Is tithing mandatory?

[Archivist]

I could understand that statement if one were giving everything to show God owns it all, but only 10%? How do you oversee how it's used? I ask this recalling how the early Church utilized all their giving for the meeting of needs rather than to lavish a portion of it back upon themselves by way of the luxuries of communal facilities, chandeliers, carpeting, sound systems, buildings and their upkeep and all the other myriads of total, absolute luxuries so many enjoy today.

Don’t automatically assume that what goes into churches are “absolute luxuries.” Yes, my church has air conditioning. We have a large population of seniors many of whom otherwise couldn’t attend in 90 degree+ temperatures (like what we are currently having). Yes, we have wheelchair ramps because we have a few members in wheel chairs. Yes we have a sound system. Some of our senior members can’t hear without it. A couple years ago we put an addition on our building. It houses a food bank that we operate for the local community. We don’t have chandeliers, just basic lights some of which date to the 60s. We have carpet in our sanctuary, it dates to the 90s. It was put in after one of our seniors slipped on the floor. We have never added anything just because we wanted something luxurious.

 

[Strong in Him]

One will point to the truth in vain when dealing with an emotional thinker. You can quote it right out of the same dusty stack of Bibles they have piled up on shelves or stashed inside the coffee table of their living room, and they will not believe anything that is contrary to the false teachers they listen to behind the pulpits they support, on TV, on radio, in books and magazines. They are scholars of emotion, not truth and intellect, for truth is entirely relative when based upon emotion. It has no absolute basis to them until the Lord reaches into them and rips the falsehoods out of them.

Jr

Deleted.
I misunderstood your reply; sorry.

 

[SwordmanJr]

Don’t automatically assume that what goes into churches are “absolute luxuries.” Yes, my church has air conditioning. We have a large population of seniors many of whom otherwise couldn’t attend in 90 degree+ temperatures (like what we are currently having). Yes, we have wheelchair ramps because we have a few members in wheel chairs. Yes we have a sound system. Some of our senior members can’t hear without it. A couple years ago we put an addition on our building. It houses a food bank that we operate for the local community. We don’t have chandeliers, just basic lights some of which date to the 60s. We have carpet in our sanctuary, it dates to the 90s. It was put in after one of our seniors slipped on the floor. We have never added anything just because we wanted something luxurious.

All I was saying is that there is no way to defend support of all those luxuries before seeing to the needs ot the needy believers first, and then the rest of the community around us. All the straw man justifications in the world will never suffice.

The lack of agreement alone speaks loud volumes to a conscience that knows what I'm saying is true in relation to the scriptures.

Jr

 

[Archivist]

All I was saying is that there is no way to defend support of all those luxuries before seeing to the needs ot the needy believers first, and then the rest of the community around us. All the straw man justifications in the world will never suffice.

The lack of agreement alone speaks loud volumes to a conscience that knows what I'm saying is true in relation to the scriptures.

Jr

If you think that installing items to support people’s health or building a food bank that serves the community are “luxuries” then you are greatly misled.

 

[SwordmanJr]

If you think that installing items to support people’s health or building a food bank that serves the community are “luxuries” then you are greatly misled.

Being sanctimonious about all this really avails nothing. Sugar coating the departures from biblical priorities with some of the niceties will never excuse the traditional practice of placing the largest expenditures for luxuries as a higher priority than the needs of people; especially where the preaching focuses on "tithing" and "giving to the Lord," or "giving to the house of God....," that's just a plain, dishonest handling of scripture when preachers do that!

Jr

 

[Archivist]

Being sanctimonious about all this really avails nothing. Sugar coating the departures from biblical priorities with some of the niceties will never excuse the traditional practice of placing the largest expenditures for luxuries as a higher priority than the needs of people; especially where the preaching focuses on "tithing" and "giving to the Lord," or "giving to the house of God....," that's just a plain, dishonest handling of scripture when preachers do that!

