He discovered that she not only made almost twice as much money as she said she did, but she’d also been secretly giving it away.
Redditor Worldly_Ad9029 explained how the lie had deeply affected his marriage in a viral post.
His wife makes a living writing serialized fiction on various apps.
“I thought she earned as [much] as $8,000 every month. We’ve built a house together (we both contributed, but most of the cash came from her since she earns way more),” he said.
“Yesterday, I found that she hasn’t been honest about her income. She actually earns about $15,000 and a few times $20,000 (depending on how much she writes, how many people pay to read that month, and money from writing contests she wins).”
His wife, a deeply religious person, had been donating half her income to her church.
“She gives half of the money to her pastor because she has a covenant with God to always give half of her income as tithe,” he said.
The husband explained that despite his wife’s devotion to the church, he felt that lying was a sin.
“This is money we could use for so many other things. Savings, investments, and even trust funds for our kids (we have two aged eight and six),” he said.
“I told her to stop or at least reduce the percentage, but she refused.
“I got upset and told her that she was extremely foolish for this since the pastor was probably keeping most of the money to himself anyway.
“It was an ugly argument. She called me an [a**hole] who’s trying to control her and said it’s not my money, so I can’t tell her what to do.”
After the argument, he left home to get some space.
“I spent the night elsewhere and haven’t gone back home because I’m still upset,” he said.
“Another reason why I was so p****d off is that my wife breaks her back writing,” he added.
This is money we could use for so many other things. Savings, investments, and even trust funds for our kids (we have two aged eight and six).
Redditor Worldly_Ad9029
“She barely sleeps on top of [doing] chores because she has to publish chapters every day in order not to miss monthly bonuses, so for her to give half of that away is infuriating.”
Those more knowledgeable about tithing felt that his wife was donating too much.
“Tithing is typically 10%. I’d be curious about the specifics of this covenant and how much influence the recipient had in making that 50%,” said one commenter.
“But I also have a healthy distrust of religious organizations and the multitude of shady stuff they’ve done in the past.”
“I’d be curious about the specifics of this CULT… There, fixed that for ya. FIFTY PERCENT IS WILD,” added another.
Many agreed that the “church” was not what it seemed.
“[Tithing] is 10%. Not 50. Your wife is in a cult. And probably on the hook with the IRS,” someone else noted.
Others thought his wife’s funding of a cult organization was the least shocking aspect of his story.
“I just wanna know what sites [she’s] writing on. I could use that kind of money,” said one commenter.
“Seriously,” agreed another.