A thought on tithing

[AreYouReady?]

Originally Posted by seekerman

I have to disagree. The pattern was to keep the gathering of the church in a house to house venue, not evolving the meeting of the church into a revised modernist Old Testament temple/priesthood system. God instructed a place for his dwelling within the people in the Old Testament system with a priesthood hierarchy within that system, but just the opposite is taught in the New Testament system. There is no 'house of God' in which to meet any more. No 'house of God' to build, maintain and support and no priesthood system to receive tithes and offer sacrifices for the people.

Yet we see that the church has evolved into such a system, mainly because of the Romanist influence which still permiates the protestant religious system. There's instruction on the church meeting, ongiving, on christian life, on prayer, on the five fold ministry, on the operating of the gifts of the spirit.....all within the body of Christ. We have a fairly clear understanding of how the church which immediately followed Jesus operated and to attempt to add to that a form of the Old Testament system has no scriptural support.

If one were interested, I suggest doing a study on the early church. What you'll find is there was no clergy/laity building-based, 'house of God' religious or economic system until the Romanists introduced it a couple of hundred years after Christ.

The thread was on tithing and the question arose concerning if a person were to tithe, where does one pay the tithe since the Old Testament system is dead and gone to live no more. The common answer is to pay it into the 'church', but the 'church' which is receiving the tithe isn't the church of the New Testament. It's a system, introduced by the Romanists, which has attempted, very successfully I might say, to reintroduce a Old Testament religious system within the body of Christ. The tithe is used to support a building-based system where much of the financial giving is to support a building which many demand to be the biggest and best because it's falsely referred to as 'the house of God' and is used two or three times a week at best. The rest of the time this 'house of God' sits dark and unused. Along with this building-based 'house of God' system there is introduced to the real church, the assembly, a modified Old Testament priesthood system. Depending on the christian religious sect, this modified Old Testament priesthood system is presented to the real church, the body of believers, the assembly, as having the power to control them, as being a priest over them and to also receive the tithe.

Again, this isn't about not tithing or giving, this is about where to give. It's not support a man made building-based 'house of God' religious system, it's to do as is instructed in scripture. Support the ministry. Give to the widows and orphans. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked. But don't give to support a type of religious system which God destroyed 2000 years ago.