I used to attend a Church of England (Anglican) Church regularly, and when the collections plate came round, I simply gave whatever I could spare that week. Being a single mum (my husband had walked out on me and our 2 young children) forced onto benefits due to being full time carer for my eldest, it wasn't often much, but it was the thought that counted.

I then experimented with Mormon Church (Of Latter Day Saints) and the subject of Tithing was finally broached. I felt rather offended that we were expected to give 10% of our income. I asked where the money went, and was told “The Poor”. To which I replied “ Well….I am poor. So why don't I just get it back? Can't I just give whatever I can spare?”. They had no answer for that!

Then…in one of the sermons, they discussed tithing. And the subject was “I was asked if you should give 10% of Net or Gross earnings. And I answered, well, that depends if you want net or gross blessings.”

This made no sense to me.

Anyway…I went back to my old Church. Some time later, my finances had improved (my ex husband had saddled me with a lot of his debt, which i'd paid off) and was able to buy a car (on finance). I was gifted a free, brand new DVD player with it. I donated this to my Church, as I had no need for it (for Kids Club or whatever) and thought no more of it. Then, at their Spring Fete, I bought some raffle tickets… ..and actually won first prize!! A wonderful food and flowers hamper! I never usually win anything!

God works in mysterious ways!

You don't need to give 10% in my opinion. Just be considerate of others, kind, and do what you can, when you can!

Christians are not obligated to give 10% of their income. There are certain church denomination who require this but it isn’t Biblical. We are completely unable to buy our way into Heaven that is why Jesus died on the cross by taking our sins and imputing on us his righteousness, this is grace because we received from Christ forgiveness of our sins when we completely do not deserve this. If we do good in the world, it is not an attempt to buy our way into anything. You don’t say what denomination you belong to. I am a born again Christian and a member of the Reformed Baptist church. We give what we can, and additionally read 2 Corinthians 9:6–7, Paul is speaking to the church of Corinth which had become corrupt and he was admonishing them in his Corinthian letters. He is speaking in this passage about giving. The reference states: “the point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he had decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Verse 8 goes on to say, “And God is able to make all grace abound in you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” In Ephesians 2:8–9 Paul goes on to say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, and not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” ESV.

I hope that this helps you. God bless.

Hi. The tithe, consisting of one tenth of the produce of the land and fruit trees and (evidently of the increase) of the herds and flocks, was brought to the sanctuary and given to the Levites, since they had no inheritance in the land but were devoted to the service of the sanctuary. (Le 27:30-32; Nu 18:21, 24) The Levites, in turn, gave a tenth of what they received to the Aaronic priesthood for their support. (Nu 18:25-29). These tithing laws binding on Israel were not excessive. Nor should it be overlooked that God promised to prosper Israel by opening “the floodgates of the heavens” if his tithing laws were obeyed. (Mal 3:10; De 28:1, 2, 11-14) When the people became negligent as to tithing, the priesthood suffered, for the priests and Levites were forced to spend their time in secular work and consequently neglected their ministerial services.

At no time were first-century Christians commanded to pay tithes. The primary purpose of the tithing arrangement under the Law had been to support Israel’s temple and priesthood; consequently, the obligation to pay tithes would cease when that Mosaic Law covenant came to an end as fulfilled, through Christ’s death. Christians are not under the Law covenant given to Israel. Thus, they are not obliged to give a set amount to God. However, in the true Christian congregation, giving is a source of much joy. Jesus Christ himself stated: “There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.”—Acts 20:35. Jehovah’s Witnesses support their worldwide preaching work through voluntary donations. These donations are used to print literature, such as the magazine you are reading, and to build and maintain their places of worship, known as Kingdom Halls. None of the funds collected are used to pay salaries.

One has to ask the question why does many Christian religion today ask for the tithes. Jesus never taught to give tithes. Some clergy go so far as to say “if you do not give 10% of your income to the church, then you are robbing from God. the truth is the clergy are robbing the people. When demanding tithes, they are acting more like a business than a place of worship.

First of all you should understand that whatever you have, even you breath of life is of God. And besides that he gives you daily life to live, otherwise you are not sure you will be alive tomorrow or not, in such case you are meant to offer your offerings to him for His love, mercy and kindness and grace which is upon us ever., Knowingly or unknowingly we do lots of sins, commit mistakes, adultory, Idoltary etc, these are forgiven only by God.

Secondly, Christians are required to give 10% of his income of all sources, because it is commanded by God in the Old Testament which is set as part to Levites who are ordained for God’s service. So the 10% which we give to church, is for the salaries for Pastors and preachers and laymen and for the maintenance of church activities, charities given by church to poor within the community.

Above all this, God wants to make you Liberal in giving to God. He says bring all your first fruits, i.e. it may be your salary, yields of your farm, or from business etc. God has the rights on every thing you have, but still he asks for 10th of your labor, which is being used for His Ministry for his purpose of serving people. By giving without murmuring, we give respect and honor to God, we show our love because He is our creator, our redeemer of our sin, and gift of salvation He gave us. So if you believe in God we should be obedient to Him in all respect, following His doctrines, commandments and teachings.

First of all. The bible does not teach that Christians should give 10% of their income to the church (see 1Corinthians 16:2).

That 10% reference is to the Children of Israel in the Mosaic dispensation who HAD TO give 10% of EVERYTHING they owned.

So your church is in complete error to teach, suggest or demand that you give 10% of your income (see Matthew 22:29). The Lord loves and expects a cheerful giver (see 2Corinthians 9:7)

Second of all, your responsibility to other people is to lovingly and sincerely do good (see Galatians 6:10) while you have the opportunity to so (see 1John 3:17–18; James 4:17).

That depends on what church you attend. By the sounds of it, you are being misled.

Neither Christ, St. Paul, or the Bible are against doing good works, but the difference is what power they are done in: mere human power or the life and grace of God.

Only those done with the life and grace of God are of value unto salvation. Mere human power is too weak and imperfect to avail oneself of eternal life. It’s not what we do that counts, but what we do IN Christ, who gives the power and ability to complete what He wills (Philippians 2).

Churches too fixated on money beyond the practical and necessary things like building repair or the church light bill are bad news. Stay away from them.

I have been a part of several churches and visited and spoken in many more, and have only heard once what I’m about to say here.

First of all, the tithe was the Old Testament system for taxing the people to run the government. The legal system of governing Israel was a Theocracy. God, sat on the throne in the Temple! (the ark of the covenant was a “winged chair” that the presence of God hovered over. For God to be able to live there and rule the people and give commands to his prophets, he had to have the temple cleansed with blood - lots of blood. There was to be baking bread and roasting meat constantly going on, along with incense. What a wonderful aroma there must have been, right! Well, back to the blood! It took a lot of people to build, care for, clean, operate, see people, sacrifice, and run the temple / tabernacle and God wanted a dedicated people for the job. They were “wholy” His to serve him. These people weren’t allowed to own land, and till the ground or raise animals for themselves. You see, in the service of the LORD, there is no work to be done! He provides for all your needs. These were FULL TIME servants and God promised He would take care of them. The tithe was God’s way of providing for this tribe (one of the 12 tribes of Israel) called the Levites. The other 11 tribes gave 10% of their produce, animals, grains, etc so this one tribe could eat. It was acceptable to give money, but it still required blood and first fruits offerings and sacrifices as symbols and reminders of the sin issue that God was dealing with for his Presence to remain among them. It was also a foreshadowing of the future LAMB of God who would one day come and “take away the sin of the world” when he offered his human life as an acceptable sacrifice for us all - doing away with the Old system of animal sacrifices “which could never make the worshipers perfect” Heb 9 - and replacing it with the NEW Covenant where we are made perfect by an exchanged Life (His perfect LIFE for ours).

Had there been 20 tribes of Israel, the tithe would have been 5 or 6%. Had there been 100 tribes, it would have been 1%. Why? because that would have made it equal for the Levites. If 11 tribes give 10% of their wealth to the 12th tribe, then that 12th tribe lives a similar life style as the rest and has left over to offer 10% of theirs to the Lord, leaving some meat and grain out on the alter and table, etc. It was God’s plan for taking care of his ministers and keeping that great smell going on all the time - constantly there in the Temple.

So if you take that model of tithing into our modern day. First of all we don’t have a theocracy government. We have a “STATE” with a taxing entity that robs you of your wealth way beyond 10%. And gives it to others, whether deserved or not. I realize some people are in a bind and can’t work and need assistance, but the system of welfare we have today moves people away from sharing (because the government will do it), it separates people into classes, and doesn’t encourage people to move towards independence, but rather fosters dependence because the funds come from a cold institution, rather than a caring neighbor. If my caring neighbor was helping me get on my feet or taking care of me because I was permanently disabled, I would be more inclined to find something that I could do, or find help to get better rather than just get comfortable with a check from this big thing called welfare. I’m not against it, or anyone on it - I’m just pointing out where it leads us to.

Back to our topic - We see in scripture there is the New Testament model of house to house churches, free will giving, sharing, caring for one another, etc., all found in Scripture setting the new precedent. Giving to the poor is huge - the whole hospitality thing is very important to God. I will admit frustration in the governmental system of welfare, because it is so taken advantage of by people. It would not be necessary, however, if people were giving as God intended. Welfare takes caring for one another out of our hands and separates us into different perceived “classes” and eventually divides us from one another to a point of contention and strife - which is all a part of the enemies plan. Yet, again, I digress.

Anyway, Tithing is not mentioned in the New Testament other than a mention of Abraham giving a 10th of his wealth to Melchizedek as he recognized his divinity (pre incarnate Christ more than likely). So there is a model “pre-law” that we give freely to God and his priests. However, in the New Testament, we are all priests, IN Christ, and therefore are left with free will giving and sharing because we simply love. Paul mentions a laborer is worth his hire, and indicates that those who bring teaching and truth to the church are worthy of receiving something. So I believe that you should give to those who feed you spiritual food, because you are receiving something from them. If you aren’t getting fed real spiritual food from your pastor / minister then don’t give to them. Maybe they will soul search and find the good stuff from the storehouse out of their own desperation.

New Testament giving shows three forms of giving - 1. to the poor (which would fix our welfare system) 2. to the missionary going out to share the gospel (which might fix the world) 3. to the teacher who feeds you (which would take care of those giving out the good stuff - TRUTH)

Is there room in this for paying for air conditioning and fancy buildings? There is no teaching that says “no” and all things are lawful in Christ. If you want to do that you sure can. God does bless some abundantly and in gratitude, they can build a building to worship in if they want to. But when a pastor tells you that you must tithe to his church, I think he /they are misusing the Old Testament teaching to keep their system, their turf, going. How much better to teach people the true freedom and grace of God that causes them to feel overwhelmed with gratitude and to offer them a chance to respond in giving of whatever means they have to give. It might be food they grow to the poor, or fixing a car for a single mom, or fixing a roof for someone, or selling some land and building a church, or giving 10% or 30% or 80% of their wealth because they SO LOVE GOD and are moved by his kindness towards them that they WANT to do these things.

