I nearly fell from my chair when listening to a book that was written toward living a good life. The author, a Pastor of a huge church in Florida mentioned churches that accept credit cards for Tithing and giving. Now, what I take from the scriptures is that the broad sense of credit is not a sin. But it is law to pay what is due. Now, the scriptures do not encourage debt as a matter of fact it isn’t hard to find support for the premise that you should owe no one anything. Of course they speak broadly of owing respect, taxes, and anything else that could be passed from one to another but lets think logically.

I am not here to tell you about the expectation of the 10% or what the difference is between giving of what you get and of what you expect. I am here to plead that you NEVER use credit to give. Now if the expectation is to pay the balance off immediately, great! Give away! Unfortunately history of the increasing growth of credit card debt shows that we rarely do just that. If you are compelled to give, and bless you for it, do it with what you have in your hand. The interest you will bear while paying the balance off is money that you could be giving to your favorite cause too!

I realize that the US was built around convenience but in the economic situation that most of the working class find ourselves in, don’t make it worse for the sake of a donation. If you find it hard to save to be able to give, throw your change in a jar marked for the intended receiver. It will be much harder to dip into it when you look at the name on it. It will feel as if it already belongs to the intended. Happy giving!