- If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why has the tithing law changed so drastically from Israel’s time to where we are now?
- Why don’t we honor the tithing feast in Deuteronomy 14?
- Even though Israel had gold and silver, and could barter, why were they required to only give food, but we are permitted to give money?
- Were the tithes used to build the temple or help with maintenance?
- In Genesis 14, why did Abraham give 10% of his war spoils and not of his own wealth?
- Why was Israel required to give less than 1% of the increase in spoils of war? (Numbers 31).
- The tithe was used to support civil and governmental duties performed by Levites, so why are we required to tithe before taxes are taken out?
- Is tithing a schoolmaster that has already BROUGHT us to Christ, or is it still bringing us?
- In Malachi 3, because specific portions of offerings were required as well, Israel robbed God not only of tithes but also offerings. So why are offerings freewill for us?
- Let’s compare these two statements:
– Where should our giving begin? vs.
– Where should we end our giving?
– Now, which answer should we be teaching?
Articles About Tithing & Giving
We believe that tithing is not commanded for the New Testament church, so on this site, you will find many articles thoroughly discussing this point of view. Even though we take this viewpoint, our philosophy is to encourage Christians to give generously through Spirit-led giving. We do not condone excuses to give minimally or to be stingy with what God has given us. He has given us each a unique stewardship path. We must teach ourselves to walk in his will and obey the Holy Spirit when we are asked to give. Giving is not a passive form of worship, so it will take some effort to grow into a proper type of giver.
Francis Chan on Tithing
Francis Chan is a pastor of Cornerstone Community Church who does not believe in tithing and gives 90% of his income away, and in 2008 it was reported that his church gave 55% of its income to charitable causes.
Does Francis Chan Believe in Tithing?
No. Francis Chan does not believe tithing is required. Here is his quote below
Francis Chan on tithing: “I don’t believe you are required to give a certain amount of your income. From my study of scripture, as I look through this, when I look at the New Testament; I don’t believe that we’re required to give this ten percent.“
Here is the whole audio of Francis Chan on tithing.
Rick Warren on Tithing
Rick Warren on tithing in his blog post did not represent scripture correctly in order to defend the tithe. You can read it here in his blog post. Or just read the excerpt below
“The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives.” Deuteronomy 14:23 (TLB)
Tithing is the spiritual habit of giving back to God the first 10 percent of all I make.
If I make $100, I give $10 back to God; if I make $1000, I give $100 back to God. I get to keep 90 percent, but I give 10 percent to him.
Why do that? Because God says so, and that’s reason enough. If you don’t do it, you’re disobeying God. But there’s another reason. Jesus says, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:21 NLT). …
… Today’s verse explains that “the purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first” in your life (TLB). If I say, “God, I want you to be number 1 in my life,” but he’s last place in my budget, that’s a contradiction.
The issue here is where you place God in your list of priorities. Your finances simply reflect what those priorities are. What do your finances reveal about the priority of God in your life?
The first item I would like to address was using the TLB translation of Deuteronomy 14:23. Let’s read the difference between the NIV and the TLB
NIV – “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.“
TLB – “The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives.“
The Living Bible is supposed to be a paraphrase of bible passages. This isn’t a paraphrase, this is a completely separate interpretation. The author of the living bible wanted that passage to fit his own version of how he saw God. Could you imagine what our lives would look like If we translated scripture into a bible that fit what we wanted God to be?
On another note, Rick Warren is incorrect of what the bible says on tithing. The first error is Rick Warren says tithing is giving back the first. The truth is that the tithe was not given from the first, nor the best of the increase. Please read Leviticus 27. Next, Rick Warren states that the tithe comes from “ALL” that you make. “All?” This certainly wasn’t the case for Israel. Only a tenth of increase from the fruit of the land and the animals were to be given. No. Carpenters did not tithe from their income. You can exclude any other occupation that did not include growing food or raising animals.
Rick goes on some more. He gives false reasons as to why tithing is required. The first reason Rick Warren states why we should tithe is that “God says so“. God said a lot of things such as you should stone your children, require circumcision, worship on Saturdays, and beat your slaves. No, I don’t think it’s the fact that God said so, I think it’s the fact that we think so. God never required tithing for Gentiles, never required tithing outside of Israel, never required tithing from anything but food, and most blatant of all, God never said tithing was required in the New Testament for the Church.
The second reason Rick Warren states why we should tithe is that “Jesus says, wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be”. What does Jesus’ statement have to do with a 10% standard? What’s ironic to me is that we are talking about putting your treasure where your heart is, and the example is centered around giving a measly 10%. How does giving 10% an example of putting your treasure where your heart is? Are we only devoting 10% of our heart?
My final comment is that Rick Warren says tithing teaches us to put God first in our lives. I’d like to know how well that worked out for the Pharisees since they were so good at tithing.
