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Not tithing 10% = bad consequences with finances?

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by SAVED4LIFE, Mar 25, 2003.

  1. SAVED4LIFE

    SAVED4LIFE New Member

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    A friend of mine is having enormouse financial troubles. Her husband has lost his job (2 in less than a year) and is on unemployment. She is a hairdresser and doesn't make much money.

    Anyway, a lady from her church told her that since she didn't tithe a full 10% every week, that God is somehow "putting holes in her bucket". She told my friend that when you tithe your bucket is overflowing, and when you don't, God puts holes in your bucket.

    Now, I'm sorry, but to me....this sounds waaaay off. I tried to offer my friend some comforting words, but she is so hung up on what this lady told her, she feels as though she's drowning and feels guilty.

    I told her God loves a cheerful giver. If she's giving the electric bill money to the church and drowing further in debt, she's not bettering her situation. Her problem lies in her material goods. A huge house, 2 car payments, ski doo's, credit cards maxed out, etc. etc. etc.

    Anyone have some advice on how I could help her? Or is what the lady at her church told her really true?
     
  2. donnA

    donnA Active Member

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    My only comment about tithing would be that my pastor always says when you don't know what to do(here that would be should a person tithe 10% or whatever), then look and see that last thing God told you to do, (again here, that would in the bible), what is the last thing the bible tells us to do about how much to tithe, theres nothing in the N.T. about us being given a command on how much to tithe, so all we have is the 10% of the O.T.
    You can't go wrong doing the last thing God said on the subject.
     
  3. qwerty

    qwerty New Member

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    It also helps to know who God is talking to. God told the nation of Israel to tithe. The church has no such command in any writing after Pentecost.
     
  4. 2Timothy4:1-5

    2Timothy4:1-5 New Member

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    Sounds like pentecostal theology to me; waaaaay out there in left field (if it's even in the ballpark).

    Kenneth
     
  5. mozier

    mozier New Member

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    The reason for the tithe was simple: it was the Old Covenant's "income tax" of Israel, commanded by God to the jewish people so that they could keep their priests fed and the nation supplied.

    In the New Covenant, it was actually the practice was to not just give 10%, but 100%! As Acts says, they sold everything they had and held all things in common.

    So what do we do today? There is no real command on this in the New Covenant, as far as I can see, other than we are not to forsake the assembly. So in support of your church, you give what you can, with 10% of your income being an ideal to reach for, or maintain if you can. But the very idea of God not blessing today if you do not give 10% of your gross income is a terrible and inaccurate thing, and it has caused more anxiety than most other things in our faith today.

    Just give what you can, right up to 10% if possible. God knows what your right hand is doing, even if your left hand does not.

    mozier
     
  6. rufus

    rufus New Member

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    Try giving 20% and then a free-will love offering and watch God work. Wow!

    rufus [​IMG]
     
  7. Ben W

    Ben W Active Member
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    Tithing is yet another false teaching in the church, that has no basis in theology whatsoever.

    It is used by churches to raise finance, yet the the early churches example was to have things in common.

    Tithing is a False Teaching and has no part in the church based on the Early Church found in the New Testament.
     
  8. I Am Blessed 24

    I Am Blessed 24 Active Member

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    I don't tithe because I HAVE to. I tithe because I WANT to.

    God gives me 100% each week. The very least I can do is give 10% back to Him to further His cause.

    Blessings,
    Sue
     
  9. Shiloh

    Shiloh New Member

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    God blesses tithing, 10% being the base. I have found over the years tithing is a GOOD thermometer for a persons spiritual condition. This is true EVERY time. You show me a person giving the pastor trouble THEY ARE NOT TITHERS!
     
  10. Tim

    Tim New Member

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    BenW's quote,"Tithing is yet another false teaching in the church, that has no basis in theology whatsoever.

    It is used by churches to raise finance, yet the the early churches example was to have things in common.

    Tithing is a False Teaching and has no part in the church based on the Early Church found in the New Testament."

    BenW, We agree on this one! Tithing is commanded in the Old Covenant, not the New. There's nothing wrong with giving 10%, I usually give about that much, but I'm afraid that most churches that talk a lot about tithing do so because they have to maintain a big building, or build a bigger building--hardly what should be the central focus of the church, i.e. edifying the people and taking care of their needs.

    In Christ,

    Tim
     
  11. Thankful

    Thankful <img src=/BettyE.gif>

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    I have heard similiar comments about the bucket.

    It sounds as if this family has just over spent and because the husband has lost his job, they cannot continue living the lifestyle that they have in the past. They probably need some financial counseling.

    I believe in tithing 10% and giving more for various ministries of the church.

    This is the testimony of a family that I know.

    They had always tithed (given 10% or more) but they didn't do it for a few months to spend the money for something that they wanted (I don't remember what it was). They had a car accident and the cost of replacing the car was the exact amount that they would have tithed. This family was very adamant about tithing after that.

    I know that I have not always tithed, thinking that I didn't have enough money to tithe, but since I have been tithing I have always had enough money to meet all expenses.

    You think these two examples are coincidences.
    Maybe?

    I don't think should give to the Lord's work and expect him to give in return. We should give because we love the Lord.

