Is There A Biblical Reference for Tithing?

[deb1]

If you truly can’t give 10 % or more, give 5 %…but it is too easy to say I don’t have enough…surely the widow who gave her last mite had needs that went unfulfilled? Give less money - donate more time…

I agree with this, which was my point. We as Christians are expected to give to the church and ten percent for many people is a good starting point. But I don’t like the hard and fast rule that I see preached in some churches.

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I have been in Protestant Churches in which their was no allowance for extreme poverty or financial hardship. If you didn’t tithe your ten percent before taxes were taken out then you weren’t trusting God. That seems cruel to me and was the attitude that I was referring to in my post.

 

[Teflon93]

I agree with this, which was my point. We as Christians are expected to give to the church and ten percent for many people is a good starting point. But I don’t like the hard and fast rule that I see preached in some churches.

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I have been in Protestant Churches in which their was no allowance for extreme poverty or financial hardship. If you didn’t tithe your ten percent before taxes were taken out then you weren’t trusting God. That seems cruel to me and was the attitude that I was referring to in my post.

Yes, that alienated me as well, but not so much as what they did with the money so collected.

A pastor driving a late-model BMW preaching in an Italian suit that we are impious for not forgoing a vacation or selling a second car in order to up our tithe so the church could build a basketball gymnasium turned out to be too much for me…

 

[guanophore]

However, Paul says this: This verse shows that Christians are not compelled to tithe as Jews are.

I am not so sure this is true. This verse was talking about almsgiving, or a “second collection” that Paul intended to take to the Church in Jerusalem.

Not everyone can give ten percent. If you are wealthy you should give more but if you are poor, ten percent might be to much.

When I was younger, before they had all day news cast to keep a story alive, I remember hearing a story about a family whose teenage son starved to death. Apparently the family was setting apart money for a tithe and didn’t have enough to eat off of. Perhaps they thought that God would provide if they were faithful to the tithe.

My own experiences in translating the law so severly was that I couldn’t pay bills. God didn’t magically make more money for me. Sorry, It didn’t happen. So, I stopped and am now deciding to give after I pay bills.

I think this is wrong thinking about giving. I have suffered from it too. Jesus made mention of the poor widow, who put in “all she had” and that it was much more than those who gave of their surfiet. I think that we must have sacrificial giving, and that, though it is harder for a poor person to tithe, God’s blessings will come through bigger. Remember the verse in Malichi? If the firstfruits are given, the windows of heaven will open.

I think people that can do more than meet their basic needs (have “extra”) are more able to give over and above the tithe, for the second collection, and alms for special things. I think it is even MORE important to give 10% when I am poor!

I don’t think that God multiplying the money is “magic”, and I don’t think that the children should go hungry, but many of us Americans could fast and give lunch money more than we do.

I know what you are saying about the bills, but you cannot really “tithe” before the bills, because that money does not belong to you. It would not be right to take money that belongs to someone else and tithe it.

 

[guanophore]

Yes, Paul says in 1 Cor 16:
1Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
There is no strict rule of giving 10% but rather giving a percentage you feel you should give within your means and calling in life (ie anywhere from 1%-100%).

No, this is a special collection for the impoverished Church in Judea. this is NOT the same thing as the tithe collection.

 

[deb1]

I don’t think that we should call the offereings that we give the church, “tithing.” Doing so means that we have to keep all the Old Testament laws. I noticed that no one here commented on the law that I referenced that said that part of that tithe was used to basically have a good time with Levite priests. Are any of you doing this? I would like to hear about your priest’s reaction if you do.

Reading the verses around the laws we see that the tithe came from agricultural produce and husbandry. Why is that? The early Jews certainly had merchants, shoe makers and soldiers. Why didn’t God make tithing for them an obligation.

THe fact is that we are under an obligation to support our church. If you want to make a promise to God to give ten percent that is wonderful and I think that for most of us ten percent is a good starting point. But God has not ordered us to tithe and ten percent is not a better amount then twenty or five percent.

