is tithe biblical?

Tithe (giving 10%) in my eyes is more like a good rule of thumb, but not the requirement. You can give more or less. But things gotta run.

I'm not gonna jump to conclusions about people enforcing on it in the church, or assuming that if they do that they are greedy (plus people get tax advantage in the US from it). But if it's to the point that they are teaching that not tithing is an abomination, then it's not biblical. But no one puts a gun to anyone heads on tithing for the most part.

JohnB445 said:

I was curious on this subject and decided to study it. From what I found this was a law under the old covenant where there wasn't a tax system back then. People gave 10% of produce to the Levitical priests or 30% of money once a year.

If one were to give money instead of what they produce, then they are to add to it which would come up to 30% and this was once a year.

The N.T is pretty clear we are no longer under the law, and we can give as much as we please not out of necessity and not grudgingly. What ever we give we are rewarded in heaven but it is NOT required for our salvation, no works is required whatsoever. But if our spirit has no desire to walk in the light of Christ we ought to test the fruits of the spirit.

So is the tithe just a standard Churches follow? I think giving is a good thing, but if a Church pressures members or guilts them/ even scares them about salvation I think that's more of a business than a Church especially if the pastor is living lavishly off the tithe.

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Its a clever teaching used to double dip

I sometimes mix this up with alms giving as the Lord tells us to do ( Matthew 6:1-4). Alms giving I understand to be general charity (usually financial, but also things like volunteer work etc.) which seems a given by the Lord and we respond as we can ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 ).

As far as tithing in our parish, several dollars a week are asked of those of us who should be able to afford it. As has been said, they need to keep the lights on.

JohnB445 said:

I was curious on this subject and decided to study it. From what I found this was a law under the old covenant where there wasn't a tax system back then. People gave 10% of produce to the Levitical priests or 30% of money once a year.

If one were to give money instead of what they produce, then they are to add to it which would come up to 30% and this was once a year.

The N.T is pretty clear we are no longer under the law, and we can give as much as we please not out of necessity and not grudgingly. What ever we give we are rewarded in heaven but it is NOT required for our salvation, no works is required whatsoever. But if our spirit has no desire to walk in the light of Christ we ought to test the fruits of the spirit.

So is the tithe just a standard Churches follow? I think giving is a good thing, but if a Church pressures members or guilts them/ even scares them about salvation I think that's more of a business than a Church especially if the pastor is living lavishly off the tithe.

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Money isn't necessary in life - it is the things that money buys that are necessary (and things that money can't buy). This is why if you read through Matthew 21:33-46 and into Matthew 22, it shows Jesus saying that God wants spiritual fruit from the kingdom. All that is needed in order to produce that, is a voice. The voice is a way of expressing love, that is, to express the Word of God that does healing and produces growth - fruit for the kingdom.

So churches are places where we can gather for that purpose, and being material things that perish, they require maintenance.. again, that doesn't require money, but timber, paint and handiwork. There is a matter of tax that governments apply by force, so they can pay for services to the community, such as roading and water supply, etc. That is the only strictly necessary monetary cost that a church has.

In having said this, churches are accustomed to use money to pay for maintenance on the buildings and to employ people to speak the Word of God .. all things that perhaps some of the poorer members of the congregation could do equally well without need for pay - and in turn, they might feel that a half a day's work toward the church is better able to produce fruit for God's kingdom while also providing more capacity to feed and clothe their family with the cash they would have sacrificed instead.

JohnB445 said:

I was curious on this subject and decided to study it. From what I found this was a law under the old covenant where there wasn't a tax system back then. People gave 10% of produce to the Levitical priests or 30% of money once a year.

If one were to give money instead of what they produce, then they are to add to it which would come up to 30% and this was once a year.

The N.T is pretty clear we are no longer under the law, and we can give as much as we please not out of necessity and not grudgingly. What ever we give we are rewarded in heaven but it is NOT required for our salvation, no works is required whatsoever. But if our spirit has no desire to walk in the light of Christ we ought to test the fruits of the spirit.

So is the tithe just a standard Churches follow? I think giving is a good thing, but if a Church pressures members or guilts them/ even scares them about salvation I think that's more of a business than a Church especially if the pastor is living lavishly off the tithe.

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I give a free-will offering to my Parish every month and I work actively within the Parish, but if it ever got to a point where I was told it was mandatory to give a free-will offering I would be looking for a new Parish or new denomination for that matter.

JohnB445 said:

People gave 10% of produce to the Levitical priests or 30% of money once a year.

If one were to give money instead of what they produce, then they are to add to it which would come up to 30% and this was once a year.

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The tithe was never money. The tithe was only what God created, plants and animals and it only came from people who raised these two things.

One of the frequently reoccurring questions/investigations on this web site.

One of the hindrances to understanding it is the phrase "have to." Don't use that verb and it will be easier (i.e., do we "have to" tithe).

Jesus didn't just redeem us from the Mosaic Law, he set us free from all bondage (if one is born again in Christ). He didn't rescue us from the Law in the Old Testament to come under the law of the New Testament. We could not do whatever we wanted before that, because we were slaves to sin (Satan). Now we are freed in the sense we no longer have to obey Satan/sin. But how our physical universe and spiritual universe works did not change. The wages of sin is still death, for example (Romans 6:23, Romans 5:13-14). We still cannot choose God if we don't believe in him. (It would only be accepting an idea.)

Now we can choose to follow God or choose not to. Neither Jesus's death nor our rebirth in Christ changed the fact that doing good results in blessings from God and doing evil causes self-destruction (Deuteronomy 28 has a long list).