I actually sat in a church one time that taught that I was supposed to give a 10% tithe and then tithe 10% of my time as well. Both of these are in direct opposition to the teaching of Jesus, who stated that everything we have is the Lords (not 10%). He also, modeled and taught that “I only do what the father tells me to do” - 100% of his time was the Lords, as well. We are simply human vessels that house the Divine Nature and are to willingly and happily (out of trust) do what he wants us to do - give, love, speak, work, write, and maybe even answer a few questions on Quora. Well, that concludes my 10% for today … hahaha…. be blessed and free.

Jesus never said to give 10% to church. Neither did Paul or any other Apostle. In the OT it was commanded by God to pay tithes and offerings to pay the 1000’s of Levite Priests for all of their Tabernacle and later Temple duties because they received no land allotment like every other Israelite Tribe had received during and after the conquest of Canaan.

There were thousands of sacrificial animals to slaughter, properly prepare and offer up to God. There were Levite Priests who had to disassemble and move the Tabernacle when God commanded it to be moved. There were Tabernacle and later Temple guards as well as numerous other duties that only the Levitical Priests could carry out according to Commandments from God.

Things got really hectic at the Passover when thousands of lambs had to be inspected and slain, blood collected properly after God's commands and that was all in one day.

Short answer is tithes were a big part of Levite’s pay for all of their duties and upkeep of Tabernacle and later, the Temple and for the cleaning of all of utensils used to carry out their numerous duties spelled out in the book of Exodus and Leviticus.

No such commandment existed in NewTestament for tithes. Voluntary offerings was clearly the way Paul spelled out in the Epistles. No percentages laid out. Apostle Paul warned us of the tithe loving wolves which were to come later. I attended a Pentecostal Church many years and personally I have never seen such a tithe hungry bunch of pastors in any other denomination. It's up to each individual to decide what to give and Paul surely mentions we need to be generous. Many Christians want fancy buildings and 20 different ministries and a minister for each. In my opinion if Christians want all the fancy, educated pastors and buildings, ministers, and ministries they better be prepared to give generously. 10% is a good start, but is nowhere commanded in NT.

Short answer: NO.

Long answer:
(This was originally a multi-part article series in my old Church blog from 20 years ago. Combined, it’s about 18 pages. It’s long, but it is thorough. And in it, you will find all the evidence and arguments you need against those insisting Christian Tithing is Biblical and a Christian duty. So Bookmark it and use it accordingly.)

I. The Tithe: What the Biblical Tithe is, How it Works, and What it’s For:

Are Christians duty bound to pay 10% of their income – even 10% of their “Gross Income” – to their church, and if they neglect this are guilty of “robbing God”?

Barring personal or corporate covenants to the contrary, the answer is: “Absolutely not!”

A. The Biblical Explanation/Definition

The Tithe instituted by God through Moses in the Old Testament had a specific ceremonial function. It was first and foremost a symbolic act with ritual rather than economic significance. What is more, it was never the means by which the Israelites were to finance the Temple and the priesthood. (Lev 27:30-33, Num 18:21-32, Deu 12:1-19, 14:22-29, 26:1-15) The Tithe is part and parcel with the sacrificial system, the Sabbath, and the Kosher laws; it is as relevant to us today as the Tabernacle cult, Levites, and the hereditary Aaronic priesthood; as significant and obligatory as circumcision. But most importantly, the Tithe was inextricably bound to each Israelite’s inheritance in the Promised Land. At risk of giving away the ending, all of these have been fulfilled in Christ.

Unfortunately, the Old Testament Tithe all too often “interpreted” and preached without any regard to what the Bible actually says on the matter. Modern misconceptions, convention and convenience are the sole basis for how tithing is preached from today’s pulpits.

But this is how the Biblical Tithe actually worked:

1. Once they had settled in the Promised Land, Israelites were to remind themselves of the days Israel spent wandering in the wilderness, and more importantly how God had given them the Promised Land as their inheritance. This memorial celebration was to be conducted at the annual harvest festival, the Feast of Tabernacles.
2. The essential preliminary to the feast was this: during the autumn harvest, Israelites would mark and consecrate every tenth yearling kid, calf, and lamb to come in from the field, and every tenth basket from their crop, and every tenth jar of wine, oil, and honey. These and these alone constituted their tithe, which would be used to supply the Feast of Tabernacles with the actual feast.
3. It should be noted – contra most modern preachers – the Tithe was never paid “Off The Top”. It was not paid with the first tenth or with the best tenth. The Tithe was paid by sortition: every tenth basket (ephah) of crops, every tenth jar (bath) of wine and olive oil, and every tenth lamb, kid, and calf, as follows, 1-2-3-4-5-7-8-9 for me, 1 for God; 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 for me, 1 for God … and so on, until the baskets or cattle ran out, and if they ran out somewhere before 10, God didn’t get the last one. (It was a sin though to contrive to fix the lot, stacking the deck, so to speak, so that the Tither, rather than God, determined which baskets, jars or animals went to God, and which were kept. It should be noted that it was just as much a sin to fix the results so that God received the best as it was to fix it so that He received the worst goods and animals. Simply, every tenth bushel or animal to “pass under the rod” belonged to God.) If an animal or item the owner did not wish to part with was among those so consecrated, he could redeem it with cash for its full value plus 20% - but the cash was NOT paid to the local Levites or to the Tabernacle, or to the Priests. It was used to buy other acceptable animals and produce.
4. Two years in a row, Israelites would take those consecrated animals, baskets, and jars to the Tabernacle with their whole family to join all Israel for the Feast of Tabernacles. If the journey was too far, they were to sell their consecrated animals and produce for cash, and take the cash with them to the Tabernacle.
5. When they reached the Tabernacle, Israelites pitched a tent or built a hut in which they’d camp out for the full week of the festival. If they were redeeming any of their animals or produce from the Tithe, or had converted their Tithe to cash, they would now use all that money to purchase kids, calves, lambs and produce from the locals, so they could bring these as their offering at the feast.
6. On each of the seven days of the festival, they would go to the Tabernacle and join the rest of Israel in the day’s feast. On one day of the festival, they would take all their Tithe to the Tabernacle where the priests would slaughter the animals and offer up God’s portion (the blubber, the blood, and the organs) on the altar. The rest would then be shared out among all of Israel, the choice portions of every animal going to the High Priest and the priest who slaughtered it. Anything that was not eaten that day was taken outside the camp and burned – no leftovers! At the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, the people returned home, much fatter.
7. Every third year, however, rather than take their Tithe to the Tabernacle, they would take it to the nearest town, and store it there for the Levites and the poor. The Levites and the poor would then take the best tenth of this and take it as their Tithe for the Feast of Tabernacles that year.
8. At no time was any of the Tithe used to finance the Tabernacle or the Priesthood, apart from the animal hides that went to the priests who did the slaughtering. Every third year, 9% of the harvest was set aside to feed the Levites and the poor (but not the priests). All else – ALL ELSE! – was either eaten communally by all Israel at the Feast, or it was burned.

B. Exposition & Clarification: What the Tithe was … and what it was NOT!

Ultimately, it seems modern expositors have missed the entire point of the Tithe. In its context in the Pentateuch, the Tithe was not about financing the Temple or the Priesthood or even the Levites. It was the economic analog of the Sabbath.

We must remember that the Israelites of the Exodus and the Conquest did not need to be told to work; they needed to be told to rest. Likewise, they did not need to be told to save (i.e. hoard), they needed to be taught to splurge and share. Their existence had for generations been a desperate one, with famine always crouching at the door, having to work until they dropped from exhaustion, hoarding every crumb as a hedge against future starvation. They needed to be taught to live in celebration, not desperation. They needed to be taught to share, not hoard. Most of all, they needed to be taught to trust that God would still be there tomorrow.

Also, the Tithe had certain particulars that seem always to be missed if not deliberately ignored by modern preachers and expositors:

1. NOT 10% of Income! The Tithe was never paid on “Gross Income”. It was never even paid on “Net Income”. It was paid only on “the fruit and the flock” – agricultural produce at the harvest including honey, wine and olive oil, (but not milk) and the increase (the yearlings, not the breeding stock) in sheep, cattle, and goats (but not chickens, geese, horses, donkeys, camels, game, fish, etc.). Neither wages nor profits from trade and investment were ever subject to the Tithe, nor were windfalls, gifts, or inheritances.
2. No Cash! / Food Only! The Tithe could not be paid in cash; it could only be paid with the actual crops, sheep, cattle and goats, though a man could buy the goods or animals back at 20% above their value, the same penalty assessed in the Guilt Offering. (The Guilt Offering required full restitution plus a 20% penalty.) Many preachers and expositors attempt to justify the current preference for cash, stating that people were to pay the tithe in agricultural products because theirs was a barter system with no cash money; but this baseless assertion is clearly rendered ridiculous by everything the Bible has to say on the subject: if there was no “cash” why then the commandments NOT to pay in cash, and how to redeem your offering with cash plus 20% of the offering’s value?
3. The Tithe Offering Only Made Annually! The Tithe was not paid on a weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly basis. It was paid once each year at the Autumn harvest during the Feast of Tabernacles.
4. The Tithe was completely distinct from the two other harvest festival offerings commanded by God – the first at the dual festival of Passover & the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the second at the Feast of First Fruits (a.k.a. Pentecost) that followed fifty days later. These two festivals, however, just required a token offering, not a tenth of income or produce, and this offering was not part of the Tithe. (The token offerings were these: the Sunday after Passover the first sheave of wheat from ones fields was to be presented as a Wave Offering; fifty days later, on Pentecost, two loaves of bread were also to be presented as a Wave Offering. The latter, the “first fruits” of the wheat harvest, had to be made from two-tenths of an ephah – about two quarts – of the most finely ground pure white flour, made exclusively from the semolina, the choice grains at the heart of the wheat kernel.)
5. The Tithe was also totally independent of and separate from the offering of all other firstfruits and firstlings. By Divine Decree, the firstborn male of every female, human as well as animal, belonged to the Lord. Also, the first ephah (“basket”) of any and all crops, and the first bath (“daughter-sized jar”, i.e., a filled jar not too heavy for a daughter to carry) of wine and olive oil, also belonged to the Lord.
6. Wages, profits from trade, not to mention game, fish, poultry and dairy products were not tithable, and in fact are specifically declared to be unacceptable sacrifices to the Lord. (The sole exception here are turtle doves, which the poor could bring as a substitute in the Burnt Offering and Sin Offering – but these could never be given as part of the Tithe.)
7. The Tithe was never paid “Off The Top”: As stated, the Tithe was paid by sortition: every tenth bushel or animal to “pass under the rod” belonged to God.
8. The Tithe was paid on the gain (i.e., the net increase) only: seed and breeding stock (the investment roll-over and operating capital) were exempt.
9. The Tithe was NOT paid TO the Priests, nor to the Tabernacle or, in later times, the Temple. Two years in three, Tithes were “paid” by taking them to the Tabernacle where the Tither was to use his Tithe – a tenth of his harvest and a tenth of the increase in his flocks – to hold a massive feast of thanksgiving to which the whole community was invited, especially the priests, the Levites and all the poor. In other words, the purpose of the Tithe was not to finance the Temple and its staff, but to celebrate God’s bounty in the Promised Land and it was to be celebrated in community. Essentially, the Israelite farmer, rancher, and vintner was to dedicate a 10th of his annual produce to one massive Thanksgiving Day feast, to be held sometime during the seven day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles – and they were to enjoy it while camping out in tents or thatch cabanas set-up in the vicinity of the Tabernacle/Temple, along with the rest of Israel – one vast Jewish Jamboree!
10. Every third year the Tithes were set aside in toto for the local Levites and the local poor, aliens, widows and orphans for their sustenance, administered out of a community chest. On an annualized basis, that works out to 3⅓% of the harvest. From that 3⅓%, the best tenth of that (⅓% of the harvest) was to be handed over by the Levites to the priests for their sustenance, who in turn were to give the best tenth of their portion to the Altar.

