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Frank Chase Jr
a book bubble about
Kleptomaniac
Christian Books & Bibles
Author Insight
Reasons Monetary Tithing is Not Required
Many tithe teachers will go to the ends of the earth to prove church members are required to tithe. So in this book excerpt, I share some reasons why tithing money is not mentioned or required in the New Testament. The evidence is overwhelming that none of the Apostles taught or required tithing. But no matter how many reasons are put forth to disprove tithing money, it seems some believers can’t shake their cognitive dissonance and remain trapped in a sunken place about tithing. It’s totally preposterous to try to prove that Israel didn’t have money. And to say that Israel’s crop and livestock tithe was their form of money to justify monetary tithing means a person is scripturally uninformed or deceptive. In fact, money existed throughout the Old Testament but was never tithed in the temple. The tithing system in Israel is counterintuitive to most people who think they know their Bibles and that’s because they have no understanding or real life connection to the land, language and literature of the Hebrew people’s culture and history. Tithing scriptures in the Bible are reinterpreted with western cultural and religious influences, which produces incorrect definitions of tithing. That’ why most people look shocked when they are told tithing is not money but food for the Levites.
Book Excerpt
Kleptomaniac
There are numerous reasons for not believing that paying 10 percent is tithing. New Testament giving is not tithing for the following reasons:1. The Old Testament tithe comes from what farmers and herders produced in an agrarian society. The contents comprised of grain, fruit, oil, wine, cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats. And God’s law made it clear what He required in Leviticus 27:30-33 and Numbers 18.2. While the Old Testament Hebrew people were an agricultural theocracy, this book has proven that money existed in Israel but the people were not required to tithe money. When Paul wrote about money, gifts, or support, he never mentions tithes as the method of support for ministry or for himself. He argued for the right of support but then refused to use his right for support. Consequently, good Bible students should question why modern day pastors never discuss Paul’s decision to refuse support and work part-time while encouraging the Elders to follow his example.3. Ten percent giving is not tithing because God never commuted the food tithe to money in the Scripture. To argue that times have changed from an agricultural economy to a monetary economy is not a valid justification to switch to money as a tithe. Frankly, the argument is stretching the truth to fit a private interpretation, and it won’t work because those in the Old Testament who worked jobs in the non-agrarian population did not tithe. Therefore, no believer has a command from God to tithe money when the tithe has always been food.4. Giving 10 percent of your income and calling it a tithe is out of context and an inaccurate interpretation. Since the Old Testament priests did not tithe under the law, then all believers who are a part of the royal priesthood of Christ in the New Testament according to 1 Peter 2:5 and 9, don’t tithe either. Revelation 5:10 is where God defines who we are in his Kingdom, “And have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth” (NKJV). If we are priests, then why are we trying to tithe money to God out of context with the Scripture?5. The Bible states that only the Levites and priests received the tithe as an inheritance instead of land in Canaan. The tithe served as a wage for the Levites according to Numbers 18:24. God never transferred the tithe inheritance from Levites to pastors. Moreover, pastors are not descendants of the Levitical tribe by bloodline and therefore are not permitted to receive tithes. In fact, the standard that Paul commands for every believer is: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10, NKJV). This command applies to preachers and pastors and all title seekers in the church who desire to matriculate to full-time ministry to receive a full-time salary. Sorry folks, according to the Bible, the command is work. Pastors cannot take another tribe’s inheritance that was not willed to them by God and claim it as their own. However, according to Peter, Christians have a future inheritance waiting for them as stated in 1 Peter 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (NIV). As you can see, the Levites received a physical inheritance, which was the tithe; we as believers receive eternal life as our spiritual inheritance.6. I noted earlier that those who tithed in the Old Testament ate their tithe during three mandatory festivals. Tithing was described in three different ways, the Levitical tithe, the festival tithe and the poor tithe, which happened on the yearly sabbatical and harvesting cycles. Since tithing in the Old Testament took place based on planting and harvesting cycles and because Christians do not have mandatory festivals, our obligation is to give in a freewill manner without pressure to support a ministry.7. Tithing took place eight out of twelve months during the planting and harvesting cycles. However, that is not a choice in the New Testament, as giving is undertaken on a regular basis.8. We know money is not a tithe because every third year, the tithe serviced the poor as the law instructs. In today’s churches, tithe money does not go to the poor regularly, but is used to maintain the buildings and pay salaries, which violates the tithe law. We don’t pay a tithe every three years to help the poor like it is described in the Bible.9. Tithing money is not biblical because the congregation of Israel in the Old Testament ate and shared tithes with the Levites and priests at the temple, which looked more like a party celebration. Here’s the point, if tithes are money—which it is not—then if your church truly follows the tithe law in the Bible, every dime collected should be used to buy food to feed the hungry, to share with the members of the congregation, widows, orphans, and the poor as part of a large celebration in honor of the Lord.10. Acts 15 never mentions or requires Gentiles to tithe and that is the clue that tithing does not involve money.
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