To tithe or not to tithe - that is the question.

Have you ever really done a word search on tithing?

No?

Hmm, I hadn't either.

I had been taught growing up that God wanted us to tithe, he would bless you if you did, you needed to have a good attitude about it, and you tithed 10% of your income to your God which really meant your home church offering plate. I mean basic right? I think through the years that has pretty much been the standard tithe teaching.

Well, you see I've never tithed for much of my independent life for two main reasons. First, it's taken me a long time to get use to being payed every other week, and never the exact same amount - talk about annoying. Secondly, being a nurse I've worked a lot of weekends, and in the past several years I've also moved a lot so my commitment level in any church post college has been about zero. You can jump on my back and say how God is going to dry up my well like I lived in the desert, and he might, but I guess that's for me to find out.

Sunday I was put on call for work, so I didn't have to go in, and I was thinking that I would really like to start tithing. Now I know this is a long story, but I've been working through a lot of stuff relating to God and religion, and I decided that I wanted to know what the Bible had to say about tithing. Everything it had to say. I mean when should you tithe? Where should you tithe?  What should you tithe? Whom should receive your tithe? Why should you tithe?

I pulled out my Zonderman's (massive) Concordance, and flipped to the "t's". What I found surprised me.

First off.

Most of the references to tithing are in the Old Testament. There are no New Testament references that indicate the method, that is entirely found in the OT. The NT references mainly deal with the Pharisees using tithing wrongly, once again NT really hits on our heart attitude.

What I found so surprising was the little I really knew about the history of the tithe. The tithe was a provision that the Lord made for the tribe of Levi who's only occupation was to be in the care of the temple and ministry of the Lord. They received no other inheritance such as the other tribes did, the tithe was their inheritance. Out of that tithe the priests tithed 10% to the high priest.

Even more interesting was that in Deuteronomy (I believe- it's late I'll look it up again tomorrow) it talks about how every year the Lord would declare where you were to bring your tithe (it could be anywhere in the land), with every 3rd year being a time where your tithe was put in a store house for the Levities. The Lord states the the purpose of tithing was to give you the "fear" of the Lord. Interesting!! And that He had the Israelites use their tithe when they reached the place for the offering to have a celebration. They consumed their tithe as a sign of acknowledgement to the Lord - crazy!! He then reminds the people about the poor, helpless, widowed, orphans, and Levities. It's an interesting section and one of the most in depth about how tithing really looked "in the real world".

If you take the OT sections on tithing then look at the NT through that lens it makes an interesting picture. Nowhere is there a picture of our modern day tithing.

Now I'm not saying we shouldn't tithe. Jesus didn't abolish that, however it is all about the heart attitude, and not tied to putting a check in the plate every week. What about a tithe of having a widow over for dinner and using your tithe money to bless her? Or how about using your tithe to sponsor a child? I'm also not saying that we shouldn't support the pastors who serve us, but maybe there is more.

I guess it just goes to show what a little word study can do for you! It saddens my heart though to think of how many years I have had a totally wrong idea about tithing. How often have you heard teaching from the pulpit that says maybe we have it wrong? Ah, never. Maybe this tithe thing isn't just about supporting the American "church". I don't have all the answers, but it has spurred me on to seek more, and I thought perhaps it might encourage you to do some digging on your own.