tithes

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On Thu, 24 Sep 1998 13:01:34 -0400 "Brian K. Berger"
<BKBerger@eli.elilabs.com> writes:

>A basic church with no direction, that Paul did set to give them.

Notice in Acts 15, when faced with the question of what Gentile Believers
should have to obey from the law that tithing was not mentioned.  

>Does this mean we are to not Tithe? Well I am reminded that 
>Jesus did not do away with the OT, just fulfilled it. 

Either the OT Tithing system survived into this dispensation or it did
not.

>The tithe was only one offering. The others were from what I have seen
bringing the 
>total near 40 -50 %. Now if we tithe 10%, and "give" to the taxman 
>15-28 %, we are near the mark, but still getting a bargain compared to 
>the 50% I have seen. 

That is not appropriate since there are people who pay less than that,
and remember, the tithe went to God, not Bill Clinton.

>I guess those Washingtons need to be introduced to the Lincolns,
Jeffersons, and Yes 
>even Ben Franklin needs to go to church more often!! 

I agree wholeheartedly.  We cannot expect much from our Church if we
don't help support it in prayers, physically when physical work is
needed, time and with our finances.  However, it is not consistent with
Biblical NT teachings to mandate the OT tithing system, especially if
such a move is then used to discriminate against the poor who sometimes
are faced with paying a bill or making sure that you give at least ten
percent of your GROSS income.

>Amazing that when the few who seem to be struggling are also the 
>ones staying in the pew when the offering is marched. 

I strongly disagree here.  My mother is financially struggling and she
has never missed paying tithes that I can remember.

It is, IMHO, wrong to judge someone's worth, either spiritually or
physically, by their ability to pay money to a Church.

Or else Bill Gates is the most Holy Man alive.

The NT specifically speaks of not discriminating for richer people how
they are treated, where they sit, etc and by teaching a mandatory tithe
(which, again, is not evident in either the NT or historically), then we
are doing EXACTLY THAT ! ! !

We are forcing those "thieving God robbers" to spiritually take a back
seat to the richer who can always afford to pay extra.

Besides, they aren't even going to Heaven anyway, right?  No great loss
there...

Today we are preaching that the widow who only gave two mites had better
straighten up right now or she will go to Hell...

>I saw this recently as I had pledged $100 extra. I then got a 
>blessing on the job and when my wife remembered the $100 it was nearly 
>the same as the increase. 

I rejoice with you, but I believe that God could have also given that to
you if your alternator went out and instead of giving the extra $100 had
to pay to buy an alternator so that you could go to work and be a good
steward with your family and your job.

Jerry Welch
ICQ: 18489712
www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2810/
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