As of the day I am writing this post (4/19/21), the flagship Eventide Gilead Fund, a leading fund in the Eventide family of Biblically-based, Christian mutual funds, is up an incredible 90.97% in the last 12 months. The Eventide Healthcare and Life Sciences Fund is up 65.5% in the last year, and the new Eventide Exponential Technology Fund is up 67.78% since inception. (Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, we know.) It is not very easy to tithe, say, week by week on investment gains, but it would be appropriate to do it once a year, if not more, perhaps analyzing end-of-year statements.
Some people may be used to tithing on income from their employment but just do nothing with investment gains (and losses). This is not Biblical. If your IRA or other investment vehicle now has $190,000 in it when a year ago it had $100,000, you have gotten $90,000 in “increase” (-1.7% for yearly inflation, so actually $88,000 in real gain) and you are to “tithe” on your “increase” (Deut 14:22, 28; 26:12; 2 Chr 31:5)–and do so cheerfully and with thanks to the Lord who has blessed you, not just tithe on your weekly or bi-weekly employment income. (The reverse would also hold true for investment losses.)
Don’t withhold the firstfruits that belong to the Lord, but make sure that in this year of very strong gains in the financial markets you honor the Giver of all good things with at least 10%, if not much more, since we are not under the law, but under grace.
–TDR
You tithe on what you reap, not what you sow, or what is growing in the field. It is not increase until you reap. The first fruits are not first fruits until they have been gathered.
Sort of impractical isn’t this? First, if you had a 20% gain on a $500K retirement account, that would require you to come up with $10K and the kicker is, you can’t take that money out of a retirement account without a huge penalty. You would have to take out $20-25K to get $10K actually.
And, is the church going to write you a check when you lose 20% the next year? My guess is in your world, the answer is of course not. But why not? Fair is fair.
It is a lot easier to just tithe on proceeds from such accounts. Or not. Or whatever. You are just giving opinions, even if there was a Biblical mandate to tithe (there isn’t).
Hi Daniel, there may be some investment vehicles you really cannot touch until 65, but very often if we want to we can find a way to give to the Lord. In a Roth IRA, for example, you can if necessary take principal out without penalty at any time, only taking out interest has a penalty. (Of course, it is better not to take anything out but tithe from other income if possible.) If we can tithe on a 0.5% gain in a savings account for God’s glory, then if God blesses us with a 90% gain we can give generously on that, too. I have difficulty thinking we are not supposed to give a cent on $10,000 that becomes $100,000 or even $1,000,000 by God’s blessing but are supposed to wait for forty or fifty years to give a penny. Certainly if an investment truly is untouchable until 65, if the $10,000 became $1,000,000 we should give not just 10% of the $1,000,000 but 10% of what the $1,000,000 would have gained if it had been given to God’s work 40 years earlier.
Hi Fred, maybe robbing God is what is really impractical, since this is God’s world. But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that although tithing is pre-Moses, under Moses, and in the NT, it isn’t really for today, because we are under grace, not law. If law meant don’t kill and don’t commit adultery but grace means don’t even get angry or lust, then grace giving would be a lot more than 10%. I hope if you oppose tithing it is because you can’t believe anyone would give the Lord so little.
If you have $70,000 in ordinary job income and $20,000 in investment losses in a year, you would tithe on $50,000. That is fair. Expecting a church to cover your investment losses is ridiculous, not fair. Are you sure you have thought this through carefully because you really want to give generously out of love for God, and you certainly don’t want to rob God, a sin of terrible wickedness, or are you coming up with inaccurate illustrations off the cuff as if robbing God was not important?
Again, you are free to have an opinion. But you are very dogmatic about your opinion on this and seem very ready to impose your position on others.
You think that someone should tithe on increases but you don’t seem to have a plan for decreases. Do you know that the stock market goes down as well? So what are we to do if the market goes up 20% one year and down 20% the next year. Let’s say that the person has no other income or perhaps not as much income as they lost in the stock market. Is the church going to return the money? Are you sure you have thought this through carefully or are you coming up with ill-conceived illustrations off the cuff?
The truth is there is 0 support for your opinions. Even in the OT, there is no mention of that kind of tithing on appreciating assets. In fact, the tithing of the OT seemed to be limited only to direct income related only to agriculture. I am not sure that anyone but farmers were even supposed to tithe. There is no command for the poor to tithe or the Levites to tithe. And by the way, there were multiple tithes. But that was their tax system and has nothing to do with us today anyway.
