The 213th Christian Carnival is up at Jevlir Caravansary!


Part 1 of my series on tithing was featured in this week's carnival. I just posted part 2 of that same series yesterday. Check out the Christian Carnival, and then check out my series on tithing! And don't forget to have a great Friday!

This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24

Wealth can become the center of our life and take God's place. We need to remember that anything we earn comes from God, and that if we want to be proud of something, we should be proud and boast of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

In part 1 of our "The Bible and tithing" series, we talked about the perspective that tithing is a biblical requirement, and that all Christians need to give 10% (at least) of their income. Anything after that is a free will offering. For a quick refresher, see Part 1 here.

Today we'll look at a slightly different perspective, one that says that tithing is not a New Covenant biblical mandate, and that while we should still give, it is a free will offering and not required.

George Greene, on his website NoMoreTithing.org, says that tithing is not a teaching aimed at New Covenant believers:

Should we as New Covenant believers continue to try to obey all the Old Covenant laws? Absolutely not! If you don't tithe it is not a sin! If you are selfish then that is a sin.

So while not tithing may not be a sin, it is still a sin to be selfish and to not give. He goes on to explain:

There are a whole host of things we would have to start doing differently if we really wanted to start obeying the laws God gave to the Israelites. Read some of them for yourself and you'll see what I mean (animal sacrifice, death for cursing God). The biggest problem is that the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ would have no benefit for you since you would still be trying to obey the laws that all point to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

On his website, blogger Travis gives some historical background on tithing, and why it does not apply today:

one thing that constantly trips up modern-day Christians is that we fail to remember that the Law given to Moses did not merely outline a religious system… it was a constitution establishing a nation’s government. Thus, we need not only to discern which laws were sacrificial in nature (as Christians, we hold that Jesus Christ is our atonement and makes all other sacrifices—and thus all laws requiring sacrifices—moot), but also whether certain laws were governmental or sacramental in nature. While this may be a simple process with the laws of a “secular” nation, it can get difficult when you’re dealing with a theocracy.

My studies keep drawing me to the same conclusion: God’s eternal Law of Love compels us to serve the poor, but the tithe laws were a form of taxation, and served as the welfare system for Ancient Israel. Thus, these laws only apply to those under the Old Covenant living in geographical Israel.

Don Koenig agrees and expands on that idea:

There is not one word written about tithing in the New Testament to the people of the New Covenant.... The New Testament teaches Christians are to give from out of their heart - there is no percentage used. This only makes sense since you can not give cheerfully if you are giving out of some legalistic requirement. Some wealthy people should give much more than ten percent of their increase (tithe) and some very poor people should give little or nothing or even be aided by the church.

So based on the assertions of many of these sources, tithing is not a new covenant law, and to preach that it continues to be a teaching that Christians should follow is simply legalism.

So even if tithing is not a requirement, and don't have to give 10% as a strict baseline, should we still give? Again, Travis chimes in:

So if I don’t think the tithe applies to us today, does that mean I can get away with not giving anything? God forbid! On the contrary, I believe Christians are to “sell [their] possessions, and give to the needy” (Luke 12:33), but are not bound by a 10-33% annual tithe to modern-day Levites per se. The sacrificial system is no longer binding, but I am still bound by the perfect Law of Love: specifically, to “love [my] neighbor as [myself],” (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, etc.)

In Matthew, Jesus speaks to the teachers of the law, and talks about how legalism and man's law (specifically about money pledged to the church instead of to the needy), can be made to go against God's true intentions for his Kingdom:

But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' Matthew 15:5-9

So as Jesus recognized, men can often get caught up in rules, laws and regulations, and forget the true meanings and God's intention behind the laws. Their hearts are hard and they twist the laws to fulfill their own wants and needs.

So according to these and other sources, tithing is not required in the New Covenant church. It is an Old Testament law given to the Israelites, and was specific to their time and place. When Jesus died for our sins, we were given the New Covenant in him. Tithing was replaced by freewill offering, and giving from the heart.

