Theres been alot of heated debate about the legality of tithing on nairaland. From my observation on diverse comments, some nairaland christians believe tithing is an old mosaic law,some say its a new testament commandment.
At some point, i dont know what is the real truth on this tithing. Did Jesus specifically tell us to do away with tithe? There is a place in the bible,i cant recollect Where exactly when Jesus scolded the Pharisees for ignoring weightier matters of the law when they do pay tithes. Jesus mentioned tithing still.
Please dont blame me if im starting a rather finished topic but for the benefit of all nairaland christians (including me) and visitors who fear not paying tithes because of various teachings particularly about the devourer, i'll want insightful discourse on whether tithing is a Jewish law that should be done away with, a Jewish law God wants us Gentile Christians to follow, or it is a commandment from Christ. Please explain in details the verses you quote to support your input. I personally want to know if tithing and the 10 commandments fall under the Jewish laws.
Some of you, for example kunleoshob, might have to repeat your earlier discourse,well its my bad, tithing is a serious practice so your explanations here will be thoroughly examined with our bible.
It would be very helpful and healthy if we desist from insults,abuse and namecalling, lets deal with this issue squarely.
Some comments have blamed tithing for the evergrowing numbers of mushroom churches and charlatans in our nation. So it is a serious topic we have to know the truth about.
We'll be waiting anxiously for your replies.
Thanks.

Tithing today is a scam, it has no place in christianity.

"Christian" means "follower of Christ", and here are Christs views on how we should regard our money.

17Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."
     And they were amazed at him. (Mark 17)

I think it would take a huge effort to misunderstand this passage as it is there, plain and simple. Christians ought to pay taxes as due, and also give to God whatever we believe is God's.

babaearly:

Theres been alot of heated debate about the legality of tithing on nairaland. From my observation on diverse comments, some nairaland christians believe tithing is an old mosaic law,some say its a new testament commandment.
At some point, i dont know what is the real truth on this tithing. Did Jesus specifically tell us to do away with tithe? There is a place in the bible,i cant recollect Where exactly when Jesus scolded the Pharisees for ignoring weightier matters of the law when they do pay tithes. Jesus mentioned tithing still.
Please dont blame me if im starting a rather finished topic but for the benefit of all nairaland christians (including me) and visitors who fear not paying tithes because of various teachings particularly about the devourer, i'll want insightful discourse on whether tithing is a Jewish law that should be done away with, a Jewish law God wants us Gentile Christians to follow, or it is a commandment from Christ. Please explain in details the verses you quote to support your input. I personally want to know if tithing and the 10 commandments fall under the Jewish laws.
Some of you, for example kunleoshob, might have to repeat your earlier discourse,well its my bad, tithing is a serious practice so your explanations here will be thoroughly examined with our bible.
It would be very helpful and healthy if we desist from insults,abuse and namecalling, lets deal with this issue squarely.
Some comments have blamed tithing for the evergrowing numbers of mushroom churches and charlatans in our nation. So it is a serious topic we have to know the truth about.
We'll be waiting anxiously for your replies.
Thanks.

Thanks for making a specific request of me to explain this issue of tithes further. Although you have not asked any specific qustions i would raise a few posers here, there after i would expalin issues further. It might also help if you read my flagship post on the subject here https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-113108.0.html it would put things in a better perspective.

If tithing was a christian practise, how come Jesus and the apostles who were mandated to establish the faith never preached it?
Is the tithing done today in conforminty with biblical tithing which was food meant to be eaten by the tither and others in the place of worship?
How come tithing was unto to the church until the council of macon in 586AD when the catholic church introduced it thruoghscriptural manipulation?
How come the catholic church that instituited tithes no longer regards it as mandatory for their congregation?
How come it is only tithing out of the over 600 defunct mosaic laws that some churches are still holding on to[albeit in a twisted form] even though as christians we are not under the mosaic[jewish] laws?
How come these churches deliberately dis-regard the instruction in Hebrews 7:5-19 that tithing is anulled and not applicable to the priesthood of christ?
How come money is now being used as tithes despite the fact that tithes in the bible was clearly agricultural produce? Is their any biblical justification for this obviously glaring annomally?

@ kunleoshob

Yes i have read your rejoinder.
But i have one question. Do the 10 commandments and tithing fall under the same Jewish Laws?

babaearly:

@ kunleoshob

Yes i have read your rejoinder.
But i have one question. Do the 10 commandments and tithing fall under the same Jewish Laws?

