Tithe

To support you church, Pay your Pastor I bet he likes to eat to.
10%

 

The Bible does not teach a tithe at all for the church. However, you still need to cover church expenses, support ministers, and meet the needs of widows and poor.

 

We tithe 10% plus give to missions and our current building fund. As crazy as it sounds we make it better on 90% than 100%! God truly does bless us!

 

We're gonna get a lot of pros and cons, I expect. Here's a question for the cons. If you do not tithe, what you be the typical percentage of your income you give. More than 10%? Less?

On what do you base the amount you give? Is it proportionate in any way to your income? Is it different each week?

I'm not trying to make a point here. I'm trying go get some information.

 

Solid questions:thumbs:

 

There are people on this board who do not believe in tithing for a NT church....However, most NT churches do teach that the tithe is biblical for the NT church. I would like links posted to those which don't, as there will be someone who will say that I'm wrong about that. :laugh:

 

I do not calculate a fixed amount, and it may differ slightly each week. What I give amounts to more than an alleged "tithe." If I see special needs arise, I give even more. I try to make sure I am always prepared to give abundantly for any need.

I do think that feeling obligated to strict bean-counting calculations for giving can be legalistic; but, to each his own. Nowhere in Scripture is any specific amount or percentage of income required by God for the church.

 

It is not that I do not believe that anyone should "tithe" to a church. I just believe that, reading Scripture in its proper context and using proper hermeneutics, there is nowhere in Scripture where (1)Christians are (2)obligated to give a tenth of (3)net/gross/gross+benefits income to (3)a local church budget. You can give under whatever scheme you feel led, but there is no obligation in Scripture for such a scenario. What matters is that needs are met. Whether or not people "tithe," if there are poor and needy with genuine needs that are not being met, and not enough is going to spreading the Gospel, the model is not Biblical.

 

I agree it is always best not to put your eggs in one basket, so to speak. Much of what we give cannot qualify according to IRS standards.....but God is our bookkeeper!!:thumbs:

 

I think you suspected that I was trying to set a trap for non-tithers with my questions. I'm not.

I'm truly interested in how non-tithers decide the amount of money they give to their churches.

When you write your check to your church, what are the factors that go into the figure you write down?

 

Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Granted, this is to Israel, BUT I see it as a base from which to start; and I DO see the "storehouse" as your local church.

Beyond this is offerings.

As to how much to give, from some posters, just how much do you feel that God has blessed you, AND, how thankful are you for said blessings?

 

I rarely use checks for "normal" giving; mostly cash. Usually, whenever the plate is passed, I most often put a $20 in.

 

Hello Tom.

We usually give between 10% and 20% each year. We give more than 10% as a good practice. We give by the year and not by the week with our giving spread throughout the year. We give to our church and to other missions as we feel led. A few years ago, our church had a special financial need and we gave almost 20% to the church that year.

If we gave 5% one year and 20% the next year, the IRS would probably have questions. The IRS questioned our giving 45 years ago when I first started working, but haven't questioned us since because our giving is consistantly between 10% and 20%.

I have no problem with others tithing; just so they don't claim that tithing is a scriptural requirement for N.T. Christians. The Jews were forbidden from giving money as their tithe (Duet.14); they could only give their tithe as sacrafices and burnt offerings. If you are going to require tithing according to O. T. scriptures, then you should require it as sacrifaces and burnt offerings the same as for the Jews.

If you want to consider what you give as tithe and offering, that is fine with me. Everything we give we consider to be a freewill offering.

 

What figures do you have to prove that? Or are you boldly stating this, as many people do, to make yourself look important or godly?

 

There is no Scriptural justification for changing what was clearly commanded
(1) to the people of the nation of Israel
(2) to give tithes of crops (which could be redeemed) and livestock (which could not be redeemed)
(3) to the Levites (blood decendents of Levi), priests (blood Levite descendents of Aaron), and poor
(4) from what was provided by God Himself through nature
(5) from the Promised Land in Canaan
(6) in a ceremonial seven-year cycle
(7) in which people annually ate their own tithes in a ceremonial festival,
(8) gave heap tithes to the Levites and poor every three years,
(9) celebrated a local feast every seventh year
(10) and gave no tithe on the fiftieth year (Jubilee)

I guess, more or less.

 

That comment isn't godly, is it? It sounds mean to me.

 

The figures are called bank statements! What is your problem?

 

I have to agree.

 

Is God "blessing" you, or are you just spending less money on certain items because you spend more on others?

MY problem? I haven't had one with this for a lot of years now. I tested God in this, as the oft-quoted Malachi passage says to do, by making absolutely certain any increase was at least tithed, while consciously making no change in other financial regards. The statistical test of hypothesis failed; therefore the Malachi test failed. Conclusion: the guarantees of Malachi 3 are not applicable, therefore should not be promulgated as any type of command for NT Christians.