Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Here is an investigation by CBS News, looking into the kenneth copeland ministries. Of course you might have to watch a commercial first.

Why did i even click on the advertisement that said, “Tithing Generates Wealth”!!? I knew what was coming. When will it all end? Here is a thumbnail to the right that you can click on to see the full screenshot of the website i came across.

Where do I start and what do i say to this crazy website. Where do you get the idea that tithes and offerings made Abraham wealthy? Another thing it says: “Five simple steps you must take to accumulate massive wealth”. Everyone wants microwave Christianity. Everyone wants microwave wealth. They just want to press a few buttons and presto, out comes a T.V. Dinner. As a matter of fact i was close to naming this post, “microwave Christianity”.

There are principles to wealth in the bible, and tithing and offerings is not one of them. Work hard, gain wisdom, save, invest. . . these are all principles in the bible.

I like chasing rabbits, so here goes one kind of off topic. I am sick of hearing the word, “seed”. i wanna puke every time i hear that word in the prosperity message. “sow your seed here”, “sow your seed there”. Makes me want to scream.

So back from the rabbit trail. Probably the next “worse” thing about this website is, (well its all bad at the same degree, so all of it is “worse”) that they have this annoying, never-ending popup that doesn’t want to go away. It says, “STOP RIGHT THERE” and then rambles on about your blessing you are promised. It’s not like the website itself is horrific enough. If that doesn’t give you nightmares, you’ll be dreaming of popups chasing you all night that won’t go away.

I should come up with a list of top 10 most annoying things of prosperity websites. One of them would be the paypal donation button at the bottom. As a matter of fact, i am going to come up with a top 10 list. Has anyone come across any other horrific websites?

I just added another blog to my “blogroll” section on the right hand side. The website is called Free Good News. I’ve read some of author’s (Bernie Dehler) articles before on his website, and would have loved to add him before, but i didn’t realize until today that he published his articles in a blog format.

He writes about many of the same issues in the church that this website is concerned about. The main thing is he is a voice against the tithing mandate as well. What brought his website to my attention today was an article that he had posted, “2008 Salary Review of the Top 20 Christian Ministries“. He posted a list of some financial figures. Go to his website to find out the details but here is a screenshot summary of the finances.

So what are your thoughts on the numbers here? My first reaction is that’s a lot of money, i wonder where it goes? By the way does anyone know of any other Christian, financial/stewardship blogs out there?

Remember that old song that used to be sung, “Give me that old time religion”? I’m kind of curious as to why that person wrote that song. Did that person like old way of things or was ministry much simpler than it had been before. There’s one thing for certain is that its much more complicated now.

I keep myself involved in forums, blogs, groups and debates about the tithing subject. So I come across many questions about tithing here and there. I came across this challenge. Someone asked me to support my reasons for freewill, spirit-led giving. They said that much of the support that they’ve heard came from verses that talked about giving offerings to foreign lands for missions, and that this had nothing to do with support for local ministry. They believed tithing should be in place to support the local ministry. They disagreed with my stance that spirit-led giving to lead the way for church support not tithing.

I’ve been realizing more and more that i have to use the old testament in order to proclaim what is right for the new testament. I have much to learn, but i’m starting to wonder if you can’t support a new testament thought without old testament proof, then you ought to question your thoughts. For instance if i can’t prove from the OT that the tithe is not relevant to the church then i ought to reconsider my thoughts.

There are three areas in the old testament that i use to support freewill, spirit-led offerings for the new testament. One of them digs into the conditional tithing covenant of Jacob, the other deals with the freewill gifts given on the OT day of Pentecost. Finally the one i am going to get into below is the passage in Exodus 35:20-35. I used this passage below to answer how freewill, spirit-led offerings can support local ministry. The passage below is about 15 verses, but you only need to read a couple to see what i’m referrring to:

Exodus 35:20 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD. Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or hides of sea cows brought them. Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the LORD, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it. Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers.

To me, this is a beautiful picture of how God intends his Church to function. Israel was not commanded to tithe until they settled in the promised land, so this passage is prior to the tithe requirement. How many times is willing in there? How many times is freewill mentioned? How many times does it mention that God has filled his people with gifts and skills and abilities? This passage proves that God is capable of equipping his people to finance and support the local ministry of God without incorporating the structure of the law to do it. We act as if the church’s hands will be tied behind our back if we don’t require tithing. Can it get any more plain than this? Can we stop whining about how people need to tithe, when actually we just have people that are not willing to listen to the Spirit of God.

I don’t know about you, but I want this old time religion. The question is are you and i willing? So what about you? Do you think this passage portrays a good example for us to follow today?

I am not a scholar, nor am i a pastor. I don’t have a PhD nor do i have experience as a teacher.  I don’t know the “theological big word” definitions of hermeneutics, homiletics, or exegesis. I couldn’t even tell you if i just spelled them right. I am the normal, every day joe schmoe when it comes to theology. Most would put me in the category of laymen. I don’t think my opinion matters more than a man who has a PhD and has 30 years experience as a senior pastor, but i don’t think that my opinion matters less either. At this point i don’t know why i’m sharing my thoughts here about this, but it’s just something that came to my mind, so here we go.

I don’t know how many others out there feel left out when the Christian conversations start progressing towards the “theological big words”. I don’t think i get in many conversations with those words as much as i read these big words from the pages of scholars who write them. I’m not saying that there is no relevancy to understanding these definitions, but i think i appreciate the more practical communication. i like parables. i like applications. Its very simple, and very practical.

I couldn’t tell you that Jesus sat down with his pupils during a course study and spoke a lesson to his disciples about homiletics (is that even a word?).  There were no university’s offering a masters of divinity. There was no doctorate of theology. You were either a disciple or follower of Jesus, or you were not.

Right now, many random thoughts are just coming to my mind. Like why spend 10 years in college? Why spend many thousands of dollars on these degrees? How is all this practical? How does all this help? Well, if life is just a vapor, what’s your opinion? I realize that these questions have very legitimate answers, and i don’t want to belittle any of the causes here. I don’t know, maybe i’m just trying to comfort some self doubt in my mind right now, because i am just the average joe schmoe. My vast use of vocabulary comes from just a small little town in eastern Pennsylvania. It doesn’t come from any dictionary’s or theology courses.  I did graduate with a bachelor’s degree, and i consider myself more fortunate than most.

I didn’t feel like writing about finances, stewardship, or tithing in this post. I just wanted to share some of my personal thoughts that have been running through my mind recently.

How practical do you think theology is these days? i’m not necessarily talking about what your pastor thinks of practical theology, but i’m asking you about your personal life. What is your own definition of practical theology in perspective of your own experience and own knowledge? Do you think the majority of theology out there today is practical?