I have recently been hearing and reading a lot about the benefits of tithing and to be honest it brings up some mixed feelings.
I’ve put togther this post below from a number of sources on the web.
I would love to hear your opinions or experiences with tithing.
The subject of tithing can be charged with emotion and yet can be a good barometer to measure how you really feel about money.
Tithing is the practice of giving away 10% of your income (tithe means “tenth”), usually to a religious or charitable cause. Many people absolutely swear by the practice of tithing and consider it integral to the process of wealth creation.
As a wealth creation strategy, it takes a certain level of faith to believe that you will gain more by giving more away and yet this is exactly what many spiritually aware teachers such as Mark Victor Hansen or Dr Joe Vitale are suggesting. To our logical minds this perhaps doesn’t make sense. If you earn $1000 and give away $100 then you have less, not more. But not understanding electricity or gravity doesn’t make them any less valid.
The benefits of tithing include:
- Overcoming scarcity thinking. Tithing helps you develop a greater sense of abundance. By giving away 10% of your income, you’re programming your subconscious to believe in abundance thinking. This can make you more open and receptive to receiving money. If you think abundance, you’re more likely to experience abundance.
- Supporting a worthy cause. If the money you tithe is put to good use, you can financially support a cause that’s important to you.
- Achieve greater wealth. Whenever you earn more money, your tithes increase as well, so your cause(s) receive greater financial support. This can be extremely motivating for some people.
It is important that tithing should be done from a state of abundance. If you harbour thoughts of scarcity as you tithe, then tithing will only become a source of incongruence and pain for you. This is the barometer mentioned earlier. If you feel in lack and are concerned with making ends meet then the idea of giving away 10% of your income can be difficult.
If you were certain however that giving money away was the quickest route to receiving more, then how much easier would it be to give? And would you stop at just 10%?
Consider the true purpose of tithing. The purpose of tithing is to serve the highest good of all. But it is only one of many ways to serve the highest good, certainly not the only way. There are many other ways to serve the greater good. Here are some ideas:
- Give time. Donate time to a cause you find is worthy. Perform an act of service.
- Give information. Write articles, a newsletter or start a blog to share your knowledge freely with others who may benefit from it.
- Give talents. Use your skills to help someone who can’t afford to pay for them.
- Give acknowledgement. Smile at people. Give someone a kind word today. Acknowledge a job well done.
- Give encouragement. Be supportive of those around you. Let others know that you care about them.
- Give thoughts. Intend the best for other people. Give a silent blessing to the homeless person or the driver who cuts you off on traffic.
- Give touch. Give someone a pat on the back, a handshake, or a hug.
Money is not the only way to give; there are times when money is actually the weakest form of giving in comparison to those above. Consider the parent who gives a child money rather than attention, time or love.
Understanding is not as beneficial as knowing. You will only know that tithing creates greater abundance by trying it for yourself. Take the 30 day tithing challenge and share the results with others.
There is a place where giving is painless and receiving is selfless. Find that place in your own life, and move towards it. As you do this, your scarcity thinking will dissolve, and a mindset of abundance will flow through your reality. Steve Pavlina
Old Testament – God defined His tithe as crops and animals in herds and flocks. Nothing else. ONLY assets that came from God’s hand, not man’s income. Leviticus 27:30-34. ONLY Israelite farmers tithed. Jesus did not tithe. Paul did not tithe. Peter did not tithe. Wage earners did not tithe.
New Testament – The New Testament teaches generous, sacrificial giving, from the heart, according to our means. For some, $1 might be a sacrifice, while for others, even giving 50% of their income might not induce a sacrifice. In the Old Testament, ONLY the farmers tithed, and it was equal percentage (a tenth). The New Testament teaches the principle of equal sacrifice instead of equal percentage. Equal sacrifice is much harder to achieve, if not impossible, than giving ten percent.
OLD TESTAMENT – THE FIRST OF THE FRUITS SHOULD GO TO GOD
Proverbs 3:9 (KJV) “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:”
NEW TESTAMENT – THE WORKER SHOULD BE FIRST TO RECEIVE A SHARE OF THE CROPS
2 Timothy 2:6 (KJV) “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.”
When was the last time you heard a pastor say that YOU should spend the first part of your income on yourself and your family?