Don't you call me "sanctimonious." I'm not "sugar coating" anything. Do you not know how to read? If you did you would know that in my post 116 I specifically said "No, you are not required to tith." I dislike when preaches focus on giving, which is why it doesn't happen at the church I attend. As I said in my earlier posts, we are very frugal and purchase only what we need. When you have people with health issues certain things like wheelchair ramps and air conditioning are necessities.

 

[SwordmanJr]

Don't you call me "sanctimonious." I'm not "sugar coating" anything. Do you not know how to read? If you did you would know that in my post 116 I specifically said "No, you are not required to tith." I dislike when preaches focus on giving, which is why it doesn't happen at the church I attend. As I said in my earlier posts, we are very frugal and purchase only what we need. When you have people with health issues certain things like wheelchair ramps and air conditioning are necessities.

My primary focus has been upon all teachings regarding the PRIORITIES in giving. The biblical model for giving in the Bible is the meeting of needs first and foremost, with other things taking a back seat. That's all. Whether you intended it or not, you, by all appearances, seemed to have a problem with that by upholding the "need" for air conditioning, etc., as if that/those are on equal footing with the genuine needs of others for sustenance. No matter how one slices and dices it all, communal facilities are a luxury, not a necessity. A group has the right to possess one, but to call themselves "christian" they should uphold the precepts and principles of scripture above all else.

Jr

 

[Archivist]

My primary focus has been upon all teachings regarding the PRIORITIES in giving. The biblical model for giving in the Bible is the meeting of needs first and foremost, with other things taking a back seat. That's all. Whether you intended it or not, you, by all appearances, seemed to have a problem with that by upholding the "need" for air conditioning, etc., as if that/those are on equal footing with the genuine needs of others for sustenance. No matter how one slices and dices it all, communal facilities are a luxury, not a necessity. A group has the right to possess one, but to call themselves "christian" they should uphold the precepts and principles of scripture above all else. Jr

Absolute nonsense. Looking out for the needs of others is goes well beyond mere
sustenance.

 

[SwordmanJr]

Absolute nonsense. Looking out for the needs of others is goes well beyond mere
sustenance.

Well, I can see you're not getting it, which is something I encounter quite often with churchianity people, so whatever....

Jr

 

[Archivist]

Well, I can see you're not getting it, which is something I encounter quite often with churchianity people, so whatever....

Jr

No, you are the one who isn’t getting it but there is no sense on continuing this.

Churchianity? As if I’m not Christian.

 

[SwordmanJr]

No, you are the one who isn’t getting it but there is no sense on continuing this.

Churchianity? As if I’m not Christian.

Your interpretation of that term is incorrect.

Jr

 

[Archivist]

Your interpretation of that term is incorrect.

Jr

What term? Christian?

 

[yellowMan]

Paul's recommendations on this matter are in 2 cor 9. specifically verse 7 as a highlight.

 

[Qinhua]

Deut 14:22-23
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.

Mal 3:10-11
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

according to the bible, tithe is actually mandatory. But the purpose of the tithe is to revere the Lord, so we need to firstly have the sincere heart to know God and what he wants from us, so that we can do the right things

 

[Strong in Him]

Deut 14:22-23
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.

Mal 3:10-11
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

according to the bible, tithe is actually mandatory.

No, according to the OT the tithe was mandatory. And the tithe in the OT was always food - which the people took to the temple and ate.
Neither OT nor NT teaching says that the tithe is money which should be given to the church for building maintenance, admin etc or even mission. Paul had a job and paid his own way as a minister of the Gospel, and they received local hospitality.

Deut 14:22-23
But the purpose of the tithe is to revere the Lord,

The purpose of the tithe was to give God the first 10% of their crops, in thankfulness for what he had given them. And then to have a celebration meal with that 10% of crops, to celebrate his goodness - not forgetting to include the poor and priests who did not have allotments.
To teach Biblical tithing today, clergy would have to say "either bring us 10% of the vegetables from your garden/allotment, or use 10% of your salary to by food; we'll have a celebration meal and invite the homeless."
But somehow that has morphed into a teaching that we have to give 10% of our income to the church.