I used to pay tithes out of my net income since that's what I really earn but then a man preached that it should be the gross income tithe rather than the net income so I mulled it over, thought about the amount the state takes out in taxes, and began to tithe gross rather than net.
Yes, the state gets its cut . . . its percentage . . . of what you have earned. And I would say, likewise, the tithe is of what you have earned . . . not of leftovers after the state has collected something.
After all, you did earn what the state took. So, that is included in your earning total.
But this does not prove that the New Testament requires tithing. So . . . one thing I feed on is what God's word says the tithes are to be used for >
Deuteronomy 12:15-19 > To me, this appears to say that the tithe must not be eaten where you live, but where God directs, and it is shared with others, including
"the Levite". A tithe in those days was from agriculture, what could be eaten. It was not money. And apparently the person with the tithe would be one of the ones who would eat it . . . where God directed.
Deuteronomy 14:22-27 > Apparently there was a tithe of the harvest, and this was taken to where God directed, and the tither oneself ate this food, along with
"the Levite". And the LORD wanted them to rejoice while they did this. So, there is rejoicing and sharing included in Biblical tithing, I see from this. And the tithed harvest food could be sold and money could be carried to the location directed by the LORD, and there the tither could use the money to buy
"whatever" (Deuteronomy 14:26) the tither desired to eat and drink.
Deuteronomy 14:28-29 > every third year, the tithe was stored so
"the Levite",
"widow",
"stranger", and
"fatherless" could eat and be
"satisfied". And it is commonly understood that in the time of the Jews in their promised land, there were people like the Levites who had no land for farming and raising livestock; so the tithe of those farmers was used to feed people who had no land for growing food > including the Levites and widows who had no land, and strangers which I see could mean people from even other countries, plus orphans who had no father who had left them land. And such needy people were welcome to eat the stored tithe food so they were
"satisfied".
Now I understand that what you do to a child of God, you are doing to God Himself . . . right? Didn't Jesus say that what we do to the least of His brethren we are doing to Him?? So, if you rob a widow, for example, of what the tithe is supposed to provide for her, you are robbing God. And this means to provide so God's needy widows are
"satisfied". So, if God's widows were being robbed of what they were supposed to get from the stored tithes, this in my understanding is what could be meant where it says people were robbing God
"in tithes and offerings" > Malachi 3:8-10.
So, then, I can see how some number of tithers are not prospering because their tithed money is not being used to
satisfy Jesus Christ's needy people. And remember that the tithe was used to get food for the tither . . . at the gathering place where the LORD directed > where there was joy and sharing of the tithe food with others, so . . . I understand . . . they could share as God's family.
So, if your tithing is with resentment or fear or doubt and worrying about yourself . . . this is not how God's word says to tithe and what it is for. If the ten percent of people's income is mainly used for paying building bills and expenses and gas bills for transportation of people for church events, then the tithing system could be a way of robbing God.
Free-will offerings in addition to the tithe were used for other things. But it seems clear to me, now, how the tithe was for caring for God's building who is His people.
So, if your tithe is used to satisfy needy people, and to provide for you to eat and share with other children of God at special gatherings, yes this tithing is worthwhile
