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Dave Ramsey on Tithing

Who is Dave Ramsey?

Dave Ramsey is the most popular Christian voice today offering stewardship and financial advice. Ramsey is a NY Times Bestselling author and has currently written five books. His most notable book is The Total Money Makeover. According to Wikipedia, The Dave Ramsey Show is broadcasted to over 600 radio stations.

Ramsey focuses much of his attention on debt. Many families have changed their lives and vanquished their debt due to the highly popular Financial Peace University program.

What does Dave Ramsey believe about tithing?

RamseySolutions.com states, “The Bible explains that tithing is an important part of faith for those who follow God and that your tithe should be money you set aside first.” Dave Ramsey believes that Christians should be giving a minimum tithe of 10% of their income to their local Church.

Dave Ramsey believes tithing must go to your local church

Ramsey says, “Giving 10% of your income to anything other than the local church isn’t really a tithe.” I don’t know where Ramsey gets this declaration from because it’s not found in scripture. Tithing was explained in the Old Testament but there’s nothing in the New Testament that states where or how to give a tithe to your local church. During festivals, the Israelites traveled to far places to have feasts and celebrate using a tithe.

He believes tithing should go to the local church due to the interpretation that the Old Testament storehouse equates to the New Testament local church. This belief is in error because the bible makes no correlation between the Old Testament storehouse and the Church. The storehouse at the temple stored grain. Our church stores nothing. The storehouse in the Old Testament correlates to our storehouse in heaven, not the one on earth. 90% of the tithe never even made it to the temple storehouse. The Jews in Israel had synagogues much like our worship centers, yet, they didn’t bring the tithe to their local worship building.

Dave Ramsey believes you should still tithe while paying off debt

“Even if you’re in debt or walking through a rough financial season, tithing should still be a priority.” This statement from Dave Ramsey’s site is shocking to some. It’s very difficult for many people to make ends meet. I have read numerous stories of those struggling in debt while advancing further into debt because of their tithe. There are other ways to give back while getting out of debt. God looks at your stewardship practices as a whole. If you are in debt because of poor financial decisions then tithing does not make a wrong a right. If you are in debt because of economic circumstances such as expensive medical bills while living on social security, then you can find peace in knowing that the poor in Israel received tithes. You can read more about this in the article, Should I Tithe While in Debt?

Dave Ramsey believes tithing is 10% and anything above that is considered an offering

Many people equate tithing and offerings. Offerings are considered a very general term for giving to God, which includes tithing. Tithing is considered a subset of offerings and is the act of giving 10% to God to fulfill an Old Testament command.

Dave Ramsy states, “A tithe is a specific amount (10% of your income) that you give first, and an offering is anything extra that you give beyond that.” It may sound confusing that tithes and offerings are separate when I just explained that tithes are a part of offerings. It really comes to semantics. Many Christians like to say that anything above 10% is a freewill offering. Yes, tithing is a type of offering to God but that’s how many differentiate the two.

Dave Ramsey believes tithing is a firstfruit offering

Here’s a quote from his website. “Firstfruits is just a biblical way of saying that you should give first—before you do anything else with your money.” Dave Ramsey believes in setting your tithe away first before you spend your income on anything else. He also quotes Proverbs 3:9, which states “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.”

The Bible was very clear in Leviticus 27:32 that the tithe was to be taken from the tenth one, not the first, and that it didn’t matter if it was good quality or poor. I am not arguing against honoring God with the best of what we have. What I am stating is that tithing and first fruits are not synonymous. The first fruit offering is a representation of Christ. The tithe, which was given at a separate time, was not.

Dave Ramsey believes tIthing can be from your income either before or after taxes

After reading about Dave Ramsey’s beliefs about first fruits, I was surprised to read from his website, “Whether you tithe from your gross pay or your take-home pay is totally up to you.” This seems to deviate from his belief that our tithe should come out first. Nonetheless, why this question can get complicated is because tithing was used in Israel for civil duties, much like a tax, which paid for judicial matters and such.

If you are paying more than 10% of your income towards the government in taxes, then technically speaking you are paying tithes much in the same way that Israel was.

Tithing Is For Couch Potatoes

09/27/22 by Jared Brian Leave a Comment

It’s about that time again to write another article for our “Tithing is for….” series. Check out the list of other posts at the end of this article.

