Dear Dave,
My husband and I are on Baby Step 2 of your plan,
and we’re working hard to pay off all of our debt. We’re
Christians, but would it be a good idea to decrease our
traditional 10 to 15 percent tithe while we work through
the debt snowball?
Janelle

Dear Janelle,
I’ve studied Scripture on this subject for about 20 years and
taught in Christian settings. But I don’t want you to take my
word as the final authority. What we’re about to get into
comes from God, not some guy with a radio show, okay?

When you look up the Hebrew word “tithe,” it literally means
tenth. Not 10 to 15 percent – a tenth. The book of Deuteronomy
says to give a tenth of your net increase. In Proverbs, it refers
to the tithe as first fruits, off the top, before anything else.
About 1,200 years of protestant Christian teaching has focused
on the idea that the tithe goes to the local church, because it’s
the New Testament representation of the Old Testament store-
house. The storehouse took care of the Levites, which were the
priests—or pastors—and the widows and orphans. Today, the
New Testament church in your community is supposed to use
it for the same kinds of things: pastor’s salaries and helping
people who are struggling.

Now, once we’ve said all that, the problem is that there’s enough
toxicity in Christianity and twisted information that surrounds
tithing to choke a horse! I want you to remember one thing,
though. God doesn’t love you more just because you tithe more
than the person sitting next to you. It’s not a salvation issue,
either. We’re not going to get into performance-based legalism
here. God thinks you’re cool! You’re his kid, and He’s going
to love you even if you don’t tithe. But He knows what tithing
does for us. It makes us focus on something other than our-
selves. God doesn’t need your money, but He does want us to
be loving and giving to the people around us.

I wouldn’t stop or reduce my tithe if I were in your situation.
When I hit bottom 20 years ago, I tithed all the way into
bankruptcy court and all the way out. Just please keep in
mind that you shouldn’t do this because Dave Ramsey gave
you a “rule.” It comes straight from God, and it’s a loving
father’s instructions as to what’s best for his kids!
—Dave

(switching to company debit cards)

Dear Dave,
I’m working toward eliminating the credit cards used by
my company. How do you get debit cards for employees
that won’t give them access to company bank accounts?
Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,
You don’t. The debit card is what gives them access to the
company bank account. At my company, we run an operating
account that several of my team members can access with
a debit card. I look at it this way: If you trust your employees
enough to travel and do business in your name and on your
behalf, then you’ve got to be able to trust them with money.

If you think you can’t trust someone, then don’t send them
out to do business for you. Better yet, don’t hire them in
the first place!
—Dave

For more financial advice, please visit www.davesays.org.

How to Cut the
Food-Budget Fat
Dave fans offer
suggestions for saving
some money but still
eating well.

The situation: A particular family of 2 parents and 2
kids spends a whopping
$1,000 each month on
food! Needing some quick
advice to get that number
down, the wife went to the community forums on My
Total Money Makeover.
com and asked for advice.

Here's some of the advice
this family received:
Leave Some for Next Time
We try to make meals that
will feed more than our
family of 4. This gives me
leftovers for lunch. I make
a lot from scratch and limit
the amounts of desserts
and such to buy. Also,
are you using cash? Our grocery/dining bill went down
20% just by using cash.

Lesson learned: Cooking
2 meals at once can keep
you from eating out because
you get home from work and
your meal is already there
waiting for you. It also never
hurts to spend with cash—
wait, yes it does. That's why
spending with cash is best!
For more...