Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

I just finished the book, “Tithing: Low-Realm, Obsolete & Defunct” by Matthew E. Narramore. Overall this was a good and informative book. After you’ve read so many books and heard so many sermons on tithing that you hear so much of the same expository notes. But there were some new insights in this book, as well as some old insights that were said well.

What Narramore says about tithing, in that it is low realm obsolete and defunct is in principle saying what pro tithers themselves have been saying but not admitting. What do i mean tithers “say” that tithing is low realm? Well, considering they claim that tithing is for new believers to start at, then i would assume that their opinion is that tithing is low realm for a majority of people. If a majority of people cannot be governed by a tithe, then why make it a stepping stone into the financial courts of stewardship? When tithing was introduced to Israel in the law it wasn’t introduced as a beginner’s course.

So enough about Israel and the law. What About Abraham? Here’s are some things about what Narramore had to say:

“Consider Abraham’s relationship with God compared to our relationship with God through Christ:

• Abraham had not been baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit
• Abraham had not been born again and spiritually re-created with God’s own divine nature in him.
• Abraham was not a son of God with the same standing as Jesus Christ in God’s family.
• Abraham was not the temple of God. God did not dwell in him.
• Abraham id not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead him.
• Abraham did not have access to all authority in heaven and earth through the name of Jesus”

Narramore had mentioned more than this, but i thought these were the strongest points. I enjoyed the overall tone of Narramore’s book. It really focused on Spirit-led giving. I guess first of all it broke down tithing and then topped it off in the end with how Spirit-led giving should replace these low-realm, obsolete, and defunct standards of giving.

Another portion of Narramore’s book says this,

“Sons of God have the nature of their Father. They also share his objectives. They live to accomplish his desires, not something separate of their own. That is why they don’t need laws, rules, and principles of giving. They don’t need a standard of 10 percent because they have already committed 100 Percent. . . They aren’t locked into a mindless routine like tithing because they have the Spirit of God in them who is greater and wiser than any generic system of giving. . . Children and servants cannot live like sons. . . [servants] they have to be told what to do. They have to be regulated and monitored by others. They must have laws to direct them and punishments to reprove them. They must have rewards to motivate them. They haven’t internalized the family objective so they have to be treated as hirelings.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:14)

That was said so well, so what more could I add? Matthew Narramore truly understands the spiritual implications of tithing. Once the spiritual deficiencies of tithing have been enlightened in someone’s eyes, there is no turning back to tithing. You received the same feeling when you converted to Christ. It was almost a feeling of, “Oh! Now i see!” Once you get that revelation in your mind, there is no possible way you can reject it. You also begin to wonder how you never saw this before. Here’s another excerpt to explain it more:

“Sons of God have the same relationship to the Father that Jesus has. Since tithing is not part of Jesus’ relationship, now that he has been resurrected, it is not part of their relationship. Since they are one with Jesus, they don’t tithe to him either. They are joint owners of all things together with Christ by their spiritual union. Tithing was ordained for a different kind of relationship with God-not for sons.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; (Romans 8:17)

I have one more quote that i will put here but i want to emphasize that we are joint owners, and we have the same spiritual union with God as Jesus His Son. So how does profound relationship with God effect our giving to Him? I believe our giving should reflect the same way that Jesus Christ gave of himself. Here’s the last quote:

“Christians will be immature as long as they are kept under laws. Following laws will keep them from learning how to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. In order for them to grow up, someone must take away the carnal things they rely on to direct their lives.”

How can tithing be carnal and immature? Simply because our giving is not governed by the Holy Spirit. Instead it is regulated by the standards of mankind.

Think of tithing as a security blanket for the one giving the tithe and the one receiving the tithe. First, as the one giving the tithe, it is easy to appease the conscience once you’ve reached the mark that your peers are all shooting for as well. Second, for the receiver, it is more comfortable to rely on a consistent amount of income. You don’t have to worry about the Spirit calling people to give elsewhere. All you have have to do is make sure they understand that tithing is a minimum requirement and there you have a stable offering to budget from. After all who really lives by faith anyways?

So the book is called, “Tithing: Low Realm, Obsolete, & Defunct”. You can purchase it at the website here. What are your thoughts on Matthew E. Narramore’s book?

Man, i’ve been so busy lately. Finally I feel like i have a moment to write about the chapter on tithing in Pagan Christianity by George Barna & Frank Viola. I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. If i had the time, i would have read it from front cover to back cover in one sitting- all 275 pages. There are many people out there that are against tithing, but not as many understand the spiritual, as well as functional discrepancies that tithing creates within the church. Frank Viola understands the discrepancies and portrays them in this book very well.

The whole theme of Pagan Christianity is an exploration of the roots of our church practices. Frank Viola goes through a whole list of things, and of course the topic of tithing was the most exciting for me to read. Let’s just get to the meat. Viola says,

“Under the Old Testament system, tithing was good news to the poor. However, in our day, mandatory tithing equals oppression to the poor. Not a few poor Christians have been thrown into deeper poverty because they have felt obligated to give beyond their means.”

