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freeatlast
12-11-2007, 02:56 PM
Here's an interesting read by a former UPCI Bible school teacher.
What think ye???? To many baptism threads going..less get something else to chew on.
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The Doctrine that Corrupts Utterly


Obligatory Levitical Tithing to support Christian Ministry is the single doctrine with the greatest potential to corrupt Christian Doctrine, the Christian Minister and the Christian Church.

1. It corrupts doctrine utterly because it has no New Testament basis whatsoever.
Ministers patch together a chain of Old Testament scriptures some related, some unrelated to Levitical tithing but none of which have anything whatsoever to do with New Testament giving or finances. These are then used together with a giant “leap of faith” to prove that all Christians should give 10% of their incomes to support the ministry.
2. It corrupts utterly because ministers teach this to new converts who are unsophisticated in Biblical understanding and adopt the practice without question.
Most new converts are eager to learn and eager to do the right thing, and few will question what a minister tells them. All giving is blest of God if it is willingly given. Ministers teach that God will bless those who tithe the New Testament ministry which isn’t said in scripture.
3. It corrupts utterly because it supplants giving through grace as prompted by the Holy Spirit.
Tithing to the New Testament Ministry is neither taught nor commanded in the
New Testament and to teach it as a law to be observed is to deny grace to the same degree that circumcision denied grace. Gal. 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law ; ye are fallen from grace. A minister who preaches grace on every point about salvation, etc., but preaches obligatory levitical tithing to the ministry is a legalist and is not truly a preacher of grace. He talks grace from one side of his mouth and law from the other.
4. It corrupts ministers by creating avarice.
Greed quickly manifests itself when every potential new person is regarded as adding his 10% increase to the minister’s income. Few men if any can resist the temptation to get more and spend more when one may make up the difference by just increasing the numbers of converts or by Jawboning and instilling in the convert the concept that salvation is paid for by “financial cooperation” with “God’s plan.”
5. It corrupts ministers by fostering indolence.
Hardly any minister can resist the temptation to consider his job a sinecure* by using most of his time for leisure activities, travel, visiting, sports and giving the bare minimum to Christian ministry.
6. It corrupts ministers by encouraging them into extravagance.
When one receives 10% of everyone else’s income rather then a fixed salary he may quickly adjust his spending upwards to equal the income.
7. It corrupts reporting by stifling transparency.
Those who may spend all the tithes rarely if ever are willing to have the spending clearly accounted for. One minister said, “The saints have no right to know how the tithes are spent.”
8. It corrupts giving by transforming Spirit-inspired giving into compulsory paying.
For most families once ten percent of the income is “paid” there is little opportunity left to “give” from the heart as the Spirit leads to the causes God wishes to support.
9. It corrupts doctrine by establishing legalism.
Compulsory and Obligatory Levitical tithing to the ministry has less scriptural support for Christians than the doctrine of circumcision which the Apostles vehemently opposed.
10. It corrupts pulpit ministry by replacing Spirit-inspired preaching with jawboning to pay tithes.
Any shortages in support can quickly be blamed upon unfaithfulness and then haranging the saints about tithing becomes the remedy.
11. It corrupts ministers by establishing ministerial judgmentalism of laymen.
Ministers who are to “feed the flock of God” begin to divide them into two classes, those who deserve to be fed and those who don’t.
12. It corrupts Christian equality by establishing a hierarchy in the Body of Christ.
Heb 7:7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. Clearly it is less important people who pay tithes to more important people. The payers are the lesser, the receivers are the better.
13. It corrupts church government by making ministers “Lords over God’s heritage.”
Ministers have been commonly known to terrorize the entire church with cajoling and threats in regard to non-payment of Levitical Tithes.
14. It corrupts the priesthood of all believers by establishing a “clergy-class.”
Since the receivers are in a class by themselves, the “clergy-class,” the remainder of all the people is in the “non-clergy-class.”
15. It corrupts fairness by causing pastors to reduce all evaluation to a “single-issue”.
The many points of good in men are usually overlooked when the minister determines they do not pay tithes. Good men have been separated from the body of Christ by ministers who find them guilty of one point. Some men are prevented by the Holy Spirit from giving to an unworthy cause. These men are then judged to be faithless.
16. It corrupts giving by turning giving into taxation.
Giving comes from a willing heart but tithing is demanded regardless of whether it is willingly paid or not. Nothing given without willingness is accepted by God. But tithing is accepted by the Minister, regardless.

