heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."

Transcription

1 Is it a SIN not to Tithe? Pastors wrongfully preach tithing by faith so that they do not have to live by faith themselves. Did Jesus fulfill the Old Testament Temple Sacrifices? admin isitasinto.com Something to think about, did Jesus Christ's death and resurrection fulfill the Old Testament temple sacrifices? Did Jesus completely fulfill The LAW? If so, why are so many pastors today trying to bring Christians back UNDER the Old Testament LAW? We do not have Temple Sacrifices anymore, Jesus fulfilled the Law, yet why do pastors everywhere demand that Christians are still subject to to at least ONE Mosaic LAW, a law that is not one of the Ten Commandments even? It is very simple, although some pastors are honestly misinterpreting Scriptures, meaning they just don't know any better, some know very well that the Tithe is not a Biblical teaching and New Testament Christians are nowhere told to tithe. Christians are to GIVE, and to give with a CHEERFUL heart! Why is it WRONG to teach TITHING, if God says we should GIVE and GIVE cheerfully? Why is it wrong to guilt trip people into Tithing if giving is a good thing, that the Bible teaches? Aren't we extorting people into doing something GOOD? If you are a pastor, think deeply on this and pray for guidance, for should not you as pastor have a higher calling to live by FAITH than your parishioners?

2 Why shouldn't you as pastors live by FAITH instead of constantly badgering your congregation to Tithe!? Where is YOUR faith?? Simply preach the Scriptural truth of a call to cheerful giving: 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." Then why do you pastors put a heavy burden and wrongfully teach that Christians are "commanded" to Tithe!? Do you not through this teaching STEAL the joy of their GIVING? Christians are to GIVE VOL- UNTARILY with JOY knowing they give out of their FREE WILL and heart's desire AND not to Fulfill some Old Testament Tithe commandment Under the LAW! Jesus Fulfilled the LAW, Jesus was the firstborn, the first-fruits offering has been fulfilled in Jesus. And for those who didn't know, in the Old Testament, the first-fruits offering was not the same thing as the Tithe. In fact besides the firstfruits offering, a portion of the first fruits to ripen etc, there were at least TWO or THREE Tithes in the Old Testament, some skipping the Sabbath year since the ground had to rest, so adding the various Tithes, the Tithe to the Levites, the Tithe to the priests (Aaron line), and the Tithe for the POOR (how many churches give a tenth of their assets to the poor?), the total Tithes would be from 23.33% to 30% depending on how you calculate. So if you REALLY want to live under the LAW today, then feel free to give your church 30% of your income. (There are some who argue technically there's only one tithe, and all the rest were tithes from that tithe, such as the Levites tithing from their tithe to the actual priests the "tithe of the tithe" and that from that same Levitial tithe the poor were helped also...so the regular Israelites gave at least 10% or more of their "increase" agriculturally some say animals also, but not of their assets or other income.) Clearly the Tithe has no place in the Church today, just as there is no place for animal sacrifices or circumcision. Those who teach contrary for their own personal monetary gain, and there are many such apos-

3 tate teachers preaching some sort of "Prosperity Gospel" to varying degrees, they should very much FEAR the LORD and repent lest they find themselves addressed by our Savior as those He did NOT know. (Matthew 7:21-23) So what is the Biblical teaching on giving? We are to GIVE to other Christians in need. We are also to give to teachers, preachers, pastors for the worker is worthy of their pay. Although the Apostle Paul chose not to demand a salary, he taught that he was indeed worthy of one, yet he chose to support himself making tents in as much as he could so that none could ever question his motives. Today's Pastors who favor the Tithe Law forget that the Levites had no right to any land ownership and therefore could not produce food to sustain themselves which is why the Israelites were mandated to tithe to the Levites. How many of these pastors are willing to forego any right to buy a house or own any property? Or forego any other sources of income such as selling audio CDs or books? The New Testament has done away with these prohibitory LAWS against Levites and Pastors are very happy to do away with them, and yet many still want to hold the Tithe over their church congregation! The problem is that Churches have grown into big organizations that are BUSINESSES and not just churches anymore. Their expenses are too great, they have also put themselves under the power of the government by applying for Non-Profit 5o1c3 Business Licenses which force Churches to subjugate themselves to the government and prevents them from teaching certain things from their pulpits or lose their tax exempt status. If a church does not apply for 501c3 then it can keep preaching the truth without fear of losing tax exempt status, since the Constitution protects Churches through the "separation of Church and State", as long as they are truly just Churches and not Non-Profit Businesses licensed by the government. So it is no surprise that churches today feel they MUST preach erroneous doctrines subjugating Christians to the Old Testament Law of Tithing so that they can earn enough income to pay their vast