 

[InLight247]

“Give, it shall be given to you.”
God is always faithful. God’s word is always true.
God likes a cheerful giver. We can never out give God.
All we have are from God. When we give, we give from what has been given to us. The part we give out belongs to God to start with.

 

[deb1]

“Give, it shall be given to you.”
God is always faithful. God’s word is always true.
God likes a cheerful giver. We can never out give God.
All we have are from God. When we give, we give from what has been given to us. The part we give out belongs to God to start with.

These verse are speaking of spiritual things not tithing! No where does God promise us financial security.

Give to support your church but do not do so with the hope that you will get anything back, financially. You will get spiritual rewards.

 

[jpusateri]

You haven’t quoted the whole verse. The verse says that Abram gave a tenth of everything that he won in battle. It is possible that Abram at some other time tithed off his belongings but it sounds like he was giving ten percent of what was extra wealth to him.

That’s an interesting take on “income”. If Abram fought and won, that’s income. He didn’t give 10% of all his already-owned assets, you are correct. But when you tithe, you are giving (let’s say) 10% of your yearly income, for example.

If he just “earned” a bunch of wealth by fighting and he gave 10%, that sounds like tithing to me.

Also, I wasn’t defending or refuting tithing, just answering the question on where it is in the bible.

 

[InLight247]

These verse are speaking of spiritual things not tithing! No where does God promise us financial security.

Give to support your church but do not do so with the hope that you will get anything back, financially. You will get spiritual rewards.

When we tithe, we not only tithe our money, we tithe our time and talents also.

“Give, and it shall be given to you,” applies to all givings, thus, the “be given to you” part includes every kind of receiving, financial blessing included.

Though we do not give with the motive of getting back,when we tithe, it is unavoidable to receive God’s blessings both spiritually and material wise, because we can never outgive God.

In Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

This is the only place in Bible God has ever said “**test me **in this”. The blessings He talked about including every kind of blessings, financial blessings included. It is a mis-concept that we are only supposed to receive spiritual blessing as though God does not want to bless our material life. Look at how God blessed Abraham. God care about every area of our life, though we put things in heaven above things on earth.

 

[deb1]

When we tithe, we not only tithe our money, we tithe our time and talents also.

“Give, and it shall be given to you,” applies to all givings, thus, the “be given to you” part includes every kind of receiving, financial blessing included.

Though we do not give with the motive of getting back,when we tithe, it is unavoidable to receive God’s blessings both spiritually and material wise, because we can never outgive God.

In Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

This is the only place in Bible God has ever said “**test me **in this”. The blessings He talked about including every kind of blessings, financial blessings included. It is a mis-concept that we are only supposed to receive spiritual blessing as though God does not want to bless our material life. Look at how God blessed Abraham. God care about every area of our life, though we put things in heaven above things on earth.

Although we no longer see extreme poverty in this country, in the past, Christians did starve to death. I’ve read some accounts of the potato faminine in Irealand that are gut wrenching.

We live in an unusual time. There are many resources to keep the poor in our land from starving. This hasn’t always been so and we are blessed to live in the times that we do.

Your interpretation of the verses makes God either a liar or very, very weak. He obviously has not provided for every starving Christian throughout the ages. Either he has no power, he lies or you’ve interpreted the verses incorrectly.

If you give part of your income to the church it should not be with the hope of getting anything back. It shouldln’t even be expected that you will get anything back.

I am not against giving to the church, just don’t call it a tithe and don’t expect anything in return.

 

[deb1]

That’s an interesting take on “income”. If Abram fought and won, that’s income. He didn’t give 10% of all his already-owned assets, you are correct. But when you tithe, you are giving (let’s say) 10% of your yearly income, for example.

If he just “earned” a bunch of wealth by fighting and he gave 10%, that sounds like tithing to me.

Also, I wasn’t defending or refuting tithing, just answering the question on where it is in the bible.

