re: Tithing LOANS!?!?

The title of my previous was a bit misleading in the sense that it was a mesh of 3 thoughts/questions put together;1) thinking of whether or not one should tithe on loans 2) me wanting to give/ "invest" and 3) focusing on the gains of giving tithes and offerings....HOWEVER,

I do want to take the time to thank PC for sharing the following regarding my previous blog because I know this topic may be a topic that many have/have been/are possibly wondering too!:

Publish Post

Many a Christian - including Seventh-day Adventist Christians have pondered the question you mentioned about tithing on loans. I am one of them. Did you discuss that question with anyone who might be knowledgeable about the topic?

Since the Bible teaches that we are to give a tenth of our increase - and that increase seems to be referring to earned income - it doesn't seem technically, Biblically possible to tithe on a loan since it is not earned income. Of course you know that a loan in borrowed money that you have to pay back plus interest. We essentially would be returning a tithe twice plus interest. I say that because you have to pay back the amount borrowed plus interest out of money that you earn later. And you will return a tithe on the money that you earn later. If you give 10% of what you borrow to the church then you will be giving 20% on it when you earn the same amount and then pay off the loan plus interest. No matter what anyone says you can only tithe once since that is how God set it up - anything above 10% on earned income is an offering. It is a problem when people talk about giving a double tithe. It usually reeks of pride and boasting. There is no such thing. We are welcome to give as much as is reasonable as cheerful givers in the form of offerings.

Consider these thoughts from some random person's blog:

Homeowners do not give out of their mortgage (ie. give a proportion of what the bank lends). Car owners do not give a sum to "cover" the finance they take out on a car. And surely no one, when taking out a personal loan from a bank, would straightaway give a proportion to their church. There is nothing stopping those people doing those things. But they understand the Biblical principles enough to know that it would be an entirely upside-down way of doing things. Could they give in this way if they so desired? Of course! But the reality is that they won't. Surely the student loan question fits into this same category. 

The person who wrote that doesn't believe in tithing at all but the above examples are good ones.

You could choose to give money to the church/ God from your student loans but it would have to be considered an offering and you should know that you would essentially be giving it twice plus interest. From a stewardship perspective that might not be best.

Tithes on Loans?!?!??

So I have been thinking for a while now....(yeah I tend to think alot...more than I should?)...."tithes on grad school loans?!?!"

Hear me out....
If it weren't for God, I wouldn't have good credits for loans (and scholarships too!), correct?
If it weren't for God, I wouldn't have made it to grad school, am I right?
If it weren't for the God-given breath, brain, hands, feet, ears and all that good stuff, I wouldn't be here, there with me still?


Listing out just a tiny bit of His blessings, this is nothing. 


With that said, I am definitely considering tithing on my loans...well, more like, I am considering putting aside a month's rent for tithes and offerings....scratch that. I am not "considering", I am going to go for it.

What have I to lose compare to what I have to GAIN!?

Money? Well, I definitely almost threw $20 in the trash today, thinking that the envelope was empty. So I just found out that I am $20 richer than I thought :)... I mean, really? I'm already a broke student, how much worse could it get? challenges/denials are great. lol.... PLUS the money will actually be doing something good (helping someone out!!), right!?.


Check out my potential gains though!!:

• Good health? YES, I'll definitely take that! [You know HOW MUCH HEALTH CARE COSTS?] getting sick will definitely be worth more than a rent's check.
• Safety? FOR SURE, I'll take that too....e.g. car accident cost > a rent's check.
• Saving money? Yes, there are many ways money can be wasted. Have you ever found yourself trying to save money, right? and then all of a sudden, everything started going wrong and you ended up spending mad money!! I may have more than one too many examples. :-/ .... :)
  
• Peace? I love peace!!
• FAITH!? yes yes yes please.
• ....and this could go on and on and on and on and on.

Bottom line is: I am going to take that challenge. join me? yea, you should!!! :-D

So, in other news:

1. I brought my Jaci Velasquez concert ticket this week. Yeah! Night of  January 30th, 2010 here I come...............

2. WISE words from my awesome professor: "if you feel the need to discriminate against an individual or a certain group of people, it's because you're struggling with your own identity." AMEN

3. Procrastination is not cool.

4. Praise God for FALL BREAK.

5. Tomorrow, I am suppose to accompany a friend to the Korean church. lol.........can't wait.

6. Praise God for Productive Fridays: did laundry, cooked somethings (yea yeah......), currently working, but room/apartment/car are in the process of being cleaned (will finish it when I get off work!).

7. My computer's on a break. :( Will be back "in commission" next week.

8. Praise God for the SABBATH.

 QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."-Thomas Jefferson.

 ~Patience works miracles.