Tithing is lazy

You may think that tithing takes discipline and hard work, but the reality is tithing is simply moving the decimal places of your paycheck to the left and lifting your poor little fingers to write a check or click “pay” online. Tithing is lazy, thoughtless, and automatic.

What hard work have you put into giving to someone you love versus giving your taxes? Our taxes automatically come out of our paycheck, which requires little thought. If I wanted to give something to my spouse for our anniversary, I need to put a lot more effort into giving to my wife than I put into giving my taxes. If not, I will suffer the consequences.

Tithing is giving to God in the same way we give to the government. It’s automatic, simple, thoughtless, and effortless. Giving the tithe and the impact on your wallet is not painless, but the same goes for paying taxes. We wouldn’t consider going above and beyond the normal effort to pay taxes.

We do put in the extra effort, thought, and creativity for those we love. I love my wife, so when I buy her a gift I spend considerable time brainstorming, researching, shopping, and saving. Lazy people give checks and buy gift cards for presents because we haven’t put the time in to think about something more meaningful. I’m guilty of this lazy mentality more than I’d like to be.

When God gave to us, it wasn’t an automated, thoughtless form of generosity. Careful planning and preparation that required time and effort was put into place; so much so that he (almighty, omnipotent God) had to rest on the seventh day!

Imagine if God gave to us in the same way we gave to him – every person is only allotted 500 breaths a day and 6.5 ounces of food given once a week, and if God is feeling generous he’ll add an additional 1% to the total. This type of giving wouldn’t demonstrate his love towards us. Yet, we demonstrate our love back to him like a bunch of bean counters.

Quit being lazy. Start giving sacrificially and thoughtfully to others around you. This will require listening and some physical and mental effort on your part to follow through. Spirit-led giving will challenge your spiritual, mental, and physical stamina. Be prepared.

Tithing is boring

How exciting is tithing? I mean, really? It’s not exciting, it’s boring. What fun is it to give the same thing week-in and week-out? God does not want our preset allowance. Giving is one of the most exciting ways we can worship God, but Christians have made it the most boring and mundane.

We can’t come up with new ideas on how to give or who to give to because our job is to calculate 10% and pay our tithe online. Tithing prohibits us from interacting and communicating with others about one another’s needs. Interacting with others is necessary and exciting. It energizes and fuels our lives, but if we can show up to Sunday service and give the same, stupid, boring, monotonous gift while we sit in the back shadows, then we don’t need to fuel passion in our lives.

When we tithe, we don’t know where it’s going, who it’s going to, and how it is impacting others. There is someone on stage telling us, but there’s no personal or intimate interaction with those who are impacted by our giving. The giver is supposed to be more blessed than the receiver, but if we continue to disconnect ourselves from others through tithing then it will continue to be boring.

Tithing loses the spontaneity that the Holy Spirit offers. Spontaneity is not a bad thing. It is a powerful tool. Observe the disciples as they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to descend upon the church. As soon as the Spirit came upon them, it was a spark and a flame that ignited the first movement of the early Church.

The Holy Spirit will bring spontaneous moments in our life that we need to react to. In these moments we can choose to be the grumpy old men or women and be satisfied with our money going into the offering plate while silence is overcome by a solemn song. God loves a cheerful giver, yet our offering time is so boring when it should be one of the most exciting moments.

Don’t be bound by the sad state of tithing. Allow Spirit-led giving to drive spontaneity and creativity in our giving. Spirit-led giving is exciting and energizing. It will fuel our passions in our life because it will require more than mindless giving.

Tithing is gluttonous

Many people have been abused by the threats of not tithing. Some widows and poor have gone deeper into poverty due to the fear of not affording the tithe. On the flip-side, those whom God expects more of enjoy the fat of their land.

man with big belly with button popped on shirt

TIthing binds heavy burdens on the poor while affecting the rich very little. We don’t bother those who can give above and beyond the tithe because we feel satisfied with their performance. This is financial gluttony. How much we give us up to God. None of us can point the finger directly at others, but it’s obvious, we have greedy gluttons in the Church.

Spirit-led giving doesn’t stop gluttony, but what it does do is negate the false sense of sanctification we feel just because we hit our benchmark. With Spirit-led giving, we should constantly be analyzing our hearts about what God is calling us to give. Tithing creates a pinnacle of arrival that does a disservice to everyone.

