Tithing!

[Frogster]

gkkyoklpu, nimdeepopikl, hoolit!

 

[sunlover1]

gkkyoklpu, nimdeepopikl, hoolit!

 

[Strong in Him]

gkkyoklpu, nimdeepopikl, hoolit!

Pardon?

 

[BeforeThereWas]

I am going to pass, not because I am afraid of anything, but because I have participated in enough of these debates to know that this one is an exercise in futility.

My asking about your position on various particulars leads to futility, and you arrived at that conlusion apart from fear?

If I thought you were sincerely interested in why I believe that tithing is both good and biblical, I would be happy to share with you. But, this thread (as are most on this topic) is about arguing for the sake of arguing. And, that is something that is clearly unbiblical.

I wasn't asking that you argue with those in this thread who were arguing only for the sake of arguing. I was simply asking about your position and some biblical backing in support of absolute statements you made.

Then, you must be new to the tithing debates here on CF . I have yet to see a tithing debate in which there is not at least one person who claims that those who voluntarily tithe are subjecting themselves to law and therefore condemned by it. This is a fancy Christianese way of saying "not allowed".

Again, you say that you're not afraid, and yet you refuse to answer my questions about your position because of your fear of what one or two others might say.

That's self-defeating logic.

I never made it a matter of anyone following the Law. My contention is what is traditionally taught about the biblical definition of the tithe.

Most believe in the false teachings that basically lead to the assumption that wage earners tithed, and that is utterly false. No command exists where wage earners handed over a tithe to the Levites, but today many are taught by false teachers that God expexts us wage earners to hand over tithes to institutional church organizations.

Falsehoods piled on top of falsehoods only leads to taller heaps of falsehoods. No matter what size the pile may be, it all still stinks.

Oh well. If you can't state and defend why you believe what you believe, then you must believe it irregadless of what scripture, as a whole, teaches. I've met the type, and simply move on.

NEXT...?

BTW

 

[David64]

gkkyoklpu, nimdeepopikl, hoolit!

Truly the most significant thing I've ever seen you post.
You're making progress.

 

[Frogster]

Pardon?

 

[Frogster]

Truly the most significant thing I've ever seen you post.
You're making progress.

I'm a work in progress.

 

[David64]

I'm a work in progress.

We all need to start somewhere.

 

[Frogster]

We all need to start somewhere.

then get started will ya!?

 

[dies-l]

My asking about your position on various particulars leads to futility, and you arrived at that conlusion apart from fear?



I wasn't asking that you argue with those in this thread who were arguing only for the sake of arguing. I was simply asking about your position and some biblical backing in support of absolute statements you made.



Again, you say that you're not afraid, and yet you refuse to answer my questions about your position because of your fear of what one or two others might say.

That's self-defeating logic.

I never made it a matter of anyone following the Law. My contention is what is traditionally taught about the biblical definition of the tithe.

Most believe in the false teachings that basically lead to the assumption that wage earners tithed, and that is utterly false. No command exists where wage earners handed over a tithe to the Levites, but today many are taught by false teachers that God expexts us wage earners to hand over tithes to institutional church organizations.

Falsehoods piled on top of falsehoods only leads to taller heaps of falsehoods. No matter what size the pile may be, it all still stinks.

Oh well. If you can't state and defend why you believe what you believe, then you must believe it irregadless of what scripture, as a whole, teaches. I've met the type, and simply move on.

NEXT...?

BTW

You are entitled to your opinion.

If you were at all interested in having a meaningful discussion on the topic, I would happy to oblige. It is clear from your posts that you are just looking for an argument.

Oh well.

 

[BeforeThereWas]

Whatever.....

You're free to believe what you want about people you've never met.

If you're such a pagan mystic that you can perform a deity-level character trait analysis about complex people through the extremely limited medium of a mere computer screen, then by all means...continue practicing your craft.

I just wanted to know why you believe what you stated with emphatic certainty.

Keep running. You'll never run out of road so long as you continue running in circles.

BTW

 

[chris4243]

There is no tithe -- that is an Old Testament law whereby the Israelites give a portion of their food to the landless Levites, and in some churches a trick to get money out of religious people (especially when their finances are secret).

