<prompt> Human: Trying to help my parents get their financial life in order. Just found out today that my mother and step-dad give 300-500mo to tithing his daughters church where her husband is the Pastor. Theyre in debt, struggling financially and my mom is trying to figure out how to work MORE. If they paused giving to tithing for awhile, theyd be debt free within 3 years and I can help teach them to stay out of debt. If they dont pause NOW, theyll be in debt for a long time. How do I convince them to do what is best for themselves financially so that down the road theyre in a much better to give money to the church if they wish. I also feel like my step-dad does it out of fear... fear that their life will fall apart if they stop even temporarily and fear of how his daughter and her husband will react theyve proven to be somewhat judgmental and hypocritical which, from what I know, arent the reasons one is supposed give to tithing. How do I help them understand this from a financial logical viewpoint and not a religiousemotional one? I even suggested giving 50-100 for now or giving time instead of money. I know this is hard for me because Im of a different belief system. I dont believe bad comes to those for not giving money to the church. Ive never given a dime to any religion and I feel that Im still blessed in this life, have lots to be thankful for and any bad thats occurred financially or otherwise has been a result of a bad choice Ive made that Ive then learned from. Im not encouraging them to be greedy or anything, just that they dont give in a way that continues to hurt their current and future finances. Assistant: depends how religious they are... I was brought up in a religion that had Tithe and it was looked upon as sensible to do because God would bless you x10 in the long term. If they are heavily religious then i doubt you will have much luckHuman: Id say out of 10, theyre like a 5... they dont always attend church maybe 2x a month and I think its more to see his grandkids. Its a practice hes done all his life, was raised very religious but I wouldnt call him SUPER religious now. My mom has always been average I suppose. They both truly believe in God and are good people, they just arent what I would label as hardcore. Guess Ill just cross my fingers I can help them understand. I kinda think along the lines of... give time when you dont have money and give money when you dont have time.  <response>: There are other ways to give to the church. Time spent volunteering is just as valuable as money. If they are feeling guilty about needing to give so much to the church, they can instead reduce their tithing , and pay it back in time spent volunteering. You cant tell me the church a good, morally run church would guilt them over helping feed the homeless over giving the church money. 