Tithe?

[Publisher]

It is not wrong to give, but you do know that giving half of what you have is beyond tithing don’t you?

All that we have is the Lords…you can’t give too much to the Lord…from whom all blessings flow…“consider the widow” who gave all she had…she gave more out of her poverty…than did those who gave out of their richness.

 

[kimg901]

It is not wrong to give, but you do know that giving half of what you have is beyond tithing don’t you?

Yes I realize that. But I know it helps others in need (just like when I needed help) so giving half of what i got or if I only have $10 suites me

 

[Jeff77]

Lutherans are not on any obligation to tithe or give a certain amount but to give as God blessed you. Our church sets a budget and the members always seem to meet the budget without and pressure from the pastor or the board of elders. The church has been doing it this way for the past thirty years. Maybe we are lucky because our church is in Silicon Valley.

I’ll echo this, and say we’ve been doing it that way since 1968, at our parish. You will never hear tithing or giving in a sermon. In corporate prayer every Sunday; however, we do pray for cheerful giving as to from how The Lord has blessed us. We always meet our budgets. We are not a huge parish, but The Lord seems to move each of us to give exactly what the church needs.

 

[aspirant]

2043 …The fifth precept (“You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church”) means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability.

The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his own abilities.

 

[Aaron_Creagh]

Do you know why I tithe?

Because it’s biblical.

And all throughout my life I saw my father do it.

 

[Aaron_Creagh]

Not quite. The tithe, as prescribed in the Torah, is 10% of the increase, and only on agricultural income (which is why Jesus talked about the Pharisees’ scrupulosity in tithing mint and cumin). The “increase” is whatever you have this year is more than what you had last year. So if I sowed a bushel of wheat and reaped 10 bushels, the increase is 9 bushels, and the tithe is 0.9 bushels. If the ewes in my flock had 10 lambs, that’s the increase, and the tithe is one lamb. There is nothing-zero-zip-nada in the Old or New Testaments about tithing any other income, except for saying that Abraham gave a “tithe” of the spoils of his war with the five kings to Melchizedek.

Anything that has been added to the law of the tithe, as it is stated in the Torah, is human tradition and can be followed or abandoned, however one pleases. That said, giving 10% of one’s income is a good place to start. 10% of the “increase,” as the Torah taught, would be 10% of whatever lands in your bank account; the “increase” is what you actually get. If you are moved to give 10% of your gross income, go right ahead. But the Biblical tithe is 10% of the increase of the agricultural harvest, period.

How many people in lower income neighborhoods have any legal agricultural harvest?

 

[Aaron_Creagh]

10% of the increase?

That sounds pretty much like a paycheck to paycheck kind of thing.

 

[DaveBj]

10% of the increase?

That sounds pretty much like a paycheck to paycheck kind of thing.

Exactly. Only in the case of the original times, it was a “harvest to harvest” kind of thing.

 

[Pedro_1987]

We are all suppose to tithe. We are called to give 10% but we have the freedom to give in various ways. No one checks on us. It is totally on the homor system.

Why 10%? I’m not disputing it, I’m just curious. I hear this figure over and over again, throughout denominations. Is it written in the Bible somewhere?

 

[aspirant]

Why 10%? I’m not disputing it, I’m just curious. I hear this figure over and over again, throughout denominations. Is it written in the Bible somewhere?

It’s the percentage (“tithe” = “tenth”) required of God’s people in the Old Testament. Here’s Malachi 3:7-8, for example:

“But if you return to me, I will return to you. And yet you ask, ‘How can we return?’ You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, ‘How are we robbing you?’ You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me.”

 

[DaveBj]

Why 10%? I’m not disputing it, I’m just curious. I hear this figure over and over again, throughout denominations. Is it written in the Bible somewhere?

It’s the percentage (“tithe” = “tenth”) required of God’s people in the Old Testament. Here’s Malachi 3:7-8, for example:

“But if you return to me, I will return to you. And yet you ask, ‘How can we return?’ You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, ‘How are we robbing you?’ You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me.”

To sharpen the definition, in the original Hebrew the word translated “tithe” is ma8aser, which means literally “a tenth,” of “10%.” (The 8 stands for a consonant that doesn’t exist in English.)