It is true, people have gone into debt and lost their homes and their marriages because they tithed when they could not afford to.
I’ve thought a lot about tithing and debt and whether God would be more honored and would rather have us tithe or get out of debt.
In Scripture, debt is considered like a curse. We are commanded to owe no man anything except the debt of love. Also, the borrower is slave to the lender.
So if we are trying to do the right thing, which would be better? To tithe 10% to God or to pay off debt and be responsible with our money.
I think that if you’re paying someone off and you say to them, I can’t because I have to tithe, it’s just not the right thing to do. God owns everything anyway. He doesn’t NEED our money, and we know that by paying off debt we are being obedient to God. And since we’re not under the Law any more but grace, we are not even obligated to give 10% because, really, we owe God EVERYTHING. He owns it all anyway and we are just stewards of it.
To me, I think that it would be better to concentrate on paying off debt rather than letting debt remain to people and *give* it to God and just give as you feel led, and stop obsessing about that 10%.