So, it is our choice whether to regularly give a part of our increase to God or not. However, if a person chooses to, he will be blessed. Malachi 3:10 shows us a decision made by God as well as something in His nature—which never changes. The verse is not God reminding them of the Law, for "testing" God is a sin under the Law (Deuteronomy 6:16).


God has made it extremely clear all through Scripture that doing what pleases him brings his blessings and doing things contrary to him brings curses/punishment/discipline/something bad. The Malachi 3:10 passage should not have been necessary for God to communicate, but God really, really wanted (and still wants) to bless his children, but they had been refusing him.

So, no matter what you think about "having" to tithe or not, it is a fact that giving the full 10% of your increase to God is guaranteed to bring special blessings. It is common for people that have been tithing for a long time to say, I can't afford not to tithe, because they have seen that God returns more than what the person gave.

I haven't gotten into what the Lord commanded his children to do, or what his genuine followers would do. Although related, that's a different topic.

JohnB445 said:

I was curious on this subject and decided to study it. From what I found this was a law under the old covenant where there wasn't a tax system back then. People gave 10% of produce to the Levitical priests or 30% of money once a year.

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What? Where did you get the idea that money was a part of the Law for the tithe? Wages of wage earners never had anything to do with the lawful tithe. That's Bible 101, and yet false teachings continue to circulate among those who never do any study on the subject. The system within which the tithe was required has long since disappeared.

If one were to give money instead of what they produce, then they are to add to it which would come up to 30% and this was once a year.

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Dude, you really need to do your homework. It is written that anyone who REDEEMED a portion of their tithe for whatever reason, they were restore it with an additional percentage. Again, it never had anything to do with money. AND, the tithe was only a tenth of the INCREASE. The seed it took to plant the crop was not a part of the increase. That way they would have seed for the next planting season without the burden of tithing from it.

The N.T is pretty clear we are no longer under the law, and we can give as much as we please not out of necessity and not grudgingly. What ever we give we are rewarded in heaven but it is NOT required for our salvation, no works is required whatsoever. But if our spirit has no desire to walk in the light of Christ we ought to test the fruits of the spirit.

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Please explain what you mean with the inclusion of the "fruits of the spirit" into the mix of tithing.

So is the tithe just a standard Churches follow? I think giving is a good thing, but if a Church pressures members or guilts them/ even scares them about salvation I think that's more of a business than a Church especially if the pastor is living lavishly off the tithe.

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Man-made church organizations that employ tactics such as you have described should be avoided. Most generally those are found in the more charismatic arenas since charismatics tend to put up with more bull corn from their so-called "pastors" than what congregationalists tend to tolerate.

I noticed that you never have yet come back in here and commented on the responses. Is your account another one of those drive-by's used mostly for just keep discussions going when things are slow in the forums? Fake accounts seem to be a common tool for that in most forums I've perused.

JohnB445 said:

I was curious on this subject and decided to study it. From what I found this was a law under the old covenant where there wasn't a tax system back then. People gave 10% of produce to the Levitical priests or 30% of money once a year.

If one were to give money instead of what they produce, then they are to add to it which would come up to 30% and this was once a year.

The N.T is pretty clear we are no longer under the law, and we can give as much as we please not out of necessity and not grudgingly. What ever we give we are rewarded in heaven but it is NOT required for our salvation, no works is required whatsoever. But if our spirit has no desire to walk in the light of Christ we ought to test the fruits of the spirit.

So is the tithe just a standard Churches follow? I think giving is a good thing, but if a Church pressures members or guilts them/ even scares them about salvation I think that's more of a business than a Church especially if the pastor is living lavishly off the tithe.

Click to expand...

In ancient Israel, there was no separation of church and state. The "tithe" was a tax. And according to Samuel, this tax was a punishment.


So yes, tithing is biblical in the sense that it's found in the bible. But in ancient Israel the tithe was taxation.

If I am going to a Church or not.. I never will give because some man told me to..or what he personally believes.. I will listen but it has to be written. So I give to my Father.. not to man. Gods not going to say anything.. if you want to give give.. be happy about it.. if you dont..you dont. Hes not judging .. MAN is

JohnB445 said:

I was curious on this subject and decided to study it. ...

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You need to 'study' more.

To answer your question:

JohnB445 said:

is tithe biblical?

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The answer is, "Yes.", and it is found not merely in the OT, but in the NT, not merely in the 'oc', but in the 'nc'. We can begin with Malachi 3 if you would really be interested in 'study' and desire to honour God with thy substance.

Yekcidmij said:

In ancient Israel, there was no separation of church and state. The "tithe" was a tax. And according to Samuel, this tax was a punishment.

1 Sam 8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators and his servants. 8:16 He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use. 8:17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. 8:18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.”​

So yes, tithing is biblical in the sense that it's found in the bible. But in ancient Israel the tithe was taxation.

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Post-modernism does indeed see the OT tite as a tax, but it's use was not a form of governmental taxation for national defense.

Also, the tithe never had anything to do with the wages of wage earners. That also destroys the idea it was a tax.

Jr

SwordmanJr said:

Post-modernism does indeed see the OT tite as a tax, but it's use was not a form of governmental taxation for national defense.

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Postmodernism?

Also, the tithe never had anything to do with the wages of wage earners. That also destroys the idea it was a tax.

Jr

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It wasn't an income withholding tax, if that's what you're saying... There are other forms of taxes that aren't income withholding taxes; some of the common one's we deal with are sales taxes, import taxes, property taxes...