a vast majority of the churches doesn't comply with God's teachings and for them church is a business venture. Particularly in nations where Christianity is in the starting stages of expansion the church leaders give bribe to the people to convert them. There is an incentive for church leaders too. They get huge monetary benefits depending upon the number of people they convert. This is forceful convertion, which I condemn outright. This is not how Jesus adviced us to spread His Word. Moreover some pastors are involved in rape and they escape trials purely based on the money power that the church hold. We as devotees of Jesus Christ are not here to rever the pastors or the church irrespective of their deeds. We are here to spread the message of love of Jesus. Also not all versus from the scripture is to be taken literally, there are metaphorical meaning inscribed and we have to have a deeper understanding. Finally I go by what Jesus said and I will oppose anything that turns my God's place or Word into a marketplace.

@Carazaa I am sorry to say, I believe in Jesus and not in any church that doesn't follow God's way of living. A vast majority of churches are an absolute no go zone for me. I will never appreciate God's place turn into a marketplace.

@Kygirl Yes churches are expensive to run and if God tells us to tithe then we have to do that, and God himself will take care of us!.

@Amish No church is perfect but God promises to bless us and our barns to overflow if we tithe 10%. I can tell you that he does!

@Carazaa Jesus has never asked us to tithe the church. And nowhere 10% is mentioned in actual Christian scriptures. Jesus only asked us to follow these two commandments.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mathews 22:35-40)

If with that 10% if we serve the poor and the needy, help those who genuinely need help them that brings glory to the God.

@Amish Everything belongs to God, and the first of everything belongs to God. I will always give my first time of the day, the first day of the week, the first day of the year, the first of my paycheck to missions to spread the gospel.
I sold my house and[b] first [/b] Iwrote a $10,000 check to christian churches that spread the gospel and help children around the world in famines and war. You do you, I follow Jesus! Me and my house will serve the Lord! Jesus is coming back in our generation so be ready! 5 out of 10 christians will not enter heaven (Matthew 25)

@Carazaa I will always give my first time of the day, first day of the week to God. And I spent a part of my first earnings in helping poor children. I teach children who are poor and could not afford a good school. However I will never give a penny to any church unless I fully believe that they use the money collected to help the poor. It is great that you gave a $1000 cheque to a church when you sold your house. May God bless that that money is used for the rightful purposes. Again if you say Jesus is coming back in our generation, and by generation you mean mine or your lifetime ( ie within next 50-100 years Max) then that is purely a myth. Jesus has never given any time line. Whoever speculating this is not doing justice to God. Instead of speculating this, as followers of Jesus we should learn to love people, care for people, forgive people. The life of Jesus is for us to follow to the best of our abilities.
Coming back to the church, it would be interesting to have the account of the amount of money collected by churches all over the world and how many children affected by famine and war are served by the church.

@Amish

The job of the church is to preach the gospel all over the world. God has told us the signs of the last generation which is most likely within 5 years I believe, and that is this generation. He also said
[b][c=BF0000]
"The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come!"[/c][/b]