One of the worse things about tithing is that offers very little financial accountability for church operations. Many churches and many programs within churches should not be funded, but because of the threat of not tithing, many feel obligated to give to these ministries that probably wouldn’t see the light of day if we could use discernment with Spirit-led giving.

A problem with enforcing tithing today is that the existence of a church or pastor would require people to give no matter if we agreed or disagreed with the decisions of leaders. The simplicity of it is that if I believed the bible required you to tithe, then all I needed to do was claim God was leading me to the ministry. The end of the story is that I get to freely follow the Spirit’s guidance while you as a tither must not deviate from the codified law.

This type of philosophy causes abuse and over-funding of ministries and folks who should not be funded in the first place. In turn, some ministries are gluttonous and over-funded, while those who could use charity are starving outside the walls.

Don’t be a couch potato giver

God gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and help us with our giving. Because of this close interaction with God, the Holy Spirit will challenge us in greater ways than tithing could. Spirit-led giving requires agility and spiritual maturity so God will place challenges in our life to help us grow.

These exercises are going to be hard work that tithing couldn’t possibly prepare us for. Get off the couch of tithing and start exercising your spiritual gift of giving.

Check out our other posts in this series:

10 Reasons Why Spirit-Led Giving is Better Than Tithing

09/20/22 by Jared Brian 3 Comments

Spirit-led giving is more challenging but it is also more rewarding and more beneficial. The evidence has already been presented showing how tithing is not required for Christians, but in case you are wondering in the back of your mind if tithing has more practical benefits than tithing, I will show you why spirit-led giving is better all around.

Spirit-led giving forces us to interact with God

Tithing does not require prayer with God. You get your paycheck and count 10% of it. There are no questions other than that. Spirit-led giving requires us to be in tune with God, his Word, and his will. Prayer helps us transform our hearts and prepare us to be open to what he says.

As a spirit-led giver, I would pray more often for God to show me how I can serve or give to someone or something in need. God desires a relationship with us, so in order to do so, he wants us to communicate with him. What better way to encourage us to communicate with God than to remove the legalistic script and encourage us to seek him for answers?

Spirit-led giving forces us to interact with others

If I tithe, I don’t have to go out and find where or who to give to. I can drop the tithe in the offering plate and the church takes care of the rest. I don’t need to communicate with others about their needs or build relationships that help me with that either.

Spirit-led giving encourages us to communicate and fellowship with others. If I am interacting with others as God hopes, then I’ll fellowship and commune with them which brings me to a deeper understanding of their needs. We were meant to share with others.

Tithing silos us into a corner that does not expect us to reach out and touch others’ lives. Giving to God’s work without understanding the church body is not how God intended us to be. If only for giving purposes, we need to have conversations and interactions with others to find out why God has allowed us to cross paths with one another. Many times it’s not about giving money or material things. Sometimes it’s about a word of encouragement or prayer.

Spirit-led giving is not constrained by how much

As long as you reach your mark of 10%, God’s wrath is subdued and you are off the hook. How many times can people give more than 10% but don’t? I am not sure the answer to that, but it’s more often than it should be. Between that person and God, they missed the mark. Spirit-led giving leaves the door open for us to continually ask if God wants more or less.

Spirit-led giving also gives you the liberty to reduce your debt. We should not tithe while in debt. Going into further debt to tithe does more harm than good. God looks at the entire stewardship package. He doesn’t need your measly tithe. He isn’t so powerless that his church will go bankrupt because of you. Spirit-led giving can improve our financial stability and help us contribute in more meaningful ways in the future.

Spirit-led giving is not constrained by who or where

When you are a spirit-led giver, you can help someone with groceries or a utility bill. During these moments, you have opportunities to minister to these folks in other ways through prayer or by witnessing. If you give to the same organization or pastor each week, our giving will become impersonal.

Spirit-led giving offers us the discernment to put our money towards more meaningful people and places. It’s important for our giving to touch our lives and also the lives of others. The giver is supposed to be more blessed than the receiver, but our giving is so out of touch and so impersonal, that we miss out on the blessing that God has intended for us to have.

