Tithing (#22)

A guy I know approached me with a question about tithing. He had talked to a friend who had told him that he should tithe 10% to a church. This friend also told him that he should just trust the church in how it used the money. He was confused. As he relayed this story to me, he felt angry that the church wanted this money when he was giving to organizations that helped starving kids in Africa. The question this guy asked was whether it was wrong for him to tithe outside of church. Maybe you have had someone ask you a similar question or have been thinking about tithing. What makes this situation strange is that the guy who was asking me about this is not a Christian and was asking about tithing in prison.

My current job in prison is to check out recreation equipment to other inmates. It’s very similar to the job I had at the YMCA when I was 17. However, as an inmate, I get paid about $0.36 per hour. This non-Christian acquaintance works in the kitchen in the mornings. He puts milk in the milk dispensers. He gets paid the same amount that I do, which, for the record, is about $13 per month. Yet, he is seriously asking me about tithing 10% of this. Perhaps in prison is the best place to figure this out. I don’t know, but he sure was serious about getting an answer.

When I was on the “outside” I used to take my pay and roughly allocate it 10% to tithing. If I budgeted well, I could pay my mortgage, buy food, pay off the cars and have some savings and entertainment money. If I did that same calculation in prison (I have no mortgage, and a very limited need for money for food) I would need to borrow money just to make phone calls and pay for postage to send letters to family and friends. Never mind the occasional soda, shoes, and various things like paper, pencils, and toiletries I have to purchase. In fact, $13 would barely cover my toiletries for the month. Many inmates do not have a source of income from the “outside” to help them pay for phone calls, etc. They are dependent on friends and family (as I am) to send us extra money. My extra money goes to for phone calls and writing. I estimate that I spend $50 per month on keeping in touch with my family and friends. It’s about the best $50 I can spend in this place. But, my view of tithing has changed because of this 6 months I have been in prison.

Tithing in prison is, well, a violation of the rules of the bureau of prisons. You are not permitted to give anything of value to another inmate. This extends to families so having my wife send money to another inmate’s wife to give to her inmate husband is a violation of the rules. This does happen, but if caught, it will get one a trip to the “hole,” the segregated housing unit and other disciplinary actions. You may ask, “what?” The purpose is to prevent extortion, a legitimate concern in prison. Of course, extortion is very limited if it exists at all at a prison camp. But, guys do make bets and lose and need money to pay off the debt. My church here thought we had found a way around this rule. We created a tithing box administered by the chaplain. The box was locked, and only the chapel clerks (4 inmates) and the chaplain could get into the box. The rationale was that inmates were giving to the chaplain and the chaplain was giving the stuff to inmates. It was totally anonymous, to prevent extortion. However, the prison admin stopped the tithing box practice. The reality is that we still tithe. We just do so within our dorms. It’s a violation of the rules, but most of the guards don’t mind a guy giving a toothbrush, deodorant, a pencil, etc away to other inmates, which the Christians here like to do.

This may sound very giving and spiritual. But, there’s a problem. The non-Christians do a better job at it than the Christians do. Many guys come in and by the end of their second day they have shorts, running shoes, and sometimes radios. It took me four days to get underwear, pants, and a t-shirt. I had 1 set of clothes for 95 hours. I did get shower sandals and a soap dish from the tithe box. This was before the prison removed the box. The non-Christians, for the most part, give the stuff to get things in return, like favors (job assignments, bunks, etc), food, and various other amenities., and so they don’t generally give unconditionally, but sometimes they do, especially with little things like a toothbrush. I try to make sure new people have stuff, but generally, I don’t feel so bad for most of the guys. As far as getting stuff is concerned, most come in much better off than I was.

I try to take a certain approach with the new people rather than just giving them stuff. Most of these men have been torn away from their families, sometimes with little notice of when they need to report. They are alone in a mass of strange people and mannerisms. It’s a surreal experience, and one is really no more than an object, not a person. The staff generally view all criminals alike, as murderers. I have yet to meet a murderer in the camp, and murders, unless one tries to kill a government official is not a federal crime, but a state crime. So, they wouldn’t be in federal prison anyway. At any rate, the guards lump all the men together regardless of crime, race, or any other differentiation factor. Now you are just a felon. The other inmates don’t care either. You are just a new guy with blue canvas shoes and a t-shirt that doesn’t fit. If you are lucky, a Bunkie will help you out, but they may not become a friend. I’ve read that you can never really have a friend in prison (and perhaps you don’t want to make friends, I don’t know), and for the most part, this is true. But, I am finding that it is not always the case. Granted, most guys I meet, I probably wont’ talk to again (there are a lot of people here, and they are always changing). However, I believe this is because no one takes the risk to truly become a friend in the first place. I would like to change that perception.

The first thing I offer to new people is something like socks. I make sure to mention that there are no strings attached. As I said, many guys give conditionally, they say that there are no strings attached only to come back a few weeks later asking for something. I also try to introduce the new inmates to the people I already know. I don’t care where you are, if someone remembers your name the next day after you meet them, you feel like a person, not just chattel. I want the new people to get connected as quickly as possible. I view the giving away of socks as a tithe. I think it has a more personal affect than getting socks out of a tithing box. I want the new people to know that other inmates care, but I do want to new people to know who we are. They need to know that they can go to someone if they have a need. I think that is the beginning of outreach.

To go back to the guy who came to me with the question about tithing, we can see that I did not tithe to a church, or for the pastor to get a salary or whatever. My answer to the guy has nothing to do, however, with how the church will spend the money. Rather, my issue is that I want to see the affect of the tithe, what is it doing to build God’s kingdom. I enjoy seeing how God uses what we give back to him. I’m finding that watching how God uses what I offer him and seeing the impact on others is a very rewarding spiritual experience.

There is a passage in Luke 16 that mirrors what I’m saying about tithing (or giving). The passage is a parable, a difficult one at that. However, don’t get bogged down by it. The explanation appears to be summed up in verse 9 – Jesus saying, “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Note what it doesn’t say – there is nothing about saving for retirement, a bigger home, your kids’ education, etc. No, it’s about using wealth to build something eternal, that is, relationships. Jesus says use wealth to build the kingdom God, and you will be welcomed in heaven. Why should we spend our money on others rather than ourselves, well, verse 13 says because you cannot love both God and money.

Jeff