The tithe was instituted during Moses time. Abram was not tithing but giving a free will gift from his extra. Was this income? Yes, but he also had flocks of sheep and was considered wealthy. Considering that the tithe was mainly agricultural he could have given from his normal wealth also.

A modern example would be if you got a raise and gave ten percent of the extra income but didn’t give any of your regular base pay. That is basically what Abram did.

That is why Abram is not a good example to use when one is speaking of tithing.

 

[InLight247]

Although we no longer see extreme poverty in this country, in the past, Christians did starve to death. I’ve read some accounts of the potato faminine in Irealand that are gut wrenching.

We live in an unusual time. There are many resources to keep the poor in our land from starving. This hasn’t always been so and we are blessed to live in the times that we do.

Your interpretation of the verses makes God either a liar or very, very weak. He obviously has not provided for every starving Christian throughout the ages. Either he has no power, he lies or you’ve interpreted the verses incorrectly.

If you give part of your income to the church it should not be with the hope of getting anything back. It shouldln’t even be expected that you will get anything back.

I am not against giving to the church, just don’t call it a tithe and don’t expect anything in return.

In Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

Tithe is God’s own word, not mine. The problem of poverty you talked about is a different issue from tithe.

In the above Bible passage God said if we tithe he would open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we cannot even contain it. No matter we ask or expect it or nor, he will pour out His blessings.

If you cannot believe in God’s word, you don’t really believe in God’s goodness. God never lies. God is always faithful. God cares about every detail of our lives, not just spiritual. He said ask you will receive, give, it shall be given to you. Sometimes we don’t receive because we didn’t ask. Sometimes we don’t receive because we are lack of giving. If we want to reap, we have to sow first. Sowing and reaping are God’s natural law.

The way I view tithe is to give 10% of my gross income. That includes giving to church and other charity organizations. It is my personal experience and many others’ that the “test me” part is true. I am not talking about money falling down from sky. But when you give to God, He will give you his blessings. I know this from my own experience. I have also heard so many testimonies about this from other people who tithe.

Having blessings does not mean no suffering and no cross. But indeed when you tithe, God will pour out blessings as He said.

 

[guanophore]

Although we no longer see extreme poverty in this country, in the past, Christians did starve to death. I’ve read some accounts of the potato faminine in Irealand that are gut wrenching.

We live in an unusual time. There are many resources to keep the poor in our land from starving. This hasn’t always been so and we are blessed to live in the times that we do.

Your interpretation of the verses makes God either a liar or very, very weak. He obviously has not provided for every starving Christian throughout the ages. Either he has no power, he lies or you’ve interpreted the verses incorrectly.

If you give part of your income to the church it should not be with the hope of getting anything back. It shouldln’t even be expected that you will get anything back.

I am not against giving to the church, just don’t call it a tithe and don’t expect anything in return.

I don’t agree with this. I think the blessing is not limited to spiritual things, but material as well. Jesus told His disciples not to worry about what they shall eat, or wear, or where they would sleep, that the Father would care for them.

In Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

Tithe is God’s own word, not mine. The problem of poverty you talked about is a different issue from tithe.

In the above Bible passage God said if we tithe he would open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we cannot even contain it. No matter we ask or expect it or nor, he will pour out His blessings.

If you cannot believe in God’s word, you don’t really believe in God’s goodness. God never lies. God is always faithful. God cares about every detail of our lives, not just spiritual. He said ask you will receive, give, it shall be given to you. Sometimes we don’t receive because we didn’t ask. Sometimes we don’t receive because we are lack of giving. If we want to reap, we have to sow first. Sowing and reaping are God’s natural law.

The way I view tithe is to give 10% of my gross income. That includes giving to church and other charity organizations. It is my personal experience and many others’ that the “test me” part is true. I am not talking about money falling down from sky. But when you give to God, He will give you his blessings. I know this from my own experience. I have also heard so many testimonies about this from other people who tithe.

Having blessings does not mean no suffering and no cross. But indeed when you tithe, God will pour out blessings as He said.

AMEN!! PREACH IT!