I don’t know of many Protestant churches where the payroll for the sextant, secretary, organist, deacons, et al. along with the budget for aid to the needy, is nine times that of the pay for the pastoral staff, nor where the combined pay for the associate pastors is nine times that of the Senior Pastor. I don’t know of any churches where the congregation tithes (or really “thirtieths”) to the sextant, the organist, the choir master, the Sunday School teachers, et al., who then tithe on that amount to the associate pastors who in turn tithe on that to the Senior Pastor. On your life, you can bet that in every church in this country the moneys are collected at the top and doled out from the top down as the those at the top see fit. While this may be a necessary or at least reasonable way to run an organization in these times, this is clearly not a model based on the Old Testament Tithe.

1. The Tithe was one instance of the Thanksgiving Offering – one of the two sub-categories of the Peace Offering, the other sub-category being the Fellowship Offering. When ever any Peace Offering was made, both the officiating priest and the High Priest were honored with the choice portion of the offering, but they and their family members were required to eat their portion in community at the feast, and it was a sin to enjoy these apart from the offerer and his guests – though, in the case of a Fellowship Offering, leftovers were allowed, so long as they were eaten in the next day. But in the case of the Thanksgiving Offering – which included all Tithes – the whole of the sacrifice, including the priest’s portion, had to be consumed that very day; all leftovers were to be incinerated – a fact which again indicates a provision for a shared celebration and against personal use.
2. It was the Levites and the Priests – not the people – who were to Tithe with the best 10% of what they had received (but only on their portion of the tri-annual Harvest Tithe, not on all their “income”). The people were never required, or even asked, to give “the first tenth” or “the best tenth”; as was pointed out earlier, they were only to give every tenth bushel, jar, or animal, as these came in. (The misunderstanding that they were to bring the best and/or the first tenth comes from the confusion of the Tithe with the Law of First Fruits: the Tithe was on every tenth bushel or animal, whereas the First Fruits were quite literally the firstborn male of every female, the first basket of ones crop, and the first jar of ones vintage.)
3. Finally, and most tellingly, the Tithe was specifically and inexorably bound to an Israelite’s Inheritance In The LAND, not his labor.

This is the significance of “the tenth”. Virtually every expositor knows the significance of 7s and 10s in the Pentateuch, but in this matter they seem to be entirely blind to the symbolism. As Seven, or “the seventh”, signifies a spiritual, emotional, and existential fullness, so ten or “the tenth” signifies a terrestrial and physical completeness; the former stresses the vertical, the latter stresses the horizontal. Both have the sense of plenitude, fullness, and perfection, that “nothing is lacking”, that all that belongs is present in abundance. Just as an Israelite was to consecrate every 7th day as a celebration to the Lord in community, so was he to consecrate every 10th lamb, kid, calf, jar of wine, and bushel of the fruit of The Land FOR a celebration to the Lord in community. And, like the Sabbath itself, man was not made for the Tithe, but the Tithe for man.

Following on that observation, it is amazing that generations of interpreters have repeatedly stumbled over the real point of the divine decree that seals God’s instructions on the Tithe celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, along with His commandments on the two other pilgrimage festivals of Passover/Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. God decrees through Moses:

Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD. Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning. Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

The injunction against yeast is not an injunction against some symbol of insidious corruption, but against simple puffery – an injunction against inflating ones grain offering to look more substantial than it is, hence “the yeast of the Pharisees” that Christ so railed against: their perversely inflated show-righteousness without inner substance. More striking is the seemingly strange command: “Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.” Since 1933, scholars trapped in an excessive literalism have thought this to be a prohibition against practicing a supposed Canaanite fertility rite – the existence of which is supported by much conjecture and no direct evidence. What we must recognize is that this is in fact an ancient proverb – like “Don’t cross your bridges until you come to them.” In its context it becomes entirely clear what it means: the purpose of the festivals, and the Tithes and offerings that supported them, is to nourish God’s people, not stew them alive.

There was also significance to “the year of the Tithe”, the command to set aside the Tithes every third year for the Levites and the poor. The significance of the third year is like that of the third day. As the seventh day and the seventh year signify a time of fullness and rest, “Shabbat Shalom”, so the third day and the third year both signify a day of salvation, a Divine act of deliverance from raging, chaotic and desperate circumstances.

It is also essential that we understand that the Tithe was completely bound up with The Promised Land itself – both the land part and the promised part. What was tithable was the fruit of THAT Land (crops grown there, animals bred and grazed there) – it was the Land God had promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; it was the Land that God had given to them, a Land flowing with milk and honey; a Land filled with houses and cities they did not build, and vineyards and orchards they did not plant, a Land with stocked granaries and larders they did not fill, a land which God would and did deliver into their hands, He Himself taking it from the inhabitants, against whom the Israelites had no hope of defeating in their own strength. The Land had been distributed by Divine Decree among the children of Israel (except the Levites) as their inheritance, and even if one sold it, it was to be returned to that individual or his heirs every Jubilee year. The Harvest Tithe every third year had been, likewise, allotted to the Levites as their inheritance in the Land, not as compensation for services rendered. Virtually all Levites, most of whom worked at the Temple only two weeks each year, supported themselves primarily by working as craftsmen and shopkeepers in their towns, or farming the town commons. By the time of Ezra, the same was true of the priests. Most tellingly, no Tithe was “paid” until after the Conquest, forty years after Moses had set down the instructions for it.

Profits from the sale of handicrafts were not tithable, 1) because these were not the produce of their God-bequeathed inheritance, and 2) because men made them, and they were therefore, presumably, tainted – unlike flocks and crops: men cannot make a seed grow into a tree, nor can they make two sheep into a flock; only God can. Similarly, profits from trade (buying low, selling high) were especially not tithable because these were just profits from speculation, i.e., it was profiting from the relative desperation of others – “motivated sellers” and “motivated buyers”. Finally, wages were not tithable because these too were not the return on ones inheritance, but rather reflected ones own alienation from his inheritance – if one still was in possession of his allotment, there would have been no need to take on a job as a hired laborer. Also, such wages were obtained not by faith (putting something in the ground and then waiting and praying for several months that something might come of it) but by faithlessness, i.e., the selling of ones own life for one day in return for a sure but miniscule payoff – and consequently, whoever had so sold their own labor, had necessarily sold it cheap: no one ever gets paid “what they’re worth”, for if they were paid what they were worth, what would be the profit in employing them? An employer must necessarily pay an employee less than he’s worth if he’s to make any money himself.

We must also understand that “wages” are not “profits” or “gain” – wages are just compensation, a swap of labor for cash or goods, a transaction in which there is no more “profit” than when two neighbors swap five dollars worth of sugar for five dollars worth of salt. Profit is only possible where there is risk; an employer takes the risk, the employee is going for the sure thing. Biblically, the wage earner profits nothing as “the workman is worth his hire” – that is, it’s an even trade. Moreover, in the labor for pay deal, the laborer is arguably taking a loss, not profiting: the best that can be said is that he’s converting something that can’t be stored (his day’s work) for something that can be, but he necessarily sells his labor cheap in order to have something he can keep at the end of the day.

What is especially important about the Tithe is that everything that was tithable had to have been 1) buried, and then reaped and threshed, 2) pruned and then pressed and crushed, or 3) birthed, raised and then butchered in its prime. I trust I do not have to spell out the significance here to the Christian.

C. Questions/Objections: “But what about …?”

What about Abraham and Melchizedek?

Yes, Abram gave 10% of the booty from one battle (in which he had been outnumbered over 1000-to-1) to Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High…and the other 90% to the king of Sodom. Not exactly a precedent mandating laborers give 10% of their total compensation to their church’s coffers every payday.

And what about Jacob?

Yes, Jacob, of his own choice, and in desperation, vowed to God, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” Please note, 1) this was not paid to any clergy or religious establishment, but was presumably consumed in a communal feast of thanksgiving before the Lord, 2) the vow was undertaken voluntarily, 3) it was presumably fulfilled not on a weekly or even annual basis, but rather Jacob fulfilled his end of the bargain AFTER God had come through and returned him home safely – twenty-eight years later!

But doesn’t God say if you don’t pay your full Tithe to the clergy you’re robbing God? Doesn’t He say that He’ll bless you with even more if you Tithe faithfully and in full?

Well, in a word … No! First of all, as has been shown, “The Tithe” was not 10% off the top of anyone’s and everyone’s income from any and all sources, and secondly, it was not to be paid to the Church or the Christian clergy, nor even was it to be paid to the Temple or the priesthood.

The passage from which this misinterpretation comes is found in Malachi – and that prophet was addressing the Levites and the Priests! The problem was not that the people were not paying their tithes in full. The problem was that the Levites were taking the best of the tri-annual Tithe for themselves and giving the worst tenth of what they’d received to the Priests, who were in turn sacrificing the worst tenth of that on the Altar, rather than the best as God had decreed. Thus the offense was that of the religious leaders and not the laity, and it was an offense not of quantity but of quality.

What’s more, nowhere does God promise to reward Christians materially in this life for their faithful financial support of their church – that’s “the Prosperity Gospel” which is a grotesque and pagan perversion of the Gospel. It reduces God to an idol to be bribed with goodies so as to get more goodies for oneself. That’s not the New Covenant. That’s not even the Old Covenant!

How then were the priests and the Tabernacle financed?

Why, with other gifts and offerings, of course. The priests were fed, in part, from the Grain, Sin and Guilt Offerings (of the people, but not from their own) at which they presided – any male member of the priest’s family could partake of this food with him, but not the women. The priests and all their family would also enjoy the Fellowship Offerings and Thanksgiving Offerings with the offerer and the rest of his guests. The officiating priest also received the hide of the sacrifice. Similarly, the High Priest and his sons were likewise fed from the Grain, Sin and Guilt offerings of the other priests, but not from his own. In other words, the priests were primarily paid on a piece-rate, given honorariums for services rendered.