Tithing is for Pagans
If you believe in the doctrine of tithing and aren’t offended by the title, perhaps you should also read my previous post – “Tithing is for Sissies“. But before you tithing holy-rollers start bible thumping on me, put away your oversized, Scofield, leather-bound, red-letter edition, KJV bible. Here are a few reasons that should convince you heathens to stop your pagan, tithing rituals.
Tithing is for Pagans Who Worship Dead, Deaf, & Mute gods
We say that our God is alive, but we give to Him as if he’s dead.
Any religion can develop monotonous rules that promote giving. But Christianity is supposedly unique since we have a direct relationship with a living God. We also claim to possess the intuition to hear our God; but we continue giving in a systematic, repetitive way as if we have a God who is both deaf and mute. In this regard, We might as well chisel out stone statues and worship our god like every other religion.
Stone statues don’t communicate with their worshipers and make requests. Every religion develops their own way of worshiping their god, and Christianity follows suit in the same manner with our type of giving. We are given the opportunity to entertain requests made by the Spirit of a living God, but instead, we want to be led in the same way that pagans are led. We’ve developed ears that cannot hear, and replaced our God with stone lips that do not speak personal instructions. Monotonous, calculated giving is the method of pagan worshipers whose God is dead, deaf, and mute. Dynamic, radical, and romantic giving is proof of a living God.
1 Thessalonians 1 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
When I see the plate passed around in church it is much like watching people bringing flowers to a gravestone.
All cemetery visitors come with the same gift in hand because it seems to be the universally accepted gift for someone who’s been dead to us all week.
Next time you pass by the cemetery, take time to notice the hundreds of flowers laying out for the dead. Do you see jewelry, clothes, a watch, shoes, vacation tickets, or a pedicure coupon? No. Because giving flowers, just like everyone else, is the only way we know how to express love to a person who is not part of our lives like they once were. We don’t know what they want, nor have we been in touch with them to even instinctively understand what they desire. This is because they are DEAD! Our relationship with a dead person is one-sided. We can talk to them, but they don’t talk back. This sounds a lot like how Christians want their God to be. We want him to hear us when we need something; other than that, we hope He stays dormant to prevent something radical from affecting our comfy lives.
A living God may spontaneously ask us to give sacrificially which is why pagans prefer their God to be dead. With tithing, our calculations allow us the opportunity to protect our most valued treasure from being sacrificed. If our God is dead, then we should continue the same pattern of giving practiced by all the other pagan cultures. But the effects of a living God is demonstrated through dynamic, or random, or spontaneous gifts that reflect a unique and intimate relationship.
2 Corinthians 6 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Tithing is for Carnal Governments Taxing Secular Businesses
A business charges for its services and a government imposes taxes, so why shouldn’t the Church use tithing to support its own infrastructure?
Most believers operate the Church as a form of one of two entity’s – either a government or a business. The reason we believe tithing is crucial to Church infrastructure is because only a fanatic group of people would financially support a business or the government voluntarily. From our bureaucratic experience, we feel that taxes need to be imposed to pay “administrative” bills; and from our capitalistic experience, we don’t offer services unless we charge for them. At one point, the tithing model was beneficial for Israel. Their religious system was their form of government, and later on, with the adoption of a monarchy, tithing was integrated into their civil form of government as well.
I’m thankful to be in a country with such an entrepreneurial spirit, but the Church is not a business, and neither is it a form of government. The closest structure I can relate it to is a family. We don’t charge taxes in a family, and neither do we charge our services.
Matthew 17 And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.
We use tithing as if it’s dues to pay for our country club.
If you think I’m being ridiculous claiming that tithing is for pagans take a look at this article by the Northwest Indiana Pagan Association talking about using tithes to fund their organization. Tithing doesn’t resemble a born again, Spirit-filled individual. An individual who practices sacrificial, non-obligated giving is true evidence of an individual influenced by the example of his Savior. Just in case you think pagan tithing is just isolated to this one instance then look also at this website, and also this one.
The evidence shows that we don’t want to act like a group of Jesus followers. We want to act like a hedonistic, pagan, cult. If we say we follow Jesus, then, by all means, let’s do what Jesus did. Let’s give sacrificially, freely, and without compulsion. Instead, we’ve put our faith in carnal ways to pay the bills instead of using spiritual methods that require more faith. Pagans don’t have any other ways to motivate their giving. They don’t have a living God that gave them an example to live by. Neither do they possess the Holy Spirit to confront them about their giving. All they have to rely on financially are taxes, dues, and fees for their services. We have a way of giving that no other religion can rely on, and yet, here we are trying to copy the pagans.
Matthew 22 Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
Tithing is Barbaric
If you heard a story today of people sacrificing animals in a religious ritual, you would automatically classify them as a bunch of satanic nut-jobs. Yet, this practice, at one point, was done by God’s people. In the Old Testament, holy men were slicing the throats of lambs, burning them in fire, and actually smearing the blood on their house! If we saw this being practiced today, you wouldn’t hesitate to call this person a pagan, would you? Of course, we know Christ was the final sacrifice, and he paid the price so we don’t have to; but it seems that the only price he forgot to pay was the tithe.