In part 3 of this series I will look at the arguments from part 1 & part 2, and talk about what conclusions I've come to.

LINKS:
The Bible and tithing: To give or not to give - Part 1.
Are Christians commanded to tithe or is this requirement legalism?
Tithing, Giving, Sowing and Reaping
Are you Giving to God with a Cheerful Heart?
No More Tithing
Tithing - Defining the issue in Christ
What Does the Bible Say About the Tithe?
The Curse of Tithing
The Backlash Against Tithing - WSJ.com
Tithing and Financial Problems
Should the Church teach tithing?
Tithe - A requirement for Christians?(forum post)
Forum Discussion of Tithing

No matter how much you want, laziness won't help a bit, but hard work will reward you with more than enough. Proverbs 13:4

I know there are days where I just want to lay on the couch, play a video game and not do a thing. This verse tells us, however, that laziness won't help us a bit in anything we do. Hard work will reward us, and we will be given more than enough.

I logged into my account over at Mint.com today to look at our spending trends this month, and what did my disbelieving eyes see? One of my savings accounts has gone bad, and made a deal with the devil! Look at the balance in that acount:

Ok, I kid, but that is kinda strange isn't it? Maybe a sign that love of money is the root of all evil? A reminder that we shouldn't sell our souls to make money? What do you think?

UPDATE: This offer has been extended until April 15th. Click on the button below to signup and get your free $25 in bonus money!

This past week I signed up for a new money transfer service, Revolution Money Exchange. Revolution Money Exchange is a money tranfer service along the lines of a PayPal.com which allows you to send and receive funds online instantly to other registered users. The service is easy to use, and unlike PayPal it doesn't cost a dime to send or receive funds.

From now until April 15th, if you sign up for a new account for Revolution Money Exchange, you'll also get a $25 sign up bonus. To signup now all you have to do is click on the button below, and you'll be taken to the first page in the signup process. If you signup through my link, I'll also get a $10 bonus.




I signed up for and received my $25 bonus almost instantly, as well as several referrals for friends. I transferred it directly to my local checking account. Free money - can't beat that!

LINKS:
Revolution Money Exchange

Over at Gather Little by Little today they have a post asking this question:

When did you have an epiphany about your debt or your finances? How did you react to that epiphany? Are you still maintaining your progress to make a change for the better? ...share your financial epiphany!

While we have never been in a huge amount of debt, there have been times when my wife and I have overspent on our credit cards due to vacations, emergencies and so forth. While we haven't been huge spenders, we also haven't been as frugal as we could have been (and I suppose we still aren't to some degree).

I can't really say an exact time when I had an epiphany about our finances, but I know that one time that I really realized how important keeping track of our income and expenses better was around the time that my wife and I were buying our house at the end of 2006.

At the time the housing market still was on the high end, and the bubble still had yet to burst. The home prices in our area were pretty high, and when looking at the state of our finances, we realized that we were going to have to do some fancy footwork with our accounting to be able to come up with the down payment we needed. Then there was the problem of coming up with closing costs, realtors fees, insurance and so on.

For our situation to work out just right we would need to have the townhouse we owned sell for our asking price (or higher) as well as needing to have some additional income to cover all of our costs in selling.



To make a long story short, after much prayer and hard work we sold our townhouse for exactly what we were asking. At work I got a raise and a bonus, allowing us to have some additional income to put towards closing costs. In addition the new house that we were building dropped in price, and we saved some money right off the bat.

Only through some answers to prayer were we able to buy the house that we are now living in, but it impressed upon us that we needed to be a bit more aware of the state of our finances, and where money was coming in, and going out.

So our biggest moment of epiphany happened during our home buying process. How about you?

LINKS:
When did you have your Epiphany about your finances? from Gather Little By Little
When I Woke Up and Smelled the Coffee From Being Frugal
The Epiphany From Paid Twice

Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find. Proverbs 12:27

Be creative in the ways that you create wealth, be hard working and diligent. You will be rewarded.