Spirit-led giving keeps us accountable

If we are using our discernment while we are giving, we are keeping one another accountable to God. There are many leaders and organizations that are misaligned with God. If you believe that tithing is required directly to the church or pastor, then you are compelled to give your tenth to the church regardless of your feelings towards how the leaders are allocating the funds. This type of plan will produce over-funding, under-funding, or other misuse of funds.

On a personal level, spirit-led giving will encourage us and keep us accountable to plug into the people, ministry, and church we are supporting. If we are freely led to support someone or something, we will be more inclined to follow up or check-in. Tithing detaches us from people and places, so once we’ve given our money, we don’t support it in other ways.

Spirit-led giving brings more joy

It’s no surprise that people are happier when they do something of their own freewill. We lose joy with tithing because it’s monotonous and compulsive. The Bible says the giver should receive blessing and joy, but it doesn’t appear that way.

The offering time is one of the most solemn moments in church. I suppose giving is so serious because we force people to give a huge chunk of their paycheck while they have to go back home and figure out which credit card they are going to use to pay for the car repairs. It’s probably a good idea not to make too light of something when it is really hurting someone inside.

Spirit-led giving is supernatural

If I were to offer my son to pay for the sins of those who committed a crime against me, it would take a supernatural force to not only allow it but desire it. God did not tithe, nor was he compelled. His spirit-led form naturally works in this way.

Many non-Christians can tithe to their false gods. Enforcing a minimum amount on your religious believers is nothing unique. What is refreshing, new, and divine is the ability to give without being required to. All other religions have stipulations to encourage them to give while earning their salvation.

We are already heirs of God’s kingdom and a part of the family. God’s grace has already paid for anything that we owed. We give because of what God has already done for us, not because we need to earn his favor.

Spirit-led giving is not under a curse

Galatians 3:10 says that those who rely on the law are under a curse. Rid yourselves from the curse of the law of tithing. Just because tithing came before the Mosaic Law, doesn’t mean that it’s not part of the Old Covenant that was fulfilled in Jesus. Animal sacrifices also came before the Mosaic Law, so there’s no excuse to continue tithing because it was before Moses.

Some of us are cursing our finances by tithing. We are trying to achieve what is impossible. There were so many rules and stipulations regarding tithing that it would be difficult for us to decipher the correct way to tithe. Place yourself under the grace and liberty of Spirit-led giving. Scripture states that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Spirit-led giving always gives more

Most of us would agree that God values our hearts more than our treasures. When you give by the Holy Spirit, you are giving more than just money, you are giving your willing heart and mind. This is more valuable to God than just task completers.

Two examples in the bible that come to mind when it comes to abundant giving are both based on freewill giving by the Holy Spirit. In Exodus 36, the Israelites were led by their freewill to give to the tabernacle and gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop giving. In Acts, the early church was so willing to give that no one had a need. In both instances of abundant giving, there was no minimum requirement. It was all given out of free will.

Spirit-led giving comes with help

The Israelite farmers who gave a tithe of their crops in the Old Testament were on their own. God sent us a helper in the New Testament. Tithing is a lonely way to serve God. It isolates us from everything about him. God has given us a guide that is much better suited than the law was for Israel.

Tithing in Israel was a blanketed rule across the board. There were no deviations or personal applications. The Holy Spirit, who lives within us, knows us better than we do and he can help us. It is wonderful to consider that God is walking with us to guide us on our decisions. Many want to implement tithing to help immature believers with giving, but God already has given us that help and it isn’t tithing.

If you are interested in reading an unbiased and objective view, you can read the pros and cons of tithing vs Spirit-led giving

Should I Tithe While in Debt?

09/13/22 by Jared Brian 22 Comments

I’ve touched on tithing while in debt before but it’s time to revisit this topic. To directly answer whether you should tithe while in debt – the answer is, no. You should not tithe while in debt. We should focus on our entire stewardship path which includes spending, saving, and giving. I explain why this is important moving forward.

George Müller offers a lesson about tithing while in debt

I recently came across an article on George Müller. If you are not familiar with him, he founded an orphanage in England and helped care for over 10,000 orphans in his lifetime. He also established 117 schools. A truly remarkable person. We can learn a lot about giving and debt by learning about this man and his ministry.

