It’s sad how so may people view God as some sort of slot machine that will always give an increase over what you put in.
I was 23 years old when I was saved. I attended a Independent Fundamental Baptist church for years after salvation. I was taught to tithe 10% off my gross and I was taught that giving is anything over 10%. For years, I followed this teaching because I wanted to please God. I never wanted the money blessings etc… I did not want to anger God. When I look back to those days, I see myself fearing God for the wrong reason and I see myself trying to please God with money.
When I stated studying the OT tithe I was amazed by what I found in the Word of God. I vowed never to tithe. I give as the Lord leads me to give.
It’s a shame how so may pastor’s blindly follow this man-made tradition called the 10% tithe. It’s sinful how many manipulate people into thinking that they are commanded to give a tithe.
I really hate how the beautiful story of healing and redemption in the book of Malachi is thrown away in favor of twisted it to support a tithe. Those preaching a 10% tithe should ponder Malachi a bit more along with doing a study on the OT tithe.
David you should know that you are only hurting yourself when you don’t tithe. Do you think God gets anything from your tithe? Do you really think he needs it? No, of course not. It is only the acknowledgment of His blessing of life that he requires. If God’s will is that a church (for example) should grow, whether or not you tithe will not affect that growth. God will find someone else to give. All that happens is that you, unfortunately, will miss out on the blessing He’s waiting to give to you. Yes, if you can not give for the right reasons, than don’t. But it is completely biblical to say that tithing is something we should do. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matt. 23:23, “…you should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things” (NLT). The NIV says, “…you should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Besides, tithing is a form of faith that one expresses towards God, putting into practice one’s love for Him. Whether the leader of your church is manipulative or not makes no difference. That is between him and God, and tithing is between God and you, so don’t be concerned about what is done with your money. God will bless you for your faithfulness. No, it’s not required for salvation, nor is it required to live a Christian life, but it is something that everyone will feel repercussions of, either good or bad, in the next life.
Yes God is quite wealthy. Tithe is and always should be as need is made known and as God puts the urge on that need. God certainly doesn’t need my 2 cents to meet anyones need. But the balancing of scripture clearly reads ‘as a person thinks in His heart so is he.” So let God be our guide: His word and His urgings, but not feeling guilty for choosing not to tithe. Guilt is the wrong relationship connector. Don’t you think?
I for one do not believe that every preacher,pastor etc. Is ignorant regarding tithing.They are not all “blind.” Many of them have to much to lose to ever admit that they are wrong. God never started a system whereby one person is subsidized by the Body.Locally or otherwise,while that Body goes lacking or without. No person ever is higher than Jesus. You don’t see him subsidized by anyone. He alone was the supply for the apostles needs. And he PAID TAXES! Remember the coin in the mouth of the fish? The true “Church” is not a organization run like a business but a life breathing,life giving organ-ism.i suggest the reading of Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola. By and large the chuch has been following the doctrines of men for the past 500 years. But be careful because reading this book is not for the faint of heart.
No, He only started a system by which a whole tribe of people (Levites) were supported by the tithes/giving of their brothers. Further, once Christ started His ministry, how was He supported? Did He do carpentry work on the side? Not, that it would have been wrong to do that. The scriptures give us indications that He was supported by those who believed in Him. It’s like you’ve skipped large portions of the Bible that clearly indicate it is God’s plan for believers to support full-time ministers of the gospel. Whether you believe it is through a tithe or giving as you are led, it seems rather obvious to me that the Bible clearly teaches this.
Do you really want to use the “Israel” card? Really? So, you don’t want the blessings that come with those promises regarding tithing I guess, well I do! You can go on robbing God, that’s totally up to you, but then you really are cheating yourself of all of His huge blessings in return. I actually know about His return 100%, I’m going with tithing personally. I’m just sayin’…
You go on placing yourself under the curse, that’s totally up to you. You are just cursing yourself and missing out on the huge blessings in return. I’m going with grace personally. I’m just sayin’ . . . Galatians 3:10
Well, I found the video funny because it illustrated a lot of bad ways that people give — I expect that was their point.
