Sean, my beloved brother, while I have no desire to minimize your belief that compulsory tithing is not an integral element of God's covenant of grace, nevertheless I believe it needful to remind you of these words of admonition:
"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things" (see
Romans 2:1, KJV).
I reference this particular scriptural passage as a basis for saying this to you:
Unless you have already attained a state of absolute "perfection" in your efforts to "walk" upright in "righteousness" and "holiness" before and with God (and if you're truly honest, then you must admit, as I, that we're just not quite there yet), then I would suggest that you exercise caution, considering your own self and your short-comings before electing to condemn the actions of others with which you might not agree. In this regards I would remind you of our Lord's admonition concerning such:
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye" (see
Matthew 7:3-5, KJV).
It is possible to express one's disagreement about a specific aspect of a matter in a way that does not "come across" as condemnation, or appear to present oneself as being the judge of others whose beliefs and actions we may not agree with.
Therefore it is with a profound sense of sadness that I feel compelled to say to you, and this publicly, but with sincerity and loving-kindness ...
Your comments so far concerning "tithing," especially your opposition thereto, has not served to present yourself to others as one who emulates the "righteousness" of God, for even by His own admission, He did not manifest Himself to mankind to condemn, but to reconcile us to Himself.
I encourage you to think on these things.
Just saying
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