tithing

[Guest Calamity]

Whoa! Dove. That sounds like it was a very legalistic church. I'm surprised your mom and dad let ya'll keep going - unless it was the only one near enough to attend. That's just not right, the way the deacons did there - not at all.

If your family needs food, or some other necessity, then it should be met before giving, as far as I can tell.

1Tim.5

[8] But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

I wonder if those deacons overlooked that verse?

And, no one should be "forced" or coerced into giving either.

2Cor.9

[7] Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

How can you give cheerfully, if your family is going hungry?

[His son]

This very sad to read what some of you are saying here. Both extremes are being presented, and one extreme is as bad as the other. The issue of tithing is well laid out in the new testament even as God intended it to be. I was one of the camp that says tithing is not necessary. Well let me tell you God didn't leave that teaching to men, He took it on personally. He pulled me to the side of the freeway one day after I had debated this issue with some others. I mean He litteraly pulled me to the side of the freeway. Then as I am sitting there rather stunned He starts asking me questions. There were many of them in regards to my job, talent, health, etc., and where did I think this all came from. Then He reminded me of my past criminal life that He saved me from, and how I made my living taking from others. He sums it up by telling me the car I'm in, The road I'm driving on, every breath that I breath, and every beat of my heart are from Him, and that I don't own anything, but that it's all on loan from Him. Needless to say I did recover, and continued on my way. Then He led me to the stories of two world renowned men: J. C. Penny, and Le Turneou (not sure of this spelling) he was the one who manufactured all those humungous earth moving machines. Well both of these men got saved and when God had convinced them of the true purpose of tithing, which is for our benefit not His, He already owns it all, they both started out at the 10%, and wound up to the best of my memory at 90 some odd percentage of their gross. And not only did they tithe their money they tithed their time, and talents as much as it was possible for them to do. While I was still actively employed I made it to 50%, and I can tell you I never missed a penny of it. Unfortunately I retired on social security, and can't hold that goal but I have managed to stay at 20%, and wish it could be more. I tithe to various places. Mostly to World Vision's children, Larry Jones feed the Children, World Challenge, and to my church. This is the way The Holy spirit told me to do it, and that is only for me. Each person should communicate only with The Holy Spirit on this issue, and ignore any of these proclamations of either side of this issue which are extreme. God doesn't need anything we have, He gives us the privilege of living that Scripture which says it is more blessed to give that to receive. And I know some on both sides of that issue. The ones who give because they feel they have to, or are pressured by others are only miserable. The ones who give because they Love Jesus, and can't do enough for Him are very happy.

[wordsower]

I think tithe should be given out of a desire not a law. If you feel led to give it to the church then do so, if you feel led to give it to a homeless person. Pray about it, God will give you the answer.

[His son]

I think tithe should be given out of a desire not a law. If you feel led to give it to the church then do so, if you feel led to give it to a homeless person. Pray about it, God will give you the answer.

AMEN! AMEN! AND AGAIN I SAY AMEN!

[JoeElliott]

pay day comes..... and here is the order of pay out from your check......

God 10%

you 10% *savings, retirement, stash away *

shelter,

food,

utilities,

transportation,

cloths,

extra's...........

unfortunatly, most people do the extra's first, which include movies, cable, phone, computer, eating out, and things such as this...... and then God gets what is left over because they still have to pay the rent, and utilities... they usually have great stereo systems in their cars, and big screen tv's..... but cant buy food, so go to the churches for assistance, or to the food bank or food stamps

No, the unfortunate fact is that most Christians do the extra's AT ALL. As long as there are people who lack basic necessities then it is wrong for Christians to spend money on frivolous "extras". Don't get me wrong. I spend on some extra's also. The problem is when we don't even see this as wrong. If we don't see it as wrong we will never change. Christ gave his all. We are in him. We should do the same, or at least have this as our real and attainable goal.

[Catsmeow]

We are in him. We should do the same, or at least have this as our real and attainable goal.

Amen!

