11,143
edits
Are Christians required to tithe?: Difference between revisions
→The Poor tithe (or Welfare tithe)
| Line 336: | Line 336: | ||
'''Ten percent every third year''' went to help the poor (Deut. 14:28, 26:12-15). That’s 3.33 percent. In addition, there were gleanings for the poor and the alien. | '''Ten percent every third year''' went to help the poor (Deut. 14:28, 26:12-15). That’s 3.33 percent. In addition, there were gleanings for the poor and the alien. | ||
If your pastor preaches that tithing is mandatory for New Testament Christians, does this include tithing to strangers, or only to preachers? | If your pastor preaches that tithing is mandatory for New Testament Christians, does this include tithing to the poor (including strangers), or only to preachers? | ||
James 1:27 says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." What James experienced in the New Testament is believers who gave everything, and shared it with those in need. It was a religion of love for others from the heart. The law, after all, was just a schoolmaster leading to true faith. | James 1:27 says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." What James experienced in the New Testament is believers who gave everything, and shared it with those in need. It was a religion of love for others from the heart. The law, after all, was just a schoolmaster leading to true faith. | ||
| Line 343: | Line 343: | ||
:''James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.<ref>New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ga 2:9–10.</ref> | :''James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.<ref>New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ga 2:9–10.</ref> | ||
Every follower of Jesus should give to the plight of the poor. Not on the basis of the Old Testament law but on the basis of the new covenant. | |||
===The no-tithe year=== | ===The no-tithe year=== | ||