    Our pastor said Sunday that the more we give the more God can give us. Give does not always mean money.


    One thing you might tell this woman that if she can not give money, perhaps she can give of her time to work in one of the church's ministries.
     
  12. Mike McK

    Mike McK New Member

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    That happens to people who tithe, too.

    I would tell your friend to ask this lady where anyone in the church is told to tithe 10%.

    As others have said, that was an OT thing.

    As Christians, there's no precribed amount we're expected to give to God. We should be ready and willing to give it all, should He ask us to.

    What kind of church is your friend in? This sounds suspiciously like WoF/"seed faith" theology to me.

    It is, but there are a lot of people who believe this.

    I would point out to her that these things happen to people who tithe, too. I'd go through the NT (Acts, specifically) and show her that there isn't any place in the NT where we're told to give 10%.

    If she's hung up on the OT, ask her about Job. He tithed. Look what happened to him.

    She's also not honoring God. The Bible tells us to be fair in our business practices and to pay our debts.

    There you go.

    Downsize, tear up her creditcards and pay them off.

    Consolodate her debts, sell the jetskis and take the bus.

    Make a budget and stick to it.
     
  13. stubbornkelly

    stubbornkelly New Member

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    Absolutely. It sounds like her troubles stem from lack of good stewardship, not as a punishment of sorts from not tithing.

    We're lured into the idea that we should have all sorts of "things," and it's easy to get caught up in living by credit. It can feel sacrificial to have to give up a certain lifestyle, but it's the lifestyle that's the lie. Live off cash. Best thing I've ever done.
     
  14. Thankful

    Thankful <img src=/BettyE.gif>

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    That's right, Kelly. If one has a credit card, pay the entire balance each month.

    Reminds of the time when my brother asked me which gasoline credit card I had. I told him I didn't have a gasoline credit card.

    He was astonished and asked, "How do you buy gasoline?" [​IMG] [​IMG] Can you imagine? This is a true story.

    My answer: cash, of course. [​IMG]
     
  15. stubbornkelly

    stubbornkelly New Member

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    Can I beat my head against the wall now? Reminds me of the time I went to have dinner with my parents, and the people at the restaurant couldn't do anything. Why? Because the computer was down. :confused: So sad. "How do you buy gasoline?" . . . oh my.

    What a world, what a world.
     
  16. Dr. Bob

    Dr. Bob Administrator
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    Likewise see tithing as a good starting point for believers, but not "required". Jews did it out of necessity (or be stoned to death; pretty powerful motivation) and we should give
    To claim great blessing from such giving (or cursing if we do not) has been the linch-pin of pentecostal theology. It, too, is not biblical.

    But saying all that, I consider GOD as my 'first' Creditor. I owe Him a debt of love and will work my finances so that I have as much to give Him as possible.
     
  17. Thankful

    Thankful <img src=/BettyE.gif>

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    Amen, Dr. Bob.
     
  18. Ben W

    Ben W Active Member
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    For all those who belive a 10% Tithe is required, what do you do with people like us who actually give more than 10%?

    Using your logic of giving 10% as required, maybe we ought to keep the rest.

    This is what is wrong with the Legalistic Ten Percent Tithe requirement. Many of you who tithe your Ten Percent each week are not giving enough.

    You who expect a Sole Parent to Tithe, when they clearly have to go without neccesities in life to do so, should then you not do the same to make sure you are not a hypocrite?

    If I had a Sole Parent come into my church, and tell me she could only give fifty cents per week, I would throw my arms around her, embrace her, and get her involved in church. Everyone has the right to feel accepted in church, irrespective of what they are giving to it.

    Tim,
    Guess it had to happen, we agree :D . I really enjoy debating you my friend. [​IMG]
     
  19. I Am Blessed 24

    I Am Blessed 24 Active Member

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    Ben; I agree. Ten percent should just be a starting point. As for myself, I don't keep the rest. There are always 'love offerings', missions, people the Lord has spoken personally to me about.

    I don't know what other people give and I don't want to know. I believe in tithing for myself because I have seen and experienced what God can do with what I have left and I. I enjoy being a blessing to someone else through God's direction.

    If a sole parent comes in and gives 50 cents. She/he may be giving more than I am; because I may have more to give and am not doing it and she/he may have given all they had. Hers/his is the greatest sacrifice.

    We cannot forget, though, that obedience is better than sacrifice. We are not a rich family, by ANY stretch of the imagination, but we tithe and God has blessed and we have everything we need and some of the things we want.

    Lest I be misunderstood. I am not tithing to receive blessings from God. I am tithing because of the blessings I have ALREADY received from God.

    God is good..........all the time.

    [​IMG]
    Sue

    [ March 28, 2003, 06:30 AM: Message edited by: I Am Blessed 16 ]
     
  20. Pete

    Pete New Member

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    "..And now let us turn unto the hymn by Judson W. Van DeVenter...I surrender 10%, I surrender 10%, 10% to Thee my blessed Savior..."

    Sorry [​IMG]

    I agree 1000% with Mike McK, stubbornkelly, Dr. Bob, Sue..I miss anyone? [​IMG]

    Just found THIS on web, some food for thought...

    Pete
     
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