[Guest AbelaJohnB]

Hello,

Tithing is a recognition that everything we have comes from God. This practice put a 'check' in our worldly greed, promotes personal discipline and thrift, testifies to our faith, promotes God

[Guest smuse]

When I first began fellowshipping some 30 years ago as a Christian, our tiny little church did not preach or practice tithing but only giving as the Lord would direct us. Our leadership consisted of 2 Pastor/elders that had jobs and our church was about 30+, and a little basket was set up in the corner of the room where we gathered for worship where anyone could contribute as led by the Lord. We were collecting money so fast that I was asked to do the bookeeping for our church and to my amazement we could have supported both men if they so desired. After being there for about a year one of the brothers introduced us to the tithing teachings and began to bring everyone up to this new standard. What was a shock is that over the next few months the spontaneous giving from the heart was gone and the amount of money dwindled. It was like Adam and Eve suddenly realizing that they were naked before God because of self conciousness, we were suddenly money concious and now under bondage.

Our journey brought us to where we got involved for the next 10 years in the Shepherding/Discipleship Movement where tithing was at the forefront. We, my wife and I and 4 children, were told that we had to tithe plus give another 5% to keep the pastors and church functioning. It got so bad financially that many of the families had to forfeit family needs such as food, clothing, rents and mortgages; we were told to get food stamps or go to the food banks but we had to pay our tithes and we we told that we must be doing something wrong to get into such difficulties. [Corban; Mark 7

10 "For Moses said, '(1) HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER'; and, '(2) HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH';

11 but you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is (3) Corban (that is to say, [1] given to God),'

12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother;]

We were set free from this experience but I was still caught up in the tithe requirement even though we were not going to any church for a couple of years. Once we started to go back to church I wanted to give this money to the pastor as a tithe and was quite surprised when he said that the tithe was OT law and we were no longer required to tithe and to pray about what to do with this money. This prompted me to do a complete study of tithing in the Scriptures and was I surprised to understand that God's real intent for the tithe centered on the law and the Temple. I was able to donate this money not as a tithe but as a freewill offering to the Lord and I divided this up according to some needs that were evident in brothers and sisters that were without.

We eventually moved from this church to another that was closer to home and here there was talk about tithing and I approached the pastor to discuss the Scriptures and we both agreed that the Scriptures were clear on this issue but he was afraid to reveal this to the congregation because he thought that the giving might decrease. We were very concerned that if this man could not be honest with his congregation on this matter, what other things would he compromise on.

We did not stay there much longer and our next church we had a very similar experience with the pastor who agreed with us because he had already studied the Scriptures but was also afraid that he would not get the support from the congregation. "Where is our trust and faith in our God?" I told the Pastor who was a good friend that we could not stay if he could not tell the truth concerning the Word and we left; we are still friends but he has compromised on other areas of the word and divorced his wife in the process.

Over the last 18 years we have been ministering to people coming out of cult situations and we have counseled them regarding giving from a willing heart rather than tithing bringing them through the Scriptures and many blessings have followed. We now give according to what we determine in our own hearts with great joy and many blessings.

A good article on the tithe is: The Truth About Tithing

[Guest shadow2b]

-Over the last 18 years we have been ministering to people coming out of cult situations and we have counseled them regarding giving from a willing heart rather than tithing bringing them through the Scriptures and many blessings have followed. We now give according to what we determine in our own hearts with great joy and many blessings

-HAL-LE-LU-JAH{GOD HAS SPOKEN}-----Way ta go smuse-----been-thaRr--done that--exactly----

-WE helped start a new little church--right up to selecting the pastor thru prayer{in the church--

-meeting house}as a congregation as weLL as the name of the church ----by Prayer---very next day

-after the new-pastor was appointed by GOD--this dude wants ta re-name the church--which he did

-And just as your church's bills were met with the little basket at the back of the church-by the

-door, so was this ones-more than enough-----------until----the pastor demanded we waltz up &

-down the aisles waving our "now--TITHE"---no longer giving--so everyone could SEE who was

- "tithing"& who wasn't & how much each one was tithing-----we left---end of story---church too----

[Guest glorytothelord]

Dove 2 - Dec 18th (sorry to be so late) . I'm sorry if you misunderstood my post. But having left the church doesn't necessarily mean that we continue to tithe to it. There are many other ways in which donations may be used.

Glory.