TITHING: The fleecing of the flock!

Unfortunately, many Christian leaders have appropriated the Old Testament principle of tithing to support their ministries. The reasons for this misappropriation of the flock's resources are obvious: 1) it provides them with a substantial and reliable source of income, and 2) by grounding it in Scripture, they can claim that it is a Divine requirement - not something which they have instituted in their own self-interest! In other words, church leaders can claim with a straight face that anyone who fails to tithe is actually robbing God and hurting themselves, not the folks who are actually collecting and spending the money! In this way, these ministers have quite cleverly imposed a self-policing mental straitjacket on their parishioners.

In the now defunct Worldwide Church of God (and in many of its descendants), the tithing principle was probably exploited more effectively than in any of the other Christian groups which have employed it! In addition to demanding that their members give one-tenth of their gross income to the church, they also expected members to set aside a "second" tithe (to be used in attending their annual eight-day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles referenced in the Torah), and a third ten percent every third year (ostensibly designated to help their poorer members). "How do you convince folks to devote such a large percentage of their incomes to the practice of their faith?" you may be wondering. They accomplished this in part by claiming that God would more than make up for what they were sacrificing financially. In this regard, one of their favorite quotations was from the Old Testament book of Malachi: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10, KJV)

In exploring this topic, one of the very first things that we need to point out is that the designation of a "first, second, and third" tithe does NOT appear in the Judeo-Christian canon. That's right - modern religionists use those designations to describe what actually appears in the Torah. In other words, Scripture talks about A tithe that was to be used in a number of different ways by the Israelites. Why would religionists describe them thus? Do you think it's possible that it might have something to do with the fact that having ONE tithe employed in three different ways would naturally reduce the amount of money flowing into the coffers of the church?

Next, one of the most important things that these Christian groups often fail to mention is the context of the tithing mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Not only was tithing clearly identified with the tenets of the OLD Covenant as outlined in the Torah, it is also very clear that the principle was intimately associated with the AGRICULTURAL economy of ancient Israel! In the book of Leviticus, we read: "And all the tithe of the land (Hebrew "eres" or earth), whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord." (27:30) In addition to crops, we read in the same book: "And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." (27:32) In other words, the tithe was figured on crops and livestock - It was NOT figured on wages derived from labor! Notice too, that the context also takes for granted the farmer's ownership of the land, the planting of a crop, and the preexistence of a flock or herd! This is made even plainer by the insistence in the book of Deuteronomy that the Israelites tithe on their INCREASE (Hebrew "tebua" or product, yield, crops, gain, revenue) - what was produced THAT year! (See Deuteronomy 14:22, 23 and 28). In other words, ancient Israelites were NOT tithing on their gross income - they were tithing on their NET income from their crops and livestock!

It should also be noted that there is absolutely NO MENTION of using tithing as a means to support the New Testament Church in Scripture! Now, it is true that Jesus Christ pointed out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees relative to their attitudes towards tithing (see Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42). Jesus underscored the fact that they had neglected the more important aspects of their faith by focusing too much attention on getting tithing right. Christ taught his followers to "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." (Matthew 5:42) Indeed, throughout most of the New Testament, we find the principle expressed that Christians should be motivated to willingly give of themselves and their resources (see Mark 12:41-44, Luke 6:38, Acts 20:35, I Corinthians 16:1-2, II Corinthians 9:7, and Hebrews 13:16). In other words, there is NOTHING in the New Testament to suggest that Christians are under any obligation to tithe on their income and present it to the Church! Moreover, anyone who would suggest that this is a requirement for Christians is almost certainly motivated by self-interest! Christians are clearly obligated to be generous and to be looking to help those who are in need, but there clearly isn't any formula prescribed by Scripture for accomplishing that end!