To tithe, or not to tithe. That is the question! (2)

[Frogster]

sadly, most of the motivation is to motivate funds toward pastor.

 

[Optimax]

The conscience of a born again person is a safe guide if they are from their heart seeking to do right.

For those who are not there is no safe guide.

 

[Frogster]

The conscience of a born again person is a safe guide if they are from their heart seeking to do right.

For those who are not there is no safe guide.

well...the hebrew Christians in hebrews, had to be shown how to be cleansed of guilt, as no doubt, they were headed under law guilt feeling noble about works, under the same guilt tithing teachers use, all showing just how fragile the conscience is, by way of reminder in Heb 9-10.

no tithing law guilt, a principle often wielded by the paper tiger tithe doctrine proponents.


9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

[BeforeThereWas]

Gen 14:22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the Lord God Most His, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is your, for fear you would say, 'I have made Abram rich'.

Now there are a couple of ways of looking at this verse. One is from someone who thinks they can't actually have a converesation with God. Someone like that has to think that Abram came up with this idea all by himself. So Abram just told God, and of course God did not talk to Him. That is what most people would think, because most people don't live by faith. They think the Word of God is far off in a place like heaven, so He might hear but can't talk to us.

There is another understanding of the same verse which results from living by faith in a God that is near usm so that we can inquire and hear from, just like you might hear from someone in the same room as you. They see that Abram swore to God, and understand that he was having a conversatoin with Him. That is God was saying things to Abram, and Abram was responding and saying things to God, based upon what he was told by God. If you don't understand that the Word is near you, then you can understand what I am talking about. But if a person does have regualr conversation with the Lord, they realized that Abram was swearing (promising) to God because God was talking to him.

Now we don't know exactly how the conversation between God and Abram went, but pray is a conversation with God, so since Abram talked to God, God also talk to Abram. We are not to say in our heart 'who will ascend into heaven', that is to bring Christ down. But rather we preach the Word is near us, in our mouth and in our heart, so that we can have a conversation with Him at any time. But perhaps not everyone understanding that. Some can only grasp that Abram talked to God, but can't understand that of course Abram talking to God meant he was having a conversation with God.

It appears you don't have the reference I was asking for, although you have shown here that you desire to gauge Abraham's actions as license to assume God told Him to tithe, which not one jot or tittle of the text gives indication.

Are you saying that what Abram swore to the Lord also included a promise to tithe?

Assuming that were right, that still has no bearing upon us today where tithing is concerned, because Abram-Abraham also had concubines (plural) and two wives. Some have gone so far as to say he was living in the sin of adultery.

To such people I say they are basically demanding that we will all observe Abraham burning in the pits of Hell, which I reject. I have scripture that says otherwise in Genesis 25.

How does one draw the parallels between Abraham, Melchizedek, the Levites and tithing to modern, man-made church organizations? It simply doesn't fit the text, no matter how many conversations with God one may have. God will never contradict His written word.

BTW

 

[BeforeThereWas]

Simple solution to the question of to tithe or not.

Do what your conscience says.

The conscience is the "voice" of your born again spirit where the Holy Spirit lives.

(Jer 17:9) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

 

[Zetlander]

Hi to everyone. When one tithed it was from one's excess and was to support the Levites Priests who had no land or income. The others were 'gifts' to God from a persons excess or offerings.... as for law...we have over the years slipped into error...Gods commandments are Gods instructions....law is man made and and the translators incorrectly used the term widely so that now we have law refering to what was given to moses instead of what was added to Gods instructions commandments by scribes, rabbi's , pharasees etc...the later being what Jesus, Paul spoke against, not Gods instructions.

 

[BeforeThereWas]

Hi to everyone. When one tithed it was from one's excess and was to support the Levites Priests who had no land or income.

Yes. The tithe came from only the increase from producing fields, orchards and vineyards, not from the wages of wage earners like you and me.

as for law...we have over the years slipped into error...Gods commandments are Gods instructions....law is man made and and the translators incorrectly used the term widely so that now we have law refering to what was given to moses instead of what was added to Gods instructions commandments by scribes, rabbi's , pharasees etc...the later being what Jesus, Paul spoke against, not Gods instructions.

Perhaps you could elaborate on this more. I'm not sure what you're saying.

BTW