The church has not only wrongfully integrated the tithe into the Church system today, but they’ve taken away the power to its most essential blessing- to take care of the poor. First, the Church budget and its wants are put in position above the needs of the poor. Second, we require the poor to contribute 10% of the little money that they have, which worsens their situation. Let’s face it, i know God is all powerful, but he hasn’t promised a never ending supply of oil and flour to the poor, because he’s given us a responsibility to care for them ourselves.

This next quote from Pagan Christianity talks about clergy salaries and raises a very good point. I had never thought about this until it was mentioned here,

“A further peril of the paid pastorate is that it produces clergy who feel “stuck” in the pastorate because they believe they lack employable skills. . . All of the schooling and training had been dedicated to studying and preaching the Bible. While these skills are noteworthy, they are of limited appeal in the secular job market. The major hurdle they now face is forging a new career to support their families.”

Guaranteed, steady salaries that employ full time pastors can create many stumbling blocks. The above mentioned is one of them. Some things to think about. One, should pastors be a full time staff member, so that when the time comes to leave the ministry, that they can provide for their family with some experience in practical skills? Two, does their steady income and lack of practical skills keep them locked in the ministry regardless if God is calling them out? What if ministers are asked to step out because of sin, or whatever else? Then what? Tell me what you think?

I had recently written a blog post about a book by Bill Clinton called “Giving”. It interested me to write about this again because of the tax returns that had surfaced showing the giving records of the Clinton’s. It somewhat amazed me that his giving had been below the tithe. I don’t understand a person who writes a disciplined book about giving but is sitting on 99 million after only giving 10 million. Some who don’t know, Bill Clinton grossed 109,175,175, and gave 10,256,741, which is just below the 10% mark. You know what another amazing thing is his book income was, $29,580,525!

How can you only give 10 million back when you claim to write an authoritative book about giving? The people that were fooled into buying his book are . . . well. . . just a bunch of suckers. Hey, i’m not a supporter of the tithe minimum when it comes to giving, nor am i a person to talk about how much you are suppose to give, but if you are going to teach others on how to give please, oh please do not rest your fat behind on 99 million and write a book that makes you look like a sacrificing philanthropist.

Here’s a website that displays the statistics of Clintons taxes

How many of you have been out to see the documentary on intelligent design by Ben Stein? I went to see it last week. It was very practical and i enjoyed it. Anyways, that’s not the point of the post here. The point i want to bring here is how the Church amid their tithing rants, and obligatory giving has expelled grace giving. They allow no opportunity for the children of God to use any discernment or spiritual intelligence when it’s time to give. Instead, many pastors preach on Sunday morning, that 10% of your overall income belongs to this organization. No discernment allowed. No Spirit guidance. No and’s, if’s, or but’s about it.

The children of God who are reborn in his Spirit are not allowed to exercise the gift of giving. Churches say that we are allowed to practice Spirit-led giving with offerings, but first we must meet the tithing obligation. Is there any spiritual gift like the gift of giving where we have a minimum requirement before the Spiritual gift takes effect?

Many pastors think that if we were left up to grace giving without a standard to uphold, then everyone would would stop giving. This is not just a judgment on human kind, it is also a judgment on the Spirit of God. Isn’t the Spirit capable of calling and equipping people to perform ministry? There is no command to feed a certain amount of poor people. Also there is no command to witness to a certain amount of unsaved. Neither of these endeavors have ceased just because there is no minimum requirement that we had to meet.

From a science and evolution/creation standpoint it takes an insurmountable amount of faith for scientists to take their reasoning and allow an intelligent being to initiate creation. In the same light it takes faith on behalf of churches and pastors to allow the Holy Spirit to direct people in giving rather than rely on a law that enables a predictable amount of income each week. With grace giving, the amount is unpredictable, and it shows how tithing has been the security blanket for church budgets and pastoral salaries for ages.

Grace giving has been expelled because it makes pastoral salaries, and church budgets nervous. Pastors, if you truly want your congregation to be led by the Spirit, then let’s begin with your pocket book. Church accountant, . . . same thing.

In my many discussions about debates about Tithing, if the debate lasts long enough eventually this question always pops up, “Since you don’t believe in tithing, how much do you give under grace? Is it more than the law or less?” This question is the most ignorant question i receive in the tithing debate. Typically this means that they’ve run out of arguments, or they are sick of repeating the accusation that i am throwing out the Old Testament. This is why i bring you 10 ways to respond when a tither wants to know how much you give, just because you are against tithing.

1. Grace givers could also ask the question about how many of the tithers are actually giving cheerfully and godly? My assumption would be that the percentage is lower than those that give gracefully.

2. What is the average that believing tithers give? According to statistics on barna.org, it doesn’t seem like tithers are giving what they should either.

3. Greed is not biased to those who practice grace giving. May I remind you that Israel fell to the cloak of greed while under the tithing law anyways.

4. The Mormon cult gives more than any religion or denomination but that doesn’t confirm their theology.

5. The steward in Matthew 25 who gave 100% of his 2 talents back to his master was still considered a bad steward.

6. It was only the Pharisees who were interested in shortcomings of others while expressing how they elegantly obeyed the OT requirements.

