There is not one example of anyone tithing MONEY to anyone in the entirety of the Bible! The only reference to “money” with regards to tithing has absolutely nothing to do with paying tithes ON money. It is found in Deut. 14:24-26, which we shall now read in its entirety:
“And if the way be too long for thee (to the place where God placed His name to be worshipped, especially during the fall feast harvest of tabernacles) so that you are not able to carry it (the tithe of their farm produce) or if the place be too far from you, which the Lord your God shall choose to set His name there, when the Lord your God has blessed you: Then shall you turn it(the tithe of their farm produce) into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose: And you shall bestow that money (to the preachers? To the church? NO…) …for whatsoever thy soul lusts after ‘for whatsoever your heart desires’, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever your soul desires: and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household.”
Farm products could be sold and turned into money when long travel was necessary. But at the destination where God placed His name, the money was spent on food for the Levite, stranger, fatherless, poor, etc. It was not presented to the Levites as a monetary gift.
SCRIPTURE EXPLAINING WHAT THE PURPOSE OF THE TITHE WAS:
“And the Levite, (because he has no part nor inheritance with you), and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within your gates, shall come, and shall EAT (food from the land) and be satisfied; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do” (Deut. 14:29).
THE CHURCH WOULD PREFER YOU NOT KNOW THE FOLLOWING:
● The tradesmen, who made the baskets for harvesting, did not tithe.
● The cobblers, who made the shoes for the servants of the field, did not tithe.
● The carpenters, who made the wagons used for harvesting the fields, did not tithe.
● The potters, who made the jugs for carrying water to the servants in the fields, did not tithe.
● The women, who made the garments for the field-workers, did not tithe.
● And certainly, the servants who worked in the fields for wages did not tithe.
HERE ARE THE SIMPLE FACTS REGARDING THE BIBLE TEACHING OF TITHING:
■ ONLY LANDOWNERS TITHED
■ ONLY PRODUCTS OF THE LAND WERE TITHED
■ ONLY LEVITES COULD RECEIVE THE TITHES
■ TITHING WAS A LAW OF MOSES
■ CHRISTIANS ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES!
Does anyone have a Scripture that contradicts this? By the way, Jesus Christ was a carpenter by trade, and as such, JESUS DID NOT TITHE!
JESUS CAME TO FULFILL THE LAW, NOT TO RELIVE THE LAW
Christians believe that Jesus came to FULFILL the Law of Moses by RELIVING the Law of Moses in His own personal life. He assuredly did not. Jesus did not concern Himself with Tithes and Taxes, and restrictions of the Law of Moses.
The theologians have debased the New Covenant as being nothing more than the Old Covenant, with a few added twists. Jesus “fulfilled the law” not by adding a few spiritual twists to it, but by keeping a MUCH HIGHER SPIRITUAL LAW that actually contradicted much of the letter of Moses’ Law.
One doesn’t need a physical law of the letter chiseled in stone, to “keep the Sabbath” when he has entered into “God’s SPIRITUAL REST “in his heart. One doesn’t need a physical law of the letter to “swear by His name” when in his heart his desire is to “swear NOT at all.” One doesn’t need a physical law chiseled in stone telling him “thou shalt not commit adultery” when in his heart he no longer “even looks on a woman to lust after her.” One doesn’t need a physical law telling him to “HATE his enemies” when now in his very heart, he “LOVES his enemies.” LOVE is lot different than just putting a spiritual twist on HATE. Not swearing at all is more than putting a spiritual twist on the commandment TO SWEAR. And neither did Jesus take the commandment to “bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse” and spiritually twist it into “bring ye all the money into the pastor’s bank account.”
GIVING IS VOLUNTARY:
The New Testament teachings on giving are unpretentiously simplistic involving the heart and not some law: “…freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8).
“Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not thou away” (Matt. 5:42).
“The churches in Macedonia and Achaia, you see, have thought it a good thing to make a contribution towards the poor Christians in Jerusalem. They have decided to do this, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the gentiles have had a share in the Jews’ spiritual good things it is only fair that they should look after the Jews as far as the good things of this world are concerned” (Rom. 15:26-27) “I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
“HOW ARE WE TO PAY THE CHURCH BILLS IF THE PEOPLE DON’T TITHE?”
A pastor may ask: “How are we to pay the Church Bills if the people don’t tithe?” My answer is: “I don’t know too but I have been a pastor for 37 years yet I survived without asking people money by force. I work in the farm while doing the ministry.”
“HOW THE APOSTLE PAUL FINANCED HIS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY?”
Let’s see how Paul did things.
“For yourselves know how you ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you: Neither did we eat any man’s bread for naught; but wrought with labor and travail NIGHT AND DAY, that we might not be chargeable to any man. Not because we have not power, but to MAKE OURSELVES AN EXAMPLE UNTO YOU TO FOLLOW US.” (II Thes. 3:7-9).
Tithing-vs.-Giving Cheerfully. Giving from the heart is a virtue. However, fraudulently fleecing the flock by exacting ten percent of parishioner’s paychecks under fear of breaking an Old Testament law of tithing is a sin!
There is no need for people to feel guilty over any religious doctrine.
(JOHN 8:32) The Lord Jesus tells us that Truth is Freedom:
