I am continuing the legalistic tithing video marathon for this week. Here is another funny video on giving.
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God Pie Tithing Video
I just posted a tithe rap video yesterday, and now I found another video on tithing. This tight economy must really be crunching church budgets. I’ve never seen such an increase in videos on tithing and giving.
Watch the video below to get your dose of legalistic guilt for the day.
Tithe Rap Video
Well somebody has finally done it. They made a tithe rap. { sigh }
Prosperity Gospel on Skid Row
An article from Christianity Today shows the recent developments of the false prosperity gospel teachers. Click on the link to read the whole article.
• In Fort Worth, Texas, a review board ruled December 7 that Kenneth Copeland Ministries’ $3.6 million jet did not have tax-exempt status. The ruling came after the ministry, whose 1,500-acre campus includes a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion, refused to release the salaries of Copeland, his wife, and others.
• In suburban Atlanta, Georgia, a sheriff’s deputy served an eviction notice November 14 at Bishop Thomas Weeks III’s Global Destiny Church. Court documents indicate the bishop, the ex-husband of televangelist Juanita Bynum, owed half a million dollars in back rent. The church has lost roughly half of its 3,400 members since Weeks and Bynum’s 2007 fight in a hotel parking lot, in which Weeks was accused of pushing, choking, and beating his then-wife.
• In Tampa, Florida, Without Walls International Church—which once attracted 23,000 worshipers—has shrunk drastically after co-pastors Randy and Paula White announced in 2007 they were divorcing. The church faces an uncertain future after the Evangelical Christian Credit Union began foreclosure proceedings November 4 and demanded repayment of a $12 million loan on the church’s property.
• In suburban Minneapolis on November 18, Living Word Christian Center pastor Mac Hammond won the first stage of a court battle with the Internal Revenue Service to keep his salary private. Yet in 2008, he was forced to put his private jet up for sale and cut Living Word’s hour-long television show in half to save money amid falling contributions.
Meanwhile, Copeland and the Whites are among six televangelists whose large organizations have been targeted in a Senate Finance Committee investigation into allegations of questionable spending and lax financial accountability. All six preach some form of the prosperity gospel.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/february/2.12.html
What else can I add that I haven’t said already?
6 Reasons to Debate Tithing
Many have asked me, “why tithing”? Of all the things to study and debate, why have I chosen tithing? Right off the bat, I don’t really know why the topic of tithing fires me up so much, so I found 5 good reasons to get fired up about the tithing debate.
The Love of Money is the Root of all Kinds of Evil
I almost said that money is the root of evil. I think I write that because my mind is always on autopilot. Money is not the root of all kinds of evil. The LOVE of money is. Sure, tithing is a good discipline to rid greed from those who are giving, but what about those who are receiving? There are many out there who are extorting God’s word for the gain of money. Many of you think about televangelists, but that’s just a few on TV. There are many more who desire more and more money to build more and more of their kingdom. Sure, many of them think that God gave them this vision to do this or that. Tithing allows them to build their own dreams and mandate others to pay for it. It’s not necessarily that they love money; they love what money can build.
Tithing in the New Testament Church is Against Scripture
Plain and simple and probably the most important factor that inspires my quest against tithing. I’m not going to spout out any scripture to prove tithing wrong. I’ve done plenty of that already in the past. I believe with all of my heart, that tithing is unbiblical. I do not have an ounce of doubt in my heart or mind about it. I wish i could take what i’ve learned and play it in a movie, or write it in a book. Words and pictures will not do justice to what the Spirit of God has enlightened in my heart.
Tithing Extorts the Poor and Excuses the Rich
I’ve seen churches investigate many members to figure out if they are tithing. If a rich man has been tithing, he is let go and forget about. But if a poor man is not tithing, and needs help or assistance in paying his bills, the church will first investigate his finances to see if he tithed. If he did, then they will check his spending records and make sure he isn’t spending too much on other things.
The church will try everything to get out of helping this poor man. They will show how he can spend less here and there, and yet still ask him to pay his tithes. They think no one has an excuse not to tithe. They don’t even realize that in scripture it was the poor who received tithes. What about the rich, why pick on them? They paid their tithes, didn’t they? Is a tithe really what God expects of them or is that what WE are expecting from them? Tithing is unjust and unfair.
Jesus Talked about Money More than any other Subject
Obviously, nothing has more of a hold on people than money does. If Jesus talked about it so much then it must be crucial. I’m not a financial guru. I flunked accounting in high school. But I do know that the flow of money going in and out of the church should be a much-discussed topic. Disagree? Don’t mark my words, look at Jesus’. He talked about it more than sin, heaven, and hell.
Giving statistics stated that religious organizations brought in 103 billion dollars last year. We have done very little with the 103 billion dollars and we complain that we could do more if only more tithed. It is calculated that we spend 85% of what we take in on ourselves. As a matter of fact, only 3% goes towards ministering to the needs of the unsaved. No wonder the world thinks the Church is greedy. It’s not because we are constantly asking for money. it’s because we keep it all to ourselves.
This is besides the point. How the Church receives its funds is important. If tithing is in place then people are not free to give to other places that God is leading them to give. Instead, people are handcuffed to an organization that spends more and more on themselves.
