Proportional Giving or Ten Percent

A couple of points to throw into the discussion.

1. If one is trying to decide what proportion of his increase to give, he has a guideline. The tithe.

2. Jesus himself endorsed tithing.
Matthew 23:23

What did Jesus say they ought to have done? Tithe on even their spices. What did he say they ought to have also done, but didn't? Not neglect the law, judgment, mercy and faith. That's why he called them hypocrites.

 

Very few if any like the widow for she gave her all.

But there are people who tithed out of their poverty, if I understand your meaning by "out of their poverty". I can think of several meanings to that phrase. What were you thinking when you wrote it?

 

The leadership teaches the tenth (the tithe), but they are wrong as it is not biblical under the NT. The NT reaches to give what ever we want from a cheerful heart according to how we have prospered.

 

Salty, I do not see the title as a law or an absolute requirement. I do believe that tithing does several things:

1. It shows we have love for our fellow church members and other Christians that may be helped if we tithe.

2. It shows what God taught, that 90% is enough and he will give us blessings for tithing. These may or may not be material blessings. As said in Corinthians "God loves a cheerful giver".

3. I fully believe #2. Through the years of tithing I gradually came to the conclusion that I could not afford not to tithe.

4. Tithing is a way of showing we put God first in our lives.

5. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus condemns the Pharisees for not practicing law—justice, mercy and faithfulness ... and he also tells them to continue tithing.

Just a few thoughts quickly brought together.

 

Salty, we both know there's no place where tithing is taught or commanded in the New Testatament. There are a couple of places it's mentioned (once in Hebrews, one's already been given above), but just because it's not specifically taught does not mean it should not be done by today's Christians. We can't ignore things simply because they're to the left of the frontpiece of the New Testament in our Bible. We'd lose a lot of good teaching if we did that.

 

You are so right. Also no where does Jesus, Paul or any New Testament writer say tithing is to be done away with. They probably believed it as a given that tithing was expected by God.

 

So, if someone teaches Sunday School, you require at least a tithe? If so, how do you know, do you request a copy of their tax return?

Any requirements along these lines would not work for me at all! I would respectfully not participate.

 

I assume you will also apply that to the death penalty to be consistant as the NT never says it was done away with either.

 

To be honest, from reading your posts here, you would not be asked.

But at a later post I explained what we did.

 

Even in the O.T. there is not a cut and dry tithe. There were certain tithes at certain harvests, other times you would give a different amount. It often added up to a lot more than a tithe. The OT often speaks of "tithes" (plural).

That said, I don't think there is any scriptural warrant for requiring a tithe.

That also said, I do tithe. :thumbs:

 

At my church we practice neither tithing nor proportional giving.

We practice what we believe to be the scriptural form of giving.

Complete "free will" giving....

 

So what is a tithe if it is not a proportion of 1:10?

It sems that the phrase "proportional giving" must mean something other than giving a proportion of one's income. What is meant by it, and does it generally result in people giving less or more than a tenth of their income?

These are genuine questions from one who does not know. I am not trying to be argumentative.

 

Whew, I have a real problem with that phrase. I believe, scripturally, Christ taught that being a Christian COULD and for some WOULD be a burden. He talks about being persecuted, being hated, even being killed for being a Christian.
Look at the disciples, the Christians in Rome who were fed to the lions, all throughout history and even today in many countries where being a Christian will earn you the death penalty. And yet there's the phrase that being a Christian shouldn't be a BURDEN????? People are dying for standing for Christ and we're concerned about giving $1 of ever $10 to the church to further the cause of Christ?

 

No that is not correct. Those of us who diligently seek the truth would be happy to follow the tenth giving IF that was what the NT told us to do, but it does not. At one time I did that before I read the NT. The NT goes above the giving of the Tenth. It puts the giving squarely on our shoulders of each person as a heart giving process without looking to any formula.

We alone decide what we will contribute. Any suggestion of giving a certain percentage or basing our giving on a certain amount is legalism.
Those who were under the law were told what to give. We who are under the NT are told HOW to give. Every person is to give, but we are not to give because of any pressure from the OT tithing system.

 

You are correct. It is a little difficult to figure out how much they were required to give, we know it was at least 20 percent but it could have been as high as 23 1/3 percent.
Also there was one tithe that they could take and spend it on having a party with strong drink. So our NT system is nothing like theirs was. Ours has nothing to do with any percent.

 

The bible, thru Apostle paul, gives to us that we should give from a generous heart, right motive, and proportionally...

10% should be seen as being a good base figure, but IF God blesses one well, He also expects that person to pay back above that!