{"id":7226,"date":"2016-05-02T10:06:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T14:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=7226"},"modified":"2017-02-27T13:23:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T17:23:21","slug":"mandatory-tithing-further-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/05\/mandatory-tithing-further-thoughts.html","title":{"rendered":"Mandatory Tithing: Further Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u00a0\"Widow'sMite2\"<\/div>\n
The biblical story of \u201cthe widow\u2019s mite\u201d: image from Wheeler family Bible; taken by \u201cmelodi2\u201d on 6-10-15<\/span> [Flickr <\/a>\/ CC BY 2.0<\/a> license]<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

(11-1-09)<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

This is a follow-up to my earlier paper:<\/span> \u201cBiblical Evidence Against Tithing and in Favor of Progressive Giving According to Ability.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

God commands us to give: and quite a bit. Of course we must follow His commands. I don\u2019t see in the New Testament, however, anywhere where the tithe (a straight 10% figure for everyone: as if it were a straight tax) is commanded. Perhaps someone can direct me to such a passage. I\u2019ve yet to see it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich folks ought to give a great deal more than 10% and the poor woman who gave a penny (everything she had) gave 100%. People can also donate time or have many children. Time is money. I believe it is imperative to give to God: to support the Church, etc. I disagree that it is a requirement of 10% for all, because that\u2019s not taught in the New Testament (far as I can tell).<\/span><\/p>\n

Where is mandatory tithing for everyone taught in the New Testament? And no one can find it, why is it that folks have this view in the first place? Assuming I am correct and it isn\u2019t there, wouldn\u2019t it then be the case that this is an unbiblical tradition of men? One could try to build a case based on Old Testament Mosaic Law passages, but then it is a huge task to explain why tithing is still in force while many other laws are not, and to establish a criterion to explain that difference of application.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Old\u00a0Testament required a lot <\/i>of things: Saturday Sabbath worship, circumcision, all the dietary laws. Those are three clear examples of things that changed. But they weren\u2019t annihilated; they were developed in a Christian fashion. The Sabbath became Sunday worship because of the Resurrection. Circumcision was developed into baptism: a sort of initiation rite. The dietary laws no longer applied after Peter had a vision and God declared all foods clean.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tithing is another instance of the same thing. I have argued that New Testament monetary teaching is even more difficult to follow than the old tithe, because it involves (far as I can tell) a progressive notion of giving: rich people would have to give more out of their great abundance, and poor people less. All needs are supposed to be provided. That would obviously place more responsibility on the relatively well-to-do members of the congregation.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Matthew 23:23 (cf. Lk 11:42 and see also Lk 18:12: the rich young ruler) Jesus assumed His hearers (the Pharisees) were tithing because they were still observing the Mosaic Law. But the New Covenant superseded that and developed it in different directions. The new thing wasn\u2019t about legalism but about joyfully serving Christ from the heart. So giving financially, like everything else, involved a deeper understanding than was available previously.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like now we don\u2019t have to give. According to what I understand New Testament teaching to be, most of us (predominantly middle class) would have to give a lot more<\/i> than just a tithe. It\u2019s the giving that continues; the only thing that has changed is the legalistic requirement of 10% for everyone. Giving from the heart or out of abundance, or all one has: none of those scenarios fit into a rigid 10% figure.<\/span><\/p>\n

The New Covenant is not about laws but about relationship and the Holy Spirit and 100% commitment to following Jesus as a disciple; from the heart. So it goes beyond tithing. If tithing were still required, it surely would have been spelled out in the New Testament. But it is not. So it is very reasonable to assume that it is no longer in force, as with most of the legalistic Old\u00a0Testament requirements.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spirit of the law is still in force: just applied differently. Hence Jesus stated in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17-18): \u201cThink not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

