This is part of a series on Roman Catholicism and the eucharist. See this index.
Over at dioseschucha, there is a good article on “The Law of God and the Law of Moses.” Its well worth a read regarding what portions of the Old Testament are still in force and which are not. There isn’t much there that I disagree with. It is solid biblical exegesis.
What I wanted to discuss are his comments on tithing.
It is truly outstanding the fact that most Christian churches teach that the Law is done away with, but they still guilt their members into paying tithes. Is a Christian required to pay tithing? I refer again to the decision made by James in the council of Jerusalem. Did James or Peter mention the tithing at all as part of the mosaic precepts that gentile converts had to observe. Not at all, so there’s the answer.
Christians are not required to tithe because the tithing system was tied to the Levitical priesthood system, which no longer exists. The tithe was the means to provide for the needs of the Levites, priests and temple caretakers, whose only job was to perform the ceremonies and sacrifices commanded in the Law. Not having any longer a priesthood, we do not need a tithe. Paul and the New Testament missionaries never received tithes, and the tithe is never mentioned in the New Covenant writings (New Testament). What Christians must give is good will offerings, out of the abundance of their heart, for missionaries, or people in need, as it is commanded by Paul in 2nd Corinthians 9:
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
As anyone knows who has followed along in the series on the Eucharist, the ancient church of Christ practiced offering their “tithes” during the thanksgiving (eucharist). Here is what I wrote yesterday:
The OT Law mandated 10% tithe offerings to support the priesthood and the poor. This same purpose carried over into the early church. But, like the Widow’s Mite, the giving of the ‘tithe’ in the church is nonspecific and voluntary: it is a free will offering used to support those in need.
I called the eucharist a “freewill offering”. Dioseschucha call what we give a “good will offering.” It’s the same thing.
The early church practiced what we loosely call a “tithe” which were gifts freely offered to God for use by the poor and for the church’s liturgical needs (e.g. bread and wine the Lord’s Supper and oil for anointing). While we still call it a tithe today, the early church did not mandate a strict 10% tithe.
We have called this the tithe offering throughout this series because it is directly based on the original tithe offering—supporting the clergy and those in need—but, strictly speaking, it isn’t a tithe as the amount isn’t predetermined and why they are called gifts. That is why the offering in the church is the thanksgiving offering. It is a free will sacrifice: by definition a eucharistic offering.
The point of the thanksgiving offering has never been the gift itself, but the thanksgiving behind the physical gift. Thus the Eucharist is referred both by the state of the heart and by the actions that come forth from that pure heart. You cannot truly have one without the other.
The thanksgiving is of a pure heart
There is nothing wrong with giving 10%, but it’s not a matter of legalism. The emphasis is on being generous and giving freely, whether more, less, or equal to 10%. What matters is the pure heart of the giver, not the gift itself.
For example, if a person gave more to help others in times of greater need and gave less during times of lesser need, there is nothing inherently wrong with this.
Using one’s judgment and discernment for how the gifts will actually be used is part of doing the work of God. Indeed, no one is one mandated to donate their income to apostate churches or organizations that will not use the funds in a way that glorifies God. Part of good stewardship is donating where it is effective and refusing to donate when it is wrong to do so.
One can—and should—help the needy directly whenever possible. This is especially true if one’s church does not follow the early church’s eucharist practices. If you attend a church where the tithe offering is separate from the Lord’s Supper or where the tithe offering does not go to help the poor and needy, then you will need to take your funds elsewhere.
I will continue to refer to the eucharist offering as including the tithe, but this is to be understood figuratively, not literally. Many churches that I have attended have done this. They call them “tithes and offerings” but when they preach on the subject of gifts, they are always clear that the specific amount is not the important part. I continue this tradition.
Thanks for citing me. I fully agree with you brother.
Over at dioseschucha, there is a good article on “The Law of God and the Law of Moses.” Its well worth a read regarding what portions of the Old Testament are still in force and which are not. There isn’t much there that I disagree with. It is solid biblical exegesis.
What I wanted to discuss are his comments on tithing.
dioseschucha
The Law of God and the law of Moses
It is truly outstanding the fact that most Christian churches teach that the Law is done away with, but they still guilt their members into paying tithes. Is a Christian required to pay tithing? I refer again to the decision made by James in the council of Jerusalem. Did James or Peter mention the tithing at all as part of the mosaic precepts that gentile converts had to observe. Not at all, so there’s the answer.
