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| Tithing |
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3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Tithing is Not a New Testament Doctrine
http://www.biblelife.org/tithing.htm
Tithing
What Does the Bible Really Teach?
What does God say?
You cannot give to God. As the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, He already owns everything. Your life, the very beating of your heart, is itself a gift from God.
The earth is the Lord's, and every thing in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1).
Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God, I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it (Psalm 50:7-12).
The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty (Haggai 2:8).
Or, who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? (Romans 11:35).
This rhetorical question is given no answer, because the answer is obvious. You cannot give to God with any expectation that God will end up being in debt to you.
There is a law of sowing and reaping and there are rewards for good works. But, contrary to the teachings of the prosperity crowd, you cannot act so as to place God in your debt.
God created the universe. He sustains it by the word of His power. He doesn't need your money, and He doesn't want your money. What God wants is you, and He wants you with a right attitude.
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| October 26, 2007 |
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Favorite passages
The tithing teachers try to prove that tithing was required by God long before He gave the Law to Moses. In the following section we will consider their favorite passages of Scripture.
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Genesis 14
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything (Genesis 14:18-20).
Ah, see, they say, tithing was a necessary practice way back in the days of Abraham.
But read the context which, in this case, is the entire chapter.
The first thing you find is that the "everything" in question did not belong to Abram. It was the property of other people, including Abram's nephew, Lot, who had been captured by the armies of several kings.
Abram and a small group of his servants had gone to battle against these great armies and against all reasonable expectations Chad won. Melchizedek recognized that God had granted this miraculous victory (v.20).
Notice Abram's statements in verses 22-24. He owned none of the property in question before the battle and, although entitled to the spoils as the victor, he refused to take any of it: "I will accept nothing belonging to you" (v.23).
Abram gave away ten per cent of other people's stuff, in a representative act of thanksgiving to God on behalf of some people who had been miraculously rescued from a life of slavery.
This was a once-only event. It has nothing to do with the now common teaching that you should give ten per cent of your gross weekly income to a group of professional religious leaders.
If such people insist that you follow the example of Abram in Genesis 14, you should go to their homes and take ten per cent of their property and give it away.
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| October 28, 2007 |
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Um, thanks, but.... I know I am not a very good writer. I copied that from a website. I feel like Moses sometimes. I know I am not a very good writer, yet God wants me to peach the truth anyway and to deliver those in bondage to false doctrines and traditions of man and be rivived and brought back to Him and to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Someone once told me that if God could use an ass, then they suppose and guessed that God could use me too. At least I preach the Truth and not fancy soft lies. I preach with boldness given to me by the Holy Spirit. I am a witness for Jesus Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I know you are too, you are a much better writer than I am. Feel free to re write my statements/teachings/blogs/comments anytime. I trust your knowledge of the Holy Scriptures for I know you know the Truth.
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| October 28, 2007 |
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Genesis 28
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father=s house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God=s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth (Genesis 28:20-22).
Ah see, they say, tithing was a necessary practice way back in the days of Jacob, long before the Law was given.
But read exactly what Jacob said in Genesis 28:20-22.
1. He made a vow, a promise (and there is no record in the Bible that he ever kept that promise.)
2. It was a conditional promise. Notice the five conditions:
IF God will be with me;
IF God will watch over me;
IF God will give me food to eat;
IF God will give me clothes to wear; and
IF I return safely to my father's house
(which didn't happen until some twenty years later),
THEN, and only then, can God have 10% of whatever He gives me.
If that is tithing, feel free to make a list of everything you want from God and once you have received it all, start making your once-every-twenty-year payments. In the meantime, on the basis of Genesis 28, you don't owe your religious leaders a solitary cent.
What was the purpose of tithing in the Old Testament?
There were four tithes in the Old Testament.
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| October 28, 2007 |
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1. The people paid a general tithe to the Levites
I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting (Numbers 18:21).
All the tribes of Israel, except the Levites, had a designated geographical area as their inheritance. But the Levites in return for their work within the nation received income tax of 10% from the rest of the population.
The Levites functioned as:
The Health Inspectors, The Police, The Justice Department, and The Education Department. To put it simply, the Levites were the Public Service in Israel, and they were supported by a system of income tax called tithes.
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| November 02, 2007 |
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2. The Levites paid a tithe of the general tithe to the priests
The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest (Numbers 18:25-31).
All the priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. The priestly caste were descended from Aaron and they had specific responsibilities related to the Temple worship.
The second tithe guaranteed the financial security of the priests, and thereby protected the Temple system.
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| November 02, 2007 |
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Hi Hope, In a sense I agree with you. in a way I dont. Yes new testament teachings teach that all that we are and all that we have belongs to God. But as you see in luke and in Matthew as well we are not to neglect the tithe. If the church didnt use the tithe as a bench mark for given, then most would not give at all and the ministries that are accomplished through those means would not get done. If we all did practice new testament teachings, then not one church in america woulds ever have a need for resources, including money to to be brought in to be ablle to accomplish the great commision. Thankyou for adding me as a friend, I look forward to reading your blogs and sharing ideas and even diffrences, in love of coarse. Peace be with you. Tony STEWARDSHIP Utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.
Old Testament Stewardship Stewardship permeates the pages of the Bible because how we respond to God is at the heart of the Book. Often, stewardship is thought of only in terms of finances, but the Bible teaches that stewardship is a far greater concept, involving how we respond with all of our life to Him who is the giver and sustainer of life?
When God created humans, He made them to have “dominion” over all of the earth (Gen. 1:26). Dominion was not intended to be domination or exploitation. Dominion was God’s call for human beings to be good and gracious managers of God’s creation. Unfortunately, the sin of humanity interrupted God’s plans for His world. Humankind became selfish, seeing the world as a means to its own self-centered ends. The things of the world were now seen as possessions with humans as owners, not as God’s stewards. God’s intention for His world did not change. He still desired that people see God as the Lord of everything and themselves as the managers of God’s creation.
New Testament Stewardship The call to absolute commitment to Christ is the central theme of the New Testament (Mark 8:34-36). Jesus asked for obedience to God’s original intention for the world. Jesus was calling for a radical reversal of the world’s values (profit) and a revolutionary return to God’s purpose (lose life for My sake). Jesus never seemed to be satisfied with a slice of the pie of our obedience. He did not rejoice in the tithe or a big offering as much as He did in the sacrificial, complete giving of a widow. but Jesus called all disciples to absolute surrender of ourselves and our substance to Him.
The early church certainly saw all that it had as a gift from God for the good of each other. “and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common” (Acts 4:32).
Of course, our economic system and sheer numbers of people today prevent this kind of complete sharing, but the amazing thing was the attitude of the church members to what they possessed. They saw none of it as their own. All of it came from the loving heart of God. That is why the sin of selfishness of Ananias and Sapphira was so serious (Acts 5).
The apostle Paul preached and taught a single-minded commitment to Christ. He reminded the Philippians that the source of thanksgiving was not in things but in our relationship to God in Christ (Phil. 3:13-14).
Thus, the New Testament concept of stewardship centers in our commitment to Jesus Christ. When He becomes our Lord, He becomes Lord of our time, talents, finances, and everything. We realize that we are not our own, but we are bought with a price.
Luke 11:42
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
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| November 02, 2007 |
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| By the way, I dont teach nor believe in the prosperity gospel. That teaching can only be taugh in america and a few other countries where resorces are of abundent. |
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