Biblical tithing

Yes the principle is in the New Testament in many verses such as 1 Cor 16:2

. 2Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

This was for an offering for the poor but I understand that it is God's method that we give in proportion to how God has prospered us and that we do it each time we meet which just so happens to still be the first day of the week.

I am following the same principle of Love to support the church and the ministries of the church when I give a regular proportion whether that be 10% or 5% or 20%. The amount is up to you. If you believe that the 10% principle is in the bible for you as a guide then you are not being legalistic to think so. I believe it is a good guide and if people were to use it they would find that much can be done at the local church level to launch soulwinning ministry and to help poor people in the church as a result of using that percentage.

I happen to know by entering data into church accounting software working in church offices and being involved in ministry through the years that only about 10% or less of the congregation are faithful in giving 10%. Most give nothing at all. Some give a few dollars hear and there. The church is usually supported by the 10% who give 10% and it is interesting that that figure is around 10% that give isn't it. I think the average is 10 to 25 % but I think it is interesting that 10% of their congregation giving 10% is what many pastors will use to budget with. Seems like 10% would be a great ideal if people would just do it.

Theories about giving from the heart as the Lord leads has proven to be nothing but talk through the years. The majority of people who say that do not give to their church. I don't really care what nongivers think about giving. If they have not given to their local church this year I know their opinion about giving. Nothing needs to be said and I will not pay attention to what they say about it if they do have an opinion. I am more interested in what givers think about it. Since they are the ones that are actually helping real people with needs.

I do not agree with teaching tithe as a law, or saying that you are cursed if you don't that is just wrong on several levels.

Blain, I don't know you but I must say I'm concerned you don't have a regular church to go to. As good as CC might be it's not a church at all as far as a place of worship or a place to receive real teaching.

It might be difficult to find a good church in your area, but still you should locate one for it's commanded in the Scriptures:
Hebrews 10:23(NAS)Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

I doubt very seriously I myself could make it without my church, especially as we're drawing near to the end. The local church is usually the only place we can find those who need to be encouraged as well. It's where we can be a blessing & be blessed.

Trust me I would if I could but I have to walk everwhere and my family is never able to give me rides there is only one church in walkable distance and I had a really bad experience there or rather the pastor was only talking about sin and everyone looked either sad or fearful even chgildren had to sit and listen and I saw the effect it was doing on them and stood up to confront the pastor long story short he banished me from it I mean how dare I stand up to him right?

Read 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 again. It's about setting aside a collection of monetary donations each week to send to people in Jerusalem.

Galatia was doing it and now the church at Corinth was being told to do it; this is not a general command to Christians at all congregations.

If you feel led to donate money on the first day of the week to your congregation to pay the staff's salary, bills, etc then great but that isn't what 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 is about just to be clear.

If we were to keep in step with that Biblical example then the Sunday donations at church would be returned to prop up needy people in Jerusalem. One may argue it does not necessarily have to be Jerusalem, but Paul establishes a pattern here by mentioning two churches being commanded to donate to Jerusalem and not to needy people elsewhere.

I made it clear that it shows a principle. That one should give in proportion as God has prospered him. i.e. 10% is a good method. Supporting various ministry needs, poor people, outreaches, widows.. whatever..

Biblical tithing is not about giving wealth to God. It's about honouring God with what he has given you. God don't need your money.

Have you ever read what the tithe is according to scripture.

There never was any money given as a tithe, and it was only every third year that it was given to the local Levites which was to feed them and the local needy. It was taken to the temple and the sacrifices made and then eaten before the Lord.

And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
Deuteronomy 14:24‭-‬26 ESV

I wish people would just read what the Bible says.

actually the church I went to did say that.
They wrote in the newsletter we need $ to pay off the mortgage and it costs to run the church, we live off your donations, so heres our bank account number. lol

at least they are honest about what they need the money for and not saying well we gonna give this to the poor and needy who are going hungry..!

