The Tithe Has Been Abolished By Christ Himself

[Steadfast Fred]

I have a book in my collection, Stewardship Among Baptists, written by Albert S. Vail in 1913.

On page 53, Vail writes:

But the chief thing to be said is that they left it
out because they did not regard it as having any
place in the Christian system. They stood in their
liberty of the gospel and aside from the law. It
would not be true to say that all Baptists ever have
been thoroughly consistent in their understanding of
their liberty in relation to Old Testament law ; but
they have approximated it, and they were clear
enough all along the line in earlier times to enable
them to ignore the whole tithing scheme as applicable to
themselves.

That was 100 years ago. And Vail said the Baptists ignored the tithing scheme as being applicable to themselves. Baptists knew then that it was Old Testament Law and had nothing to do with the post-cross Christianity.

 

[steaver]

I was listening to another preacher discussing this on a radio program and he made a good point. A tithe can be a grudging, burdensome, even crippling thing for one person and a drop in the bucket for another.

He gave the example of one who's income is 1million dollars per week verses one who's income is 1hundred dollars per week. The person making 1million dollars per week, taking in the consideration of what a person actually NEEDS to live on in this country per week (housing, food, electricity, common bills, etc), would feel no burden at all giving $100,000 having $900,000 left over, but the person making $100 per week would find giving $10 might as well be $100,000 because they just cannot do it and pay the necessary bills for survival.

There are times in a person's life, for many differing reasons, when they just cannot give, and there are times when they can give 50% or more of their God given income. I believe this is the NT reality and teaching on just when and how much a saint is instructed to give, and it must be given cheerfully and not grudgingly.

 

[steaver]

slaveoftheword.blogspot.com is owned and operated by David Croteau (crow toe) a teacher at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.

Russell Kelly, a teacher at Iron Hill Baptist Church, has done much research on this as well. He has a site with much, much information on the history of the tithe.

Let me get the site...

http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/

Dr. Kelly has also done extensive research on the Seventh Day Adventists, having come out of that denomination.

That research, if you are interested can be found at http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/sda

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[Steadfast Fred]

You are correct, steaver.

Many who are considered lower class are frowned upon because they cannot afford to give 10% of their money and survive on the 90%.

Paul taught that our giving should be according to what we have, not what we have not.

 

[AresMan]

A question arises then, when did this error of doctrine begin? Does anyone know? Is it an RCC teaching that Protestants carried over into their churches? Just curious.

The last few chapters of my book present a brief 2000-year history of tithing doctrine as it evolved, including its challenges, wars, reformation, and reinstatement.

It is by far not an exhaustive study of such history, and there would be many other sources that would provide much more information.

But, yes, it is definitely historically an RCC doctrine that originally began with blurring the lines between the Levitical priesthood of the Old Covenant and the ministers of the New Covenant (essentially forgetting that Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant and is priest forever after the order of Melchizedek). At least the original teachers practiced asceticism. Eventually, with the rise of the state church, the tithe became an agricultural state tax for both the king and the pope, and later became a monetary tax.

The reformers flatly rejected the RCC's tithe and the application of the tithe itself to Christians. However, over time, when there were both Catholic and Protestant state churches, the bloody wars fought in revolutions between them significantly involved the idea that people did not want to be forced to pay tithe taxes to state churches with which they did not agree.

Tithe teaching eventually was resurrected gradually in independent revivalist Christian circles in the Great Awakening when such teaching became practical to fund well-meaning missions work. The rest is history.

 

[ktn4eg]

While we're on the topic of tithing/giving, could someone shed any light on this persistent "story(?)" concerning R. G. Letourneau (1888-1969), "God's businessman," that he lived on 10% of his income and "gave God" 90% of his income.

Now, I'm not saying that R. G. L. did not do so. With all of the money Mr./Bro. Letourneau probably made, his living on 10% of his income would still probably have afforded him a rather comfortable lifestyle.

All that I'm asking is:
(1) whether or not this "story(?)" is actually true, and,
(2) If it is, in fact, true, where exactly did this 90% go to?























Oh, and BTW, Jesus gave 100%, and, according to 1 Peter 2:21, "....ye should follow his steps...."