George Müller launched his orphanages on freewill donations. Below is a story about a donation he received from a donor that was in financial trouble. His response is not like one you will witness in modern times.

January 1, 1840. About one o’clock this morning, I received a sealed envelope with some money in it for the orphans. The individual who gave it was deeply in debt, and I was aware that she had been repeatedly asked by her creditors for payment. I resolved to return the envelope without opening it because no one has a right to give while in debt. I did this although I knew there was not enough on hand to meet the expenses of the day.
https://www.georgemuller.org/devotional/january-1-1840

I often hear a question wondering how churches can be supported without enforcing a tithe. The answer to this question is not a mystery. Muller was a man who did not rely on tithing to fund his entire ministry. Thousands, if not millions of ministries thrive on the support of freewill donations. This is besides the point of the article, but worthy of mentioning.

George Muller lived on integrity and faith. He expected others to live their life with these principles as well. He understood that stewardship is a holistic mindset. Debt and generosity are not exclusive to one another. It’s important to understand that if God wants a ministry to grow, he will provide the means for it. He’s much bigger than your measly 10% that you feel guilted to give. It’s not about you and your feelings. God’s reputation is more important.

Is Debt Wrong for Christians?

Using the word “wrong” is too vague, since we really want to know if debt is a sin for Christians. No, debt is not wrong or sinful for Christians. There are no laws in the bible that explicitly command us to stay out of debt. The error on our part is sinful desires or trusting bad advice prior to the debt. Debt is only a symptom. We should always address the cause whether it creates debt or not.

We should not make debt the object of our focus. Some of us could fall into the trap of being lackadaisical in our spending and stewardship management because we don’t see any symptoms yet. Debt can be like cancer that could take years of poor habits to finally catch up to you.

The book of Proverbs offers a lot of advice and wisdom, but at what point do we distinguish between breaking God’s command and not following biblical advice? Proverbs 22:26-27 is a popular verse that comes to mind.

This is where principles come into play. God wants investors, not givers. Remember the parable where the master gave silver to three servants and went on a journey? Two out of three increased the master’s wealth, while the third buried it. The master rebuked the third servant regardless of receiving 100% of it back.

We all start off in this world in debt. Nothing we have is our own. We are borrowing what God has given us including our own bodies. With it, he expects us to invest in his kingdom.

There are a lot of opinions about whether Christians should have zero debt. I am just one of those opinions. If you have unsecured debt, then you need to focus on paying that off instead of focusing on tithing or giving. Part of paying that off is making sure you behave with your spending in general. If debt is costing you less than your investments are paying, then it makes sense to make sure you are giving before investing.

Overall, this is a very simple way of looking at a complex topic. Everyone is different and every situation is as well. The question I ask myself is will this decision improve the lives of others? If the answer is “yes”, then more often than not, you’re taking the right step.

Is Tithing right for Christians?

Giving 10% (tithe) is not required of Christians. Tithing wasn’t even required from Israel. There are many articles that explain why, so I don’t want to go into depth here. I do want to point out that the poor in Israel received tithes – they did not pay them.

Although we aren’t commanded to give 10% of our earnings to God, he does expect us to be givers. Don’t look at the requirement to not tithe as an opportunity to be stingy.

In the Old Testament, God required Israelite farmers and herdsmen to give the tithe regardless if they were in debt or not. This is not so for us because the Holy Spirit guides us under a different covenant. There is no absolute requirement to give a tithe regardless of your situation.

Tithing does not make a wrong a right

We cannot give in order to absolve ourselves from the stain of debt. Making sure your church ministry you support is in the black while you go in the red is unwise thinking. Do not believe the lie that you will be compounding your sins if you don’t give while in debt.

I assume that most of us get into debt due to foolish purchase decisions and not preparing for unexpected costs with savings. So, for most of us, the fault lies in us. Paying bills instead of giving money to your church is not an additional sin on top of poor stewardship decisions.

If you still make unnecessary purchases and also do not give while in debt, then it’s not the lack of giving that’s the problem. It’s a lack of perspective about what God expects of us as stewards.

Give in other ways

While you are in debt, it does not mean that you sit on your hands. There are other ways to give. Here are only a few:

Serve
Give something you own to someone who needs it more than you.
Send words of encouragement

We all have something other than money and possessions that you can give away. It could be knowledge, a talent, or a hobby that could be used to give. We are all functioning parts of the body. Giving money to your church so a few members can take on the entire job of the body is not how it’s supposed to be. We are all participators.

