Subject: Thithing loan |
Bible Note: Hello beautybees! As Doc says: its hard to answer a incomplete question. However, I will try to be as enlightening as I can. To begin, we must understand one of the greatest problems in the church today which is, we have been misled by the translators in calling what is called The Gospels in the New Testament and therefore making church doctrine from them. The Lord was speaking to Israel about the Kingdom of David; and earthly kingdom and its restoration if they would repent and believe He was the Messiah the prophets spoke of. Israel at that time was yet under the Mosaic laws including the keeping of Ten Commandments and all other things Moses commanded. He said to His disciples one day: "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do" (Matt. 23:2-3). Are we to do as the Pharisee say; keep the Sabbath, pay a tithe, and make animal sacrifices? Give a writing of divorce to our wife if she doesn’t please us. Without doubt, by questioning the paying of a tithe, some will respond by asking, are you saying we should not pay the pastor a salary? But it might be asked: where was it ever said by anyone that the pastor should be paid a tithe of our income? What is being said is, nowhere in the NT is it said that we are to give 10 percent of our income to anyone. The teaching of the apostle Paul who founded the present church and Dispensation of Grace never fixed any figure as to what believers are to give. He said we are to give freely as the Lord has blessed us, and according to our conscience. We are not under the Mosaic Law. Paul said to the Corinthians church: “So let each one give as he purposes in his own heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). If Paul believed we are to pay a tithe surely he would have mentioned it along with the above. Acts 15:28-29 give us the necessities for this dispensation where nothing is mentioned about a tithe, Sabbath keeping, or any such things. Is the church composed of 12 tribes? If as the Amillennialists claim, we are the new Israel, to be consistent then, the church should be divided into 12 tribes. The tithe for the 11 tribes was for the upkeep of the tribe of Levi, who had no allotment of land in Israel when it was divided. And to be even more consistent, where is the allotment of lands for the eleven tribes of the church? Are they in America, or Israel, or if we are the kingdom, the world? The irrational and ridiculous can easily be seen when we turn the Scriptures into such fantasies through the amillennial or dispensational teaching who both sanction the present division of the Old and New Covenants. If it were figuratively said that Abraham the father of the faithful including us referred to as the spiritual children of Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek, then we should do the same. Where did Abraham give any of his money? What Abraham gave was 10 percent of what he recovered that belonged to his nephew Lot, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. Things that had been taken by king Chedorlaomer and those kings with him (Gen. 14:16-20). It is clear that that incident cannot be used as grounds for believers paying a tithe today. At the time the Lord ministered before the cross, the present assembly of Christ was yet a mystery (Eph. 3:1-9). No doubt my remarks will raise many questions that need to be answered. But I cannot answer a question that someone hasn’t asked. So please ask for an explanation of any whatever you wish and I will try to answer it. It might help if one read Gal. 2:2, 7-9 where Paul explained his gospel to the 12 before him. The meeting is amplified in Acts ch. 15 where the 12 gave their opinion of what kind of behavior is expected of us today; the Gentile believers. It is plain that in the above meeting of the 12 with Paul the 12 were yet offering the kingdom to Israel which we cannot do today and nowhere did they including Peter ever establish a Gentile church, that is what Paul was called for. And by the way, the New Covenant (Testament) started with the book of Acts (Heb. 9:14-22). Neither did Peter start the present assembly of Christ on the Day of Pentecost or any other day. In His grace Movingon |