Kinsh:


The reason y many of us don't get blessed is bcs we worry over thingz that doesnt matter to us i.e. none of our buz. If the pastors are using it to fatten their pockets wats your own as long as your fulfiling God's commnadement.

As for me i wont let anybody's hinder my blessing. I have done my own and let God Judge.

Pastors also pay tithe. I mean "tithe of tithes for the priests" Numbers 18:26 and Numbers 10:38 Digest it!

Its all about commandement. Dont use ONE to Judge ALL!!! Only God knows his true workers so let him Judge,  u have no excuse at the end saying you never paid your tithe bcs of a "Pastor" it will be tooooo bad 

Huff and puff all you want, but don't get side tracked.  Obeying God is one thing, obeying man is another.  And that's what paying 10% of your salary is, Obeying MAN. Forget the pastors and what they use the tithe for.  Even if you pay tithe to the church you're not obeying God, you'd be better off buying some groceries for the homeless, or giving clothes to the poor.

Didnt Jesus say that when we neglect the needy, we neglect him? Remember that?

also, um, do you know anything about the new covenant teaching? Can you show me where under the new covenant it endorses this 10% of your income concept? No. Because there is none.  Only old testament scripture, which the liberty of Jesus has replaced

mmh mmh mmh
"my children perish for lack of Knowledge"

monshege:

mmh mmh mmh
"my children perish for lack of Knowledge"

then you should educate your children before they all die

monshege: though i could flow with ur thot in your initial post, however this is the catch, u pay tithes to the church and then the church inturn reaches out to the needy, rite? the question is how? i know u ddnt think that they just go on professing the love of God to the needy without actually showing it, hence they give to them and preach also! the reason why there's a need is becos there's someone who can meet it, if ur that person, dnt hold back.

trini girl: ur last post was so damn funny!!

tithe is a bad dept,one has no option or choice to choose from.if really u study d bible and believe in the Word as written,then their is no basis to argue.What the pastors do with the money should not even be of concern to you but the FACT that God says bring:A COMMANDMENT , then the promises that follows it should be you target: He says put Me to TEST/PROVE Me and see if ,

I got to where i am today becos of my tithe convenant with God which is more than 10%.I told God i needed a specified change of job and promised to pay 20%.In less than a week i got that job and have been doing more than ok.

like gospelman said,it's quite spiritual,if u believe and do all that is written here in then the sky is your starting point.

Giving to the needy is also encouraged becos no one knows when he/she will host an Angel just like Abraham did and u could also be the Angel that God will use to work in other people's life,but giving to the needy also needs spiritual directing to give to genuine people in need and not just anyboby who has taken begging as a profession or due to laziness.

Give and u shall receive a reward but don't tell God how to use His funds or who to assisst with His fund

If u are sincere wyt urself, u'd know that paying tithe is just as important as giving to the needy. giving to the needy instead of paying ur tithe should only arise if you cannot spare any other funds from your resources to do that. In other words, you are broke, with your tithe in your hand, and someone needs help. Then you can go right ahead and i beleive God will be pleased with you.

@trini_girl
Thanx for all your effort to let them know the truth. Most christians want to still live under the law while we are in an era of grace through Christ Jesus. My own questions has been:

If you must pay 10% of your income to the church as tithes why won't you keep the remaining commandments of God like:
1. Keeping the sabbath day holy
2. slaugthering of animals for the atonement of sins
3. Abstain from eating certain meat like pork etc. because they are unclean

Why should you keep one of God's commandments and fail to observe the others?? If you accept to live under the law then keep all God's commandments in the old testament and if you cannot keep all live a live of grace through Christ Jesus, where you don't need to keep any day as sabbath, no slaugthering of animals for the atonement of sins and no animal created by God is seen as unclean. just to mention a few of the old testament laws.

@gheorge

Gheorghe:

[b]tithe is a bad dept,[/b]one has no option or choice to choose from.if really u study d bible and believe in the Word as written,then their is no basis to argue.What the pastors do with the money should not even be of concern to you but the FACT that God says bring:A COMMANDMENT , then the promises that follows it should be you target: He says put Me to TEST/PROVE Me and see if ,

Tithe is a bad debt lol!! Well in that case it should be written off in heaven sir.  The issue is not what pastors do with the money, the issue is that people are ignorant of truth and therefore live with the lie that they have to give 10% of their money to the church.  It is NOT BIBLICAL.

Gheorghe:

I got to where i am today because of my tithe convenant with God which is more than 10%.I told God i needed a specified change of job and promised to pay 20%.In less than a week i got that job and have been doing more than ok.

my friend, you were faithful with your giving, and God honoured it.  It could have been 10, 20, or 80% of whatever you're able to give. God rewards faith and faithfulness.  Don't reduce God to honouring just the tithe.

Gheorghe:

Giving to the needy is also encouraged because no one knows when he/she will host an Angel just like Abraham did and u could also be the Angel that God will use to work in other people's life,but[b] giving to the needy also needs spiritual[/b] directing to give to genuine people in need and not just anyboby who has taken begging as a profession or due to laziness.

So it's okay to give your money to the church blindly out of "obedience" and let God deal with the pastor, but you have to be spiritualy led  and must know the intent of a poor needy soul to help them out? Do you hear yourself?

Giving to the needy is not just "encouraged" my friend, it is MANDATED BY GOD.  Be careful of becoming a selfish christian who only does things for personal gain.

Gheorghe:

Give and u shall receive a reward but don't tell God how to use His funds or who to assisst with His fund

Don't tell God? Which God? The God who preaches from your pulpit every sunday to bring your tithe so that he can build his mansion for his children's children? Farewell my blind brother.

You defend the pastor who may or may not exploit church funds.  Thank God Jesus came to defend the sinner, the weak, the helpless and the poor.

I think everyone should read Trini_girl's post. I tithe a little, but i give plenty to the needy. The "needy" needs it more than the pastors. This is why everyone is starting their own church. There are about 3000 denominations in Nigeria, all prophesing to have a direct link to God. Why is some of the richest people in Nigeria pastors?
Why is it that every church in Nigeria has a branch abroad?
As Trini_girl wrote:
1. Tithing was never money, it was food.
2. Tithing was for the tribes of Israel
3. Tithing was under old testament law.
4. We no longer live under law, but under the dispensation of grace.
Am sorry to say this, but people who give 10% of their money to pastors are very vulnerable people. I think the govt
should step in with EFCC.

@goldenray

goldenray:

If u are sincere wyt yourself, u'd know that paying tithe is just as important as giving to the needy. giving to the needy instead of paying your tithe should only arise if you cannot spare any other funds from your resources to do that.

In other words, you are broke, with your tithe in your hand, and someone needs help. Then you can go right ahead and i beleive God will be pleased with you.

so now God compromises his so called tithe IF there's someone in need. So does that mean you now OWE GOD next month since you used part of his so called tithe to help someone in need?

If you were a true believer you would know that above all else Jesus admonishes us to love our neighbours as ourselves. What kind of christian would I be if I gave $100.00 to the church, but because I "could not afford it", did not give my next door neighbour $10.00 to buy food for his starving children. At least you still have a little decency to say MAYBE you'll help your fellow man out if he desperately needs it and you have your tithe money.

Even moreso, why can't you help your neighbour with $50.00 and give the next $50.00 in offering to your church?

Pharisee! I say to you that giving to the needy is MORE IMPORTANT than giving ANY TYPE OF FUNDS to ANY RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION in the name of obedience to God.

@ Trini_Girl & Ishmael,

Greatly appreciate your efforts, and may God bless you. I hope you realise that this is more than a question of ignorance or mere misinformation? It's not even a question of lack of knowledge. It's deep spiritual bondage. I speak as one who by the grace of God was loosed from it.

A doctrine that makes no scripturally sense, has any biblical basis and no divine mandate. Yet some very intelligent people subscribe to it wholesale  .

We comprehensively thrashed this out over 27+ pages, every which way, but some will not have it.  This untruth is the main underpinning (and funding) of much of the carnal religious construct that holds sway today.

Fight the good fight.

God bless

trini- girl,
Tithe is a thing of its own ,u can't say because u pay tithe u won't give to the needy.The needy abounds all around us in the church,our neighbours, family members,friends ,widows, widowers,orphans,students,the needy could also be in ur office.U pay tithe and u also remember the needy always.
There is still reference in the new testament also about paying tithe.

When a topic is posted here it should be for enlightenment to others there shouldn't be stuggle or blackmail or the use of harsh words towards one another.We can't fight for God .God knows how to touch the hearts of those needed to be touched.Violence can't take us to anywhere.But let's be cautious of what we say when we are trying to drive our points home.
Peace to everybody on board .

@trini_girl,

I have decided to respond to your submissions since it appears it is the basis for most of the contributions on this thread so far.  Here we go.

1. Tithing was never money, it was food.

So it was food that Abraham took as spoils and gave to Melchiizedek? I think not. Melchizedek was the one that brought bread and wine to the table as a sign of the covenant.  Abraham gave Melchizedek the tithe of the treasures he retrieved from the war and not foodstuff.