If you're anything like me, there is always a time when you can use a little extra money around the house to pay off debt, save for a vacation or pay a little extra on your mortgage. So without further ado, here is a list of 5 ways to make some extra money.

1. Sell Things on the Internet: If you look around your house for a little while, you'll probably find a whole stack of things that you don't need or use anymore. Things like DVD movies, books, clothes, electronic gadgets, and a variety of other things.
   
   You can sell all of those unused items, reduce some clutter, and pocket the cash! From time to time I'll do this and I usually end up making 2-300 dollars each time, depending on what I'm selling.
   
   I've found that items like books and movies tend to do best selling them on Amazon.com, while items like electronics, clothes and other things do better on Ebay. Of course you can always sell things on Craigslist.com as well - I've had pretty good luck selling bigger items (couches, tables) there. We sold an old treadmill last month through Craiglist in our area, for over $300. Check out the links below for some more information about selling online:
   LINKS:
   How to be a successful ebay seller
   My eBay Method: 13 Steps to Profitable Auctions
   A beginner’s guide to eBay
   What doesn’t sell / what to buy
   Selling books for extra income
   A media collection purge
   
   
2. Get a Part Time Job on the Weekend: Get a part time gig at a local store, or start your own part-time business. Be a clown at birthday parties, or get your own local "sign" business going. There are alot of part-time jobs or businesses you can get involved in.
   
   LINKS:
   Be a clown!
   Start a sign business!
   
   
3. Find Something You're Good At, Hire Yourself Out Online: Do you have a special skill, or a hobby that you can monetize?
   
   I've dabbled in doing some design work using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, as well as some other design tools. When I set my mind to it I've actually done pretty well selling some basic logo and website design. I sell my services through another blog I have and through eBay.
   
   Do you dabble in photography? Try doing portraits for friends - many of them will be willing to pay for sittings since professionals charge so much. Do you enjoy doing video editing? Try converting people's home movies to DVD for family and friends for a small fee.
   
   Find something you're good at and find a way to monetize it.
   
   LINKS:
   My sources of alternative income, and how i make them work for me
   
   
   
4. Sign Up for a Cash Rewards Credit Card: If you don't have one already, sign up for a cash rewards credit card. Use the card to pay your monthly bills, and then pay it off every month. By doing this you can be creating cash back rewards for yourself, just by paying bills that you would have paid anyway. We get quite a bit of cash back every year just doing this.
   
   LINKS:
   4 ways to snag the best rewards card
   Use a cash back over a rewards card
   Get some cash back
   
   
5. Become a fashion designer!: If you've got a little bit of creativity, it isn't too hard to come up with a few pithy sayings, or to find a niche to create some t-shirts to sell on Cafepress.com. Just design a logo or saying in Photoshop (or other graphics software) upload the graphic, and you've got an online t-shirt store. I found one niche, designed a few shirts, and started selling t-shirts on Cafepress.com recently that end up making me about 10-20 dollars a month. Not much, but it adds up!
   
   
   LINKS:
   I play Kubb - Cafepress.com store
   Cafepress.com
   

So there you have it 5 ways to make a little extra money on the side. This list is only a starting point designed to get you started thinking about those extra revenue streams in your life that you can take advantage of. Don't delay - start today!

Don't forget to check the links below and above for some more reading on this topic - and if you enjoyed the post- please feel free to stumble me!

MORE LINKS!:
10 things to do to make extra money
Extra income
11 Great ways to earn more money

Do you find yourself in a situation where your credit history is less than desirable, and you need to improve your FICO credit score? If you’re like the majority of Americans, the answer is probably yes.

The median or average credit score for borrowers in the United States is 723, and over 60% have a score of less than 750. That means that most people will have quite a bit of room for improvement. Your credit can't be fixed in a flash, but you can begin laying the groundwork for a gradual improvement over time. Here are 7 things that you can do to start down that path of establishing good credit.

