tithing: a biblical command or a man made tradition

I stumbled onto something totally by accident. I wasn't looking for it, I tripped over it, it being a post about tithing in a forum I was surfing. This post led me on a huge bunny trail that resulted in a discovery: tithing 10% of your income to your church isn't scriptural. I also found out something else. The tithing doctrine in North America is a relatively young one. It's been around for a little over 100 years (see here). Before that, churches/clergy were mostly supported by a little something called benevolence, voluntary giving, and generosity (well that and things like renting seats/pews). In the late 1800's, tithe advocates started pushing their agenda in an effort to gain a stable financial income. Apparently it seemed much more secure and lucrative to move the people into obligatory giving. (The opposite was found to be true by the 1920's (see here)).

I'm sure the history of tithing is a little less clear cut than all that, but I'm not really able to commit hours upon hours of research, nor do I really need to. I'm just sort sharing the smattering of information I've found while my hubby and I are pondering this whole issue, especially in regards of how the tithing practice has gotten us and many others into debt. Something is just not right.

Get this quote from a tithe pusher in 1878: "It is a debt to be paid before anything else can be called a gift, or freewill offering to Christ.” (C.P. Jennings) (quote taken from here). So apparently Jesus hasn't paid our debt?? Are we still under the old law?? How come we're also not sacrificing animals?

Since researching this subject, I have read many accounts of how people have gotten into debt through obligatory tithing. I'm not talking about little old ladies sending televangelists money. I'm talking regular families who tithe to their church.

I cringe at the things I used to say about tithing, things like, "I'd be afraid not to tithe". How on earth did I not see what I was saying, as if I was bound to some law, or giving so that I wasn't cursed? Would I want my child to give me a gift because they felt they were obliged to? This does not reflect the spirit of the New Testament at all.

2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (NIV)

But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."

See the underlined part above? That to me speaks to the problem for us, where we are tithing money that WE DON'T HAVE. See also that he is not "commanding", but advising?

Google this for yourself (I found it here), but in 1895 tithing was first introduced to the Southern Baptist Convention. The convention urged state conventions to educate the people. The system was REJECTED by the people. Up until now I thought tithing was something that had always been around!!

Here's an interesting quote from Russell Earl Kelly, PHD who has spent a phenomenal amount of time and research into this subject:

(1923) "The Deeper Meaning of Stewardship", John Versteeg, Methodist, thought that the meaning of stewardship had been stretched beyond recognition and particularly so when it simply meant tithing. ... He sought to push stewardship away from an ironclad proclamation of the tithe and toward an understanding of stewardship as the Christian attitude toward material things.

Versteeg attacked their most cherished and basic claim that tithing was God’s law and had actually been consistently practiced during the biblical era. Versteeg’s view was the first stewardship book to be written from a historical-critical hermeneutic. “With singular unanimity biblical scholars agree” he wrote “as to the confusing touching the tithe,” and he cited the great biblical exegetes of his day to the effect that the data simply did not support any consistent account of the tithe in biblical times. Versteeg accused tithing advocates of twisting the evidence maintaining that “in the face of this men should assert for the tithe binding authority seems incredible! A fair perusal of Scripture fails to bear out their claim.

Here's another good quote from the same site:

1928: George Morelock, Methodist. If the person were to give from a sense of coercion, or out of the desire to popularity, or to pay for something, or to do his share, or grudgingly, then the giving, in Murdock’s view, could never be spiritual.

1873: Tithing First Suggested in USA

There were and still are many who are against the teaching of tithing. By the way, Martin Luther (1483–1546) was against tithes being binding on Christians. I just thought I'd throw that in there. Really, if he was for it, I'd disagree after reading the Bible for myself.

I will clarify that as my husband and I are moving away from the tithe practice/bondage put upon us by church tradition, we are determined to instead learn what it means to give generously. I remember one spring I had $50 saved to get highlights done. Instead I gave it away to someone who needed it more. I can't remember how, but I ended up with another quick $50 saved. I gave it away again (I must have been soft-hearted that spring!). I got $50 back again!! I couldn't seem to get rid of it. You see I gave it with a cheerful heart. I was more blessed in the giving than keeping it for myself. What if this is how giving should look. Not giving under compulsion or obligation or through regulation, but giving as your heart leads, NOT as a result of some calculations done on your pay stub.

I've read accounts of people choosing to abolish tithing in their lives and now vow to never go back because their church would suffer for it. You see in their choosing to give from the heart, they found they had more to give and therefore gave more. So they figure that if they went back to tithing, they'd be giving less.

What giving looks like, whether cash, or tangible goods, I'm not sure. It's something we are going to pray about as we try to dig ourselves out of debt and hopefully stop using the credit card to put food on the table.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NASB)

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

For the record, I don't buy the "tithing my time and talents", I think that should be a given. I also believe in supporting the local church first. They are my church community, my family.

Anyway, this is a sloppy post, not very organized, but I don't have time to do better. I've got kitchen cupboards to paint to save us money the DIY way!

I'll be posting quotes from the numerous websites I found that actually go into the teaching of why tithing is not applicable under the New Covenant.

I'll leave you with this YouTube video. The speaker touches on a few things that make more sense if you've studied the topic somewhat, but it's a start. I love what he says at the very end:

"Give as the Lord provides, and as he allows you to do, and do it joyfully and be as generous as you can."

l