But by far and away the largest source of income for the priests was the consecration of “the first fruits” and “the first born”. The firstborn male, man or beast, of every female, belonged to God. In the case of men and unclean animals, each firstborn had to be redeemed by a cash payment of five silver shekels paid to the Tabernacle/Temple treasury. (In New Testament times, fifteen centuries later, five silver shekels was roughly the value of one week’s wages for the typical able-bodied man.) The firstborn of all clean animals were given over to the care of the priests when they were eight-days-old, and were reserved for the daily and special sacrifices, from which the priests would receive their God-ordained portion. Also, in the category of First Fruits, “the best” of the “first fruits” of the harvest, that years vintage, and that year’s oil, were to be given to the Priests. Perplexingly, with the sole exception of the first sheave of wheat from ones fields, and two cakes baked from the finest flour of the first wheat harvested (finest in the sense that it was made from the choice grains, the semolina, ground extremely fine), nowhere does God specify what constitutes the first fruits or the units of measure to use. Since one was to give the best of the first fruits, that implies that it was not merely the very first thing harvested; “the first fruits” were probably all the relevant produce brought in during either the first day or the first week of the harvest. As for the units, it seems likely that, originally, for dry goods it was the best ephah or perhaps as much as one homer (a donkey load – about 6-7 ephahs), and for wine and olive oil, it was probably the best bath. This may not seem like much per Israelite, but we must remember that, in the time of Moses, there were ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THOUSAND able-bodied, non-Levite adult men to every ONE Priest – a ratio that would be almost doubled with the incineration of Nadab and Abihu. By the time of the conquest, the number of priests would have increased substantially, though we have no exact count: Aaron had two surviving sons who, in forty years, may have produced as many as a dozen sons each, and a gross of grandsons, leaving the smallest ratio at about 1800 able-bodied, male, non-Levite Israelites for each priest.

(If we take the census tallies of the Book of Numbers literally, one must conclude that the priests were an extremely fat lot – which was exactly God’s intent. A major part of the priestly role was to harken back to the days of Adam in the Garden: Adam, who was fed on a labor-free diet of fruits and nuts, and milk and honey, probably looked nothing like Michelangelo’s Adonis, let alone the ultra-cut pretty-boys of Calvin Klein ads; the real Adam must have been a real porker – at least until he had to start really working for a living. When one considers the ancient association of blubber with the soul and essence of the man or beast it came from, from whence we find God’s absolute demand that the body-fat as much as the blood of the sacrifice belonged to Him, the intended and desired corpulence of the priests becomes even more understandable. It is surely no coincidence that the very word for “create” in Hebrew literally means “to make fat.”)

D. Implications & Conclusion

If the Tithe were still in effect for Christians (which it cannot be, as there is no Tabernacle to bring it to, no Levites to pay it to, and no inheritance in the Land of Israel to pay it from) then the offering of the Firstfruits would also be in effect. Yet I know of no Church that asks, let alone requires, its members to donate a week’s wages for the birth of their first son, and another weeks wages for the first pup of their dog and the first kitten of their cat.

It must, however, be re-emphasized that Christian clergy are not the New Covenant equivalent of the Levites or the Priests, your church is not a Christian version of the Temple or even the Synagogue, and likewise neither the Tithe nor Firstfruits have been carried over into the New Covenant as a financial duty to one’s church. The New Covenant fulfillment of the Levites and Priests is Christ, just as He is the New Covenant fulfillment of the sacrifices, the High Priest, the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant … and all who are in Christ are, with Him, the New Covenant fulfillment of all of these.

The Old Testament Tithe was calculated – EXCLUSIVELY! - as every tenth ephah, bath and yearling lamb, kid and calf, yielded from an Israelite’s inheritance in the Land, consecrated to and for a festival of celebration to the Lord, a shared communal feast of that inheritance’s bounty. But, for the Christian, Christ is our inheritance. How then should we tithe? And to whom?

The fecundity of our inheritance is not measured by wages, windfalls, and profits, but by an outpouring of supernatural Love and Grace! What is required is an Agape Feast in its fullest and most spiritual sense. He who is forgiven much, loves much! And also, To him who much is, much is expected! This is the mystery of the Kingdom of heaven, the Talents of the parable of the Talents, the Minae of the parable of the Minae, it is the pearl of great price, it is the bread that comes down from heaven: it is the Love and Grace of God, in word, in flesh, in deed, and in truth. This is true Eucharist, in which the true disciple reproduces his Master by laying down his own life for the lost sheep, shedding his blood that many might find redemption. The Master said, “This is My body which is broken for you – do THIS in remembrance of Me.” … and the disciple does, not in the breaking of bread but in the breaking of his own body for others, that he may declare with Paul, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” This is the fruit that Christians are suppose to produce, and it is a fruit that is fruitless if it is not first buried and then shared, shared with God’s servants and with the destitute, shared in celebration and community, so that its seed may take root and flourish all the more. It is about the bounty of reproductive Grace.

II. HISTORY OF “TITHING” IN THE CHURCH:
From Where, Then, Did The Christian Practice Of Tithing Come?

The fact is, the Tithe (in its modern sense) as a Church practice was unknown in Acts II, it was unknown in Paul’s travels, it was unknown in the 2nd Century … and the 3rd … and the 4th … and the 5th, 6th, and 7th. The current Christian understanding of Tithing (or rather misunderstanding) first appears as a Christian duty – enforced by law – under Charlemagne, and it was instituted by that King-Emperor, not based on the Tithe instituted in Leviticus, but with the Royal Tax decreed in the First Book of Samuel:

1SA 8:10-18 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: …. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks…”

This 10% Tax was diverted to the Church for two reasons. First of all, Charlemagne had integrated the Church into his government, making it his Department of State, not to mention his de facto Department of Health, Education & Welfare. Secondly, a Germanic Tribal king was supposed to support himself from his own lands, “taxing” his people only by calling upon them to aid him in war, providing him with self-supporting warriors. Constrained by custom and tribal law from engaging in most of the activities we associate with modern government, Charlemagne and his fellow warlords relied on the Church to provide the mechanisms and infrastructure of civilized government, and, in compensation, allocated to the Church a tax revenue which they themselves were forbidden by custom and tribal law to collect for themselves.

Prior to Charlemagne, the Christian concept of tithing was very different. The first Christian mention of tithing we have record of is made by Irenaeus, writing about AD 185. Irenaeus recounts the Old Testament teaching concerning the Tithe, and says that this had been instituted by God to teach the children of Israel an open-handedness towards their fellow Israelites and also toward the alien among them. Irenaeus then goes on to say that Christians do not tithe as such, but rather fulfill the Tithe, not by merely donating a tenth of their harvest, but by holding absolutely everything in common, counting nothing as their own, sharing with the widow and the orphan, the stranger and the indigent, each according to his need. No mention is made of contributing to the coffers of the ecclesiastical establishment, nor of financing the ministry of the priests, bishops and missionaries. It was all about sharing one’s blessings with all the members of the Body of Christ, from each according to his gifts, unto each according to his needs. And in this “sharing”, the presbyters and bishops did not act as middle-men or arbiters. If the giver ever delegated the responsibility for getting his gift into the right hands (the widows, the orphans, and the indigent) he delegated that task to the deacons – and remember, the job of New Testament deacons was not to oversee the finances of the ecclesiastic establishment, but to make sure that those who could not support themselves and had no family to take care of them did not fall through the cracks and starve from the neglect of their fellow Christians.

The first reference to Christians “tithing” as a means of supporting the clergy does not appear until the reign of Constantine. It also outlines a practice and an understanding of tithing that is radically different from modern tithing. The reference is found in but one single, obscure, and extremely brief passage in the seventh book of a massive work known as “The Apostolic Constitutions”, compiled about AD 323. The passage, which probably originated out of a practice in the rural areas of the Balkans or Anatolia (modern day Turkey) directs Christians to give a tenth of their increase in crops, wine, olive oil, honey, and flocks to the priests, and a tenth of their gain in cash and all other goods and handicrafts (jewelry and clothing being mentioned specifically) to widows and orphans.

The idea for this original division seems evident enough: by this time, priests were not supposed to own anything nor were they supposed to engage in trade, but they still had to eat and, moreover, they had to supply the food for the whole community at the various feast days. The poor, however, could sell the goods they could not use or did not need, and use the proceeds to buy food or anything else they chose.

This is, of course, radically different than our current practice, where Christians give money and goods to their church and food to the needy (if “food” be the right term for the gallon cans of spaghetti sauce, 5 lb tins of tuna, and 20 lb bags of rice – all terribly useful to a person living alone, often without heat, electricity … or even a home … or for that matter a can-opener – which constitute the usual church-goers annual donation to the church food pantry). Reasonable though this may seem, it clearly represents both a confusion of the Old Testament Tithe with the practice of First Fruits, and a radical departure from the early Church’s practice and understanding of the Christian fulfillment of the Old Testament Tithe.

Of course, the rationale behind the modern inversion of “cash to the church and food to the poor” is that the poor might misspend the money, particularly on drugs and alcohol – the ministerial staff, by contrast, of course being the very embodiment of probity, financial acumen and fiscal responsibility. While such concerns about the spending habits of the poor are completely justified, giving them McDonald’s gift certificates and dry and canned food (in bulk no less) is no adequate protection: I hate to disillusion the inveterate do-gooders out there, but most of the recipients (the industrious ones anyway) just sell the goods and spend the proceeds as they like … more often on cigarettes than on drugs and alcohol. If you want to be Christ-like, might I suggest that you invite them to dinner … or better yet invite yourself to dinner at their place, and then bring the bread, the meat and the wine! (Yes, I said wine! – if you think that sinful and un-Biblical, may I suggest that it’s high time you got your head out of your ass and learned to read!) If you find yourself willing to do this in principle, but balking at the smell and the squalor, just remember that, no matter how horrendous the grossly poor and indigent may smell to you, that’s nothing compared to how much your sin stinks to God … yet He makes his home in you. True, you will probably find their conversation tedious, rambling, incoherent, and mostly awkward and uncomfortable … but then do you think God finds you a terribly stimulating conversationalist?

But I digress…

III. How Is The Church Suppose to Finance Itself Without Tithing?

If we must look to the Old Testament for a model for supporting our clergy and churches, the Tithe is not the right analog. Remember, the priests were, effectively, paid a piece rate for services rendered, and they and the Tabernacle/Temple also were supported by the First Fruits and Firstborn offerings, not the Tithe. The Tithe, by contrast, was primarily for communal celebration and, secondarily, the support of the poor and the Temple’s lay-workers. What’s more, all the decorations, accoutrements, and furnishings of the Tabernacle and the Temple after it, and indeed all the materials for the Tabernacle and the Temple themselves, were provided by special offering, individuals making freewill offerings giving as they felt led to give.

But who said we need to adopt and adapt an Old Testament model for any contemporary situation? There is nothing barring modern churches from being original, organizing and financing themselves in a way consistent with a modern industrialized, technological capitalistic society, a situation completely alien to the Biblical authors. What is wrong is to do so and then falsely claim an Old Testament pedigree along with a right to an Old Testament support system.