So, have your opinion but you should be careful about judging anyone based on what you have determined is best for yourself.
You say:
“Certainly if an investment truly is untouchable until 65, if the $10,000 became $1,000,000 we should give not just 10% of the $1,000,000 but 10% of what the $1,000,000 would have gained if it had been given to God’s work 40 years earlier.”
Very convenient for someone running a church. The problem is you have no Biblical support for this. If you have to create these nonsensical rules to get money flowing into the church, perhaps something else is wrong.
Next, you are going to bring up Melchizedek and his tithe not on income but on his total assets. Perhaps you would like that too? That by the way is not the same as a tithe on income or the tithe on appreciation but would be a great income generator for your church. You could get a minimum of $100K/year from every millionaire.
Fred,
Thomas doesn’t run a church, and it’s a very disrespectful comment. “Very convenient for running a church.” You’ll need to retract, and stop speaking in such a disrespectful, hateful manner. Just give good arguments, and get rid of the personal attacks.
Hello Fred,
Your question “Do you know that the stock market goes down as well?” leads me to think that perhaps you did not read the post carefully, or my previous comments to you, and, in any case, leads me to think that further discussion is not going to be fruitful here. Statements such as that tithing was only for farmers, but not for the poor, as if there were no poor farmers, seem to point in the same direction. So I am not going to write further, and if you think it is because I am creating nonsensical rules in order to get money flowing into the church and just have no answers to what you have to say, go ahead and keep thinking that. Thanks.
Brother Ross, I almost hesitate to comment lest I appear to be aligned with some of Fred’s comments. Perhaps I should start by stating, as I’m sure you’ll agree, that all of our time and money is not ours, but belongs to the Lord.
I believe my practice has reflected that as I have taken a significant reduction in hourly salary for 25 years to be able to serve where I believe the Lord wanted me to be, and for some 30 years a significant reduction in gross salary by using untold employable hours (reduction from the normal 40 work hours a week) in unpaid Christian service. Having a significantly reduced salary, I have also given in excess of 10% of that reduced salary (gross, not net salary).
I hope that would show that what I am about to say does not arise out of selfishness, greed, or a desire to avoid giving. I fully intend to give out of my investment income when I receive it. Your main point, that investment income is within the scope of “honour the Lord with thy substance,” and is well-taken.
I do not believe the Scripture gives clear guidance as to when income should be considered to be “received”. There are liquid and illiquid investments. I believe a US IRA can be withdrawn early with a penalty, but UK retirement funds typically cannot and are completely inaccessible. There are other kinds of trusts that are inaccessible. It is hard to say that such things are even properly considered the property of the “owner” until he can access them.
A landowner who grows trees should probably not be expected to give from the increasing value of the trees, since that is only prospective, illiquid, and uncertain. A retirement fund that is inaccessible today has an unknown actual value at the point it will be received — today’s “valuation” is only a guess as to the income that will be received.
No sane taxation regime taxes unrealized gains, for multiple reasons (I know that Biden has discussed such a plan but Biden’s taxation plans are not sane). I also do not believe the Lord expects people to give out of unrealized investment gains, though obviously one could do so.
In short, I enthusiastically say “Amen” to your point that investment gains are part of our “substance” and that we should thus honour the Lord with them. I am completely unpersuaded that the production of an annual investment report should be the trigger for doing so. We should honour the Lord when we access investments, and in our wills (to cover the eventuality that some investments may not be accessed in our lifetime).
It is even possible due to personal or family illness that a person might have zero employment income during a particular year, while their retirement account (which may be completely inaccessible) may have a very large gain. It might be simply impossible for someone in that circumstance to do what you suggest — which would take us to the conclusion that annual giving on investment gains might be a good idea, especially with liquid investments, but that it is a mistake to say that God commands it.
I did not make personal attacks. I am stating that TR’s opinions are absurd for many reasons, not at all commanded, and very reminiscent of how the Pharisees were operating with the tithing concept.
Perhaps TR does not realize that virtually all retirement assets cannot be touched without huge penalties. But his example of a Roth does not even begin to address the issue. Very little retirement accounts are accessible to distribution, and even in a Roth, not all the money is available without penalty.
It is quite likely that there are MANY people who would see an annual decrease in their retirement accounts that would be more than any income they made. In such cases, does the church reimburse them the tithe?
