Christians may disagree on many aspects of their faith, such as which spiritual gifts we get, or whether the earth is young or old. And some may say that the issue of tithing, the paying of 10 percent of one’s income, is just another issue on which there is disagreement. In fact, according the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) article titled, “Evangelical Leaders say Tithing Not Required” dated April 6 2011,  58 percent of evangelical leaders say the Bible does not require a tithe, while 42 percent do. Through my posts I intend to show that this particular topic is more than just a topic for which there is disagreement. I intend to show that the teaching of tithing is potentially very harmful to a lot of people and also to the Christian church in America.

The foundation for my argument is that I believe tithing for Christians is false, as summarized below:

• Tithing in the Bible never consisted of money, even though the people had money. For example Joseph, in Genesis, was sold for 20 pieces of silver.
• Many tithe teachers point to Abraham’s tithe of the spoils of war to Melchizedek as instructional for Christians today. However, in the narrative there is no instruction from God for Abraham to do this. There is no record of Abraham paying tithes to anyone before or after this incident. There is no pattern of tithing on an on-going basis, only a one-time tithe on a special event. Also, a fact in this story that is ignored by tithe teachers is that Abraham paid the other 90% of his war gains to Sodom.
• The only instruction from God for anyone to tithe is in the Old Testament Law, which does not apply to New Covenant Christians. Tithing in the Old Testament Law only consisted of food and produce from God’s holy land, not money. In addition to the rules of what tithing consisted of, there were many rules on who was to pay it, who received it and what they were to do with it. Sadly, Christian tithing of money is taught today as God’s command, but does not meet any of the rules God specified.
• Tithing is not taught at all in the New Testament (which officially begins after Jesus’ death on the cross). If tithing is so important, then why didn’t Paul, Peter or James mention it?

One argument that tithe proponents use as sort of a trump card, is the story of the widow’s two coins found in Mark Chapter 45 and Luke Chapter 21. They say that Jesus commended the widow because she gave everything she had. However, to say that Jesus commended her is inferring a meaning from the text that is not there. I believe the context in which this story is told shows that Jesus was, in fact, very distressed at the current religious system that was devouring widows’ houses. John MacArthur explains this very well in his video titled, “Abusing the Poor.”

There are several good books and web sites where you can find out more detailed information regarding what the Bible says about tithing. One such site is Should the Church Teach Tithing? by Dr. Russell Kelly.