While neither the ancient Tithe, nor its modern Christian corruption, has a place as an institutionalized religious duty within a church, it is certainly right for the members of a church to support their church and that church’s staff financially, and if the membership covenant sets the contribution at 10% of ones wages, windfalls, and profits, then the member should pay that – or join another church.

Purists may espouse some idealistic theory disavowing the institution of a “paid professional clergy”, but in the real and very Fallen world, the only thing more problematic and fraught with heresy, corruption and abuse than churches with a professional, trained and educated clergy are those with an amateur, untrained and uneducated one. If you want to see what such “churches” look like, examine the Mormons, Christian Scientists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Such organizations avoid none of the problems and perils of the orthodox churches with their seminary trained, full-time, paid pastors, but usually have all those evils in excess plus a host of others.

And thus, if a congregation wants a seminary trained, specialized, full-time, dedicated, ministerial staff, it is going to have to pay for them. And if they want a place to meet larger than a private home’s family room, they are going to have to pay for that too. The only question is, “How much?”

Well, there’s another question too: “Should we also give even more money to our church for the church to spend on more than the facilities and staff required for the basic church functions and activities of worship, the sacraments, pastoral counseling, fellowship gatherings and religious education?” Do churches really need state-of-the art sound systems and recording studios, book stores and rec-centers, gymnasiums and mechanic garages, wood shops, metal shops and computer labs? For that matter, in this country of billion-dollar charitable foundations and mass available Social Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, and State sponsored or subsidized clinics, half-way houses, and homeless shelters, do churches really need to maintain independent food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and thrift shops? Considering how horrifically inefficient and ineffective most of these redundant church “ministries” are, wouldn’t it be better to give the money or goods to one or two faith-based charities with an excellent organization, skilled and savvy aid workers, and impressive track record, like Catholic Charities? (But then, there’s that “Catholic” problem.)

Of course, if we’re going to splurge on the “non-essentials”, I would like to put in a plug for dedicating a larger chunk to architecture. Why when so much is being spent by the church does the church building get so little consideration? I for one am tired of assembling in pre-fab goditauriums. Has it occurred to anyone that they wouldn’t need a million-dollar sound system and technical staff if they just gave a little attention to acoustics? That they could forego the hi-tech theatrical lighting suite if they just put some windows in the place? And maybe we wouldn’t need $10,000+ worth of (allegedly) comfortable seats vis-à-vis pews if congregations spent a little more time on their knees!

But whatever the decision on how much to give, and to what ends, experience, wisdom, and a Biblical understanding of human nature requires that:

1) The churches operational fund, including payroll, should be completely separate from the aid to the needy fund(s), and both should be administrated separately by separate groups, and neither one by the pastoral staff,

2) The church’s operational budget should be set by the church’s governing body which should be independent of, and superior to, the pastoral staff, including the Senior Pastor, while the ministry leaders or church business manager(s) should be responsible for implementing (and following) that budget,

3) The fund for aid to the needy should be administrated by the deacons.

4) The pastors are, by definition, supposed to dedicate themselves to teaching, shepherding and equipping the congregation for the good works to which God has called them; i.e., the pastors should focus on feeding the congregation the Bread of Heaven, and leave it to the congregation to distribute their own bread as God’s Bread directs them.

So how much should one pay for the service of a dedicated pastoral staff and a place to meet? Well, that’s up to you … just remember in the end, in this life at any rate … you get what you pay for… at best. But do be sure that you’re not paying more than it’s worth. If you don’t think your church staff members are worth a living wage, then – for the love of God! – replace them with those who are, or find another church you can support in good conscience. Just remember, if the pastors are doing their job, they’re ministering to and equipping people who can’t afford their services, so if you can, and you believe in what they’re doing, then you need to pick up the slack. The answer to how much to pay then is determined the same way that is determined in all monetary matters: What value do you place on their work? What value do they place on their own work? Anything less than the latter is cheating; anything more than the former is waste. Everything in between is negotiable.

But, of course, that opens the door to another question: how much value should a Christian place on the services of his pastors and church staff? That too is between you and God … but do be sure to determine their pay NOT on how much you value money – those that place “little value on money” routinely also place little value on the services of others. You should determine the pay of your pastors based on what you’d have to pay a therapist, a lawyer, a physician, a judge, a professor, a business manager, or any other highly educated professional with long working-hours providing personal attention. If you think your pastors are worth less than your plumber or your vet, you should probably find pastors you value more; if you think no pastor is worth that much, you should probably find another religion.

Also, we should keep in mind the community aspect involved in all Old Testament and even more so in New Testament “giving”, and the implications that has for your pastors’ compensation plan. A church should service its community and draw its congregation from the community in which it meets. The pastoral staff need to be a part of that community, meaning they need to live there, meaning they need to be able to afford to live there; meaning that they’re annual after-tax household income needs to be at least on a par with that of the majority of their congregation. You cannot expect your ministers, or even your church secretary or sextant, to work and serve in a community in which they cannot afford to live.

IV. HOW MUCH SHOULD I PAY?

Of course, while it is one thing to determine the wages and benefits of the pastoral staff and the operational budget of a church, it is quite another to determine what each church-member’s share of that should be, and how they should pay it. It is true that Israelite farmers, ranchers, and vintners gave, not on the basis of their wages and compensation, but on the basis of their net gain, their return on investment (ROI). Considering the saving and investment habits of most American Christians, however, if this became the norm for us, even if we extended it to all profits from all sources, every ministry in the country would go bankrupt inside of a month. While this should serve to convict the majority of us to increase our saving and investing, it would be truly perverse to expect our contemporary churches to survive on only a portion of the profits from the investments of their members.

It is also true that Israelites principally gave food, not money – but this was, after-all, in a pastoral-agrarian subsistence economy in which food was not just scarce, it was the single largest expense in a person’s life, greater than all other expenses combined. Indeed, over ninety-percent of the population was employed in the business of food production, and the measure of a man’s financial status was the amount of productive land he owned. Today, however, we live in an industrial-informational capitalist economy. Food is not just plentiful, it is super-abundant – so much so that the greatest health problem of America’s poor is not malnutrition but obesity. The single largest expense for an individual is not food but housing (30%-50%), and the second largest is transportation (10%-20%). Number three is “personal care”, which includes everything from medical and dental expenses to personal hygiene & grooming products and gym memberships. Number four is entertainment. Fewer than 3% of the population is engaged in food production … unless you count chefs, waiters, short-order cooks, and everyone working for McDonalds. The great assets are no longer fertile land, good breeding stock and a strong back; today they are investment capital (i.e., cash, collateral and credit), specialized knowledge, and most especially, time. As Douglass Adams so aptly pointed out, in ancient times the most pressing question on everyone’s mind every day was, “How are we going to eat?” Today it’s “Where should we eat?” While a gift of food is certainly always appreciated; it’s appreciated more as a gift of time than of sustenance: “Oh, thank God I don’t have to cook dinner now!” It’s the convenience not the comestibles we truly value. From this it would seem obvious that we are to support our church by contributing our labor, our money, and our special knowledge and skills, the oft repeated alliterative trio of time, talent, and treasure.

But again, the question resounds, How Much? Particularly, the treasure part? Most churches, and indeed most Christians, expect giving to be on the basis of wages as well as profits, and with good reason. It is true that wages in Biblical times certainly never equated to gain, but that’s because wage-laborers were the lowest of the low and were paid a meager subsistence wage at best. Today, most Americans earn significantly more than what is absolutely required to do their job and subsist in their community. Anything over that absolute bare minimum amounts to “discretionary funds” which, while not absolutely “gain”, are still the only “treasure” most of us will ever really have to offer. It is also generally accepted that a church member’s giving should be proportional to his blessing. If we are to be Christian, the more prosperous should contribute more than the less prosperous, and if we are to be democratic, there should be an equality of burden, and thus some fixed percentage of every member’s discretionary funds seems both fair and reasonable.

Calculating those “discretionary funds” though can be pretty tricky. You and your family certainly, for instance, will need a place to live, and it will need heat, electricity, and water, but you certainly spend more than is absolutely required, and will probably continue to do so. Anything above the bare minimum is discretionary. But what is the minimum? Well, you don’t have to compare your housing costs to what they would be if you lived in a trailer in Elephante Butte, New Mexico (I’m not making that name up. There really is such a town.), because if you lived there, you wouldn’t be a member of the church to which you currently belong and your wages would be a heck of a lot less too. But you could try to estimate what the lowest housing costs for a family of your size in your church community could possibly be, and use that for a referent. Likewise, you most likely absolutely have to have a car and you have to put gas in it, and you have to service and maintain it, but you don’t have to have a BMW or a fully loaded new model SUV, and you don’t have to go out for joy-rides, road-trips, vacations, or any other trip unnecessary for going to work, going to church, getting your kids to school, and everyone to the doctor’s or the grocery store. Try to estimate what it would really cost you if you had to settle for the cheapest vehicle that would meet your minimum needs – but don’t think you need to judge your car against the cost of a wreck, just a cheap dependable, no frills used vehicle. In terms of food, what would it cost you to subsist on rice, beans, and canned vegetables? In terms of clothing and grooming expense, what could you really get by with without it costing you your job, your bonus, or your next promotion or pay-raise? And so it goes. To the best of your ability, attempt to estimate your actual no-frills, bare-minimum cost-of-living in your community for your household. All wages, profits and windfalls over that amount is “the cream”, your “increase”, and from those discretionary funds you should pay at a minimum whatever fixed percentage you and your church brethren set as each members share.

Be wise and diligent, however, in how you support your church, and what you support in your church. Your church certainly has a budget that has been set and approved by the congregation, either directly by congregational vote or indirectly through its governing body. Those commitments must be honored. How you set each member’s portion of that debt is up to the individual and your congregation at large. But be wary of churches that plan their budget on the basis of projected giving and pledges. At the proposal phase, a church’s budget should be planned on the basis of what it needs to spend, not on the basis of what it thinks it can spend. Churches have certain minimum duties that cannot be cut, and the membership needs to pony-up. But also, programs and ministries should not be allowed to multiply simply as the finances expand. The budget should be limited by the necessary expenses to support the staff and facilities required for communal worship, prayer, and religious instruction, and for pastoral counseling. For example, youth ministers are certainly a worthy expense, but if they need to minister by shooting hoops and playing pin-ball, they can do that at the village community center and the arcade at the local mall – these are vastly superior locations for outreach and evangelism anyway. Superchurch shopping malls, food courts, and bookstores are a travesty, aping much of what is worst in our consumerist, on-demand, instant-gratification, convenience obsessed culture, and are thus completely out-of-bounds – A church is to be a house of prayer, not trade.

