Lets talk about what the Bible says about Tithing. I think most of you will be surprised.
Deuteronomy 14: 22-29
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks
in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,
so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and
cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.
Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish.
Then you and your house hold shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.
And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
At the end of every three years bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
What? We are to keep our tithe for two years and consume it ourselves each year.
The way it is described above reminds me of Thanksgiving Day!
At the same time we are not to forget the Levites (the Pastor of your Church).
Every third year you are to give all the tithes and store it in your town to be consumed by the:
Levites,
the aliens,
the fatherless
and the widows who live in you towns,
that they may come and eat and be satisfied.
Sounds like Thanksgiving for them!
Churches use to use the tithe money to help people out, I really don't know what they do with the tithe money they receive. Pay bills and such. I know it is bound to cost to run a church.
I see two problems with the Tithe the church teaches though.
1. This Law is for the Jewish Nations, we or at least I am from the Gentile Nation and as such I am not under this Law.
2. The Church doesn't want you to enjoy your two years of the tithe. They want it all. What they do with it I don't know, depends on the Church.
But that is not what God said to do with your Tithe. At least not all of it.
And why would it be important to do what God says before you do what the Church says?
In this case you are missing out..
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks
in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,
so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
..so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
Set 10% aside
Eat Tithe not forgetting the Levites
In the presence of the Lord
and learn reverence for the Lord
So do you still learn reverence, if you give your tithe to the Church instead of you and your family eating before the Lord, I don't know I can't answer that.
At the end of every three years bring all the tithes or that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
And here again is a promise. If every third year you bring all the tithes, it says "and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Now on the third year you don't get to keep any of the tithe for yourself or your family, this tithe is for the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows that they may eat and I assume learn to reverence the Lord, just like you got to learn to reverence the Lord when you ate in the presence of Him.
However if you keep one point in the Law and do not keep them all you are guilty of sin.
So why does the Church put this burden on the congregation?
So what are some of the other Laws written in Deuteronomy?
Just to name a couple..
* Every seven years, you must cancel debts. Every Creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite.
*In the seventh year you must free any fellow Hebrews who have become your servant because he sold himself to you and has served six years
I wonder why the Church doesn't harp on these Laws. There are so many laws in Deuteronomy I don't dare try to put them all down here. Just note that if you keep the law of tithing you must also keep all the other laws in order to not be guilty of transpass (missing the mark). We are all guilty but for those of us who believe, we "plead the blood of the lamb" thereby covering our sins with the blood of Christ.
Deuteronomy 18: 3
This is the share due the priest from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep; the shoulder, the jowls and the inner parts. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and oil and the first shearing of your sheep.
So what do you think your Pastor would say if you took a sheep or goat up to the Church and said you wanted to make a sacrifice and he could have the shoulder, jowls, and the inner parts. He would tell you that was Old Testament and The Law and that we are no longer under Law. And yet he would put you under the Law of tithing for the 10% tithe they tell you that you owe to God (meaning themselves).
First Fruits
Another thing the Church or pastors of the Church will teach about is Malachi.
Malachi 3:8-12
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me."
"But you ask 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings.
You are under a curse
--the whole nation of you--
because you are robbing me.
Bring the whole tithe
into the storehouse,
that there may be food in my house.
Test me in this" says the Lord Almighty,
"and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
I will prevent pest from devouring your crops,
and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,"
says the Lord Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed
for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.
The Church wants you to feel guilt is why they bring up this scripture. Like I pointed out before I am not under this law because I am under Jesus Christ Law. Unless you are a Jew, you are not under this law either. So what about the promise it looks so appealing, but if you try to keep this as a Law you must keep all of the Law. You can still be blessed but don't do this because you think that you are under a Law. But what does God say to do? Take it to your town storehouse for the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
So what does the New Testament say about tithing? Nothing!
But we know that money was given, so lets check it out.
Acts 2: 44
All the believers were together and had everything in common.
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Then something happen
Acts 6:1
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,
the Gercian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews
because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
Romans 15: 26-27
For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution
for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them.
For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings,
they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
1 Corinthians 9: 14
In the same way the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel
should receive their living from the gospel.
1 Corinthians 9 (Whole Chapter) explains why you should give money
to those who preach the gospel.
But Paul does not talk about the tithe here.
1 Corinthians 9:13
Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple,
and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
Shoulder, Jowl, inner parts and first fruits.
And I'm not saying not to be generous with your money.
My point is that the Church wants you to be under Law in this one point but we are under Christ Law.
There are many blessing for sharing your money, God loves a cheerful giver.