1. Get Your Free Annual Credit Report Once a Year
   
   It is important to keep a close eye on your credit. If you have less than stellar credit it can be a painful reminder of that when you check your FICO score, however there are several good reasons to keep tabs on your credit. You need to make sure that your information is all correct, that there isn't fraudulent activity on the card, and that you don't have any open accounts that you had forgotten about. If you do find information that is incorrect, make sure you get it corrected before too much time passes as it can be a stain on your record that can be hard or near impossible to get removed. Get your free annual credit report at freeannualcreditreport.com
   
   
2. Pay Your Bills... and On Time!
   
   This one may seem obvious, but it can be one of the major reasons some people's credit isn't as good as it could be. Paying your bills on time means paying ALL your bills, from credit cards and mortgages to secondary things like utility bills, rent and cell phone bills. Most of these secondary bills may not show on your credit history if they're paid in good standing, but when they fall behind, they can start to show on your credit report. Usually this will happen after they are 30 days late. So pay your bills on time every month, and after a year or two your credit will probably start to rise.
   
   
3. Find a Job You Like and Stay There
   
   When you are in a stable job and you aren't jumping around from employer to employer it shows lenders that you have a stable income, and that you're more likely to be able to repay a loan. Being with an employer for 5 years or more will really begin to improve your chances with lenders. Of course every situation is different, and it isn't always possible to stay at a job for that long, but if you can it will help you in the long run.
   
   
4. Stay in one place - stop moving around!
   
   Just like with stability of your job situation, lenders like to see stability in your place of residence. If you're jumping from rented house to rented house, lenders will often begin to wonder why you're moving around so much. Owning your own home can also be a plus, although if you have bad credit to begin with getting a mortgage may be a bit harder.
   
   
   
5. Get a Co-Signer and Apply For a Loan or Credit Card.
   
   Sometimes your credit may be a little too dinged up for you to get a loan or credit card by yourself, but you may be able to get a loan with a co-signer. You can piggyback off of their good credit. Use this as a last resort, and make sure you plan on paying back the loan on time (because you don't want to hurt someone else's credit). Try to keep the credit limit small, and keep a positive repayment history, and over time you can begin to establish that good credit.
   
   
6. Increase Your Income
   
   I know this is easier said than done but annual raises, bonuses and your overall debt to income ratio can be a deciding factor in whether or not you get a loan. If you can find additional revenue streams, get a raise or find other ways of bringing in extra cash, it can really help.
   
   
7. Decrease Your Expenses and Debt
   
   Even if you're not able to increase your income at this time, decreasing your debt can also be a huge help. Find ways of decreasing your credit card debt, while at the same time not adding to any new debt. Use the snowballing method to pay off your debts one by one. Your debt-to-income ratio will steadily improve, as will your credit.

Remember, none of these tips by themselves can get your credit back to tip top shape without a bit of patience. Fixing your credit takes time, and you need to be in it for the long haul. Your credit wasn't broken in a day, and it won't be fixed in a day either. If you're dedicated to the goal of re-establishing your credit, it can be done. So stick it out!

He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. Proverbs 11:28

This verse is a reminder to us that while we may strive to become rich (and there's nothing inherently wrong with that), if we trust in our riches, and they become an idol to us, we will fail. If we follow God, then we will flourish as a "green leaf".

A friend from church told us about a software this week that you can use to create an easy budgeting system at home. It's simply called "Budget" and it uses the tried and true "envelope system" of budgeting to keep you on track. From the website:

Money Management, Made Simple

Tired of living payday to payday? Can't get out of debt? Try a better way to manage your bank account(s). Budget is based on the tried and true envelope method of budgeting. It's a much easier way to see where your money is, where it's needed, and where it went.

Some of the features include:

• Variable Pays: Handles pays that vary in frequency and amount.
• QIF Import: Convert data from other applications, or download your transactions from a bank.
• Bank Account Management: Record checks, debits, and deposits, and easily balance your checkbook.
• Define Pay Sources: Set up your income to automatically distribute funds to various envelopes.
• Multiple Bank Accounts: Define as many bank accounts as you need.
• Credit Cards: Track your credit card spending, and stay out of debt.