In the end, however you decide to give, please don’t be silly in your giving. If you feel convicted that you should give a percentage of your income rather than a fixed amount, please, avoid the following common follies:

1. Giving a set percentage of your Gross Pay (including Income Tax, Medicare and Social Security withholding) and then giving on the same “income” again when you receive your tax refund, Medicare payments, or Social Security benefits back. The same holds true for IRA’s, pension fund contributions, and any other deferred income. If you wish to pay on the basis of your gross pay, rather than your take-home, that’s up to you, but don’t pay on the same income twice! Of course, my suggestion is that you not give on the basis of your income before all payroll deductions; give on your income after withholding and deferrals, and, if/when you receive any refunds or benefits back, you can give your standard percentage of that amount when it actually comes to you.
2. Giving away any of your inheritance. If you want to give a percentage on your earnings and profits, please remember that an inheritance or a gift from your parents (a partial inheritance in advance) are neither wages nor profits. No Israelite ever paid a tenth of the worth of his inherited land when it came to him – in fact, that was forbidden! He just gave a tenth of the gain that came from that land as it produced. Remember, your inheritance is not yours – it is a family legacy given you in trust by your parents and ancestors. It is to be improved, increased, and passed on to your descendants. If your parents had wanted it to go to your church, they would have given it themselves.
3. Tithing on your spouse’s or parent’s life insurance benefit. That money was intended to provide for you to settle their accounts and provide for you in the event or their death, to replace (most likely only partially) what they would have been able to provide for you if they were still alive and working. Also, unless the insured had the misfortune to die young, the amount received is most likely considerably less than what was paid in premiums over the years. In short, that lump payment, though large, still probably represents a net loss to your family, a bad investment from which you only recouped a portion of your actual investment. It most assuredly is not “gain” – not even the IRS counts it as “Income”.
4. Failing to place a value on your donated time. If you serve without pay in your church, just remember you are donating your time – which is most likely the basis on which you are paid at your job. (If you give four hours a week free of charge, and you work a normal forty-hour week, you might tweak your pastor a bit by telling him that you have paid your tithe on your wages in full. If you serve more than that, you might suggest to your pastor that, as a virtual Levite, the church owes you a portion of the Tithes.)

Stay away from each of these errors – and, even more importantly, stay away from any church or minister who encourages you to commit them! Remember, there is the Body of Christ, and then there is your “church”, a chartered 501-C Corporation with trustees, managers, and employees. Do not confuse the two. Consecrate everything you possess and everything you are to the Body of Christ as you co-labor in the vineyard of God, sharing freely, graciously and joyously with all your fellow members, counting nothing as your own. But to your “church”, be it St. Whoever’s, The First Sectarian Church of Hometown, or Deer/Elk/Fuzzy-critter’s/Willow/Oak/brook/creek/stream/lake “Community” Church, give judiciously and responsibly as you would to any Charitable Not-for-Profit Organization: demand open books, a public payroll, regular audits, and, most especially, results.

One final note: If someone is so naïve as to ask, “Should I tithe on the Net or the Gross?” correct him in love, explaining what Christian “Tithing” is supposed to be. If the pastor encourages him to pay on the gross with the inane, smug, and trite slogan, “Well, do you want God to bless the Net or the Gross?”, fire the pastor! Not just for his horrendous incompetence as an exegete, but even more so for just being plain stupid: anyone with half a brain knows the Gross is irrelevant – it’s the Net that matters!

Tithing for a Christian is not out of obligation. But developing trust in God through tithing can become a rich blessing in the building of one's faith.

When I first became a Christian, I had been putting a dollar or two in the plate (as my relatives who were Catholic used to do.)

Once I came to know the Lord, I was moved to contribute more to my local church. First it was a $5 bill, then a $10, then a $20 as I was able. At the time, I was unexpectedly supporting my household on one income rather than two, so things were tight.

I prayed to God saying that I would like to be in a position to be more generous, and that if He would see fit to help me at my job, I would tithe 50% of the increase at least until I could tithe 10% or more of my entire income.

God was generous with me, and the years passed on without my ever being unable or unwilling to tithe. Even throughout a couple of bouts of short term disability, I found my way to tithe easily, and even get out of debt— completely, house payment and all.

So when God says to test Him in this, don't be afraid, as long as your heart is in it. Feel free to proceed slowly if need be. But if you tithe begrudgingly, out of guilt or compulsion, you may learn nothing, and miss the blessing.

May God lead you and prosper you no matter what you decide.

You won't like my answer, but I think it may be helpful to you.

First of all, the Bible says, “the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof”. This means that everything is God's because he created all things. This also means that he owns you by creation. And if you are a Christian, he owns you by redemption. So everything about you is owned by him. The eternal life you enjoy is the same resurrection life of Jesus Christ since you are spiritually alive because of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.

Second, the Bible warns, “beware you forget not the Lord who gives you the power to get wealth.” If we think about it, our physical strength, our emotional well-being and our intellectual abilities that we use to earn a living are all gifts from God.

Third, we do not really “pay” tithes or “give” tithes, do we? I mean, given the two premises above that God owns everything, including our very bodies, our souls and spirits; and given that our ability to make wealth comes from him. We do not “pay” or “give” God anything — we cannot pay or give him what already belongs to him by right as owner, Creator and sustainer of our lives.

Fourth, we are stewards of the manifold grace of God. We are accountable to him how we live our lives because all is borrowed from him. Everything is on loan. He graciously gives us all things that we may enjoy but we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that we may give an account of things done in the body whether good or bad. Part of the reason why we are still on this Earth is because God is testing our faithfulness to him as servants and as stewards.

Fifth, bringing our tithes is part of our worship. Abraham, after he had won a battle against those who kidnapped Lot, and brought back all the spoils, offered the tithes to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God. David, in the Psalms, said, “what can I render to the Lord for all his benefits?” Tithes are a token of our worship, our thankfulness, and our praise.

Sixth, we are told by Jesus Christ himself that we are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” and then “all these things shall be added unto you”. “All these things” refer to food, clothing and shelter — basic needs for survival. So the Biblical principle runs counter to human principles — we give to others when we have some to spare. With God, we give out of our poverty and then, even after we bring our tithes, we realize that whatever little we had left, God makes it so that it is more than enough. This happens to me all the time. When I get my pay, I set aside the tithes and the offering. Then, I live off of the rest. I have learned that in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. And God always supplies our needs. Lately, we needed a lot of money for things (further education for our children) so I said, Lord, can I ask for a new source of income? I think it was answered (and to my satisfaction) because God is gracious, but partly because He is testing me to see if I could be faithful with a bit more money just as I could be trusted with little.

Seventh, the early Christians all gave out of their “deep poverty”. So, poverty is not an excuse not to bring our tithes. Remember in the New Testament, Jesus stood at the temple near the offering box where the really rich made such a display of giving in their money. And Jesus Christ didn't even notice them. What He noticed was the woman who was a widow — she gave only a mite. Jesus said that the widow's mite was more pleasurable to God than the money of the rich. For one, the rich gave out of their surplus — it may seem like a big sum to us because we are poor, but given the context of the net worth of the rich man, the amount he gave was a pittance. This was contrasted with the widow-- widows do not own property in Ancient Israel. They live off of the graciousness of their sons who also had their own families and who may not be so well off. That widow brought all that she had. It hurt her to bring the tithes, but she did it anyway. God was pleased with her attitude and her worship. I want to please God, don't you?

I don't know what your situation is, I don't judge you. But I know how to be poor. I know how to have so little. I know how it is to struggle. I've been there. I tried God's way. I began to live according to God's principles. It worked. It still works.

Bringing tithes is a matter of doctrine, it is a matter of practice, but it is also a matter of spiritual discipline and fiscal responsibility. Above all, it is a matter of faith. In the book of Genesis, it says Abel brought of the first line of his flock and of the fat thereof. In the New Testament book of Hebrews it says, “by faith Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice".

Bringing tithes is a matter of obedience and we never truly obey God unless we love and believe in God. We obey traffic laws because we don't want to get a ticket or pay a fine or get a mark against our driver's license. We pay taxes because we don't want to get audited. But God urges us to bring tithes on faith. If you believe that God is who he says he is, that he is Jehovah Jireh (the God who supplies needs), then you wouldn't mind bringing the tithes because God will stretch every peso on our behalf.

What have you got to lose by seeking to please God even if it defies all economic theories? Try God. He promised to all who brought their tithes that He will “open the windows of heaven and pour them out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Try God. He won't disappoint you.

Update:

Someone asked: if bringing the tithe is worshipping God, why bring it to a church? The person said that they didn't see the connection. So I explained:

Well, the tithes in the Old Testament was brought into the Temple and it was for the support of the Levites, the priests who worked there teaching people the law, teaching their children to read the law and assisting in worship. Those Levites gave up their own livelihood to work in the Temple. So the tithes were God's way of supporting those Levites.

The principle is, in the place where you worship and grow spiritually, you know, the place that feeds your soul, bring your tithes there. Obviously, God, who is a spirit, doesn't need your dollar bills, right? He accepts your worship, he sees your faithfulness, and he sees that you do this because you trust that he will supply your needs. But it's his people (the pastor, the workers) who can use that money. The church pays for electricity and water. They pay for gasoline to visit people in hospitals and nursing homes. So, the Bible allows the church to use the money people bring as offerings to God.

Some people think of tele-evangelists and they conclude that all religion is just a con-game and tithes are just a polite scam. People are entitled to their beliefs. But not all pastors are shysters.

Our church is local. We know exactly where our tithes go. It goes to real needs — it helps our members who have experienced illness and death, it helps send people to spread the Gospel. It allows us to buy Bibles to give away. It allows us to buy hymnbooks. We use tithes so we can teach and train people who want to teach others also. We have Sunday School and the kids who go to Sunday School sometimes come without having had breakfast and they won't have lunch or dinner, either, so we feed them (the tithes are used to buy the food for them). Our choir members practice twice a week and they get home late. So, the church brings the kids home and we feed them before they go home, to thank them for the singing they do. Our building has to be maintained (paint, repairs) the tithes are used for that purpose.

because those churches are trinity churches not Christian churches.

they not only ask for 10% tithes and do sermons on it regularly to make sure people feel guilty if they skimp out…. they ask for 10% ‘love offereing’ too. do the maths on 100 tithers in a church only…. 90% of this money goes directly to the leader (pastor etc) who pockets the lot. that is HUGE money to make.. this is why unlike unitarian churches the trinity preachers do NOT WORK..,, while unitarian leaders do. The pastors make up excuses like they need to ‘attend to their flocks’ so they can’t work.. yet true christians work 12 hours a day.. then visit their people after work and still do their daily things on top and on weekends.. and they do NOT TITHE OR TAKE LOVE OFFERINGS at all.

Salaries, heat, electricity, bathroom supplies, programs, nice things, etcetera.

But I hear ya. I played for a Roman Catholic church that pulled in about $6,000 a week and we had $300,000 in our checking account. Even more in stocks and bonds. We still asked for money and held second collections and cried poor when we dipped lower than $6,000.

We did absolutely nothing for the community other than looked pretty on the street and packed them in on the weekend. When the poor came to us, we sent them to the food pantry or DSS or the homeless shelter. The priest had a housekeeper, cook, two secretaries and once in a while he showed up. He also received a car allowance, gas allowance and clothing allowance.

But yeah, we were poor. Got any money to spare?

Misapplying the Mosaic Law of tithing to Christians is a way institutional churches try to illegitimately guarantee their income.