Get a plan to get out of debt

That’s it. Get a plan to get out of debt. Maybe I’ll write up an article on this topic one day, but for years of my life, I was in debt. Besides a mortgage on my home, I am debt free. I couldn’t express how much anxiety and stress has been lifted off my shoulder.

If you get out of debt, you probably wouldn’t need to look up articles about whether we should give while in debt. I’d like to hear stories about others and how they’ve been freed to give willingly and freed from the bondage of debt. Please share your story below.

10 Signs of a Prosperity Gospel Scam

09/07/22 by Jared Brian 3 Comments

It might be a prosperity scam when. . .

#10 The donation button is bigger than their logo

Being in marketing for a few years has taught me about conversion rates. When you have a website, you identify your #1 objective and make sure that your content and website layout all point to the goal you want your customers to accomplish.

#9 Everything is about sowing seeds

I am not sure what the obsession is with the sowing seed idea, but somehow it seems to be prevalent all throughout the prosperity gospel circles. My guess is that they want you to get your mind off of immediately seeing returns when you give them money. It could take ten or twenty years to see that acorn turn into a magnificent oak tree. So a seed now, but don’t expect anything immediately in return.

#8 You have to pay for their paraphernalia to learn the “simple” steps to prosperity

All the books, pamphlets, audio, videos, workbooks, trinkets, seminars, and classes just to explain the “simple” steps to prosperity? Yikes! All of that helps the preacher be prosperous. Whatever happened to hard work, good ideas, and investments to build prosperity?

#7 The website is colored green and gold

It’s so cliché, but it’s true. The prosperity gospel’s top color choices are green and gold. It’s one of the most hideous color combinations on the planet too.

#6 Receiving God’s blessings sounds like a sales pitch

If they are coming at you like an aggressive car salesman to convince you that God wants to bless you, then it’s time to reconsider sticking around any longer. God doesn’t need your monetary sacrifice to bless you financially. A farmer works hard in the field to grow crops. The hard work pays off and that’s where the blessing comes from. The amount of seed the farmer plants and the costs for the seed are minuscule to the amount of harvest that comes from it. Giving shouldn’t be painful, it should be cheerful.

#5 They display people showing off their bling

If you feel that you are on a casino or gambling site, but it turns out it’s supposed to be about the gospel, then you’ve found yourself a prosperity gospel scam. Playing the lottery doesn’t make you rich. The gospel isn’t associated with FanDuel. Feeding the flesh is not at all what we should be looking forward to.

#4 The usual prosperity preachers are on there

Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Benny Hinn, Paul Crouch (both), Janice Crouch, Creflo Dollar, Rod Parsley, Freddie Prince, Joel Osteen, Mike Murdock. . . and the list goes on. I get it – I don’t think preachers should promote poverty or living your worst life. Both sides of the poverty vs riches argument are wrong. Saying you should be somewhere in the middle is wrong. How you live your life and how God blesses you for it is not our focus. We are not in a contest about how much we gain or how much we give away. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s not about glorifying and enriching our lives. The more I focused on myself, the more I felt secluded in life.

#3 They say the Bible contains the secrets to wealth

It’s not a secret, is it? Work hard, build good relationships, and make good decisions. What’s so secret? Many religions and cultures use idols and icons in their homes as a charm to bring good fortune. The gospel is different. There is no lucky charm, prayer, or buried secret that will turn poverty into riches. God is not a slot machine or genie waiting for you to rub him the right way so he can grant your three wishes.

#2 They sound like a QVC commercial or liquidation event

If they need your money now, or if they sound urgent for you to buy their latest trinket, then it’s a scam. When I lived in Pensacola Florida, for six years the same furniture company stood out on the corner of a busy street holding a sign that said, “Going out of business/liquidation event.” For six years this went on. That was 17 years ago and I wouldn’t doubt they’re standing there right now.

#1 Prosperity preachers talk about money and happiness more than the gospel

The two words – prosperity and gospel should not be in the same sentence. It’s a prosperity message. The gospel is something else entirely different. Content entirely about your lifestyle, parenting, work, relationships, finances, etc. may have its place in our lives. We need wisdom, encouragement, hope, and inspiration in all areas of our lives. When God’s people come together to do what God purposed – to worship him; but instead find themselves focusing on worshipping the needs of our own lives, I see a problem.