The verses before and after speak directly of tithing and gives two reasons why we should do it...1. to teach us to respect (aka fear) God and 2. To feed the Levites who didnt get land like the rest (how that applies to today could be discussed.

Thanks for sharing the Bible verses and your thoughts.

"22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

23 And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always."

I apologise if my title was misleading. I never gave much thought to the origin of the word "tithe" and just used it as I have heard other Christians used it.

I didn't come up with the concept, but heard it in a sermon.

I will have to read the Bible and pray more about it...so you prefer the word "giving to the local church"?

I will have to keep that in mind.

Thanks for taking time to respond. I learn something new today.

Most of the churches I have attended are transparent with their finances. Meaning they say what goes up pay the bills and what goes to missions.

I know there are false churches seeking to fleece the sheep, but I have been blessed not to run across them often.

Thank you for sharing.

I see now that I am referring to offerings people make to their local church, but I don't regret my mistake.

It help reveal the difference between tithing and offering in Biblical terms.

Come to think of it our pastor does refer to that time as "taking up the offering".

The only time I remember folks talk about tithing is when the finance committee asks for pledges at the beginning of the year so they can make a budget.

God closed down 99.9 percent of all the churches in my state since last April; sixty percent said they are permanently out of business. The rest can open, effective last Thursday, with 25 percent capacity, social distancing and mask obedience. I don't think Jesus has been pleased at all with the churches in my state, so He closed them down.

The New Testament does not tell you to tithe to your local church. Full stop. In the New Testament church, they gave as God had prospered them to the apostles when they were travelling so they could not suppport themselves financially. Once they had settled into a place, they supported themselves like Paul who made tents and sold them.

Then they gave to widows who had committed themselves to praying for the church and had no means of income.

And thirdly, they gave to the poor and needy.

At no time did they give to pay for the upkeep of a building or someone's salary.

Tithing Testimony

My Mother’s Testimony

When I started university, we decided to attend a Charismatic Church, where we were informed of the importance of tithing. My mother started tithing for many months. She also frequently watched Televangelist telling her to “sow a seed” and she gave to them money as well. I also “sowed seeds” and I tithed the pocket money that I got. We both started having doubts about tithing and decided that it was a money making scheme by Charismatic pastors and that they were the only ones profiting. And therefore my mother decided to stop tithing.

A few weeks later after making the decision of no longer tithing, she was chatting to someone about a non-religious subject and without a reason, then the person started talking about tithing and the importance of tithing. It happened again on two other separate occasions with two other people several weeks apart. She thought that the conversations were very odd because on all three occasions, the person would digress from the topic of discussion and all of sudden and start talking about tithing. Furthermore, during the many decades that she had been a Christian, no one had spoken to her about tithing before she started tithing and no one spoke to her about tithing while she was tithing. Now people are speaking to her about tithing when she had stopped, which was strange.

After a few months, all our appliances started to make strange noises. The kettle first broke, then the microwave, and other appliances started breaking one after the other and she had to purchase new appliances within at least 1 month apart and got others repaired. Then afterwards she would almost get into car accidents and cars seem to be attracted to her car and wanted to bash into her. She was convicted that these things were happening because she had stopped tithing and she asked God for forgiveness and started tithing again. Everything came back to normal and the appliances stopped making strange noises and stopped and no one was trying to bump into her car.

My Testimony

When I finished university, I naturally started tithing because of my mother’s experience. I faithfully tithed my monthly salary. In the first company that I started to work for, we would occasionally receive a travel allowance for going to a client depending on far the client was from the office. My mother told me that I should also tithe the travel allowance. I refused and stated that my salary is what I got every single month. The travel allowance is what I occasionally got and it was not a lot of money and would not be a big deal especially since I was tithing my gross salary and not my net salary. I worked for three years in this company and stubbornly refused to tithe the travel allowance, although I would sometimes have a nagging thought that I should.