7. I’ll let God be the one to tell you what He’s received from me.

8. I give nine-and-a-half percent. (just to throw them off)

9. Most of the time I keep 0% of my income. God seems to find a use for all of it.

10. Is it common for you to base scriptural truth on the performance of mankind?

I have just been going bonkers because i am so busy. I have my own business that i work out of my home, and i have clients lining up and calling. I really shouldn’t be writing now, but i think writing helps with stress. I have a few articles about tithing that are lined up ready to post, but i havn’t had the time to really sit down and finalize them. I could write them here and now, but i just feel like writing about miscellaneous stuff to unstrap the stress off my back.

So anyways, i think i just feel like ranting on about time, maybe stewardship of our time. I don’t know maybe i’ll rabbit trail into something else. So yeah, i’ve been busy. there’s no time. i am broke. And i am stressed. I feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually burnt. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that i’m busy with my business, but my business is new, so it’s not like the money is great yet. Last sunday i didn’t give any money to the rest of the church. That’s the first time i’ve done that for a long time. I don’t know. I know i’m really broke, and i know that i have lots of bills coming up. One thing to note, my wife’s pregnant with our first, so that adds to the stress. And then the maternity clothes, the baby stuff, my wife’s income will drop are all adding to the stress.

Just to let you know, i don’t have cable, i don’t have a play station, or wii, or xbox. i don’t have a 42″ plasma flat screen TV. I have one small non-name brand TV that makes a high pitched noise sometimes. I’ve got a 01′ truck without power windows, without power locks, and without leather seats. My wife has a 97′ camry that is dented up, has parts falling off, has different car parts from different cars ( kind of like a Frankenstein car). Amazingly under the hood the camry is better than a rolls royce. Side note: i would recommend a camry to anyone. I live in a 1000 square foot house with a fence around that is broken down and laying in my yard. My grass is brown because i do not have the money to spend to water it.

i guess these are things on my mind at the moment. i guess what you are suppose to do is give them to christ, but it’s not like i just put them in a box, put a UPS sticker on it, and ship it to the pearly gates. I have to admit, my communication with God and in his word has dwindled lately. I guess its been the business. i guess it’s been the busyness.

I was talking with someone the other day. I don’t understand how retired people do nothing all day. that would drive me crazy. maybe its the ADD generation that we live in but i can’t imagine me living the way some retired people do. When i did tiling in a retired couples home one time, i saw that their house was spotless, and immaculate, but there was Mrs. Retiree, dusting away as if there was anything there. I guess later on she had a friend over and they played bridge, but that just looked torturous as well. Mr. Retiree, well, i don’t know where he was or what he was doing but he was in his garage, which was immaculate as well. What is retirement? i would define it as death if there wasn’t such a thing as the end of a heartbeat.

I guess another thing recently on my mind is my wife’s grandfather just passed away on thursday. He was a pearl harbor survivor. He was a tough old guy but had some soft spots.

At this moment I don’t think i know what it means to give your life to Chirst. I’m sure there are those that are astounded at that statement? but i mean when there are new challenges in life, how do you give them to Christ? How would you handle if your spouse or child died? I’m sure you would take the news right away, and just be ok, and in control because that’s in christ’s hands? There are so many new things that jump out at us all the time, and each time, we’ve gotta go through the same process of finding peace, and comfort, and strength in God again. Each new challenge is like a new path that we have never taken before. Granted, my worries mentioned above are not big, by any means, it’s just that the challenge is new, and it is unknown.

I just keep walking down this path, hoping that i will meet God somewhere along the way. I know that i am off course so many times, but there are times that i’ve been off course and i was just wishing that i was on course. i wish God was right there. Someone i could touch. Someone i could just see. Call me a doubting Thomas if you will, but sometimes my flesh wants to feel the tangible. Sure the sun, the moon, nature, the stars are all tangible things of God, but that’s not what i mean. I’m talking about seeing God create the intangible. It’s not enough to just see these things, but i want to see them created. I want to see how God manipulates things with his power. I want to see how he’s moving in my life. I want to see what he’s got prepared for me. I want to see what he’s done, and how he’s done things just for me.

I guess that’s why you call it faith. Faith is probably the most energy draining exercise that mankind performs on his own. Maybe its the only thing that mankind performs without God. I’ve heard the bible say that god is our strength, our refuge, our food, our life, our energy, our foundation, our hope. But i don’t think i’ve ever heard that God is our faith. Maybe this is the only journey that we’ve ever had to carry on our own. I don’t know, i havn’t researched the bible or anything to find out if God says he’s our faith, but right now this seems like the only thing that God has left in our hands.

Of all the things that God left us with to manage it had to be faith. Faith is made up of the things that we can’t see, what we can’t touch, what we can’t hear, smell, or taste. We can’t practice faith with any of our 5 senses, but yet God has left this daunting task in the hands of mortals. I guess God has faith in us.

Maybe that’s the key. I see myself as nothing, hopeless, mindless, clueless, and helpless, but God has faith in us regardless. He showed that he does many, many times. Maybe this is where my faith comes from. If God can invest faith in someone who is unholy, then i can invest my faith in the holy.