Not paying tithing...
 

Now that I have your attention, would it be bad to invest all of your tithing money from every paycheck into an ING account or other safe savings account bearing 5% interest or so? You could make quite a bit of money on the interest over the course of a year, withdraw all of the money in December to pay tithing, and then pay tithing on the interest that had accrued.

I suppose the only question would be, does the church need the money immediately or would the money be of more value to the church immediately than it would be to me? I assume the church has hundreds of millions in cash reserves, if not more, and doesn't need my meager contribution right away. Then again, if everyone did it, it could put the church in a crunch.

We only need to account for tithing once a year. Does that mean we only need to pay once a year?

Thoughts?

Interesting question. Now that I think of it, I'm not aware of any guidance from the church on how often tithing should be paid, though I assume some exists.

Since tithing settlement occurs annually, I would assume that you should pay one a year on your increase, as you define that.

Subject to someone producing some authority to the contrary, I see nothing wrong with what you propose.

I have thought about this before....

I ended up with the thought that the Lord could probably use the interest on that money more than I. But I don't make lawyer coin so I don't know. If I made alot of money then I may think different.

Then there is the whole "having discipline" thing to not dip into it in a time of need. That would be the only deterent for me.

I pay titihing once a year.....

I figure the money should work for me and the church, instead of strictly the church....

I know a fellow who pays tithing once every two years. His employer matches charitable donations, he saves his tithing money for two years, has it working for him, his company matches his donation to the Cougar Club, and a kid who has no business being in with the high rollers is now a big time booster....

The church doesn't need your money by the way, tithing should be a principle of sacrifice not getting money to the church as quick as possible...

If you are really smart, you pay your tithing every two years, (i.e. you pool 2 years worth of tithing into one tax year). The year you pay tithing, you itemize. The year you don't, you take the standard deduction.

Or if you were really sophisticated, you and a close friend/relative, can take turns paying each other's tithing. One year he pays his and your tithing, the next year you do the same.

First time I've ever heard that.

What exactly do you mean?

I thought about that too, but it felt more wrong to me, for some reason. I guess the yearly interview is what makes me feel like I need to pay annually. Otherwise, I suppose I could simply amass tithing for the next three decades and pay it all at the end, having earned a boatload of interest in the meantime.

The church won't go under or disappear if I quit paying tithing, no matter how much I make. The Lord would find a way to get through without the tithing I believe. However, I can assure that from personal experience, I can't make it through without paying tithing.

Ha! That is what I was thinking. The idea that I am making more money for the church by investing it and paying tithing on the investment is sound, but only if the church would not be similarly investing the money and earning more return on my money. If that is the case, I would be "costing" the church some money.

I really don't know what to think about this idea. Perhaps it is a question for the bishop.

Wow. You all have inspired me. I am going to put all of my tithing into an aggressive mutual fund or some other kind of investment. Then I am going to redo my will indicating that all principal plus 10% of the interest from these investments be donated to the church upon my death. The rest goes to my kids. :)