freeatlast
12-11-2007, 02:56 PM
CONTINUED

17. It corrupts love among believers when ministers use it to set member against member.
Ministers have often used this to turn members against each other, or to turn the members who pay against any who do not pay. We extend mercy to the weak in other areas, but not to the weak in giving who are deemed unworthy of membership for “not cooperating”.
18. It corrupts freedom from guilt when ministers use “false guilt” to motivate the body of Christ.
Since tithing is a Levitical doctrine, not a Christian doctrine, any guilt stirred up for not paying them is false guilt.
19. It corrupts grace by imposing a doctrine every bit as legalistic as circumcision upon the body of Christ.
The Seventh-day Sabbath and the doctrine of circumcision have more New Testament support than Obligatory Levitical Tithing. Gal 3:Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? We are saved because God judges us saved. But we are judged faithful in giving only if man judges us to have paid tithes.
20. It corrupts honesty when it causes dedicated funds to be spent for undesignated causes.
Since all the Levitical tithes are said to belong to the ministry, the church must be supported by additional giving, or, what is worse, by the expenditure of funds given in dedication for other causes, a clear example of misuse.
21. It corrupts biblical exegesis when it causes ministers to ignore what the Bible really says to to accept the spurious sources for belief in tithing that have been produced in the Christian era.
One must ignore the fact that neither Jesus nor the Apostles ever received tithes, and the additional fact that obligatory tithing to the ministry was instituted in Christianity six centuries after Christ and the Apostles by the Council of Tours, 567, and by pseudo-authentic documents such as The Didache and The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles. The use of these spurious sources proves that there is no Biblical source.
22. It corrupts all who judge by it because it uses one’s “ears” and “eyes” to judge the salvation of others just as much as does belief in the evidence doctrine.
Cooperation with Obligatory Levitical tithing is so easily traceable that those who pass judgment on the tithers, by simply judging “figures”, are prone to misjudge as to whether the tithes paid are truly a tenth, or whether any kind of payment truly constitutes faithfulness. Judging finances leaves out faithfulness in prayer, etc.. Good men have been sorely misjudged and separated from the body without just cause simply because they are judged by fallible men. We know no more about one’s inner faithfulness than we do one’s inner salvation by the payment of Levitical tithes.
23. It corrupts the idea of God because it makes God to appear to be what he is not.
Jn 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. God is not a paymaster exacting his percentage from every person. He is rather a giver of grace who can inspire the gift of everything from those who love him.
24. It corrupts church government by fostering nepotism.
The certain income from tithers is often so lucrative it is considered to be almost chattel property which can be bought, sold, or bequethed to one’s relatives. Most often, sons succeed fathers as the recipients of the tithing of churches whether called to such or not.
25. It corrupts tithe-payers by creating the pride of having “done all I am required to do.”
Jesus said “When you have done all, say to yourselves, I am an unworthy servant.”
26. It corrupts members by causing those members to judge non-payers as being non-members.
When tithes is preached as the basic minimum entrance requirement, the lack of it becomes the one disqualifying fault.
27. It corrupts everyone by becoming an “unending” source for which little or nothing must be done.
Once people have committed to obligatory tithing, ministers shame them if they ever decide to withhold tithing when the cause no longer justifies Holy-Ghost inspired giving.
28. It corrupts openness and honesty by creating guardedness rather than transparency on the part of the spender.
Since Pastors believe the tithes belong to them alone, those who have overspent seldom throw open the books for inspection.
29. It corrupts evangelism by introducing into it the profit motive.
Neither Jesus nor the Apostles ever viewed a convert as a potential source of profit
30. It corrupts ministers who distort the Levitical tithe by converting it from produce to cash and from being payable to the Levites during four of every seven years to being required to be paid to the Christian Minister every year.
If it is Biblical to collect Levitical Tithes for Christian Ministers, they should be collected in the Levitical way, the Levites did not get the third, the sixth and the seventh year’s tithes.

*Sinecure, a lavishly supported Christian occupation with few responsibilities.

