Well put. The nine tribes each gave 10% and remained with 90%. The Levites got 10% from nine tribes (adding apples and oranges they ended with 90%). These allowed the Levites to live like the other Jews, not better than others. The priest and people who work in church should get the average salaries of their attendees. These issue of pastors leaving in palaces, riding in choppers and driving big cars is ridiculous. The bible also tells men of god not to take more than they need.

Ive read some goo advice on this thread.. very insightful.. very enligtening...

Bwenyeye

You have killed (Said the point that matters) this discussion.. NEXT!!!!!!!!

or i introduce Raira here!!!!



G

You make a very good customer!!!

Oh my, how a simple word can get us lost in the myriad of explanations. Tithing in modern day times, someone should write an article with that subject matter. It seems a grey area.

Personally, I tithe from my gross. Not out of demand or compulsion, but out of the principle of giving. If God gave me 100%, I dont feel bad giving 10% for His work. It's not that He needs it, but it's more of me learning the importance of giving.

I give the government through taxes so as to benefit myself and others through the use of public goods. I dont feel bad when I'm taxed, neither do I when I tithe. At the end of it all, where the income came from, more is still on the way. I give because of my faith, I give because He gave His all for my sake. So whether tithing is biblical in Neo-Covenant times or not, whether it's monetary or not, I'll give my 10%.For I want to give out of love.

I am not saying the OT is irrelevant.

I was just saying we need to examine the reasons behind the OT law.

See what was in the Torah.
Deut 14
Tithes
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.

28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

See? The Jews only took the tithe to the Levites in the third year and it was used for specific purposes!

If you give out of love, then it's OK. But if you give so as to avoid hell or to please men, then you are wrong. It's a matter of the heart.

The more I read the Bible for myself, the more I fear that we have misrepresented God for long. We condemn those who drink(where does scripture condemn drinking, not drunkenness?), those who do not tithe, those who eat blood(this was meant for Jews as all blood from sheep and cows was meant for sacrifice and atonement of sins and thus considered holy- Jesus shed his blood for us thus we no longer need any such rules!)

It is OK to tithe so long as it is for the right reasons. The motive could be wrong (1 Cor 13:3)