I’m happy to totally drop the word “tithe” from my lexicon. I guess what I see as the “after that step” is that giving is determined by the individual doing the giving. I also see that most individuals are pretty cheap. I live in one of those top 10 income counties in America and it’s rather curious how income goes up and giving doesn’t really do much of anything unique or special.
So, a heart problem exists. Cheerful giving is rather poor. Encouraging people to have some flexibility in their budget to consider supporting things God might lead them to support is hard.
I think the church could do some good work in the world, but in many cases lacks the funds to do it. Less greed and more giving might help a few people out.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but how can you honestly think that tithing is an option? It’s one of those things that God’s word DOES command us to do, yet we think we’re immune to it?
I dare you — I dare each one of you — to begin tithing at your local church (assuming your heightened sense of spiritual right and wrong actually allows you such a luxury). A true tithe, 10% of your gross income. Do that with a heart of obedience and submission to God, and first, before you pay ANY of your bills. Do that, and you’ll see God meeting your financial needs and giving you favor in ways you can’t fathom right now. It’s one of those things that, if you take God at His word, He will show Himself to you. You will become blessed beyond measure, and people will notice. It’s not all about money, but when you tithe faithfully, God will reward your faithfulness.
Feel free to let me know how it goes — Zach.L@enjoychurch.tv — but be honest with yourself about your tithe. First fruits of your income, 10% out of your gross. Try it for a month; believe me, you’ll be surprised.
if you actually researched even a little on the subject of tithing in the entire bible; you will find out that giving from the gross income or your first fruits is not tithing. Leviticus 27 specifically states that Israel was told specifically not to inquire if their tithe was good or bad quality.
The second thing you will notice is that the first fruit offering was completely separate from the tithe. Tithes and first fruits were never given at the same time, nor did they include giving the same things.
The third thing you notice once you study is that the examples of tithes prior to Moses, neither Abraham nor Jacob gave willingly from their current income. In Abraham’s case, he gave from the spoils of war, without giving from his own wealth. In Jacob’s case, he wasn’t willing to give God anything until God fulfilled his conditions.
If we look during the law, the Israelite army was asked to give less than 1% of their spoils of war Numbers 31. Let’s not forget that Israel was not tithed on their occupational increase if they did not raise any animals or grow any crops in the promised land. That means bankers, lawyers, doctors, tax collectors and even . . . yes. . . even . . . carpenters did not give a single penny of their earnings towards the tithe.
Zack, i’m not twisting scripture. There is no underlying interpretation here. This scripture is plain as day. What else is plain as day, is you need to study tithing a little more deeply.
While I appreciate the extensive list of books reviewed, I’m not convinced I should read them based solely on those reviews, because they come from an already biased source. However, I’ll be glad to look up other reviews on them elsewhere online (presuming there are some) and check out what I can.
I speak from experience of one who didn’t tithe, then as one who began tithing faithfully. I can say that not only is my life and my relationship with God better since I’ve been tithing (among other things — tithing isn’t the only thing that my wife and I have changed about our lives), but He has opened doors for us to be able to give further into his kingdom by making offerings to other faith-based organizations that help the poor and destitute, the needy, etc. Our money has gone farther since we started living off 90% with the tithe rather than all 100%. We’ve also seen people’s lives directly affected in a positive manner through our tithes and additional offerings, and no amount of money compares to the change I see happening in those people’s lives. We ARE giving out of the leading of the Holy Spirit because now we have the financial freedom to do so (and no, we are not debt-free yet).
I just find it odd that people will look through Scriptures to find loopholes that they think allow them to keep their money and not give it to the local church that feeds into them and their families. If you don’t feel like tithing, fine, but don’t tell me it’s because God’s telling you not to. That’s what I’m hearing from all these anti-tithe arguments. I agree that tithing isn’t the only thing that can transform someone’s life, but I’m glad I’m tithing, because I can give more now than I ever could before I started.
Thanks for your testimony. i appreciate your heart and do not wish to diminish the effect your giving has on God’s ministry.
I want to respond to your ‘loopholes’ statement. At one time i believed that giving 10% of your increase was required. I had practiced and believed in tithing since my very first paycheck. Until someone had confronted me about whether tithing was required, i had never questioned it before. i began to study scripture to prove that tithing was required. I thought the person that confronted me was a fool and was misled about scripture.
But the more i studied scripture, the more i realized that i was wrong about tithing. It took me a long time to really bow to the truth. Tithing was ingrained in my DNA. My parents had done it, i had done it, my family had done it, my church has done it, other churches have done it, my denomination follows it, etc.
It was not easy to persuade me. I had this crazy cycle going inside my head after i changed my view on tithing. New doubts and new questions about my new-found belief would spring up, so i would go back to scripture and restudy. After studying, scripture would confirm my new beliefs and i would be fine for some time. But, after some more time passed, i once again would question it, and then go back to scripture to re-study it. I did this over and over again because i could not let go of tithing.
I tried hard to defend tithing. Every decision i made in studying scripture was made to fortify my belief that tithing was required.
My goal is not to discourage people from giving generously. I wish to free people from the bondage of tithing, but just like when you free someone from their chains, some will perform good works to show they appreciate freedom and others will only want to take advantage of it. We shouldn’t fight liberty, we should fight our fear of it.
Zach ,
Do you know that the Jews do not tithe now because they say that there are no Levites here on earth ? I contacted Synagoues and they clearly explained that no Levites means no tithes and they only collected food and animals in the past grown and raised within Israel.
Its funny Gentiles have found a way to defraud people by misinterpreting the bible .I can not deny the fact that its a fast way of making money from uninformed christians who are too lazy to study the bible .
It never stops. They are getting increasingly creative with manipulation.
.-= David´s last blog .."Such as…" (still funny 3 years later) =-.
It’s sad how so may people view God as some sort of slot machine that will always give an increase over what you put in.
I was 23 years old when I was saved. I attended a Independent Fundamental Baptist church for years after salvation. I was taught to tithe 10% off my gross and I was taught that giving is anything over 10%. For years, I followed this teaching because I wanted to please God. I never wanted the money blessings etc… I did not want to anger God. When I look back to those days, I see myself fearing God for the wrong reason and I see myself trying to please God with money.
When I stated studying the OT tithe I was amazed by what I found in the Word of God. I vowed never to tithe. I give as the Lord leads me to give.
It’s a shame how so may pastor’s blindly follow this man-made tradition called the 10% tithe. It’s sinful how many manipulate people into thinking that they are commanded to give a tithe.
I really hate how the beautiful story of healing and redemption in the book of Malachi is thrown away in favor of twisted it to support a tithe. Those preaching a 10% tithe should ponder Malachi a bit more along with doing a study on the OT tithe.
David you should know that you are only hurting yourself when you don’t tithe. Do you think God gets anything from your tithe? Do you really think he needs it? No, of course not. It is only the acknowledgment of His blessing of life that he requires. If God’s will is that a church (for example) should grow, whether or not you tithe will not affect that growth. God will find someone else to give. All that happens is that you, unfortunately, will miss out on the blessing He’s waiting to give to you. Yes, if you can not give for the right reasons, than don’t. But it is completely biblical to say that tithing is something we should do. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matt. 23:23, “…you should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things” (NLT). The NIV says, “…you should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Besides, tithing is a form of faith that one expresses towards God, putting into practice one’s love for Him. Whether the leader of your church is manipulative or not makes no difference. That is between him and God, and tithing is between God and you, so don’t be concerned about what is done with your money. God will bless you for your faithfulness. No, it’s not required for salvation, nor is it required to live a Christian life, but it is something that everyone will feel repercussions of, either good or bad, in the next life.