Encryptus
12-11-2007, 03:03 PM
Personally, I agree that tithing is not a heaven or hell issue.

(Yes I do tithe and believe it releases blessings in the lives of those who do)

But really, if that is the single biggest threat to Christianity then we are in GREAT shape!

Woohoo!!

:horn:horn

BTW it also show ignorance of OT teaching on tithes...

freeatlast
12-11-2007, 03:17 PM
Personally, I agree that tithing is not a heaven or hell issue.

(Yes I do tithe and believe it releases blessings in the lives of those who do)

But really, if that is the single biggest threat to Christianity then we are in GREAT shape!

Woohoo!!

:horn:horn

BTW it also show ignorance of OT teaching on tithes...



I agree. I just thought it was an interesting read..for those who enjoy perusing the more weightier threads. :rudolph

James Griffin
12-11-2007, 03:19 PM
I agree. I just thought it was an interesting read..for those who enjoy perusing the more weightier threads. :rudolph

Dude, that was not exactly lighter reading LOL, but it was entertaining.

Bro-Larry
12-11-2007, 09:36 PM
Wow!! FAL, I think you covered that subject pretty good.

Scott Hutchinson
12-11-2007, 09:43 PM
Certainly the NT.teaches one to give and to support the ministry but I don't find the tenth taught as a binding amount to give in the NT.
But a tenth is reasonable I believe any sincere Christian will want to give and support their local assembly with their finances.

Praxeas
12-11-2007, 09:43 PM
First of all I have to say this is sad...

The reason is most of the "points" are subjective and unproven opinion. Very few scriptures are even used. Whether or not Tithing is biblical is an academic point that can be discussed by discussing scriptures. But most of these statements are or seem to be pure speculation and opinion and not fact.

Who was the author anyways?

Scott Hutchinson
12-11-2007, 09:47 PM
I posted this link once before ,but I think this is worth looking into.
http://precious-testimonies.com/exhortations/p-t/shouldwetithe.htm

Michael The Disciple
12-11-2007, 09:56 PM
First of all I have to say this is sad...

The reason is most of the "points" are subjective and unproven opinion. Very few scriptures are even used. Whether or not Tithing is biblical is an academic point that can be discussed by discussing scriptures. But most of these statements are or seem to be pure speculation and opinion and not fact.

Who was the author anyways?

I thought it was good. Since there are no New Testament scriptures for tithing that accounts for the fact little scripture is used.

Praxeas
12-11-2007, 10:29 PM
I thought it was good. Since there are no New Testament scriptures for tithing that accounts for the fact little scripture is used.
Then just limit it to THOSE scriptures....the rest is opinion. If I said President Bush has a propeller that comes out of his rear end and it flies him to his ranch in Texas would you all say that was good too? This "study" that supposedly shows it corrupts utterly is nothing more than assertions, no facts to support it. How can you all say it's good?

If I ran down a list of 40 reasons why being on the internet will corrupt utterly your souls to hell and not offer proof of any of them except maybe 3 verses out of the 40 "points" would you all hand you brains over to me and say "that was good Praxeas...Im getting off the internet"?

I'm sorry to say but what was posted was nothing more than asserted speculation and opinion. There was hardly an attempt to support any of them and only a hand full of scriptures. My point isn't that he did not have enough scriptures...my point is out of all that he posted a scriptural point made up like 5 percent of it...the rest was just his opinion. You can all agree with his opinion but that does not make it fact. We can all agree that such and such pastor is a low down good for nothing, but unless there is proof of that we are just blowing hot air

Sept5SavedTeen
12-11-2007, 11:25 PM
I was just talking with my sister, who goes to a UPC church, today, about tithing. The indep church I go to doesn't teach tithing, and giving is a lot less pressured, since there is a box in the back of the church for giving. I told my sister it was not my intention to convince her NOT to tithe, that tithing is fine, but I told her I no longer believe it is NT-doctrine, and that giving has been far more rewarding for me than tithing. Well, my sister wants to know more, and I am so glad for all GOD is doing in my life in shedding light on this area and setting me free from legalism. But it is not my desire at all to try to debate others on this issue, but to testify of what GOD has done in my life, and to encourage others to look to the Bible and NT Church to find the answers to such questions as what we ought to do with the matter of tithing.

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex