Should I Obey God … or Barefoot?

Hi Scott,

I am halfway through your book (my wife made me read it … thank God). We have $46,252 of high-interest credit card debt and no assets. For the first time I see a glimmer of hope of getting out from this noose of debt. We are following your book and I am going to trust it works, because I cannot see any other way out. The thing is, we go to church and are encouraged to give away 10% of our income. Should we use that 10% to get out of debt instead?

Greg

Hi Greg,

I guess this is the Barefoot confessional!

If you are really committed to tithing and believe in what you’re doing, why are you writing to me about it?

I’m not going to get in between you and your God, or between your bedsheets and your balance sheets.

Some people have criticised me for not being prescriptive enough … but I’m not the sort of person who likes someone telling me what to do.

So you do what’s right for you, your marriage and your God.

I’ll just say this:

Let’s say you’re both earning $60,000 a year. Combined that works out to be $8,000 a month in the hand, and $800 in the Sunday tip jar.

If you paused your tithing and put the money against your debt, it would save you $120,585 in interest, according to the ASIC MoneySmart credit card calculator, and get you out of debt in a few years.

And then you’d be in an even stronger position to do God’s work.

Scott