4 expenses and in some cases extravagant salaries and luxurious lifestyles for the church leaders and their families. There should be no surprise why nepotism is rampant in Church leadership, it has become a nice and easy source of income, a gravy train, cash cow business for many apostates. Surely Jesus would overturn the money tables of these so called churches just as he did in John 2:15 ("And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;") It is a shame that even many otherwise good Bible teachers are still adamant about binding Christians to Old Testament Tithing. I hope they will re-evaluate their teaching of compulsory giving and have the faith needed to preach the unadulterated truth of cheerful giving taught by the Holy Scriptures. The Lord can meet their material needs also without the need to wrongly guilt trip Church members into living under the law instead of under faith not by works Is it a Sin to...

5 Is it a SIN not to Tithe, Part II. Free from the Tithe and Free to Cheefully Give! Collection of commentaries on New Testament Christian giving versus the Old Testament Tithe. admin isitasinto.com 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." So if you PURPOSE in your OWN heart to give look, or 30%, or 90%, GREAT! Do it with a cheerful heart voluntarily and don't brag about it, don't tell anyone let only God know of your sacrifice, you should expect your reward in the after life not here on Earth, you're not `buying' God's material blessings if you think you're being more righteous by your good works in obeying obsolete Old Testament law. Don't be jealous of others who won't subjugate themselves under the Law and have liberty in Christ to give freely with joy. Remember what the Apostle Paul wished on some that wanted to burden others to follow Jewish Laws such as circumcision, he wished that their knives would slip and they'd castrate themselves. (Galatians 5:12) "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 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;" - Colossians 2:13-14

6 I found that there are many well researched papers out there on the internet that agree with what I have been convinced in reading the Bible, which is encouraging and not just from a personal affirmation point of view, but that hopefully more Christians can experience the true joy of giving freely and cheerfully not out of any obligation or compulsory law commanding it. A short example: John MacArthur is his book entitled " The Macarthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 9-16" said: "... Christians are not under obligation to give a specified amount to the work of their heavenly Father. In none of their forms do the tithe or other Old Testament levies apply to Christians." John MacArthur Please note that even though I offer these links below as examples of pages I have "skimmed" quickly, I can not vouch for the authors especially on anything else they may have written about. I present links to these pages since after quickly skimming through them or for some after completely reading the page, I have found it to make some very good point that I agree with and not necessarily that I agree with every single point made, yet overall I deemed their good for proving that mandated TITHING under the Law has no place in the New Testament Church. Here are some of those web links: http : // http : //

7

8 (Jewish perspective, Judaism still holds to the Tithe) (I clearly do NOT endorse anything on this page, but its interesting to read to see the other side's view and reasoning.) (Again I clearly do NOT endorse anything at this link, same as above link) (I do NOT agree with Dave Ramsey of course in his requiring Christians to abide by Old Testament tithe, its interesting reading some users comments to his post. I do not know much about Dave Ramsey, but I've heard he's similar to some Christian money coaches? I tend to have a dislike for

9 most motivational speakers/coaches including or especially supposed Christians ones, but that's just me, perhaps worthy of another separate article on such programs ie ) http :// http :// (just noticed might be some crazy things on this site, but I skimmed the tithing page, has some points..) (this author seemingly of Jewish descent by the name believes the tithe is still valid today, but I include it for an interesting read..) And here's some links that I mainly haven't read, many talk about how tithing increased their monetary blessings, and shows why most people want to believe in TITHING for today. They want a CLEAR equation of give and get back even more money whereas the truth of New Testament charity is GIVING freely and cheerfully as you purpose in your own heart as the Holy Spirit leads you without any guarantee of getting back all that money and much more. Isn't it wrong to see GIVING as merely a way to LEND GOD your money and get it back with TAX? Everything belongs to God, we are his stewards of what he has given us. Feel free to read user comments from some of the links below, I have not read most

10 (even those proposing Old Testament Laws like the Tithe are still binding, recognize it was always on the INCREASE not on GROSS income/produce, therefore one can subtract any business expenses, land lease, building lease, some would say your home MORTGAGE and any contractual bills can be deducted first.) (I do NOT agree with any of the above links that endorse the TITHE as BINDING LAW on New Testament Christians but I include to show how some endorse the Tithe as mandatory even now for the Church...) Please feel free to comment and suggest any good research papers on this subject. I hope pastors everywhere will stop commanding their parishioners that they must prove their faith by the Old Testament Tithe applied to their income, but teach Biblical cheerful giving so that they themselves may live by faith that God will provide for their needs. "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,but have not love, it profits me nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:3) 2016 Is it a Sin to...