Yes God is quite wealthy. Tithe is and always should be as need is made known and as God puts the urge on that need. God certainly doesn’t need my 2 cents to meet anyones need. But the balancing of scripture clearly reads ‘as a person thinks in His heart so is he.” So let God be our guide: His word and His urgings, but not feeling guilty for choosing not to tithe. Guilt is the wrong relationship connector. Don’t you think?
I for one do not believe that every preacher,pastor etc. Is ignorant regarding tithing.They are not all “blind.” Many of them have to much to lose to ever admit that they are wrong. God never started a system whereby one person is subsidized by the Body.Locally or otherwise,while that Body goes lacking or without. No person ever is higher than Jesus. You don’t see him subsidized by anyone. He alone was the supply for the apostles needs. And he PAID TAXES! Remember the coin in the mouth of the fish? The true “Church” is not a organization run like a business but a life breathing,life giving organ-ism.i suggest the reading of Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola. By and large the chuch has been following the doctrines of men for the past 500 years. But be careful because reading this book is not for the faint of heart.
No, He only started a system by which a whole tribe of people (Levites) were supported by the tithes/giving of their brothers. Further, once Christ started His ministry, how was He supported? Did He do carpentry work on the side? Not, that it would have been wrong to do that. The scriptures give us indications that He was supported by those who believed in Him. It’s like you’ve skipped large portions of the Bible that clearly indicate it is God’s plan for believers to support full-time ministers of the gospel. Whether you believe it is through a tithe or giving as you are led, it seems rather obvious to me that the Bible clearly teaches this.
Yeah, very interesting. Tithing was a command given under the law of Moses to ISRAEL ONLY.
Do you really want to use the “Israel” card? Really? So, you don’t want the blessings that come with those promises regarding tithing I guess, well I do! You can go on robbing God, that’s totally up to you, but then you really are cheating yourself of all of His huge blessings in return. I actually know about His return 100%, I’m going with tithing personally. I’m just sayin’…
You go on placing yourself under the curse, that’s totally up to you. You are just cursing yourself and missing out on the huge blessings in return. I’m going with grace personally. I’m just sayin’ . . . Galatians 3:10
Well, I found the video funny because it illustrated a lot of bad ways that people give — I expect that was their point.
I’m happy to totally drop the word “tithe” from my lexicon. I guess what I see as the “after that step” is that giving is determined by the individual doing the giving. I also see that most individuals are pretty cheap. I live in one of those top 10 income counties in America and it’s rather curious how income goes up and giving doesn’t really do much of anything unique or special.
So, a heart problem exists. Cheerful giving is rather poor. Encouraging people to have some flexibility in their budget to consider supporting things God might lead them to support is hard.
I think the church could do some good work in the world, but in many cases lacks the funds to do it. Less greed and more giving might help a few people out.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but how can you honestly think that tithing is an option? It’s one of those things that God’s word DOES command us to do, yet we think we’re immune to it?
I dare you — I dare each one of you — to begin tithing at your local church (assuming your heightened sense of spiritual right and wrong actually allows you such a luxury). A true tithe, 10% of your gross income. Do that with a heart of obedience and submission to God, and first, before you pay ANY of your bills. Do that, and you’ll see God meeting your financial needs and giving you favor in ways you can’t fathom right now. It’s one of those things that, if you take God at His word, He will show Himself to you. You will become blessed beyond measure, and people will notice. It’s not all about money, but when you tithe faithfully, God will reward your faithfulness.
Feel free to let me know how it goes — Zach.L@enjoychurch.tv — but be honest with yourself about your tithe. First fruits of your income, 10% out of your gross. Try it for a month; believe me, you’ll be surprised.
Zach,
if you actually researched even a little on the subject of tithing in the entire bible; you will find out that giving from the gross income or your first fruits is not tithing. Leviticus 27 specifically states that Israel was told specifically not to inquire if their tithe was good or bad quality.
The second thing you will notice is that the first fruit offering was completely separate from the tithe. Tithes and first fruits were never given at the same time, nor did they include giving the same things.
