There seems to be a good deal of confusion about tithing money, i.e. your salary, gifts you may have received, grants and the such. Do these need to be tithed under religious principles, or not?
Biblical sources talk of tithing cattle and sheep, fruits and the like. We have little direct evidence of tithing money. On the other hand, the principles involved in tithing, giving back from what you receive, are just as applicable for money as for anything else, I suppose. And the blessings promised to those who tithe, prophesied by Malachi, would accrue he who tithes cash too.
So where does that leave us?
Some people think that it translates to a good deed, praiseworthy but not obligatory. So if you are financially strapped, you need not tithe your money. The conflict; you will not receive the blessings either, at the time you need them most!!
Here is a way in the middle; give your gift cards, airline miles, credit card points and google adword credits. Half the time you will never use these, rather they sit in your pocketbook or wallet clogging up its contents. It becomes twice as hard to find the credit card you are looking for because of all the useless cards you carry around! Sifting through all that needless baggage will do nothing if not waste your time and hamper you. So why do it? Instead choose your favorite charity and donate it to them. Simply put it in an envelope and mail it in!
Of course, easiest is to give it to our very own favorite, GiftKard4Kids, because they will send you the envelope postage paid, saving you all effort and expense.
What you have done is streamlined your own life, while giving something with a cash value to charity. That constitutes a tithe by all standards, yet you have lost nothing. So this is the ultimate win-win. You have tithed, will be blessed with great bounty, yet it doesn’t hurt a bit, because you have just as much cash as you had until now. And although you may be financially struggling, in between jobs, you have not taken out of your family’s budget, because you have given nothing that would have been used!
You don't understand the Biblical tithe.
ReplyDeleteWhen God gave the Israelites the promised land, He RESERVED, for Himself, a tenth of the crops and every tenth animal. They NEVER did belong to the Israelites. In other words, the tithe was from God's increase of FOOD, not from man's income. It was a way to distribute FOOD to the Levites and priests who did NOT inherit any land.
No one, not even the farmers, tithed on their income.
The farmers made their income by SELLING and/or barter-exchanging their crops and animals but did NOT tithe on that income.
Today, ALL born-again believers are priests. ALL of us are called to be deciples of the Lord. No one of us is higher than another. Our bodies are the Temple where the Spirit dwells. According to the scriptures, priests do not tithe.
Malachi 3:7 (KJV) “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ORDINANCES, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”
ORDINANCES NAILED TO THE CROSS:
Colossians 2:14 (KJV) “Blotting out the handwriting of ORDINANCES that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”
Are you a born-again believer, or are you an Old Testament Jew?
You said, "On the other hand, the principles involved in tithing, giving back from what you receive, are just as applicable for money as for anything else, I suppose. And the blessings promised to those who tithe, prophesied by Malachi, would accrue he who tithes cash too."
ReplyDeleteYou are so wrong on this. The Biblical tithe had NOTHING to do with giving back to God from what you earn. The blessings and curses promised in Malachi 3 have absolutely NOTHING to do with Christians.
The blessings referred to in Malachi 3 is RAIN, nothing else. Jesus redeemed us from the curse.
You really need to study this topic in depth before putting this kind of false information out.