God made us to be laborers, to impact others with our talents, and to spread his love and Word to others.

You cannot ask God to give you a sultan’s chair and elephant and then sit in a corner and sulk while telling everyone you decided to become a toilet cleaner even though you hate it and suck at cleaning toilets.

You must do YOUR part, and leave the rest to God. You don’t just say, “well I have the brains to be an awesome engineer, but since I’m scared of being POOR I am going to go serve french fries. OH MAN THIS TITHING THING IS NOT WORKING!!! GOD LIED TO ME!!”

You think some hocus pocus poof will make you a person who never fails again?? That was never promised. Quite the opposite.

Yes, I have noticed many Christians do avoid pursuing lucrative jobs that require a lot of sacrificing of friends or family or time. Yes, they may avoid jobs that seem to put money first instead of what God wants you to put first. HOWEVER it doesn’t mean that you have to be dirt poor. It’s an attitude thing. If you are so caught up in being rich that you lose sight of being a loving neighbor, pursuing God, reading your Bible, or all the more important things that matter to God, he is not happy. However, if you can HAVE a lucrative job and STILL BE OF CHARACTER, STILL make sure you don’t do shady things to get that money, and still be a light to the world, so be it. God MADE you that way. Your talents and skills were given to you to impact those that you are around. If you weren’t made to be someone that makes a lot money, it’s FINE. If you WERE, that’s FINE. Just Make sure whatever you DO, you honor GOD.

I am a Christian, and I have a very high paying job, and I did pursue an extremely hard to get career. But I am very careful that I DID NOT COMPROMISE my faith in God and my character to do so. Yes I have made mistakes so there were times when getting there that I completely ignored God in my life and didn’t read my Bible as diligently as I should have, but everyone makes mistakes. I do stick out in Bible studies because I do have a different life than most with the career choice I have made and the school I was able to attend, but this is what God wanted for ME. What God wants for you is different or it could be very similar. I am not going to run away and sit in a corner and rock back and forth saying, “I am scared. I must be poor. I must be poor, I must throw away my God given talents to go sit and babysit kids for $5.00 an hour even though I can do X Y and Z elsewhere.”

We all have a different place in this world.

I guess most people just put in whatever they have on them. I don’t remember seeing lots of big bills. They’d probably have at least more $20s if there were ATMs in town (just one I knew of as a kid, in the grocery store — and it hardly ever worked).

As with many beliefs, tithing is something that has definitely been debated by various denominations — and they’ve come to different conclusions. However, even for those that do not believe in strict tithing, the church still needs funds — to build and maintain buildings, to host events, to pay staff, do charity work, etc.

As to having wealth or not… I certainly don’t have a problem with having money so long as it is obtained and used ethically, morally, etc. However, there is plenty in the New Testament against being rich and for giving up what you have to help others in order to become a follower.

I found it interesting however that the Christian couple felt that having money went against the bible.

I’ve known many very religious people, and it is common for them to think that striving for money is a negative thing. So they give away much of what they get and they don’t seek “ambitious” or high earning careers. But if you did a poll, I’d guess they’d be more grateful for and satisfied with their financial resources than the typical non-religious person…