I haven't personally used the software as of yet, but my friends have and they seem to like it quite a bit. Give it a try - there is a 30 day free trial!

LINKS:
Budget Software

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21

This verse is a reminder that while we may strive to gain all sorts of wealth, possessions and other worldly things while we're on this earth, those things are temporary and will only be destroyed by rust, stolen or taken away when we die. It is best for us to remember where our true treasure lies, the treasure that can't be destroyed. We can then go about building up our treasure in heaven, which means our hearts will also be there as well.

Over at hopefulspirit.com today, I've been included in the "Seventh Day" Blog Carnival for the first part in my tithing series, "The Bible and tithing".

Go on over and check it out, as well as a plethora of other great and insightful articles!

LINKS:
The Seventh Day Blog Carnival - 9th edition
The Bible and tithing

A week or so ago my wife and I were on vacation. While we were gone I didn't plan on blogging, checking email or even being on the internet. At the same time, I planned on blogging to my new blog every single day.

How could I blog every day when I wasn't going to be on the internet you ask?

Well, I discovered a way to write up posts for my blog in advance, and then schedule them to post on my blog on certain days. It would appear that I was blogging every day, even when I wasn't!

I'm not sure how all of the blogging platforms work, but for the life of me I couldn't find a way to do this with a blogger blog. Then I discovered a website called LetterMeLater.com. LetterMeLater allows you to write up an email, and then schedule it to be sent at some later time in the future. Because I could schedule an email to be sent out, I could then schedule to send emails to Blogger's post email address for my blog. To find your posting email just go to "Settings>Email>Mail-to-Blogger Address". Make sure you've set up that email address to post your emails as blog posts immediately, otherwise you'll just end up with a bunch of drafts when you return.

Because of LetterMeLater.com I was able to set up over a week's worth of posts, and never miss a posting day because I was gone. I'll be using this the next time I go out of town as well to make sure my blog posts continue uninterrupted.

There are other uses for LetterMeLater.com that I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of. For example, sending emails to loved ones on birthday's and anniversaries, sending yourself reminder notes, sending spooky emails way in the future after you're dead. Can you think of any other uses for a scheduled email?

LINKS:
LetterMeLater.com

The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. Proverbs 10:22

I was recently on twitter.com and I found a user on there called "Money Confessions". Basically it is a channel for Geezeo.com, an online personal finance manager, where people who use their service can make confessions about things they've done with their money that they're either ashamed about, or wouldn't tell anyone else.

This twitter channel made me think. Money has a strange effect on people, it makes them happy, it makes them sad. It makes them do things that they would never what anyone else to know, and makes them do things they never thought they would. So what are some of the secrets that people were keeping? Here is a sampling of anonymous confessions found on the Twitter Money confessions:

• I don't know what's worse, being 90 thousand in debt or you finding out that your husband put you in that debt
• Im 23 somehow making 6 figures, cant keep my lifestyle in check. spent about $60k in the past 5 months on cars, home theater, etc.
• My wife always talks about how poor we are. I hate that she thinks that - we have no debt except a mortgage. We have over 65k in savings.
• Ripped through my bonus. No savings. But debt cut in half 50%. Still, I feel guilty
• none of my coworkers or friends know that I'm sitting on $300k of savings at 28 years old
• I use ATM cash like it's candy.
• Every time I build up my savings, I end up doing something stupid requiring me to drain the account, ie tickets, overdrafts etc.
• i have to cut my credit cards to keep from using them, i cant just keep them in the drawer
• I've already spent my tax refund and I'm not sure how much I'm getting back yet.
• i love the feeling of saving money, but i love the feeling of spending it... i usually like the instant gratification of spending it more!
• I just spent over $1000 on a surprise party for my husband

So have you ever done anything related to money that you're ashamed of? Do you have any money secrets do you keep from your spouse, your friends, or people you know?

LINKS:
Money Confessions on Twitter