Should students or children pay tithes?

Should students or children pay tithes?

Posted on May 4, 2015

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth- Deuteronomy 8 vs 18

About three decades  ago, my Late father was furious with my elder brother because the latter decided to pay  tithes out of the N500 (five hundred naira) bursary awarded my brother by the the Oyo State Government.

My brother was then a student of the University of Ibadan. The argument of my father was that the bursary was not an earned income, and   my elder brother should have devoted it wholly to his expenses on the campus, especially when the family was then in dire financial straits.

Thirty years later, I faced a similar situation.  I normally send pocket money to my son who is an undergraduate of a Nigerian university. Yesterday, he phoned to inform me that he had spent about one third of his pocket money I sent to him few days ago (for the month of May 2015) for church related expenses, including of course, a tithe of the pocket money. The implication of e this is that, I have to send more money before the end of the month, as the church related expenses have eaten into his pocket money.

I did not know how best to respond when he gave me this information. I remembered the situation my late father faced and wondered whether my father (in retrospect) was right or wrong. My first reaction was to inform my son that if he decides to spend the money meant for his feeding and books on church related expenses, then that should be his own business.

But I restrained myself and meditated on the situation. Should I encourage my son to tithe from the pocket money I give him?

I finally decided that I should not discourage him. Though the money he is tithing from is not his earned income, it is a financial increase for him, for which he should remember his Creator in line with Deuteronomy 8 vs 18.

More importantly, it is good to train our children on how to tithe from an early age. When they grow up and start to earn income, they will not have any problem tithing. In any case, tithes should not be paid only from earned income, but an financial increase coming to us. So, in my son case, the pocket money I sent to him represented a financial increase.

In any case, I thought I should not discourage him from building a personal relationship with God.

Also as a friend  counselled, the underlying principle of giving to God, is an expression of God’s love towards God…and any child who is old enough to recognize that and wishes to express it should not be discouraged, but can be guided.

Babatope Babalobi +2348035897435

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