A few months ago, I posted an article on the site.  It is written by Gary Amirault and entitled, “The Tithe Is Illegal.”  You can read the article here.

Since posting that article, the traffic to my site has skyrocketed.  There are at least twenty people who visit my site per day as a result of searching for information about tithing.  Setting my own sentiments aside, this type of traffic clearly tells me one thing – there is a growing number of believers who doubt the validity of tithing.  By using the word “tithing,” I mean the belief that all Christians are required to give a minimum of 10% of their gross income (or net income, depending on the group you talk to) as a basis to receive blessing from God.

Ok, I will share my opinion in two statements:

1. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see the practice of tithing demonstrated or required as a fundamental practice of our Christian faith.
2. Followers of Jesus are called to lead lives of extravagant, outrageous giving that includes gifts of time, energy, and sometime money.

As the comments have gone back and forth, one stands out.  It is written by “Doug”:

I agree with what Jim says in that we are to just do as the Holy Spirit directs us. In other words, we just need to get out of God’s way. That includes imposing any sort of required percentage on what we give. Tithing is not a biblical concept for the New Testament believer. Those that preach it do so out of fear and not trusting God, even though they may deny this. Otherwise why would they preach it? Don’t they think that God can speak to every individual heart? So what if people spend their money on latte’s or chocolate, or whatever other indulgence their flesh desires. That is between them and the Lord. What they don’t need is someone teaching a message of guilt and fear to get them to do something different. God will speak to their hearts whether you tell them or not. Preaching guilt results in compulsion and such giving is not glorifying to our Lord. Didn’t the apostle Paul teach that we are not to give out of compulsion. Isn’t making someone feel guilty about buying a latte instead of giving to a church making them compulsory givers? Of course this brings up another point of where did God direct that people are to give to an institution? There is a whole host of issues that this subject brings up.

I don’t mean to be argumentative, but every preacher loves to preach from that one little verse in Micah that says “don’t rob God of the tithes in the storehouse.” Yet, I have yet to hear any preacher teach from Deutoronomy 14 where it basically says to spend it on whatever your heart desires and rejoice before the Lord. It also says to remember the Levite, so I could guess that if someone wanted to twist things around, they could say that pastors are modern day Levites, but that makes no sense since you are a Levite by birth not by personal election. God doesn’t want us twisting His scriptures around to fit our own desires no matter how worthy the cause. God has never been one to teach us that the ends justify the means.

The point is that we need to be free. Jesus came to set us free. Every person is a member of the “priesthood of believers” as stated in Hebrews. The man made pastoral system that is in place today limits people and quiets the voice of the prophets and other saints. People become spectators instead of participants. Our meetings are all geared around one man. It is too easy for heresy to invade a church where only one man can speak the word of God. This is not to criticize the well meaning Godly men who have taken on the title of pastor, but a criticism of the system that perpetuates this unbiblical practice. It is time to let God’s people go. Many pastors are like modern day pharoes who enslave God’s people with fear and trembling and rule them with legalistic requirements. I don’t apologize for coming on strong here because it is the truth.

Here is how I put it to people. What if some remote tribe in a jungle, with no prior human contact, stumbled upon a Bible. They read it from cover to cover, accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. What would their meetings look like? Would they have one man in charge called a pastor? Would they require the tribe members to tithe? Come on folks, its that simple. These are easy answers. We have handed down man made traditions for centuries that have no basis in God’s word. Don’t you think its time to trust and let God’s people go?