How Can Christians Give Less Than Israel Did?

08/31/22 by Jared Brian 1 Comment

As we continue our ‘Tithing on Trial’ series, we will evaluate the most common tithing arguments used to defend its practice.

This argument is one of the tougher discussions to defend against. We live in a very prosperous world while living under the grace of God. Israel never had the opportunities we have had in our time. How can people living under grace, with a higher calling, and the Holy Spirit possibly be excused from giving less than the 10% tithe that Israel gave?

First, the facts: Israel did give less than 10%

The initial problem with the above argument is believing that 10% was the minimum Israel gave in the first place.

Israel was only required to give 1/500 of the spoils of war (Numbers 31). The Israelites were not required to give 10% of their spoils of war. They weren’t even required to give one percent.
Bankers, lawyers, and doctors did not participate in tithes because Israel was only required to give from the increase of their animals or from their crops of the land. They gave 0% from their non-farming occupation.
Israel’s tithe paid for civil duties. The tithe was a part of Israel’s civic duty and tax obligations. According to Zippia, the average household income in the US is around $87,000. The tax bracket for joint filers at that income level is 22%. Our taxes pay for social welfare, including food, housing, schooling, etc. The budget for the welfare program alone was 1 trillion dollars in 2021. According to Statista, personal income was 21 trillion. In summary, Americans are already giving ~5% of their salary towards one of the welfare programs that exist. This does not include sales taxes that are paid. Don’t get me started on business taxes. If you’re a small business entrepreneur, you understand the absurd amount of taxes you pay towards your civil duty.
Israel’s rich and poor gave an equal amount of half a shekel for the temple tax. Across the board, everyone was required to give towards the upkeep and maintenance of the temple. A shekel was about 7-8 grams of silver. In today’s value, that could be around $4-$6. This does not equate to the value of silver back then, but it gives you a picture. Regardless, the flat offering was across the board and was more than 10% for some and under 10% for others.
Israelites never tithed outside of the promised land. When the Israelites lived outside of their land, they did not give a tithe. God only wanted crops and animals that were a part of the increase of the land of Israel. So, a farmer gave 0% of grain towards the storehouse if the crops were grown outside the land. Please read more about why Israel only tithed on food.
Jesus’ own words to his disciples about ministry said, “Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 10:8). Although, his words are not direct proof, it does set a precedent and relieves us from some of the pressure to meet a standard that not even all of the Israelites had to meet.
Israel only tithed on the increase of animals. If their flock increased by nine animals that year, then they gave 0% of their increase.

10% is not a spiritual principle – it is an earthly standard

God never raised the standards of his principles in the New Testament. We can’t hold ourselves accountable to any of Israel’s requirements. Take a look at priests: they could only serve 25 years from age 25-50 and had to have documented lineage. These aren’t standards that any of us would consider universal principles.

God placed certain rules and restrictions on Israel because he wanted to teach a spiritual principle through earthly regulations. The regulations are not there for us to compare ourselves to. Do you realize how crazy some of the Old Testament laws are that we would find ourselves working towards?

If we can take the tithe and compare it with our efforts in the New Testament, we are opening the door to other rules and regulations for adoption. Where do we draw the line on which Old Testament laws we should supersede? Which laws do we ask ourselves, “How can we do less, serve less, give less, say less, than Israel did?”

God’s spiritual standards are repeatable and applicable across the board. If questioning how we can give less than Israel helps us uncover tithing as a spiritual principle, then this same question could be repeated to compare our efforts versus everything that Israel did. This self-reflection shouldn’t just stop with our wallets.

The question is flawed. Using it to confirm our doctrine may make sense in some instances, but we soon find ourselves realizing that this is a poor question to confirm New Testament practices. If it was a good question, we could apply it to everything.

The truth is that God never raised the bar. His principles have been steady and unwavering. It’s dangerous to base our theology or doctrine on qualitative questioning. How can we give less than Israel did? Well, let’s find out the facts first before we start basing our doctrine on unstable rationale.

You Be The Judge

Now it’s time for the jury to weigh in:

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