Tithing doesn’t belong in the Church any more than slicing the throats of animals and spreading their blood,
but unfortunately, tithing apologists attached it as a rider to the New Covenant practices. Of all the many Old Testament laws in the bible, tithing is in the forefront of the adoption list. With mankind’s propensity to lust for mammon, I can understand why there are a few advocates for circumcision and just a few foes of tithing in Church leadership. Our spiritual enemy recognizes our weakness for riches, which means if the Church were to incorporate any one of the Old Testament rituals into Church practice, tithing would have the best chance of going uncontested.
Galatians 4 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
We use tithing like a charm hoping to ward off a magical hex that God could place on our finances.
It sounds like a bunch of tribesmen tossing tribute in the mouth of a volcano to appease the earth god. We’ve all heard that tithing protects us from this mysterious curse. What you may not have heard is that this curse was attached to the Old Testament laws that are fulfilled. There are many people, including myself in the past that have been constantly paranoid about this curse. It’s at the point where if your car breaks down, you blame it on that one time 15 years ago when you missed the tithe that Sunday.
You want to talk about paranoia, then speak to one of those people who rant about how they immediately withdraw God’s tithe when they get their paycheck. It’s as if their life depended on it, and for many of them, they believe that it does. Did God really intend our relationship with him to have paranoid responses like that?
One of the ironic things is that Israel didn’t give a tithe from the first of their harvest, nor did they give the best of the tithe. The tithe was given at the same time the rest of the harvest was gathered, and there wasn’t any quality control. Yet, we are so concerned about the wrath of God spewing volcanic ash, that we immediately write a check to God and make sure he doesn’t get anything less than the best. Even though Israel didn’t give the tithe from the first or the best, we act like a bunch of barbarians who overreact and overcompensate so a mythical, volcanic god does not question our allegiance.
I’m all for presenting God our best since He deserves it, but the former approach to God is unbiblical which means our relationship should not resemble that.
Some of you may think you believe we have Jesus’ sacrificial example, but you truly don’t believe that is a reason for people to volunteer their assets. Otherwise, you wouldn’t enforce tithing.
Acts 8 Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.
In Closing
Do you know what confuses me? It’s that we rely on small group leaders, pastors, evangelists, teachers, missionaries, and deacons to voluntarily offer their time and talents to serve God, and yet we lack the confidence that God’s Spirit can prompt these same people to voluntarily offer their treasure. Although tithing is a form of giving; you need to realize that tithing is also a form of receiving, and it’s those who receive that I have the most problem with. You can call them pastors, bishops, cardinals, popes, deacons, elders etc . . . but their tithing rituals are no different than the rituals of witch doctors, the wizards, and satanic leaders of any cult.
Luke 16 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
P.S. Read more in “Tithing is for” series
Tithing is for Pagans
Tithing is for Sissies
Tithing is for Dummies
Tithing is for Liberals
Tithing Confession
If you navigate to the website of Family Community Church in North Highlands, CA, you will come across their “Tithing Confession” page. here is the link – http://familycc.org/tithing-confession
Look at the ridiculous, and comical tithing confession below
Every single one of the blessings you can receive by the tithing confession is all about MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. This greedy, manipulative, viperous, prosperity pimp is downright heretical. If you give your tithe, now, all of a sudden your bills are paid off and your debts demolished!? What kind of nonsense is this?
One of the most annoying things about the pentecostal, prosperity gospel crowd is their arrogance. It’s just how they demand these things to happen if they just state it with complete boldness and proclaim “in Jesus name” at the end of their declaration. They are always trying to cast out the demon of debt (in jesus name) or the demon of poverty ( in jesus name). the only demon they need out of the equation is themselves. More money, More materialism, more checks in the mail, more gifts, more income, better job, bigger bounuses. ME . . . ME . . . ME. Does “more for me” sound like the name of Jesus?
Pat Robertson on Tithing
Listen to Pat Robertson’s response to this person’s inquiry below
Melissa: “Our family is struggling financially. We cannot pay our mortgage and now it’s getting to the point to where our tithe to our church is taking away from paying our bills”
Pat: “The bible says, will a man rob God. If you really want a blessing, be faithful with your tithe”
I’m sure Pat may be well-intentioned but this advice makes it OK, to rob your mortgage and utility company. And also, we don’t need to be faithful in paying our bills.
Why do believers feel it’s justifiable to neglect their debts in order to fulfill tithing. Since when is it pleasing to God that we do one wrong (not paying bills) to do a good thing (tithing)? Should I lie, cheat, and steal, so that i can tithe as well? Is it OK to default on my loan so my Church can beef up its youth program? Look, I’m not saying that materialism isn’t part of the battle to be fought here, but at the moment, the decision is whether or not you defile God’s name to your debtors, or whether you should make your church happy. Hmmmm, that seems like a tough decision.