Proportional Giving or Ten Percent

Do you want a proportional blessing or a title blessing?

 

The Bible teaches tithing, our church teaches that believers should tithe. Giving is over and above. Who made up proportional giving anyway????

 

I'll just say what Paul said about giving.

"Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
2 Corinthians 9:7

The NT believe is never commanded to tithe, but is commanded to give and give cheerfully. If one wants to use the 10% principle, that's good, but not required.

 

So... if money is the root of all evil why does the church need so much of it?

Rob

 

You are correct:

I Tim. 6:10

New International Version (©1984)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

New Living Translation (©2007)
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

 

Our church believes that the tithe is the beginning point. But that those to whom God has entrusted resources should give offerings that are above the tithe.

 

So what do you feel is "proportional" giving and where, scripturally, do you get this?

 

Basically what I was going to say. Well said. :thumbs:

 

I think this is one of those situations generally where most churches supposedly "believe" it but the majority of members don't practice it. Of course, this may not be the case at your church.

 

The additional problem is that tithing is more than simply putting 10% of your income (and is it gross or net income?) into the offering plate. We're to give of our time, our talents, our personality, not just our money. So how do we give those? Do we tithe them? Do we proportionally give them? Do we simply show up when we feel like it?

 

That is probably true. But I preach it. No one can force what another person gives. I don't even know what anyone gives. But, for people in leadership such as SS teachers, deacons, worship leaders, they have to practice it.

 

How do you know they practice it? If you don't know what anyone gives then how can you say that those in leadership HAVE to practice it???

 

I ask our treasurer not WHAT they give or how much they give, but "Is it a reasonable assumption that they do tithe?" If someone gives $10 a month in our county, one of 3 things is true: They live on the streets or they're not tithing or they're giving cash without ever using their name. But when we are considering someone to be a teacher or leader, we talk to them about leadership responsibilities. We talk about alot of other things, one of which is giving. Once they are leaders, I don't keep up with it. So I do not know if they're continuing to tithe.

 

I believe God understands that, and He is faithful. For example, last Sunday evening we had a singing group come to our church. They came on a love offering basis, we only collected $157.00. The Pastor saw that, handed me back his paycheck and asked me to give $200 of it to the singing group and give him another check for the remainder. He said, "We'll see what God does." I thought it a bit....well, flippant to be honest.

After church we took the singing group out to dinner at Perkins. The preacher usually pays for the group members and any church member that goes is Dutch. Someone at the table picked up the entire check for everyone. (Blessing #1). We'd been trying to sell our 15 passenger church van for quite some time. Friday someone bought it. (Blessing #2) The pastor got a call this past week to do a revival at a church in another town (Blessing #3)..and that's just three I KNOW about.

IMO, Christians should tithe. For me, proportional giving comes after and is, at times, giving until it hurts. I have discovered that you can't outgive God and that He is able to make that 90% go a lot further than that 100% ever went.

One of my favorite songs is He Is Faithful. There's a line that says, "Every word He's promised is true. What I thought impossible, I've seen my God do."
I quit questioning whether tithing was right or wrong, for New Testament Christians or not, a long time ago. I simply know in my heart it's right and know that God is Faithful.