1 Timothy 5:8 (KJV) “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
The New Testament makes it clear that we are to use the FIRST of our income to take care of ourselves and our family. We are talking about needs, here, not just anything we want. Then we should give generously from what is left.
The Bible CLEARLY SHOWS that the tithe ENDED at the cross in the Book of Hebrews. In the first nine verses of Hebrews 7 the words tenth or tithes appears SEVEN TIMES. The ONLY place in the Bible, after Calvary, that tithing appears is in Hebrews 7.
In Hebrews 7:5 we are told that Levi (the Levites) took the tithes under the law. In Hebrews 7:12 we are told that when the priesthood changes, the law will change. Hebrews 7:18 is telling us that Numbers 18 was disannulled. Numbers 18 established the Levitical priesthood, and part of that establishing included tithing. When the Levitical priesthood ended (at Calvary, or at least in the year 70AD when the temple was destroyed), all laws that established that priesthood were canceled. If Numbers 18 wasn’t canceled, we would still be under the Levitical priesthood.
Those who argue they didn’t have money or income then really need to study the scriptures. They had money and wages, even in Genesis. The farmers had income from barter exchanges, and they had markets to buy and sell as proven in Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
Those who argue Malachi 3:8, robbing God, need to start with verse 7. God is talking about His ordinances in Numbers 18 which we learned were disannulled according to Hebrews 7:18. Also, if you start with Malachi 1, you will see that God is speaking to the priests, not the people. The priests robbed God of the tithe (Nehemiah 13) and the priests robbed God of the offerings (Malachi 1).
Thanks Gary for the detailed explanation – much appreciated
Hi Nathan – I used Steve’s great article as a source and credited him in the last paragraph. Thanks for your feedback
Tithing is False teaching.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law…he did not abolish, but rather fulfilled the law.
When He said the last words at the cross…”It is Finished!”
Tithes was under the law…included in the 633 Mosaic Laws that the Israelites had trouble obeying.
Some would insists that it was practice before the Mosaic law was instituted during the time of Abraham.
Yes.
But so as circumcision and obviously circumcision is no longer a right passage to salvation.
Tithing was instituted for different reason.
Malachi 3:10 was address to the corrupt Levites and Priest at the time Jerusalem was rebuild under Nehemiah’s leadership.
Jesus said; “The time will come when true worshipers will worship God in Spirit and in Truth…and the truth is…the Laws are fulfilled when Jesus came, died and rose from death.
We are no longer under the written law but rather the Spiritual laws.
Tithes is 10 percent, God wants 100 percent unconditional, no strings attached. He doesn’t want us to give and expect something in return.
He wants a cheerful giver. It’s not the amount that counts…it’s the willingness from the heart to give.
Giving is essential, matter of fact it is a must so that the Church workers may continue their task of the mission called by Jesus Christ to preach His gospel to the ends of the earth.
But giving under obligation is not what God wants us to practice.
Jesus clearly stated this when He appreciated the poor widow giving all what she had happily…it may only be a penny but it’s one hundred percent willingly given from the heart.
Apostle Paul advocated that we do not give something that we don’t have.
2 Corinthians 8:10-13 (New International Version, ©2010)
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for
you in this matter. Last year you were the first not
only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your
completion of it, according to your means.
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved
while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.
I don’t think Apostle Paul, who wrote a third of the New Testament and not a single time mentioned tithes, advocated ten percent when he said this.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (New International Version, ©2010)
Generosity Encouraged
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
So be a cheerful giver…we must give back to support our Church workers and activities. No set percentage if your heart is willing to give more than 10, 50 or even 100 percent as long as you can afford and cheerfully giving it then by all means do so.
There is a very well written and detailed presentation about this subject.
A very good e-book written to end all arguments on Tithing.
It’s a short precise and unbiased written e-book entitled Tithing is False Teaching?
Available in LULU.com publishing.
It’s a good read and good gift for Christmas.
Cheers and Have a Merry Christmas.
JJ:>)
What a wonderful text! No idea how you were able to say this report..it’d take me weeks. Well worth it though, I’d suspect. Have you considered selling ads on your blog?
Thanks for the post, how can I make is so that I get an email sent to me when there is a fresh post?
Nicefiller http://www.nicefiller.com
Yes you can sign up on the blog home page. Thanks for your comment