Tithing Challenges me to Study God’s Word
I will admit, I’m not the encourager or exalter in the group. I like to dissect things with my mind and find solutions to fix the problems. If i see a problem I will speak up. I won’t if everything is going right, I just expect it to. I’m very opinionated, and debates really fuel my fire. I love them. Am I contentious? Sometimes, yes. I try to work on that. I don’t like to pick fights for no reason. But I love a good challenge. There is nothing biblically wrong with wanting to debate God’s word. Your motives must be pure, and you have to be extra careful about how your attitude shows Christ.
Everyone has their methods to help them get fired about God. For some, it’s to look for those who need emotional help. Others, it’s to look for those who need some teaching. It’s all different for all of us. We are all wired different ways. I’d like to say that the greatest Christian is the one who is most balanced, but more than likely that Christian doesn’t fit in many places. We are different members with different things that drive our motivation. If we are the hands, then doing things with our hands motivates us. If we are the head, then using our thinking or leadership skills motivates us. We are all driven by different things.
So many People are Believing the Wrong Thing
This just hurts to see the number of people who are believing the wrong thing. I’m on a quest to help as many as I can to see the truth in God’s Word. If there was no one to convince, then I probably wouldn’t get into tithing. But it’s a challenge for me, and there are many who need help and do not know the truth. At one time I didn’t know the truth. You can read about it in my tithing testimony. It is great to hear testimonies from those who have been freed by the teachings of God’s word about tithing. I do not want to diminish the fact of giving sacrificially, but at the same time, people are locked up in chains and need to be freed from the tithing mandate first in order to truly understand sacrificial giving.
Holy Smoke Whatever Happened to Tithing
I finished the book, “Holy Smoke: Whatever happened to Tithing?” by J. Clif Christopher and Herb Mather a few weeks ago. This book is pro-tithing but has somewhat of a unique perspective on it. Although it didn’t introduce any new tithing arguments, it still gave a few bits of information for me to get into. Let’s get into the excerpts.
Malachi condemns the people for not bringing tithes, but also for not bringing their offerings. For the Hebrew people, the rebuke includes sin offerings, thank offerings, and a profusion of other offerings described in scriptures. Most tithing legalists want to praise anyone who tithes to affirm any additional offerings as acts of merit over and above the call of duty. They ignore the fact that the offerings were also commanded in the same breath as the tithe. If the Jewish tithes is commanded of all Christians, why are not all of the offerings mentioned in the Old Testament also required? Both tithes and offerings were symbols of Israel’s relationship with God.
Ha!, I said this was a pro-tithing book, right? I’ve heard many said in an argument that tithing is a symbol of our dedication to God, and yet they neglect the fact that every other old testament ritual had symbolic ramifications for worshiping Him. Tithing wasn’t the exclusive law that measured Israel’s relationship with God. Our obedience to any of God’s laws is a litmus test. The fact that pro-tithers single out tithing as if it is an exclusive measurement to test our relationship status with Him is proof that they have been brainwashed.
The appeal to tithing as a route to prosperity has had an appeal throughout history. It points up a strange Catch-22. Those who tithe tend to bring the whole of their economic lives under greater discipline. The cultivation of new financial practices based on sound values often leads prosperity.
Ok, let’s dissect this statement. Many say that those who tithe tend to be more prosperous, but the fact of the matter is that those who tithe typically have their entire financial lives under a great amount of discipline. In other words, it might not be so much that the tithe makes them prosperous, it’s the fact that their financial discipline spills over to every aspect of their financial lives. Even though this book is pro-tithing, it was still open minded enough to state the facts.
The purpose of rendering holy smoke through the regular discipline of tithing is to help us stay healthy enough spiritually so that we may be able to hear what the Lord ultimately wants from our whole lives. . . tithing helps us relfect on the most faithful way to use the remaining ninety percent of our income.
This statement is the pretty much the crux of their whole tithing stance. Tithing may help some to stay healthy but it may hurt others. The flaw of tithing’s philosophy is that it is a “good” principle. But there are better principles for every individual. Only the Holy Spirit is capable of personally tutoring each individual on how much they should give. Yes, the tithe is a “good” benchmark, but good doesn’t cut it if we are missing the mark of what God wants us to give. I’m not saying that tithing hinders people from giving more. I’m saying that tithing hinders people from hearing the Spirit’s guidance when it is given.
If we want to hear what the Lord ultimately wants from our whole lives, then we have to be accustomed to hearing how the Lord speaks to us. Tithing is a static law, that requires no communication with God. We don’t need to know where, when, how much, or why we give it. We just do it, and that’s that! There is no hearing involved until we get to 11% and then all of a sudden we’re suppose to know how to listen to God? Tithing did not prepare you for this.
What happens is that people are like “well i just don’t know what to give, so i guess i’ll do whatever everyone else does”. This is immature giving. Imagine if you gave to your spouse in this way? How boring and unpersonalized! Yet, we give to God this way. Kind of seems strange that God went through the process of restoring fellowship with mankind so that we can just ignore his counsel with our giving. Sure, many of you give tithes above offerings, but i would venture to say that you are just guessing. You are probably giving 11 – maybe 12%. I know this because this is what i used to do. I had no clue what being spirit led meant because i was an automated giver. I had no clue that God wanted to tell me where every single penny should go.
This is why the Church struggles so much today to emulate the early Church. The early Church understood and lived the dynamics of being spirit led. In today’s environment we give no different than pagans, who worship a dead God. We say our God is alive, and yet, our giving is automated and calculated as if there was sound proof glass between us and Him.