I started working for another company and when I returned home one day, my mother told me that she had listened to a sermon about tithing and the pastor said that God expects us to tithe all that we get and that our debt is not cancelled of our unpaid tithe. To avoid unnecessary arguments, I decided to return the tithe of the travel allowance for over the three years and fortunately it was not a lot.

I had my resume on a career website and shortly after tithing the travel allowance, I received a phone call from a recruitment agent who said that they saw my resume on the career site. I told the agent that I was interested in looking for another company to work for. I was hired in this third company and the salary that they give me was almost twice the amount that the second company gave me for the same position and responsibilities. I did not negotiate to get a higher salary. The hiring manager just said that based on my experience, they believed that I deserved a lot more than the second company was paying me. I believe that this favor and blessing is because I had tithed my travel allowance. I was completely shocked when they gave me the offer and it helped me to pay off a loan I had in a shorter time than expected. Since this personal experience I tithe everything that I get.

Lessons that I learnt about tithing from personal experience

Based on my mothers and my experience I have learnt the following about tithing

1. Time of ignorance

Acts 17:30 says, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent”

When my mother did not have knowledge about tithing, God did not her hold liable for what she did not know or fully understand. Therefore nothing amiss happened during all those years she was not tithing and God winked at her ignorance. But when she got the understanding and started to tithe, she became accountable and faced negative consequences of not tithing because she knew better. I also believe that God sent her the three people to speak to her about tithing before the consequences happened. I do believe that Christians that have knowledge about tithing are going through additional suffering because of this disobedience, but they are not aware that the unnecessary suffering is because of not tithing and think that their suffering is part of normal every day life.

2. Tithing limits the attacks of the devil

Malachi 3:11 says, “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”

From my mother’s experience, I have seen that tithing does protect our finances from the devil. When my mother stopped tithing, she lost more money than the amount she normally tithed. A lot of things were breaking in the house and she spent a lot of money replacing them.

The devil was blocking me from being blessed of having a better paying job because I refused to tithe my travel allowance and the blessing came after I tithed the amount I owed God.

I also heard a testimony of a man who did not want to tithe because he was already living from pay check to pay check. But he reluctantly decided to start tithing after being convicted. One of his biggest monthly costs was medical bills. His children were always suffering from one or two aliments every month, nothing major. Sometimes earache, stomach ache, headache, but they were always frequenting the medical center. As soon as he started tithing the children became sick less and their medical bills starting decreasing enabling him to tithe.

3. What returning God’s tithe does not do

From personal experience, returning God’s tithe will not make you rich. It will sustain you and you will find yourself not always spending above your budget. It literally rebukes the devourer from messing up with your finances, bank account and doing things which result in unnecessary suffering and loss. This does not mean that the devil will stop attacking you, but that the attacks will be kept at a minimum compared to if you do not tithe. I do believe in tithing and also give an offering according to my budget. I however do not “sow additional seeds” with the hope of getting rich because that will definitely not happen.

If you feel that the church you are currently attending has too much money, then simply find a church which has a pastor that has a few congregation and is struggling financially and return God’s tithe there. The bible does not say that you have to attend the church that you are tithing at.

4. Tithing in the New Testament

In Matthew 23:23 Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

This bible verse mentions tithing, and Jesus does not state that the scribes, Pharisees or anyone should stop tithing. He actually states that they should continue and not stop tithing, but should also have judgement, mercy and faith. In this bible verse, Jesus upholds tithing.

Jesus upheld tithing while the old covenant was still in effect, in the context of rebuking the Pharisees. Try finding a verse that is clearly speaking to Christians and "upholding" tithing. There isn't one.

Regarding your personal testimony, I have a testimony too, and mine contradicts yours. My finances came into the black when I stopped allowing ignorant, fear-based legalism to inform my financial decisions. Let's not put personal experience above Scripture. I had a pastor who did that; he would let people testify who "tithed" and had positive experiences, but would silence people who had negative experiences. I left that church seventeen years ago and never looked back.

that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales

All that experience but no scripture. Huh?
There was never any money used for the tithe.

That is generous giving.

36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.