Church Stewardship & Tithing Report

You know of anyone who has been addicted to drugs? I’ve had a couple family members that had been on drugs for quite some time. It’s a sad thing to see. The worst part happens when they need a fix and can’t get their hands on their drugs. They break out in sweat while worry, fear, anger, and panic overcome them. Manipulation and rage are usually the consequences of their complete dependence. For those of you who might not understand; your brother or your sister, whom you’ve known your whole life, might as well be your enemy. They will do the most vile and manipulative things to you and your family in order to get their fix. My cousin (who is dead now), at one time stole all his brothers and sister’s presents on Christmas eve and sold them to buy his drugs! I don’t want to go on an anti-drug rant here, but i do want to show you the affects of addiction.

Many times, in my discussions about tithing, i get a lot of comments about how all the churches would close their doors and all the pastors would leave if we did not have tithing. They feel that the survival of the Church is completely dependent upon the enforcement of the tithing law. Without this tithing law, the church would just shrivel up into nothing. Just the thought of getting rid of tithing causes panic.

Many are so absorbed into the enforcement of the tithing law, that they do not even realize that they are many examples in the bible of ministries thriving without any signs of the tithing being enforced. As a matter of fact, there’s no sign of tithing in the new testament to support any ministry. Not that the absence of tithing is argument for my beliefs, but the fact that people can’t believe the Church can operate without tithing is ignorance to me.

These people are so addicted to tithing that they will come up with the most manipulative things to say in order to get you to tithe. They will threaten you with excommunication, curses from God, and even losing your salvation.

I have enough to worry about with my own finances let alone worrying about some church keeping open their doors.

Let me share a part of my testimony. I lived in a home and a church that always tithed, so as i grew up, i did so as well; even without question. So as i was confronted with the challenge to defend tithing, i began study on my own what the bible had to say. My mind quickly changed about what i believed about tithing.

Although i knew tithing was not commanded, i struggled with the truth for a while. It took me a while to get over the shallow guilt and my conscience. As i look back, it’s sad to see the bondage that i was under. As a former addict, I truly felt that i was a slave, and now i finally feel how it is to be free.

One look at the bible, and you can tell that money is an important subject. It is the most talked about subject in the bible. Because of the bible’s emphasis on finances, and the ability for materialism and money to corrupt, i began to feel that tithing is probably the number one vice of the church. I began to see how churches were so addicted money and the power of tithing to produce it. It is almost as if they would go through withdrawal if tithing were relinquished.

Why is the Church so addicted to money? Is tithing our way of manipulating our brothers and sisters every week so that way we can get our fix? Not that money is evil but can you and i really live off of every word from the mouth of God, or must we feed the money monster ever week in order to get through our withdrawals? I don’t know, you tell me!