They’ll usually use the Malachi verses, written to Jews, to force Christians to give them money, “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.” Mal 3:8,9

Christians are not under the Law of Moses and nowhere in the New Testament Epistles (letters written to Christians) does it speak of tithing. Rather the Christian law is that of practicing generosity as it says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2Cor 9:8

And as for those who minister the gospel and serve in the church, they are advised to work for a living. “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: … I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’" Acts 20:17,32 and 1Th 2:9 "Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you."

Institutional church leaders make themselves a burden, taking money that could have been directed to the poor and putting it in their own pockets.

Accepting Gods grace, having faith in Jesus’s gift of salvation and doing good works, all tie together. You can’t have one without the other. It’s like needing to have clean water, fertile soil and healthy seeds to produce a tree that bears good fruit. When you have faith, yet do no works, this shows that there has not been a change in your life, spirit or heart. This reveals that you have a dead faith. If you have a dead faith, you are lacking a key element of what you are supposed to be indwelled with, which is the Holy Spirit. He is what prompts us to do good works. Being indwelled with the Holy Spirit is part of being a “born again Christian”. It says this in the Holy Bible:

John 3:3-“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

It also explains, in the book of James, why works are so important.

James 2:14–17 “14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

So this is why it’s important to do good works. If you want a guaranteed spot in heaven, doing good works is something that you do. If you don’t feel the desire to do this, you should question whether or not the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within you. This spirit is the spirit of God and He changes you from the inside out. If You aren’t indwelled with the Holy Spirit, you could be being influenced by the devil and his minions. You should seek out what influences you are under and ask God to guide you in all matters.

Before salvation, nobody does good. This is the Bible’s clear message (Romans 3:12). Also, by nature everyone tries to get right with God. (Even the atheist knows full well that God exists.) But he or she wants to get right with God on their own terms. So one follows this religion, another that religion, and so on.

Even within Christianity, false gospels abound. Most who identify as Christian follow a free-will gospel. That is, if you only believe, or accept Christ, or repent, or take some other action, you will be saved. But that is not grace. That is works.

True salvation is based 100% on the mercy of God (Romans 9:15–16). He is sovereign and answers to nobody. Most people try to work their way into Heaven. Only those whom God truly saves will finally recognize that salvation is altogether based on the mercy of God. They will understand the futility of trying to become saved through works (Galatians 5:4).

II Corinthians 5:6–8: Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

(For we walk by faith, not by sight):

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Their message is likely based on Malachi 3:8 where it refers to the failure to tithe as robbing God. That was given to a hardened people that couldn’t understand that the goal is to align our will with God’s will. As a result, God couldn’t simply say “this is my will” but rather He had to use forceful words to try driving the point home.

Here is the reality of the situation: God created everything. Just because man goes out and finds some ore does it mean that ownership has transferred from God to man? Nope. And if that ore is refined and then fashioned into a coin then did that somehow transfer ownership? Nope. If I work all day long and someone gives me that coin in exchange for the labor then does that transfer ownership? Nope, because it wasn’t theirs to begin with. If I take that coin and buy a car with it then is the car mine? Nope, because the materials was God’s to begin with and He never transferred ownership. Even our very bodies are not ours: we are only stewards over them until the resurrection. So with nothing belonging to us and, at best, we are only stewards over what we have, then remember that God seeks for us to be wise stewards.

As for tithing, the reality is that if we are truly loving God then we will want to serve Him. We will also want others to be aware of His love. One convenience in spreading the word is to be able to meet in a nice building where there’s shelter, heating, cooling, and a PA system. Those things cost money. If the purpose of that building is to further the spreading of God’s word then how is it reasoned that contributions should not be made? If you love your spouse you would serve them and buy gifts for them as an expression of that love and appreciation. That would apply to loving God, too. As a steward it is proper to take a portion of the income and dedicate it for the upholding and spreading of God’s word. That is done through tithe. A failure to tithe is a witness of a lack of love and faith in God.

Perhaps the excuse for failing to tithe is because finances are tight. God said that He would provide sufficient for the needs:

“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.” (Malachi 3:10)

Personally, I’m not a fan of that verse because it was given to a hardened people that had trouble knowing God. Some will take that verse and construe it as working for blessings, which leads to a forbidden path. What Jesus gave us as part of the law for Christianity is sufficient:

“24 ¶ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6:24–34)

There are many points that are being made in those verses but all tie back to tithing. First, you can’t serve two masters. Who is your master that you’re going to rely on, God or money? If the heart is focused on relying on money for temporal salvation then that is our god. The verses are suggesting that we rely on God for our temporal salvation. They are teaching that He will make sure that we have sufficient for our needs. If we are holding the position that we are not going to tithe because we cannot afford it then we are relying on the money for our temporal salvation. If things are tight but we tithe anyway, because we see it as a contribution toward spreading the word, then we are placing our trust in God to provide. He said that He would, and this is where we can exercise faith or doubt. If we doubt then we will not tithe. If we have faith in what He said then we will tithe regardless of how tight things are.

What the preachers are addressing when they preach tithing is more likely that there is not sufficient coming in to sustain the church budget. But that really isn’t the heart of the issue. What is at the heart of the issue is that it is known that tithes are God’s standard but the flock is lacking faith in God. It is the flock that doesn’t have the faith that God will provide if they tithe. Why is there a lack of faith? Maybe it’s the pastor’s fault for failing to preach faith. Maybe it’s the flock’s fault because they are supposed to be looking to God in love for salvation, not to their pastor. Either way, there is a breakdown that needs addressed.

Its mainly because of jealousy in the body of Christ (which should not be). I'm sure there's plenty of excuses given, but if it's not actually someone literally trying to buy their way in, then it's someone that is jealous of the person that's doing good works. Jealousy is a demon, and it has no place in God's house or in his people.

In my experience, that envy or jealousy was working in the church leadership, even pastors and ministry leaders. I was asked to leave one church by a pastor that couldn't explain “Jesus working through a believer"to the congregation, and instead of doing their job it was easier to get rid of me. Jealousy can be heartbreaking. Yet another church I served in for years as a Deliverance Minister, seeing consistent healings, deliverance, and literal miracles; but I was never included as an official member of their ministry...“their” ministry. But the Ministry leader was honest with me, and straight out told me that he was envious of how strongly God was using me. I couldn't get my head around that. The leader of a Deliverance ministry in bondage. Go figure Jealousy is a demon that divides.

Im one of the people that love to do good works, and I do it out of my love for Jesus Christ. My works are His works. I'm a called minister and I pray for people that are trapped in spiritual bondage. Unless they are comfortable with those demons, like jealousy, and decide to keep them and give them shelter.

Tithing was originally established for the benefit of the Levites, who were the only Hebrew tribe that received no inheritance from Jacob. According to Levitical law, the Levites were prohibited from owning their own property, and they depended on the donations of the other eleven tribes for their sustenance. That is why the tithe was set at 10% in the first place: it provided the Levites with approximately the same average income as the other tribes.

Christian churches were not maintained by the Levites. Christian clergy were allowed to own property and earn their own income. Paul apparently considered it a virtue for the clergy to support themselves through their own labor rather than depending on donations from the congregation. And considering that the laity far outnumbered the clergy in the early Church, a mandatory 10% donation from every member of the congregation for the support of the clergy would result in an income that far exceeded the average income of the congregation.

Not only that, but the early Church explicitly stated that Gentile converts to Christianity were exempt from the requirements of the Levitical law, and that included the tithe.

So, unsurprisingly, we find that the Council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15 did not require Christians to tithe to the local Church; at no point does the New Testament require a tithe; the early Church fathers did not require a tithe; the church of late antiquity did not require a tithe; and to this day, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches (who best represent the form of Christianity practiced in late antiquity) do not require a tithe.

Christians are expected to practice charity, even to the point that they put all of their property at the disposal of the needy. In the second century, Justin Martyr wrote that the wealthier members of the congregation distributed their income among the poor members. And Christians obviously have some obligation to support their own Church. But the idea that every Christian, from the poorest to the richest, is required to give 10% of their gross income to the local Church, is inconsistent with the historic practice, and in the case of the poorer members of the congregation, it flatly contradicts it.

I think it’s just what’s in your heart. If someone is helping people because deep inside they think it will get them a better place in Heaven, or that God will look/act kindly toward them in some way, the charity is self-serving and empty. The same is true for people who seek praise or admiration from others for their good will.

I don’t think anyone is going to be condemned for these kinds of actions - there’s still some good in there. Christian theology aside, I think the same is true for Karma - you can’t boost your Karma points by doing things for self-serving reasons.

We can’t buy or earn our way into God’s grace anyway. That is a basic tenet of Christianity.

I would imagine if a person had no car and no access to public transport, it would be very difficult for them to attend church. It is also hard to attend church if your clothes do not match those of the congregation. If they do not know the people, they may feel that they are looked down upon. And there are some churches where the members do look down on poor people, or make comments about “this is not the place for a hand-out”.

Tithing is a personal spiritual issue. It is something that should be given out of conviction, not out of pressure or shaming.

That is my take on this question. I have been very poor and ashamed, and it is difficult to reach out to others in that time.

Yes, when I was young, I had a minister that pointed out he would rather have poor/young people donate time or other gifts. The most important thing is he wanted us to be part of the congregation. When I mentioned feeling bad about not putting anything in the plate he suggested putting in the offering envelopes. I was puzzled, that's the point I have nothing to put in. He smiled ”put in a note of what good you did this week” the people looking down their nose don't know what you put in, the usher will understand.

Later when I was chosen as an usher, I enjoyed reading the notes of people that mowed the widow’s lawn, visited the shut-ins etc.

i wouldn't suggest giving your income to the church or any church as all of it may not find its way to where it is needed .. it is your income and you should decide where you would like any money to go to.. the churches are already wealthy enough and do not need your income.. there are other ways to fulfill this requirement.. for example .. if your income is not enough to cover your bills and out goings you could always try to spare 10% of your free time attempting to help others .. like a elderly neighbour who might like some company .. the list is endless..

maybe you your income is enough to cover the bills for the family and you have a little spare ,, what is classed as disposable income .. maybe you could offer10% of it to a charity or some other god cause,, again the list is endless..

you could even buy some food for a homeless person or do something that will improve the quality of life for someone less fortunate than your self.. all these things mean something to those you are helping and our father in heaven sees this.. however if you are some one who cannot afford to lose 10//% of your income because all that you earn goes to providing for your family and you still donate 10% of it to help others .. you will not believe how much you will be rewarded for it .. everything that you do is recorded and you are going to be faced with it when your time in the flesh is over .. and the rewards for those who sacrificed what little they had to those so in need makes me feel jealous of the praise they will get and our father in heaven ill make sure that everyone sees it ..

if anyone frowns upon you for doing good deeds then they are not on your sde or our heavenly fathers either.

No Christian has any obligation in “paying tithes,” and no minister or church has any right in “receiving or demanding tithes.”