2. Tithing was for the tribes of Israel

So which tribe does Abraham and Jacob fall into?

3. Tithing was under old testament law.

That may be true, but the issue here is whether tithing predates the law of Moses or whether it is just a part of the law.

4. We no longer live under law, but under the dispensation of grace.

Abraham and Jacob didn not live under the law either yet they paid tithes on all their increases.

5. We are admonished to give, give cheerfully out of love on another and for God, whether it's 5, 10, 15 or 50%

Nobody compelled Abraham to give the tithes either.  He recognised Melchizedek as the type of Christ who mediates the covenant he had with God and also recognises that Jehovah is the primary Possessor of all things while he is the secondary Possessor.  Abraham gave cheerfully.

6. The death and resurrection of Jesus has given us a wonderful, better NEW covenant, that replaces the covenant of law and judgement with mercy and grace.

Abraham was also not under the law of judgement as you refer to it.  And by the way, the priesthood we have in the New Covenant is fashioned after that of Melchizedek. So what did Melchizedek do? He received the tithe and confered a blessing.  Needless to say that Jesus does the same thing.

7. Nowhere in the new testament is there scripture that supports the giving of 10% of you salary to a religous  institution

I really don't understand what you mean by religious instituion.  As far as God is concerned, if you do not pay the tithe, you are robbig Him.  That principle is very clear in the book of Malachi and in Melchizedek's meeting with Abraham.  Melchizedek emphasised that God posseses all things, and Abraham acknowledged it through the payment of the tithe.

8. Nowhere under the new convenant does it make tithing a mandatory pre requisite for being a "member" of any religous institution.

I really don't know how to respond here because I know no institution that asks people to pay their tithes as membership dues. Abraham paid tithes as a covenant obligation and Jacob did the same as well, learning very well from his father.

9. Religion has used this lie for their own personal gain and is totally contrary to the teachings of Christ.

So Mellchizedek and Abraham were in connivance to contradict the teachings of Christ?  I tire for this thinking o.

10.  The tithe (food) in the old testament was never used for the church building, but kept in a storehouse so that those in need, in times of drought can be fed.

Once again, this notion is not supported by the first instance of tithing we see in scriptures.  Abraham paid the tithe not for the poor, but to acknowledge 1. his covenant with God 2. that God is the primary possessor of all things 3. to provide gifts for Melchizedek's ministry as a Priest 4. to receive the blessings of the covenant.

11.  The principle of the tithe is the same principle in the new testament.  Give and it shall be given back to you, sow and you shall reap harvest. Both substantially and spiritually.

The principle of the tithe is to acknowledge yourself as God's steward and to receive the blessings of the covenant.  And by the way, there is a difference between the principle of giving and receiving and the principle of sowing and reaping.  The first has to do with blessing people while the second deals with sowing into the Gospel.

To discuss this tithing issue, you need to focus more on those who paid before the law even came into effect, rather than put your attention on how it was used and practised under the law.

Cheers.

Why not start by giving to the needy in the church.

You should blame yourself if you allow the pastor to chop your money, buy the best car and the rest of it. Give to your hungry neighbour instead of our rich pastors.

I have to say Trini girl hit the nail on the head. Many of us Nigerians run around quoting the verses in Malachi and others that talk about tithing (because that's what we've heard since childhood), but we never stop to really examine the context of the verses. The verses in Malachi about bringing all the tithes to the storehouse was speaking to the Levite priests (who were the only groups of priests) who were commanded to receive tithes -- not to the general congregation. Tithing is part of the Mosaic law from which we are free. If we want to be under the Mosaic law, even though Christ set us free from this, then why pick and chose the parts of the Mosaic law we'll follow?? Didn't the Mosaic law also command animal sacrifices? How come Pastors don't preach that?

Plus, why would the new testatament tell you to give as it pleases you in your heart, not out of compulsion, , yet at the same time compel you to give a tenth of your income as tithe. Unless we're saying God is a God of contradiction, it makes no sense. We are commanded to give cheerfully, and to give generously to the Lord and to the poor. If you can afford it, you should 10, 20, 30% or whatever to the church and to the poor , and do so cheerfully. However, if you can't afford it, you are not compelled to give 10% of your income.

