When my wife and I first married, we bought a chocolate lab. Without writing a very long story, that dog was very very very bad. There was a movie that came out years ago called “Marley & Me.” It depicted a yellow lab that had bad moments but eventually grew up, calmed down, and attached to its folks. Marley could not compare to Cocoa. Not. One. Bit. Cocoa was a problem child. This is a severe understatement.
Nonetheless, with our next dog, I was determined to study dog training. So, I read as many books on the topic. The most astounding thing to me is that most of dog training is counterintuitive. What you think your natural intuition is telling you to do when it comes to training is wrong. Dog training is the opposite of what you think, but the irony is that once you understand it, it does completely makes sense even though it’s against initial instincts.
Deception: The New Testament requires more than the Old Testament, so we should at least give 10% under grace.
Reason why: God never required less from Israel than He requires from us. God didn’t all of a sudden have a change of heart about stewardship. The tithe is a mechanical figure that was meant to be temporary. It is not representative of the 100% holy nature of God and was meant to be a token that Christ fulfilled.
Deception: How can we support the Church without tithing?
Reason why: We love the security blanket that a minimum requirement in giving does for our church bank accounts. The church says it wants to be led by the Spirit, but we don’t trust God enough to be sustained by the Spirit. There are many churches and organizations that thrive without the tithe. It is not hard to look at the list of churches that do not tithe and realize that this above is said in ignorance. This argument is based on fleshly feelings of insecurity.
Deception: Careful application of God’s word will always be subject to the criticism of legalism
Reason why: There’s a difference between rightly dividing the truth and being legalistic. This sounds like a Pharisaical excuse after Jesus rebuked them. This is extremely assumptive that they have the right application of God’s word. Haven’t you heard that careful application of God’s word will always be subject to the criticism of conformism? Playing the victim card also isn’t a good look.
Deception: Jesus came to fulfill the law not to destroy it
Reason why: Who gets to pick and choose which laws are fulfilled and what that means? To me, this statement can be one of the most shallow-minded comments. Did Jesus continue the entire law for us? Should we still sacrifice lambs? Fulfill doesn’t mean forgetting about it, it means that its purpose has been completed or satisfied. It does not mean continue.
Conclusion
The commonality you will find with these deceptive statements about tithing is that they don’t rely on scriptural analysis. They rely on what makes sense to the arguer. A common way to know whether an argument has value to it is to apply the principle of it across the board. For instance, take out tithing and replace it with another command such as circumcision, or the Levitical priesthood. I believe these statements sound good and have some common sense to them, but these instincts have bad results that result in bad doggies.
Am I the only one that cannot find any justifiable reason why the tithe teachers only teach to keep one Old Testament law while ignoring the other I believe over 600 laws that also bought a curse? Christ took our curse on the cross. The only debt you owe is thanksgiving and a Holy Life which is all but forgotten these days!
God bless you for this blog and well said to the deceptions you spelled out. Why are people so easily taken in, is it because they are not really reading their bibles. No one who has continued reading about the better Covenant in Hebrews or Galatians can be so blind. This only tells me they listen to their Pastor take one word out of context without studying the entire chapter from start to finish. Shame on The Theologians & bible scholars who are afraid to dispel the tithe myth, as if it is their sacred cow!
I don’t know how the Lord is going to do it but a severe famine is going to come on the false prosperity teachers for drawing attention away from free grace and the cross to themselves and the money they tithe. This heretical teaching is taking the attention away from the faithfulness and goodness of God’s free promises and what was accomplished on the cross. Jesus cleaned the temple of the merchandisers and there is coming a day when God is going to knock them all down like domino’s by letting them fail in every area they put their hands too. Just watch and see God clean His house again cause they are all going to be exposed for the charlatans they are if they don’t repent and stop selling the Lord’s free gifts and Gospel!
@ Beth, If you accept the Lord’s prophesy about wolves in sheep’s clothing, then you will understand the activities of these false teachers. They came into it for business (gain) rather than preaching the Gospel. They know fully well what they are doing.