Tithing was a practice before the law of Moses.
There was no indication in the bible suggesting that God required tithing from men then cos there were no laws then.
Anybody who tithed then did it of his freewill; whether to God,King,priest, or whoever.
When the law of Moses was to be instituted, God incorporated the act of tithing into it for specific reasons.
So, tithing became a part of the law of Moses(jewish laws).

Remember, the law was a covenant between God and men.It was an agreement; anything within an agreement is part of that agreement, and also, anything not in an agreement is not a part of that agreement.

And yes, the 10 commandments are part of/fall under the jewish laws(law of Moses)

babaearly:

@ kunleoshob
Yes i have read your rejoinder.
But i have one question. Do the 10 commandments and tithing fall under the same Jewish Laws?

The ten commandments in the bible as been summarized in the new testament as thus: Romans 13:8-10:
8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. 9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

The passage below explains it further, under the new convenant we are to follw the spirit of the law[principles] and not necessary the letters[rigid] as the letters can be subject to abuse as the pharisees often used it for.
2 Corinthians 3:3-6:
3 Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
4 We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. 5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. 6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.

@kunle
if the new covenant encapsulate the Jewish ten commandments into one grand law, dont you think the same was done for tithes and all other jewish laws?

babaearly:

@kunle
if the new covenant encapsulate the Jewish ten commandments into one grand law, dont you think the same was done for tithes and all other jewish laws?

If the same was done for tithes and the other commandments, it would have been stated clearly in the bible but on the contrary the bible makes it clear we are NOT under any obligation to obey Mosaic laws.
Galatians 3:10-11:
10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Galatians 5:4:
4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.

Also in Acts 15 which recored the first church council the apostles agreed that christians were ot under any obligation to keep any of the jewish laws and described it as a burden which even the jewish peoplecould not keep.

Acts 15:5-11:
5 But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”   6 So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. 7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

I am yet to find anyone against tithing who can show a direct commandment against its continuation. The anti-tithers often argue that tithing is a levitical requirement, when in truth it predated such. Abraham as well as Jacob both returned a tithe to Melchizedek, the very order under which Christ now operates

So where did tithing come from in the first place? Was it initiated by God, or man? And why was it initiated? These questions need to be answered honestly. Its pointless arguing that something is wrong because it existed under the levitical system.

The fact is God raised up Israel to be an example to the rest of the world. They had in the past allowed foreigners to partake in their religious rites, because God's laws were never intended to be exclusive, a teaching that is held by most Christians. If ever there were a false teaching, that God somehow gave exclusive laws to Israel, then that sums it up. That was never the plan of God, and anyone who teaches that obviously doesn't understand the greater scheme of things.

So anti-tithers show me a text that says tithing has been abolished.

@Bobbaf
I am also yet to find one single shred of scripture that instructs that tithing should be adopted as a doctrine in christianity. The abraham example you people keep giving is deceptive as abraham tithed only once out of his own volition and there is no record to show that Jacob ever redeemed his conditional promise to tithes which also runs contrary to the false doctrine of tithes being propagated today. That apart if you read the whole of hebrew 7 in it's proper context you would confirm there that the commandment to tithe[commandement being the key word] was anulled and described as weak and unprofitable. I would repeat for the upteenth time the passage here and highlight the salient points.

Hebrews 7:5-19:
5And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
8And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
9And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
10For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
11If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12[b]For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.[/b]
13For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
14For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
15And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
16Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
18[b]For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.[/b]
19For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.


It is quite evident that it is the same commandment to tithe in verse 5[which some pastors twist to justify tithes as bobbyaf tried to do using the melchizedek example] that is being annulled in verse 12 and 18 and being described as weak, useless and unprofitable. No matter how you guys try to twist this Hebrew scripture you cannot explain away those verse else you would be quoting the scripture out of context.

PS: I know a lot of churches don’t have any qualms about quoting scripture out of context anway.

The questioins I have been asking is this

1 show me where in the bible[b] christians [/b] (not jews)paid or were asked to pay tithes

2 Assuming tithe is still valid ,where in the bible where people directed to tithe daily,weekly or monthly.

The bible clearly specifies once in three years (deut 14:28,deut 26:12)

chukwudi44:


2 Assuming tithe is still valid ,where in the bible where people directed to tithe daily,weekly or monthly.

That clearly is not in the Bible.

babaearly:

That clearly is not in the Bible.