God provides. He doesn\u2019t do so because of a rigid percentage figure, but according to need and how much a person is following God wholeheartedly (or even if they are not; in His unfathomable mercy). I know God provides, believe me, from my own experience. I\u2019ve been doing this apologetics work full-time now for almost eight years. I don\u2019t have the benefit of TV, radio (not very often, anyway), or lectures around the country. It\u2019s just my books, my staff job at the Coming Home Network as Internet Forum Coordinator and Moderator, and whatever donations happen to come in (usually very few).<\/span><\/p>\n

I have four children, a mortgage, and we manage to be almost debt-free (except for the mortgage), to have a good credit rating, and even take a pretty decent vacation every year. Our needs are met. We know<\/i> that God does that by various means. Our task is to serve Him and trust that needs are met, as long as we are working responsibly and not trying to avoid work or something of that sort.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t believe in the tithe as a Protestant and I don\u2019t now, because I don\u2019t see it taught in the New Testament. I believe in progressive giving, voluntarily, radically, from the heart. I think we are our brother\u2019s keepers. And I believe that those who don\u2019t have a lot of money can serve others in ways that are the equivalent of giving funds. For example, I\u2019m not loaded, but I could help for two entire days at our parish\u2019s Oktoberfest, which is our biggest fundraiser. Time is money. If I work there eight hours for nothing, that is free labor, and is the equivalent of giving them a check. And my children want to help, so we multiply the man-hours volunteered.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have much disposable income (unless we wipe out our vacation, which we all regard as absolutely necessary, spiritually and psychologically: a sort of \u201cSabbath\u201d for the year). I get my main royalties twice a year. Pretty soon the mid-year ones will be exhausted and it\u2019ll get very lean around here again. But I can write and try to do what I can to help people that way, and I can volunteer my time.<\/span><\/p>\n

My wife does things like spend hours and days on end helping my dying father and my mother (so that she is emotionally exhausted now and trying to recover and gain her equilibrium again), and her usual home-schooling of our children. That is the Lord\u2019s work. It goes far beyond just a 10% cut from our income. We do that with secular government. The Christian walk goes way beyond that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think a lot of the reason that tithing is taught in many churches is that it is a legalistic requirement that gets people to give who otherwise would not, from the heart, and generously. It\u2019s pragmatism introduced into Christian circles, for fundraising purposes. People fall short, so a legalistic scheme is utilized in order to raise funds. But I think it is wrong for a church to require something of this nature that is contrary to the New Testament. There is plenty of New Testament teaching about finances and donations and giving and generosity (as seen in my earlier paper above). But tithing is not one of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Churches ought to apply New Testament teaching on money rather than revert to Old\u00a0Testament legalism in an effort to raise funds. They ought to raise the \u201cmonetary bar\u201d rather than lower it and adopt techniques that may work (pragmatically), but are of dubious pedigree in terms of what the New Testament actually teaches. Tithing is fine as a voluntarily adopted policy of an individual<\/span>; just not as a mandatory requirement; as if the New Testament teaches that.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Meta Description:\u00a0Tithing is fine as a voluntarily adopted policy of an individual; just not as a mandatory requirement.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0 The biblical story of \u201cthe widow\u2019s mite\u201d: image from Wheeler family Bible; taken by \u201cmelodi2\u201d on 6-10-15 [Flickr \/ CC BY 2.0 license] (11-1-09) ***** This is a follow-up to my earlier paper: \u201cBiblical Evidence Against Tithing and in Favor of Progressive Giving According to Ability.\u201d * * * * * God commands us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":7228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131,289],"tags":[2402,2404,100,2403,2405,2406,2407,2401,2408],"class_list":["post-7226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-ecclesiology","category-political-ethical-moral-issues","tag-almsgiving","tag-charitable-giving","tag-charity","tag-church-offering","tag-financial-support-of-the-church","tag-passing-the-plate","tag-progressive-giving","tag-tithing","tag-widows-mite"],"yoast_head":"\nMandatory Tithing: Further Thoughts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tithing is fine as a voluntarily adopted policy of an individual; 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Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}