The third thing you notice once you study is that the examples of tithes prior to Moses, neither Abraham nor Jacob gave willingly from their current income. In Abraham’s case, he gave from the spoils of war, without giving from his own wealth. In Jacob’s case, he wasn’t willing to give God anything until God fulfilled his conditions.
If we look during the law, the Israelite army was asked to give less than 1% of their spoils of war Numbers 31. Let’s not forget that Israel was not tithed on their occupational increase if they did not raise any animals or grow any crops in the promised land. That means bankers, lawyers, doctors, tax collectors and even . . . yes. . . even . . . carpenters did not give a single penny of their earnings towards the tithe.
Zack, i’m not twisting scripture. There is no underlying interpretation here. This scripture is plain as day. What else is plain as day, is you need to study tithing a little more deeply.
Please review the “books” section of this blog to read books that will give you a deeper understanding of what scripture truly says about giving. https://www.tithing.com/blog/category/books-on-tithing-stewardship-and-finances/
– jared
While I appreciate the extensive list of books reviewed, I’m not convinced I should read them based solely on those reviews, because they come from an already biased source. However, I’ll be glad to look up other reviews on them elsewhere online (presuming there are some) and check out what I can.
I speak from experience of one who didn’t tithe, then as one who began tithing faithfully. I can say that not only is my life and my relationship with God better since I’ve been tithing (among other things — tithing isn’t the only thing that my wife and I have changed about our lives), but He has opened doors for us to be able to give further into his kingdom by making offerings to other faith-based organizations that help the poor and destitute, the needy, etc. Our money has gone farther since we started living off 90% with the tithe rather than all 100%. We’ve also seen people’s lives directly affected in a positive manner through our tithes and additional offerings, and no amount of money compares to the change I see happening in those people’s lives. We ARE giving out of the leading of the Holy Spirit because now we have the financial freedom to do so (and no, we are not debt-free yet).
I just find it odd that people will look through Scriptures to find loopholes that they think allow them to keep their money and not give it to the local church that feeds into them and their families. If you don’t feel like tithing, fine, but don’t tell me it’s because God’s telling you not to. That’s what I’m hearing from all these anti-tithe arguments. I agree that tithing isn’t the only thing that can transform someone’s life, but I’m glad I’m tithing, because I can give more now than I ever could before I started.
Zach,
Thanks for your testimony. i appreciate your heart and do not wish to diminish the effect your giving has on God’s ministry.
I want to respond to your ‘loopholes’ statement. At one time i believed that giving 10% of your increase was required. I had practiced and believed in tithing since my very first paycheck. Until someone had confronted me about whether tithing was required, i had never questioned it before. i began to study scripture to prove that tithing was required. I thought the person that confronted me was a fool and was misled about scripture.
But the more i studied scripture, the more i realized that i was wrong about tithing. It took me a long time to really bow to the truth. Tithing was ingrained in my DNA. My parents had done it, i had done it, my family had done it, my church has done it, other churches have done it, my denomination follows it, etc.
It was not easy to persuade me. I had this crazy cycle going inside my head after i changed my view on tithing. New doubts and new questions about my new-found belief would spring up, so i would go back to scripture and restudy. After studying, scripture would confirm my new beliefs and i would be fine for some time. But, after some more time passed, i once again would question it, and then go back to scripture to re-study it. I did this over and over again because i could not let go of tithing.
I tried hard to defend tithing. Every decision i made in studying scripture was made to fortify my belief that tithing was required.
My goal is not to discourage people from giving generously. I wish to free people from the bondage of tithing, but just like when you free someone from their chains, some will perform good works to show they appreciate freedom and others will only want to take advantage of it. We shouldn’t fight liberty, we should fight our fear of it.
– jared
Zach ,
Do you know that the Jews do not tithe now because they say that there are no Levites here on earth ? I contacted Synagoues and they clearly explained that no Levites means no tithes and they only collected food and animals in the past grown and raised within Israel.
Its funny Gentiles have found a way to defraud people by misinterpreting the bible .I can not deny the fact that its a fast way of making money from uninformed christians who are too lazy to study the bible .