Quote:
Originally Posted by Koinonia
"Tithing" and "giving" are not the same. Tithing is an Old Testament practice of the law in which the Children of Israel offered 1/10 of their produce (crops) to meet the needs of the poor. Christian leaders have warped this Old Testament practice into an ordinance on believers (who are not under the law) to give 10% of their cash to 501(c)(3) corporations. If others choose to do this, it is their prerogative, but I do have a problem with this distortion being presented as Bible teaching.
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I have serious doubts along this line also. The apostles had ample opportunity to bring tithing from the old into the new covenant, but they did not. In I Cor 16.2, Paul decidedly took a modified direction.
In the last 10 years or so, I have seen way too many Christians preach the old covenant as if it
applied directly to the church. The new covenant is
to the church, whereas the old covenant is
for the church, for her learning, as Paul says in I Cor 10.11.
If believers desire to use the principle of tithing for their practice, I have no problem with that, only when preachers teach it as a legal practice, often due to their own self-serving desires. They usually say it is "equal sacrifice" for rich and poor, but with our current form of taxation, I feel it penalizes the working class. I also feel it penalizes those, like myself, who always felt that the donation of my heart and time to the Lord and the church superseded a monthly tax-deductible check.
Now if they really want to be legally accurate according to the old covenant, then I am willing to bring 10% from our garden. It only produces a few months of the year, however.