Plus, there's a basic rules of finances that no matter how much you tithe, if you don't practice good finance, you won't be wealthy. period. You reap what you sow. Hence you see millionaires who know nothing about God and don't tithe (although these millionaires often give generously to the needy and do more for the poor than many self professing Christians). Being wealthy and tithing are two separate things, although one can influence the other. If you are investing your money, I beleive your faithfulness to God (with your money and your time) may encourage God to bless your investments more abundantly, than if you were simply investing with your own sense. But if you are not investing-- if all you do is tithe 10% of your money to a church-- and spend 80% and may be save 10%-- you simply won't be rich. You'll be living from pay check to pay check, irrespective of your tithing.

As to whether you should give to the church or the poor-- do both. The church needs your help to pay bills etc. (but the Church should stop forcing people to give by placing the yoke of tithing on their shoulders). The poor also need your help. Do both to the best of your abilities

To your tenths oh Nairalanders, what portion has thou

in the house of David?

As you pay tithes (10% of your salary or what ever) also remember the sabbath day to keep it holy!!; and each time a sin is committed by you buy a fat ram ,take it to the church, slaugther it and use its blood to appease God for forgiveness. why should you observe one and neglect the others??

I sincerely believe we should do things according

to how the spirit leads us because we are now  under

the influence of the Spirit  and not of the Law? God will

always direct us on what and when to give both to the

church and also to the needy.

I had a problem once of either paying my tithe or paying

my niece's School fees. My options where if I don't pay my

tithe the work work of god will still go on but if I don't pay

that school fees the innocent girl will be thrown out of school.

Now which one do you think I should do in this circumstance?

I told God in my quiet time that I had my tithe to pay and that

he understands that I can't do both and moreover he can take of

himself but my niece can't so I did the later. So it all boils down to

your agreement with your God if truly you have one.

Still me

Who does your Pastor pay his tithes to?

Hahaha He pays it to his family.

[size=16pt]WHO DOES YOUR PASTOR PAY HIS TITHES TO?[/size]

@ Trinigirl

My name is Dipo Tepede; I administer www.dipotepede.com

I need us to talk on something very important.

Please, kindly get in touch by clicking below:

http://www.dipotepede.com/contact-me/

I pay my tithe and get the benefits, u dont pay and remain stagnant, ur decision, my decision, end of story

@ Ebunwumike,

YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS GIVEN THIS TOPIC THE BEST ANSWER OF THE YEAR. I SUPPORT ALL YOU HAVE SAID. KEEP IT UP. , e just be like say na only you dey listen to God after you read your bible. Enjoy Yourself.

Trini girl

Just wanted to say I appreciate the intelligence and beauty of your posts; of course, I also agree with your doctrinal position that so-called "tithing" is certainly NOT an obligation for Christians. Most people who believe in it have not studied the Bible (on the point) carefully or at all. Many, perhaps multitudes, are misled by so-called "men/women of god" many of whom have questionable motives --- even granted that many teach "tithing" out of sincere error.

We have actually debated this topic extensively and you will find some of the threads somewhere on this site.

A PASTOR PAYS HIS TITHE JUST LIKE EVRY ONE ELSE.(mayb into d tithe box if dats wat use in ur church)
IT SERVES THE SAME PURPOSE AS THAT OF THE ODA MEMBERS,

trinigirl this is one I agree with you wholeheartedly.
The tithes were agricultural products,animal rearers were not expected to tithe.
There were three types of tithing in the old testament and on one type they sat together and ate their tithe?
When was the last time anyone participated in consuming their tithes?

Abraham gave tithes of the spoils of war,I am yet to conquer any wars!!
Please brethren don't let anyone intimidate you and tell you a curse is upon you when you don't tithe.
It is not so!

@babyosisi,

trinigirl this is one I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I have no qualms about this.

The tithes were agricultural products,animal rearers were not expected to tithe.
There were three types of tithing in the old testament and on one type they sat together and ate their tithe?

You are looking at the tithe as practiced under the law of Moses.  the trick is to consider how it was done before the law of Moses came into effect. 

When was the last time anyone participated in consuming their tithes?

Don't we do that eac time we are in church and are fed by the word of God through mediums and materials paid for by our tithes?

Abraham gave tithes of the spoils of war,I am yet to conquer any wars!!

Abraham gave of his increase.  Jacob his son, learning from his father also paid tithes of ALL his increase.  Wasn't Jacob a Shepherd?  Genesis 28:22 - And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Please brethren don't let anyone intimidate you and tell you a curse is upon you when you don't tithe.

So was God intimidating those He said are cursed if they stole what belongs to Him - the tithe?

It is not so!

I disagree.

TITHES ARE COMPULSORY AS LONG AS YOU EARN YOUR INCOME, YOUR TITHE BEING 1/10
OF YOUR INCOME