Tithing was part of the Levitical law, and it had nothing to do with money, or income. Tithes was NOT a personal income tax. It was a levy on the produce of The Land, “God” demanded the first tithe of all livings things (i.e. edible vegetation and clean animals) produced by The Land (Promised Land, Canaan). Tithes were used to feed and support the Priests and Sacrificial System.

They were not an “income tax.” Jesus praised the Pharisees for the scrupulousness of their tithing (mint, anise and cummin - the tiniest of herbs), he said nothing about money. The tithes in Malachi which the prophet said the people were “stealing from God” were foodstuffs (“bring tithes into the storehouse.”) Israelites involved in cash businesses, or fishermen, were not required to tithe, and Israelites living outside the land were exempt from tithing also. Paul never quoted any text from the law about tithing when urging his churches to support him, only “don’t muzzle the ox plowing in the field,” and “the laborer is worthy of his hire.”

If you believe in your church, support it as best you can, but feed your family, and yourself, first. You have no obligation to give any set percentage of money. Preachers who have to beg for money, or make you feel guilty by demanding money they have no right to demand, when you are not able to afford to give more than you do, need to get a real job.

There are all kinds of Christians at many different levels, and yes, some ARE still very fleshly. (works under construction)

The Word of God is pretty clear though in that poverty, sickness and death are not from God and are a result of Adam's curse.. So that conversely a person who has received Jesus Christ as his personal. LORD and Saviour by Romans 10:9–10 is no longer under that curse because Jesus became cursed on the cross so that the curse would be broken.

However, the concept of what prosperity is, often is where the conflict arises…

in that it isn't having money or prosperity that is the problem, but the LOVE of money. This often results in greed, jealousy, envy and covetousness. So many people focus on making as much money as possible for many Personal greedy reasons, as now not only a means to an end, but an end in irs self.. So that it is money that owns THEM.(the money problem!)

As regards Christians.. GOD cares FIRST OF ALL for His sons and daughters with astonishing faithfulness and loyalty, and gives to them in great abundance and it is wrong teaching to say that Christians should be poor.

Jesus was NEVER poor and had enough for ALL His needs and even employed someone to run the finances.

Many accusations there sure are that especially charismatic churches preach a “prosperity Gospel”.. and how is it attractive to be a Christian if you offer a “poverty Gospel???”. Not many would go there…

but have NO objection if THEY prosper or if the rubbishes of the world prosper. They ever only point fingers at the church.

But most such people don't realize that unlike mainline churches, they don't have a “franchise” to support them but have to carry themselves and my Pastor receives a salary just like anyone else…

Out of which he first returns the tithe like anyone else.. And the books are audited.

Prosperity is part of the blessing that comes with salvation.. but especially as Christians, we are prospered so that the Gospel can be preached to all nations.. And are blessed to be a blessing. Kingdom FIRST because JESUS FIRST and not money first. The prosperity is meant to be a tool to help spread the Gospel.

But the Bible speaks of ALL LIFE prosperity..not only money.. 3 John vs 2/John 10:10. .. but money is not only there for selfishness or for image building status..or for self indulgences.

As to work..

The Bible says everyone must work. Again, how is the Gospel meant to be financed if a person dosn't work!! (no blessings and no tithes..buy even more..no seed money they can sow toward the I crease )

A person who is fit enough to work must do something and not just be a lazy boy all day living by entitlement and resting in privelege, because Slothful lazy no good apathetic people don't work.

If you can't.. Or are sick.or too old, . Or at least tried to find work but couldnt, it's one thing, but I guarantee that God dosn't much admire lazy people who live by entitlement.

Even Jesus worked, helping His Dad.

There is a Spiritual principle in that blessers receive… and commonly you will find that those with a Covenant relationship,, walking closely to God, sow generously because money has no hold on them.. And why they are blessed.

[Heidi Broberg].. in Christ Zech 4;6

(Intercessor in Spiritual warfare and shepherding discipler by calling according to 2 Corinthians 1:4–7)/ministry and Pastors intercessor /Prophetic exhorter)

It’s complicated…

They ask you for money because they think that you are gullible enough to think that they are serving God.

Now if you were sharp, you would realize that if they were really serving God, then they would ask God, and if God really called them to serve Him, then He would give them the money needed to do His work, miraculously if necessary.

After all, if I worked for my employer, I would expect my employer to pay me, not some arbitrary person, or a friend of my employer, or even one of the children of my employer.

A Christian gives voluntarily. If you are forced to give, run away.

So what about all those verses that your pastor quotes, saying that God commands you to give 10% of your income? They are all in the Old Testament, and in particular, a part of the Law. And the Law no longer applies to born-again Christians. The Law still applies to Jews.

The Law and the Prophets (i.e. the Old Testament) were applicable only until John the Baptist began to preach the arrival of Jesus.

Mt 11:13 "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John."

Lk 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it."

The Law was a shadow of the good things to come.

Heb 10:1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

The old covenant, based on the Law, was a shadow of the new covenant. Therefore, since the new covenant has come, the old covenant is obsolete.

We have been released from the Law.

Rom 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Heb 8:13 When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

For a detailed study on the subject of tithing, go here: Lovers of God

Don’t let anyone scam you. Love God, and give voluntarily to His kingdom, only because you love Him, and not because you want to be a part (or member) of some group of people who meet on Sundays in a fancy building paid for by a naive and gullible people.

God loves a cheerful giver!

Every Catholic is obliged to perform the works of corporal and spiritual works of mercy, according to his own ability, and the need of his neighbor.

To love God, we must not only follow the Commandments of God, and the Precepts of the Church, in a negative sense; but also, in a positive sense, we put that love into practice, at the command of the Lord, and perform bodily and spiritual works of mercy and compassion toward others.

Love, and faith, without good works, withers and dies…

“Therefore, all things whatever you would that men should do to you, even so do you also to them.” (St. Matthew VII:12)

“Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” (St. Matthew XXV:40)

Thus, our duty is not only to avoid sin, but also to do good to others, “love your neighbor as yourself.”

All of the ordinary deeds done, in the state of grace, every day to relieve the corporal or spiritual needs of our nearest neighbor, without regard for race, creed, or status, are true works of mercy done to and for Christ, if they are done in the name of Christ. This is the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ. When we do something for the lowest member of the Body of Christ, the Church, and even for non-members, it is as if we did it for Christ Himself.

As St. James teaches in his Epistle: “Faith without good works is dead.”

My church does not do that. It is .mentioned that to do the things we say we want to do costs money, and that it would be a good thing if we all pitched in as best we can.

And that is about it.

It was said that it would aid planning if we wrote down on THIS card what we expect to do, whether it is per week, per month, or per year.

But nobody is told how much that should be. Not as a dollar amount, not as a percentage. Not even a suggestion.

Just a request that we all think about our own budget, and write down what you plan to do, so that the church knows roughly what we can plan to spend.

And that's it. I have probably spent more words in this post than I heard this year about giving.

Officially, we only talk about this during November, which is sort of a planning g for the following year. We turned in those cards today. In the first few weeks of January, we will have a meeting of the whole church (anyone can come, even you if you can swing the travel. The date will be published)

At that meeting, we will have some elections for our “board’ we call it a "vestry" and reports from the different groups. Especially the groups that raise or spend money. Financial reports are presented and passed out, showing what we did last year, and what we plan to do next year.

It is all open and published, including monthly vestry meetings.

I have heard of churhes who strongly suggest that the tithe 10% is a reasonable standard. And I have even heard of a much smaller group who actually require that, to be in good standing. But every church I have ever been a part of would reject that, as do I.

I do t know if your question relates to something you have only heard about, or something you have experienced.

But either way, it is far from universal.

I would be as appalled as you are.

Yes I think that “Christians” love money. Jesus said in Mathew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon”. Most “Christians” work for money and it seems like they are not loving Jesus because he says in John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments”. So if they do not love Jesus they love money!

I think Christians work for money because they are afraid they and their families will starve. They need to put much more faith in God. It also seems like they are forgetting where Jesus says in Mathew 6:25–26 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they”?

First, we should be clear that “tithing” (the requirement of giving 10% of ones increase), while it is mentioned in the New Testament in a few contexts, is not taught as binding to the church. Tithing is a requirement to give a certain amount (to which could be added offerings, some of which were mandatory, some voluntary); Jesus, however, demands all of us. This is one reason he commended the widow who put two copper coins into the treasury. He commented that she had “put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:4).

The point is that all we have and are belong to Him. The law of tithing was meant to remind Israel of that very truth. Yet, as with many things, it became just another law. It’s easy to say, “The first ten percent belongs to God, the rest is mine.” Yet that was never the intent of the law.

Jesus clarified this truth with a pointed statement: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Does that mean we give it all away or sell it? If he calls you to do that, yes. Otherwise, we recognize that all we are and have is his to do with according to his will. The saying “hold things loosely” is not appropriate for a follower of Jesus. We are not to hold onto things at all. So, the real answer to the question is that we are to give all to the Lord.

Many churches espouse a 10% tithing, but not nearly as many apply pressure by using a "prosperity gospel."
Even so, tithing is an old covenant principle for the Jews and is not part of the new covenant that God established with us through Jesus. The early church demonstrated sacrificial giving rather than a simple tithe. There is nothing in the words of Jesus or the apostles that indicates that we are supposed to set aside a 10% tithe. What IS said is that we are to love God with all our hearts souls and minds AND our neighbors as ourselves. In the early church, people went well beyond tithing to do this. They cheerfully sold possessions and even land-holdings to help provide for others who had nothing or who were suffering hard times. That's a tough act to follow, isn't it?

Many, many people opine that the donation of tithing is extortion. So why do such lawsuits not prevail in court? Because most people are not educated in the law and so do not understand what extortion requires.

Extortion is not merely threatening bad things if one does not pay. This is an overly simplistic definition that leads many to say that taxes are extortion. They end up paying taxes and penalties for their trouble in court. A toll road can be enforced by law enforcement for the same reason: you are paying for the privilege of using the road.

In theological matters, the LDS church is not extortive because no one is forced to pay tithes. It is not a membership due, though if it were, it still would not be extortion. The teachings of the Bible specifically say that if a man gives a gift unwillingly, it doesn't count in God's eyes, so there is no point in forcing people to do so.

Salvation is free, say the ancients. You cannot buy it. It cannot be traded for. But those who do give willingly are rewarded accordingly: one's state after salvation may be determined in part by one's philanthropy and willingness to share the gospel with others. None of this is novel and none of it is extortion.

Some argue that access to certain rites and edifices being dependent on one's obedience to a rule is equivalent to extortion. It is not, for the same reason that we are not required to use toll roads: it's a privilege, not a right, and it's private property, not public property. Access to private property or membership in an exclusive group may absolutely require payment and everyone accepts and agrees with that except the person who thinks everything belongs to them.

Finally, the church has no power or authority to harm—it literally cannot send one to hell, at least not in the political jurisdictions where mankind's laws have force. Matters that only have impact after this world really cannot be adjudicated in this world. Thus, people who attempt to sue God are turned away for lack of jurisdiction.

So: for any one of these reasons, donations are not extortion, and that is all one needs show—and it has been shown—to win the case in court.