Tithing & giving: The letter and the Spirit of the law? Thoughts?

[GoldenEagle]

If a person is dead unto self and alive unto God then it will show in their giving whether it be to a local church or some other need. If not they aren't followers of Chtist anyway and it is a moot point.

I think I hear your heart here brother. Question then. If a person who claims Jesus as their Savior/Lord doesn't give to the local church or someone in need are they unsaved?

God bless,

GE

 

[GoldenEagle]

We should give tithes where we eat or are fed. Bringing meat to His store house,

We can plant seed or gifts above this......

Please explain this idea that "we should give tithes where we eat or are fed." What do you mean Jim? Do you mean we should give to churches where we worship and receive spiritual nourishment?

 

What about "bringing meat to His store house"? I'm not clear here. Are you saying the local church is the "new" storehouse?

God bless,

GE

 

[GoldenEagle]

What a coincidence, I just posted on this in my blog area! Not my first rodeo on this topic!

 

 

It was a live bible study I did in Worthychat, addressing  each original language verse I could find on the topic, both testaments. (Plus list of verses for your own study if you chose to pursue that instead of my questionable commentary.

 

Summary - Biblical tithing is not Christian, but generosity is.

 

I will check this out Ome.

God bless,

GE

 

[gdemoss]

If a person is dead unto self and alive unto God then it will show in their giving whether it be to a local church or some other need. If not they aren't followers of Chtist anyway and it is a moot point.

I think I hear your heart here brother. Question then. If a person who claims Jesus as their Savior/Lord doesn't give to the local church or someone in need are they unsaved?

God bless,

GE

Hi Jon,

I stopped arguing salvation brother as I don't believe it is black n white any longer. Jesus is Master and he decides who stands. Not my place. I simply look for fruit and do what I can to maximize the fruit of my brethren.

[angels4u]

(Cont.)

7. Let’s switch gears to talk about motivation for a minute. The wrong motivation for giving is pride, guilt, greed, pressure, gimmicks, and power. Right reasons for giving include wanting to glorify God, wanting our hearts to be right before God, we want for God to be my master, we want our lives to be used by God, we want our faith to grow, we want to be compassionate people, and finally I want to be a worshiper of God.

You’re probably thinking something to the effect of: “This is a bit heavy. Please can I have some good news?”

 

8. Yes! The good news is God will never love you less for how much you give. On the flip side God will never love you more for how much you give either. God’s love is NOT dependent on YOUR giving: your tithes, offerings, gifts to ministries, to evangelists, to missionaries, or anything else you can think of.

There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation.

 

9. Salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ are both free to us without money or cost. There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation. We as Believers don’t give to be saved. Instead, we give sacrificially BECAUSE we are saved and BEACAUSE we want others to be reached for the Gospel.

 

10. Give! Whether you give to a local church, your neighbors in need, the local music radio station, your favorite charities, or something else give! Giving should be a part of our DNA!

 

What do you think about giving and tithing Angels4u or anyone else?

God bless,

GE

My answer will be not as long as yours

 

As I said God loves a cheerful giver but the Christian is free to give where ever they see the need at the time,I do realize that the church where you worship God need money too but there are so many other places and people who do need support too. I feel we are free to give wherever we think its best. So I think we do not need give the 10% since this was the O.T. law but when we give we should give happily! 

[Guest]

 

Actually, I've experienced this too. Not tithing is sin. So not tithing means you will go to hell. At least that's what some very misguided teachers, ministers, and pastors teach. It's a scare tactic and it hasn't worked in the evangelical church don't you agree?

I checked that link provided by firestormx, and it is rather disturbing.  Not only is this a scare tactic, but false doctrine and a perversion of the truth.  I have never encountered it before, so it must be a fringe element that preaches such nonsense.

 

Christian giving is exemplified by the poor widow who gave everything she had, as well as by the disciples in Acts 2 who shared everything they had.  It is a spiritual sacrifice from a grateful heart.

 

 

Just wanted to add the observation that the above false teaching is quite widespread, at least in the part of the country I was in when I experienced it. I agree about what real christian giving is too.

[Guest Butero]

The only question I have is whether or not tithing applied exclusively to the temple, or if the practice continues within the Christian Church?  I don't see anything spelled out to the point where I can be 100 percent sure either way.  As such, the scriptures in Malachi about being cursed with a curse for not tithing may or may not apply today.

 

Will a man rob God?  Yet ye have robbed me.  But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?  In tithes and offerings.  Ye are cursed with a curse:  for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  Malachi 3:8-10

 

Those who say we must tithe point to this passage.  If you believe it is an eternal truth, then we are stealing from God if we don't tithe.  If you believe it only applied to the temple that existed in Old Testament times, then we aren't required to give a specific amount, but just to be cheerful and generous givers, and we will be rewarded in heaven based on how generous we are.  I can't prove this one way or the other, but I suppose one could say we should tithe just to be on the safe side.  Why take chances? 