What you give should not be a tithe but an offering -- not 10% but whatever God puts in your heart to give, whether it be to charity, missions, or a church. God never accepts the position of second in importance after money, luxuries, time, or anything else. Many people say to themselves and others that nothing is more important to them than God, but how many of them would be willing to give up everything to follow God? Few enough are willing to let go of even a portion of their riches.

 

[BeforeThereWas]

There is no tithe -- that is an Old Testament law whereby the Israelites give a portion of their food to the landless Levites, and in some churches a trick to get money out of religious people (especially when their finances are secret).

That's one way of putting it.

What you give should not be a tithe but an offering -- not 10% but whatever God puts in your heart to give, whether it be to charity, missions, or a church.

...which brings up a question:

Do you suppose the Lord would direct a modern believer to do what is contrary to the commands and examples within scripture?

What I mean is, the NT texts portray a clear picture of the believer's genuine, primary, largest portion giving being used ONLY for meeting genuine needs of, first of all, fellow believers...both locally and in other cities. What was left over went for meeting the needs of the needy within their local communities.

Now, I'm not saying that one can't support his local, man-made church organization and its head hirling (otherwise called their pastor) secondarily down the ladder of priorities, but where in scripture do we see the NT saints flippantly reversing God's priorities in giving by their having handed it over first and foremost, for example, for the support of a communal building and its professional staffing?

God never accepts the position of second in importance after money, luxuries, time, or anything else. Many people say to themselves and others that nothing is more important to them than God, but how many of them would be willing to give up everything to follow God? Few enough are willing to let go of even a portion of their riches.

That's true enough of those who are carnal in their faith, which describes many within institutionalized church organizations.

Let's focus on believers with hearts willing to give everything. What of them? So many have been duped into handing over their primary, largest portion giving to their local church organizations. They don't know any different because, as is true of most professing believers, they don't read their Bibles for what's actually written therein.

They generally refuse to believe that by handing over their primary, largest portion giving to a church organization, they aren't truly giving to God.

Why?

Well, how many of you think you'd reap any direct, earthly benefit from giving to a family you don't even know where the father/husband lost his job due to layoff, or the homeless man sitting under a bridge?

Ahh, but handing it over to a religious church organization, everyone there reaps constant, never-ending, direct benefit from their giving by way of the many luxuries offered back by those buildings, programs, warmth, air conditioning, gymnasiums, et al.

Returned benefit, or lack thereof, serve as good indicators as to whether one's primary, largest portion giving is to God, or nothing more than going through the empty, religious motions of man-made dotrines that store up NO treasure in Heaven.

That's a heavy observation most professing believers never think about in an age of people who have switched off their critical thinking skills, which is contrary to the praise Paul directed toward the Bereans. The Bereans retained their critical thinking skills when they checked out Paul's teachings in relation to the scriptures rather than believing what he said just because...

If people today were more critical in their thinking, we wound't have that foreign-born vermin in the White House as our president.

What do you think?

BTW

 

[BeforeThereWas]

Some people sing songs about "bring back that old-time religion."

When your institutional pastor wants you to sing that one.....

.....just remember that old-time religion was just as riddled with error as any modern-time religion.....

BTW

 

[tturt]

Playing musical instruments isn't in the NT either but we don't have all these discussions about whether to use them or not like we do tithes.

 

[New_Wineskin]

Playing musical instruments isn't in the NT either but we don't have all these discussions about whether to use them or not like we do tithes.

According to number , we do

There are very few groups that insist on no musical instruments - so , very few threads

There are many groups that demand tithes - so , many threads

 

[BeforeThereWas]

Playing musical instruments isn't in the NT either but we don't have all these discussions about whether to use them or not like we do tithes.

Oh, but they do dicuss that on this board. There are so-called "Church of Christ" folks here as well who enjoy beating that dead horse in other threads.

The pro-required-tithe gang have mastered the art of beating an imaginary dead horse.

BTW

 

[BeforeThereWas]

The simplest symbology can say so much: