God had given us a commandment the Tithes & Offerings. How people today followed the commandment?
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Read all my response to you.
1st After the example of you as husband of your wife and father of your daughter then I asked you first. You did not answer me because you know that your answer is against with your belief that IF JESUS IS NOT GOOD THEN HE IS EVIL.
If you say Jesus is not good, then you are saying he is evil. You don’t have a third option.
2nd You may criticize as often as you want even you don't stop if you want no one is controlling you on that.
But you never be saved by your criticism. Nothing written in the Holy Bible that Our Lord Jesus said Inherit the Kingdom of God because of your criticism. But Our Lord said Inherit the Kingdom of God because you shared the Truth.
3rd I answered all your question. Mention it if I did not.
If I may...
Tithing simply means "giving a tenth". It became a religious word centuries after its first use. Compulsory tithing is found in the Mosaic law but tithing appears two times before the law was given.
Once by Abraham:
19 And he (Melchizedek) blessed him (Abram) and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.
Once by Jacob:
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."
Giving a tenth was made compulsory under the law of Sinai. There is no longer a "law of the tithe". There is only a precedent of freely giving established by Abraham and later by his grandson Jacob. In both examples the tenth is directed toward a person (Melchizedek) or a person's estate (Isaac's house). Even compulsory tithing was given to maintain the people of the tribe of Levi. What is given to an institution (501c3) can never be a tithe: the institution is not alive and therefore unable to receive the tithe in the manner it was intended. "Church tithing" today is actually just payment for services rendered. This is one mechanic, adopted by many churches, that promotes the reliance on hirelings vs actual shepherds.
the reason is that he called Him Good Teacher, not LORD - and Jesus loved him, therefore by His question to him, He revealed to Him that He is God.
the person and work of Jesus the Christ is always the topic, else we're doing it wrong
I'm sorry but I don't understand your answer to the question.
Please elaborate more or if you can translate to English.
Jesus was trying to emphasize that the recognition of the ruler to Jesus is come from a Man only.
That is why the ruler never understand the Spiritual meaning of what Jesus saying to him.
LUKE 18:18-25
18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
What's troubling in modern and recent history is preachers using the "principle" of tithing as the means for its continuance, which is still false teaching and therefore false doctrine.
Abraham handed over a tenth of SPOILS to Melchizedek, which included living people along with the jewels, gold, silver, bronze and furnishings that comprised the loot. To rip out from that context those elements that are not convenient for their false teachings, that's just too...convenient and weaponized teaching technique aimed at the emotions of the listeners in order to get around whatever knowledge, or little to no knowledge, they may have gleaned from their own Bible study.
I've debated Th.D's about this, showing to them their subjective application of historic, accepted rules for hermeneutics in order to foist this false teaching upon their students in the Bible Cemeteries where they teach; where so much truth is laid to rest in a grave in lieu of advanced, modern, socially engineered theologies.
So much crap slung out into the unsuspecting audiences in order to get them to plop their hard-earned cash into the passing plate to support the vast staffing and luxuries of the institutional model and its deadness. Those who support much smaller groupings and facilities think that they have escaped this indictment, but as the Lord said, a little leaven leavens the whole loaf...
MM
This seems like something you are passionate about. It seems more personal to you than to others. That's neither an insult or a criticism. Just my observation.
When you can answer the question "WHY did Abram give a tenth to Melchizedek?" you will have more wisdom about the heart of giving and how it is related to our heritage as people of promise.
You reinforce the point I made: "Tithing" is simply "giving a tenth". The church has turned it into a religious word (like baptism). It should not be so.
What's worthy in a discussion like this is to look at the actual events surrounding his meeting with Melchizedek.
* Abraham intentionally returned to the source from whom the loot was stolen, which indicates his not considering it to be his property.
* Abraham's vast wealth was still located in northern Canaan when he went on a mission of war to retrieve his nephew from the marauding kings, therefore his not giving Melchizedek anything from his own personal wealth.
* He handed over a tenth of what was in his keeping prior to his returning the remainder to the victims of the theft...apart from the portion for his soldiers who went with him into battle.
* He was offered the option of keeping it all, which he refused, which also speaks to the reason he was returning it all to the rightful owners in the first place, all of which points at the fact that he never considered it to be his property, but property in his keeping.
What's amazing to me are those, who in the past, tried to posit the idea to me that the traditions of those days and beyond were that the victor "always" keeps all the loot as their own. Well, Abraham demonstrated that he was that much more of a cut above those other men throughout much of time who were not of the same caliber as Abraham. He had no need for the wealth of others given that the Lord had already blessed him with wealth far in excess of those cities and any other kingdom around that area.
So, yes, you're right. I do take exception to the fabricated falsehoods that others use, including the pseudo spiritual and emotional distractions applied in order to keep the focus off the actual events and the items involved, including living people who were a part of that "loot."
Giving honor is our answer as Israeli's as to why Abraham, our father, handed over a portion to Melchizedek. The text declares that and assuming anything beyond, as some in the past have done in conversations, has made me wonder as to their sourcing. As you can imagine, I've heard some pretty strange things from some.
MM
Good point. Biblical concepts and Law should never be used to brow beat the ignorant masses into monetary support of luxuries. Those are not houses of God, but rather houses of a god...the god of religion when we factor in the business model structuring that defines its existence and the captivity to being nothing more than an audience.
Now, granted, that's what most people want, and that's fine for them. The huge amounts of emotion that surrounds people's love for their "church" is what it is, and I'm not here to take that from anyone. The problem I have with what some say is when they try to erect the institutional model upon the Bible, as if it originated from the scriptures, which none of the support for them can be said to have been derived from the writings of Paul.
Good stuff.
MM
i said, a person should not lie.
you asked me to say i am good - but no one is, except God.
Jesus is good
the rich young pharisees made several mistakes.
i think the primary two are that he called Jesus good, but teacher, not LORD, and also that he asked what he could "do" to inherit life.
Christ is God, and eternal life is by believing, not by doing.
the rich young pharisee said he had kept the law, but he knew something was missing - that righteousness is not by the law. Jesus looked at him and loved him. the man had wisdom to understand salvation is not by works.
quite the lesson for a thread about trying to hold free gentile believers to guilt over a law of tithing they were never subject to, isn't it?
our bills are already paid in full by the blood of God ((Acts 20:28))
didn't he?
that's not written in scripture.
it's written he went away sorrowful.
why was he sorrowful?
if he understood or believed nothing the LORD had said to him, he had no reason to sorrow.
so we should be asking what he understood and believed, not presuming he is an absolute idiot.
this is neither the first nor the last time it's recorded Abraham met with Melchizadek
.. but why 1/10?
Satan was concerned with the property, Abraham with the people.
we similarly today have a group that will spend riches stupidly for people, and another group that will stupidly spend people for riches - - and a visible Laodecian church selling themselves for one of those groups.
Because the recognition of the ruler to Jesus is not a revelation from the Father (Matthew 16:16-17)
The ruler used his own understanding to the word. What the ruler understand is in letter or in literal meaning of the word. He thought Jesus is referring to his literal physical treasure because he is rich.
The Ruler did not like what he heard from Jesus "To Sell All That Thou Hast and Distribute Unto The Poor."
If the ruler recognition to Jesus is from God the Father, he knows that Jesus is Speaking in Parables (Mark 4:34). And he will ask Jesus about the meaning of the Treasure..
Because Jesus is referring to Spiritual Treasure.
LUKE 18:22-23
22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
"Tithing" is simply "giving a tenth".
If we follow the Commandment in literal Physical then only those wealthy people could fulfill it.
The poor people couldn't.
Since Jesus revealed in Matthew 5:17 that he followed it Spiritually.
Then either wealthy people or poor people could fulfill the law.