(From FotF's Pastor's Weekly Briefing)A Christian author says churches that teach tithing as a mandate is a "growing scandal." In his new book, Should the Church Teach Tithing?, Russell Earl Kelly insists that tithing was never biblically commanded as a moral principle of the New Covenant to the Church. Although he supports freewill giving, he states that a mandatory 10 percent is unscriptural.
Tithing, as Kelly describes in four ways, is the tenth part of produce or other income, free-will offerings, ten percent of gross income or, on a specific biblical note, an ordinance of the Mosaic Law for the use and benefit of the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant. He stresses the "biblical fact" that the poor did not pay any tithes.
"Circumstances are different from household to household. God understands," wrote Kelly in his book. "The grace principle of 'equality giving' refers to giving as much as one is able. That does not mean that everybody is to give the same percentage." He also recognized, however, that "compulsory giving cannot possibly produce the level of giving which is prompted spontaneously by the Holy Spirit when the gospel is preached with power and authority!"
Kelly goes on to criticize churches for teaching tithing out of context as a biblical mandate. "No Christian is under any curse of the Old Covenant Law! It is simply unethical to preach 'out-of-context proof texts about tithing' sermons only from Malachi and Genesis 14."
Research among clergy and laity found earlier this year that, while most ministers say Christians are under a biblical mandate to tithe, most people in the pews do not believe the same. Congregants are also equally split on whether tithe should be based on net income or gross income. And both ministers and churchgoers are mixed on where tithing should go — whether it's limited to religious organizations or open to any organization regardless of religious connection or lack thereof.
A recent study, "The State of Church Giving Through 2004," found that giving by church members has decreased from 3.11 percent in 1968 to 2.56 percent in 2004. Both are well below the 10 percent tithe.
Related Tags: Focus on the Family, James Dobson, Tithing, Giving, Offering, Russell Earl Kelly, Russell Kelly, Should the Church Teach Tithing, Covenant, New Covenant Church, Mosaic Law, Old Covenant, New Covenant, Israel
4 comments:
Chris,
I have read through some of Dr. Russell Kelly's book online a few years ago and just recently. This was the first time I read that somebody says tithing has ceased as a command and normative practice for the New Testement Gentiles and the church. I thought what he did was bold.
Recently, Dr. Kostenberger posted on his blog his defense against tithing as well. He did a thorough job as well, he even posted two research papers that went even further than Dr. Kelley's book.
Knowing that there are more Godly men that are supporting a cessation of tithing will help people obey the commands of giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9. Dr. Kostenberger gives an awesome chart to understand this. It's found on page 21 and 22. Good stuff!
This is a view point I have taken a bit of heat on, including from my wife. I have tithed in the past, and frequently given beyond that. I think tithing, in and of itself, is indeed a good thing. But I do not see a NT command supporting it as THE benchmark for giving. My goal and dreams are to continually earn more and live on less. That leaves more to give away.
Furthermore, if you understand the OT systems, the giving exceeds 10%. There was an initial tithe, but many other times where the people were called to give. I've seen a break down somewhere (and perhaps the links you provide have it, I haven't gotten to them yet) that shows you need to view from a multi-year perspective as there were things that only happened once a decade that impact income and required giving.
At the end of the day, the solution is to give, and give generously. God doesn't need the money, but He undoubtedly can use it better than you can, and at the end of the day, its all His anyhow.
Big Chris
Chris,
Through the citations that Dr. Kostenberger gives, we should give somewhere between 23%-25%. He listed there was three major types of tithes and one of them was every three year. Always the tithe refers to produce, grains, and cattle in giving to Livites and then livites give their tithe to the priests. If one wants to be legalistic, you need to go to Cub Foods or Rainbow foods and redeem your money for a food card and drop it the offering plate, because we cannot bring into the church a tithes worth of food and there would be no place to store it. :-)
May I suggest "Beyond Tithing" by Dr Stuart Murray (Paternoster 2000). "Tithing is biblical, but not Christian", it says on the back. Murray's premise is that churches who practice the 10% clause are not even doing it the OT way, let alone being 'NT'. The church's mandate is not to burden the poor but to evenly distribute the wealth of its members according to need (Acts 2:44). My church teaches tithing (they get the local bank manager to do the talk) but there's no discussion allowed. My wife and I ceased tithing 2 yrs ago and now try to give generously: we're 'blessed' more, and are empowered to bless more. Tithing is a means of control in the perpetuation of purpose-drivel, perfomance-rlated churchianity. Galatians 5:1
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