Giving, Part 2

I was originally thinking that this installment would be rather mundane but I've really enjoyed looking into the question: "Why give?"

A while back a friend in my lab sent me an article on the Stand To Reason website about tithing. The article primarily argues: "Christians shouldn't 'tithe'. This O.T. legal obligation - the obligation to give on tenth of one's income - has been replaced by the New Testament moral obligation to give...and with a smile on your face."

In Matthew 23:23, Jesus tells the church to practice faithfulness, mercy and justice but to not forget to do things like tithe. However, this command to the church is pre-Pentecost - Jesus is reinforcing what the mosaic law already said. Post-Pentecost, we are then not obliged to obey everything that the scribes and the Pharisees told the Jews they had to do. Just as we're not sacrificing goats in our back yards - we're not obligated to tithe because we are in a new system.

I find it incredibly interesting looking at the way that Jew's tithed. They actually tithed closer to 30% than 10%. And because the government and church were often so intertwined a lot of people have referred to tithing as more of a "civic tax". Because much of the tithe helped to pay for their government. Technically, since I pay close to 30% of my salary in state & federal income/sales taxes, even if I were required to tithe, I'm done right?

I stand by the conclusion that we are not required to tithe; but rather, we are to joyfully give. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Therefore, we are NOT required to tithe a specific percentage of our income but rather to cheerfully give whatever amount of our money to whomever we WANT to. We should be excited to see the gospel move forth and we should give to those who are spreading it.