Christians are not required to tithe because the tithing system was tied to the Levitical priesthood system, which no longer exists. The tithe was the means to provide for the needs of the Levites, priests and temple caretakers, whose only job was to perform the ceremonies and sacrifices commanded in the Law. Not having any longer a priesthood, we do not need a tithe.
i think this is the main reason God has cursed America even more as time marches on since they have preached in most Churches ”if ye don’t give or plant your seed of 10% (or more)tithe ye will be cursed by DaLawd and will not enjoy your financial harvest ”heavily since the 1970s/80s. And their FAVE OT verse for it?:
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this says the Lord of hosts If I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing that there will not be room for you to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field says the Lord – Malachi 3:8-11
As this article says here about the above Scripture:
” Everyone in the church knows these verses, and many can quote them word for word. These are the premiere verses used to explain the tithe, and why many preachers and parishioners believe we are obligated to “pay” it.
I will submit to the reader that these verses have been grossly taken out of context – totally divorced of their original meaning, to mean something the prophet Malachi never intended. I was taught long ago that when a text is removed from its original context, you develop what is called a pretext. The meaning of pretext is: a reason given in justification of a course action that is not the real reason. The word pretext comes from two Latin words: Prae, which means before, and texere which means to weave. Combining the two you get pratexere which means to disguise.
So, when someone is using a pretext to drive a point across, or to get what they want, they disguise their actual intent. It’s deception, a ruse or pretense. Unfortunately, plenty of preachers (especially televangelists)[i] create pretexts out of Holy scripture to get their point across to unsuspecting parishioners to siphon them out of their money in the “name” of Jesus.
The aforementioned passages are the ones they butcher the most.
Now, that I have written a small introduction, let’s examine carefully Malachi 3:8-11.
The word tithe in the Hebrew is āśar. The Greek word is dekatoō. Both words mean tenth or a tenth part. Most people believe when they see the word tithe(s), that simply means to give a tenth of their income to the church when they get paid. In other words, if you receive $500, you pay $50 in the collection plate. If you receive a $1000, you pay $100. Not to do so, is to rob God, and be subject to a curse. Many believe a financial curse. If they become ill, they believe is because they stopped tithing. If they lose their job, they believe is because they stopped tithing or never tithed. There are others that believe if they pay their tenth, they will receive a one-hundred-fold return on their giving. For example, you give $100, you will eventually receive $10,000 down the line; 100×100=10,000. This is also what is known as name-it-and-claim-it, or the prosperity gospel.
Sounds more like the lottery to me.
Disciples of this new age type of philosophy believe through positive confession which they believe is biblical faith can get God to do what they want; like for instance make them wealthy. The means is through tithing their money in order to get more money. Here’s a shock for many of you; OT tithing was never money. I’ll explain that later in the article.
Some of the popular tithing phrases used in churches are: “You cannot afford not to tithe!” “Tithe your way out of debt!” “Have a need, plant a seed!”
I have even heard of churches that will pray a special prayer over those whose pay their tenth, and pray for the rest of their congregation separately (i.e. those who do not tithe). It’s a sort of back of the hand prayer for the have-nots; once again, those who do not tithe (according to their definition of it).
Next, God through the prophet says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be food or meat in my house.”
What was the storehouse? Many believe it to be the local church where one worships. That is not true. The storehouse was the place in the temple of God where goods were stored like fruit, grain, herbs, etc.
In Nehemiah 10:37-39 we read,
“To bring the first fruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, the new wine and oil, to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God; and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites, for the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities. And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes; and the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of our God to the rooms of the storehouse. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine and the oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are; and we will not neglect the house of our God.”
It should be clear to all that the tithes belong to the Levites. The procedure was this, The 11 tribes of Israel were to gather the first fruits of their increase to the priests along with the tithes of what they produced from the ground to the storehouse. The Levites then were to give a tenth of the tithes (or a heave offering) they received from the people to the descendants of Aaron. The descendants of Aaron were priests.”
That timeline I gave further above could be just a coincidence, as the manufacturing jobs that kept most non-farming Americans employed from the late 1800s to the 1960s started to evaporate faster and faster as WE marched toward the year 2000.