[MorningGlory]

Just my observation; I believe one should tithe to their church.  If you are without a church it gets a little harder.  I watch TBN and Daystar (mostly because of the garbage on secular t.v.) and there are so many trying to get your money that it's overwhelming.  Some of them actually preach giving and 'sowing seeds' in order to get things in life   Recently, it was Passover and Easter that were used to claim that God was pouring out blessings right now and only those who sowed a seed with whatever ministry was speaking would receive blessings. I don't believe these televangelists give all that money to the needy because they are pretty much ALL millionaires and I don't give them anything.  So I guess the question is.....how to decide who to give our hard earned money to. 

[Guest]

Just my observation; I believe one should tithe to their church.  If you are without a church it gets a little harder.  I watch TBN and Daystar (mostly because of the garbage on secular t.v.) and there are so many trying to get your money that it's overwhelming.  Some of them actually preach giving and 'sowing seeds' in order to get things in life   Recently, it was Passover and Easter that were used to claim that God was pouring out blessings right now and only those who sowed a seed with whatever ministry was speaking would receive blessings. I don't believe these televangelists give all that money to the needy because they are pretty much ALL millionaires and I don't give them anything.  So I guess the question is.....how to decide who to give our hard earned money to. 

 

Smart lady.  I don't give the "word of faith" (WoF) folks on TBN a penny either. There were still some good teachers on there, but they were getting hard to find the last time I watched it. Haven't had a TV for a few years, so that might have changed.

 

You're right about it being harder to figure out who (i.e. what ministry, etc.) to give to when you don't have a church, and it can be difficult even if you do. I've learned over the years that the ECFA seal on a ministry website is not an easy one to get. You can read about their standards here: http://www.ecfa.org/content/standards Many ministries that have earned this seal are doing some great work for the Lord, and are willing to be transparent about their finances. This is a big help when trying to figure out where give.

 

I've found over time that I tend to be drawn toward two kinds of ministries: teaching & translation for the most part.  Teaching because there are so many churches these days (in the USA where I live) that don't teach new converts much of anything in the way of discipleship. Translation because there are still so many people groups out there who don't have a Bible in their own language as yet. This one is close to my heart because I've found it difficult to read scripture in a second language and get much out of it, especially when you are still learning. Forget about trying to follow a sermon at the same time too. These two things are fairly high on my list, and our church supports missionaries as does our denomination. Missionary work is a good one too, but I prefer the ministries that are training local pastors who are more familiar with the culture, etc. in their areas. This is just where the Spirit has lead me, and part of that is all travel I've done over the years. Best thing to do is ask the Lord where He wants you to give, then follow that.

[Willa]

We started giving as God lead us many years ago, and did so beyond our means at times. But as time went on our AOG church started teaching that God would not bless us if we didn't give. We were placed under horrible bondage that was very difficult to shake off. I finally concluded that it was wrong for me to go into credit card debt in order to pay tithes. We have gone without Christmas dinner, eating macaroni and cheese, in order to pay tithes. And it was not cheerful giving. They were teaching the same thing a few years ago when we visited with my cousin. The whole service was about "if you want a blessing, come and put your money on the stage. And if you want a double blessing, come and put more up here now. I went away shaking my head and thankful to be in another place that teaches that "God doesn't need your money--He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He wants your heart."

We went from the AOG to the Baptist chuch where members had to vow to tithe, "as God enabled us." Since I desire to support my local church I eagerly did so out of my own part time earnings. Hubby did not join there. I later learned that it was because of that requirement. But I was critcized for not giving from our combined incomes. When our son and his pregnant wife were going without food, subsisting on top raman, I gave my tithes to them. I would be worse than an infidal for not helping them. Again I was criticized. No one even asked if we were having trouble or why, but both of our incomes had also been reduced due to company cut backs. However, the church treasurer, who had been putting pressure on our small group leader to call us on it, called us himself and demanded our back payments. He had made our delinqency widely known to leadership. I was unable to comply.

As said, the last 10 years we have finally been in a Calvary Chapel that never makes known its need or asks us to give, even for building projects. And once again we are able to give eagerly to support our church as well as various home and foreign missions. Visitors are asked not to give at our church.

1 Cor. 8:5 But they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God". v.2 that in great trial and affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality." It is the fruit of our greatful joy of knowing Christ that moves us to give back. When we give Him ourselves we give everything we possess as well. It is not difficult to give when we are so blessed. God gave His Only Son. Jesus gave His life for us. How can we not give to Him? It is a ministry of love. We also give to empoverished churches as God directs us. Our brothers and sisters overseas don't even have Bibles!

I might add that giving to avoid a curse is giving out of compulsion. Even worse, it is coming under the horrible bondage of the law. We should never give out of fear. We should only give to God eagerly out of joyful gratitude. He will direct where it should go.