I am glad that you are beginning to understand that tithes as it is interpreted and practised today by the church clearly as no sound biblical basis.

Is it that Nairalanders don't read their bible or what

Open your bible to malachi: 3 verse 8 - 10.

8Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, how do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a course - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the store house, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

You must know that God doesn't want your money; all he needs from you is your thanksgiving and that's where the issue of tithe comes in.

So if you prefer to remain stingy with your money, and don't give that 10% appreciation offering back to God, then don't expect any blessing from him.

@crazyman
How has the crap you just posted explained that tithes is Christ's command which is the question the topic is asking At best you have been able to show us that it is a part of the obsolete Jewish law which has no bearing on christianity. Even the passage you quoted talks about bringing food to the store house and NOT money as our criminally motivated preachers today have twisted it to mean. Giving to God in christianity as taught by christ is primarily about giving to the poor and the needy[matthew 25:31-40] and not about giving money to churches which are man made instituitions anyway. Am sure a true christian would give the direct teachings of christ priority over what any prophet or pastor twists the scriptures to mean.

@Kunleoshob.

The issue of thite being a jewish law or Christ command is also out of the question because even without having to go through the bible, every true believer should know that appreciating the goodness of God with a token offering is what you shouldn't be told to do.

You should know that its none of your business to know what the church or the pastor would do with your thite offering. Your part as a christian is to pay, and leave the rest to God. If the pastor decides to divert it(the money) to his personal use, then he would have God to answer to.

CrazyMan:

@Kunleoshob.
The issue of thite being a jewish law or Christ command is also out of the question because even without having to go through the bible, every true believer should know that appreciating the goodness of God with a token offering is what you shouldn't be told to do.
You should know that its none of your business to know what the church or the pastor would do with your thite offering. Your part as a christian is to pay, and leave the rest to God. If the pastor decides to divert it(the money) to his personal use, then he would have God to answer to.

You should also know that as a true christian and believer i have no business obeying the obsolete Jewish tithing Law[Galatians 5:4] and that even church offerings is solely at my discretion and God doesn't make it compulsary for me to pay. If we are to follow the teachings of christ rather than the doctrines of men, you would realize that giving to God= giving to the poor/needy and Not giving to your church. Also i would like you to quote scripture to back up all the hubris you posted above.

@Tonye-t
Thanx for the compliments. I remain a die hard fighter for the biblical truth in christianity and i would continue to expose all the evil and lies being perpetuated against christians by false prophets parading themselves a men of God and twisting scripture for the sake of filthy lucre. You are still yet to show one single scripture in the bible that remotely even suggests that christians should pay tithes in the new tsetament when read in proper context [we have already done justice to matthew 23:23 which you love mis-interpreting] whilst i have shown you several times in the new testament were tithing was described as useless, unprofitable and weak.[Hebrews 7:5-19] . I am also really happy for the likes of you who foolishly try to justiify this fraudulent practise of tithes with me on this forum as it gives me more opportunity to expose the fraud and i can confidently tell you that most of the people that used to debate tithes with me on this forum 2 years ago when i started this glorious campaign against the fraud have now seen the light and are no longer held hostage by the scam. You can continue to promote your racket but let me asure you i would continue to floor you with superior bible based and untwisted scriptures to prove that the doctrine is not only a crime against believers but it is evil in itself.

Apostle Peter and other early church leaders warned against compelling Gentile believers to obey the law>see Acts.15:1-31.To say we must tithe today is a LAW.Those billionaire preachers who compel you to tithe, do they tithe? how? to who? How can they estimate their entire income as to pay tithe?

From Genesis to Revelation tithing is not connected to money but land produce.No one used money for tithing.Deuteronomy 14:22-26 implied that money should not be used for tithing.Why much enphases on money for tithing these days?

babaearly: That clearly is not in the Bible.

Biblical tithing is an annual event and has noting to do with money.

To end this tithe matter,download
this book by David sielaff.The Tithe Dilemma. You can get the
audio from mp3skull.search the tithe dilemma. ..every tithe paster hate the wonderful work about tithe.
a jew that knows the tithe sequence in the OT and NT.