The blogmaster at Tithe Stewardship, And Church Tithing posts a news account of an elderly woman who received a letter stating that she would lose her church membership if she didn’t pay her tithes.
It seems that this sort of pseudo-journalism is his forte’. The aforementioned foolishness and sin is used to discount the teaching of tithing and to declare it is wrong. The issue is that this is not representative of all who teach tithing. In fact, it is a misrepresentation of most who do teach tithing.
I do not agree with a rule stating that one must tithe to be a member of a church. I do believe that tithing is required of Christians today.
None of us should judge a teaching or philosophy by its worst fruits, but rather by what it produces in general. For every tithing teacher who practices Simony there are many others who are humble and living simple, godly lives without pressuring people to give.
I’m sure the flames will start again, but I’m on vacation this week, so comments will not be accepted. Post your flames over here. I’m sure they will be glad to interact with you, since I’m out of town 
Just musing….
April 24, 2008 at 7:13 am
i know i read the part where you are going to be on vacation, but had to post anyways.
In that article, i didn’t even mention that the tithe was wrong, let alone mention that it’s wrong due to the abuse of it. My stands against tithing are never based on the fruits of the few that abuse it.
Here’s a page on my site that shows an outlined form of my stand against tithing. It has verses and explanations stated for each pro-tithe argument.
http://churchtithesandofferings.com/topargumentsfortithing.html
I believe in Spirit-led giving. Not the type of giving that is based on a whim or a guess. Its interesting that we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in the
priceless decisions in life, but when it comes to our pocket books, we
leave that up to tithing. Kind of the easy way out, if you ask me.
April 24, 2008 at 12:35 pm
church tithes and offerings,
Thanks for stopping by. I truly appreciate your reading my blog…..truly….
You said: i know i read the part where you are going to be on vacation, but had to post anyways.
I: I understand. I’m still on vacation, but the children are napping, so….
You said: In that article, i didn’t even mention that the tithe was wrong, let alone mention that it’s wrong due to the abuse of it. My stands against tithing are never based on the fruits of the few that abuse it.
I: My statement was “The aforementioned foolishness and sin is used to discount the teaching of tithing and to declare it is wrong.” I simply stated that you used these things to prove the error of tithing (I can see no other reason why you would dedicate your blog to such postings if that were not the reason). I did not state that this was the only method by which you condemned it. Never the less, if I left that impression, I do apologize.
You said: I believe in Spirit-led giving. Not the type of giving that is based on a whim or a guess. Its interesting that we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in the
priceless decisions in life, but when it comes to our pocket books, we
leave that up to tithing. Kind of the easy way out, if you ask me.
I: Does the Spirit not use the Word to guide us? I’m thankful that I’m not left to use a subjective feeling, or something of the sort to determine my giving. It’s a blessing to have an objective starting point such as the tithe is. Neither do I seek to look anywhere else for guidance in other issues of life….I seek to allow the Lord to speak to me through His Word. I’m not sure what sort of guidance you have in mind other than that. Perhaps you would elaborate?
Thanks once again for stopping by. I do hope that we can discuss issues amiably.
In Christ alone,
The Pastor
April 24, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Thanks for the reply.
I do feel that tithing creates many stumbling blocks for Churches, and allows them to make legalistic rules that kick members out of membership. So, i guess you are right. I do feel that these news articles point out the flaws of tithing. I guess in the same light the sexual abuse going on in the Catholic Church doesn’t prove that their doctrine of celibacy is wrong either, but the actions of some reveal the stumbling blocks that [priestly] celibacy creates. Hope that explains why i write about the actions of some tithing churches that are legalistic.
The Spirit-led men who penned the word of God did not write a script with answers to the spiritual decisions you will make in your life. How much we give is a spiritual decision. God helps us with these decisions through his word, through friendships, through co-workers, through music, practically through anything. Being guided by the Spirit doesn’t mean roll the dice. It means finding answers for our next step by having constant communication with God.
Here’s an example. When i used to split up my giving between tithes and offerings, the tithe was the part where i could give without even thinking, without praying, without seeking. But when it came time to give offerings, all of a sudden i found myself, praying and seeking. Grant it, i can pray to God over tithes about having a good heart, and bless this money, and so on. . . and so on, but this shallow communication isn’t what God intended.
Israel didn’t have direct access to God, so they had to give by means of the law. So in the New Covenant, what does our direct access to God mean when it comes to giving? It means Spirit led giving from the very first dollar.
-Jared
April 25, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Jared,
Thanks again for stopping by, and for your gracious response.
There are two things in your comment that stick out to me:
1. That you seem to assume that all who teach tithing teach it in a legalistic manner. Not all do so. I do not say that tithing makes or breaks one’s spirituality. I think that we can agree to disagree on tithing and still be right with God. Our righteousness and sanctification are both by the grace of God through faith in Christ. Tithing will earn NO ONE anything from God. Thus, it is not taught in a legalistic context where I pastor. I’ve actually not taken the time to teach it where I pastor. I’ve only mentioned it very briefly (less than two minutes in a couple of sermons). I have much greater issues to tend to first…..my people need Jesus.
2. It seems that you, yourself practicedtithing as a starting place for giving. What motivated you to change? Was it the abuses that you saw, or was it the Scriptures? Honestly, now. I truly want to know which came first; the Scriptural position, or the practical position that led you to seek Scripture to satisfy how you felt about the issue. (Please don’t take this as a slam: I honestly am interested in knowing.)
Thanks again for commenting.
The Pastor
April 27, 2008 at 10:30 pm
I truly do not want you to think that I think that giving 10% is legalistic. I feel that the church that regulated membership based on their tithing was legalistic. I know it seems that my website and blog portray proportionate giving as a sin. But I think everyone should set up personal standards and goals of giving, but be flexible to redirect money in other ways when the Spirit is calling- not when the 52″ plasma TV is calling. If you don’t set up standards, i think that you are setting yourself up for big mistakes.
My biggest challenge of my whole stand against tithing is to somehow change people’s minds from tithing to Spirit-led giving without causing a rebellion against giving to the Church. I will admit most people are bitter about the abuse of money in the Church. And you can see that in Barna’s new tithing study that an increase of 8% of the charitable giving went to other organizations besides churches.
My stand against tithing is strong, very strong. That’s because i whole heartedly believe the bible wants us to give by Spirit-led. My strong stand seems like it is out of bitterness, but i guarantee you it is only my enthusiastic energy about this subject that feeds my aggressive stand.
Anyways, your second part question is interesting to me because i actually came to my position on Spirit-led giving by trying to prove a friend that tithing WAS in fact biblical. I practiced tithing since my very first job at 16. Then a friend confronted me about tithing, and said it was only applicable under the New Covenant. So, i studied to prove him wrong. Next thing you know, here i am. That is the honest truth. I was in a church, and grew up in a church that used their money wisely, so i didn’t have any bitterness about the abuse of money in the church. My answer is nothing short of the truth even though it might sound typical.
April 28, 2008 at 9:25 am
Jared,
Thanks for your kind reply.
I appreciate your comments. While I do not necessarily agree with you, I appreciate your spirit in this discussion. It also helps to learn more about where one is coming from.
I, too, hate the legalistic approach. We are closer on this issue than we both realized. We hate the same excesses, though we deal with the issue differently.
Thanks again for stopping by.
The Pastor