Who is supposed to come up with the inflation calculation? Surely TR does not trust the government’s number, especially right now.
I would love to see TR provide an example of tithing on asset appreciation in the Bible. There were assets–land ownership for example. There is not a whiff of an indication this should be tithed on.
The Abraham-Melchizedek example is relevant here. The tithing proponents try to apply that to their viewpoint, completely ignoring the reality that that tithing is on net worth, not income. A person that does not point that out is either ignorant of basic economics or being very careless with what the Bible says.
In the OT, tithing was on agricultural income. It seems geared toward landowners. I see no indication that shopkeepers were to tithe. Day laborers were not commanded to tithe. The poor that gleaned fields were not commanded to tithe. Levites were not either.
Applying an OT taxation strategy that only applied to part of their population to today is a gigantic stretch. Trying to throw in new tithes on asset appreciation with calculations for inflation and lost income potential is just absurd. He is doing exactly what Jesus condemned the Pharisees for doing.
Fred,
One more chance. Yes you did make it personal. You said Thomas personally led a church. He doesn’t. You are wrong. That is personal and that is false. I said to you to retract. That wasn’t all, but that was personal.
You make a lot of good points, Fred.
Hello Bro Gleason,
Thanks for the comment. I agree that sometimes it is easier to figure out what is actual “increase” than others. A taxable investment account is easy—just tithe on it every year. Social Security “benefits” you may never see if you die at 64 years and 11 months are easy—no tithing until you start getting paychecks. Some investment accounts may be genuinely frozen until 65, and then it is not as easy to say how to put the Lord first in them. It seems to me that it would be a challenge to know exactly how to give proportionally on $20,000 that was put in that is now $250,000 by the Lord’s blessing 40 years later and is now accessible. Tithing only on what one takes out is an option, but that would seem to make no account of the increase of $230,000. Feel free to share any thoughts you have further on that. Leaving justice, mercy, and faith undone to tithe on herbs is wrong priorities, but Christ said to tithe on the herbs while not leaving the weightier matters undone, so figuring out how best to do this is very honoring to the Lord.
Brother Ross,
First, in regard to tithing itself, my view is that if OT saints could give 10%, I can do more, recognising the greater revelation of God’s grace and mercy that we’ve received. I’ve been bought with a price, and 10% seems not very much in comparison. I also believe that God blesses giving, and certainly, that has been my experience.
I give a percentage of my gross income currently. Once I begin to draw on retirement funds, I plan to give a percentage of my entire withdrawal, without trying to figure out how much was investment gains and how much was money that I’d originally invested.
If it isn’t entirely drawn by the time of my death, a percentage of what remains will go to the Lord’s work. That is how I would deal with the $20K/$230K split question.
I don’t expect, when I receive Social Security payments (assuming neither I nor Social Security cease before that date), to try to figure out how much of it I’ve already paid for and how much is “return on investment”. I just expect to give based on all of it.
God does not want our money, He wants our hearts. If we give Him that, the money will follow as well. I do not believe He wants us to give 10% and view the rest as ours. He wants us to view it all as His, to be used for His glory.
I Chronicles 29 describes a time of giving that was clearly in excess of the tithe. In verse 14, David said, “of Thine own have we given Thee.” That which is not given in the tithe is God’s, too, and must be used for His glory.
One further thought—we need to remember that if we are in the first world in the 21st century we are fabulously wealthy. Someone at the US “poverty” line is wealthier than 99.9% of people who have ever lived in human history. We need to not confuse what makes us less comfortable in our amazing wealth with genuine poverty, when you are starving and have one cloak to work in and sleep in.
Thomas,
I agree partially with what you are saying, I concur with what Jon is saying, and I don’t agree with tithing. The NT teaches giving, not tithing and there is a difference. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,” should “give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7). I cannot find NT support for the Biblical practice of tithing, which is giving out of necessity and could result in giving grudgingly. Under the Mosaic Law as a member of Temple, you didn’t have a choice in the matter. The tithe was commanded. The tithe was administered for the Levitical priesthood since they had no inheritance in the land or paying jobs like the other tribes (Num 18:20, 24; Heb 7), thus the the children of Israel were commanded to tithe (Num 18:21). It was an obligation incumbent on every Jew, and there were repercussions when you missed a payment. Lev 27 and Num. 18:20-32 speak to this. The scriptural tithe involved all increase including from agriculture and animals. When have NT saints practiced this as Gods Word decrees? I have never seen grains, fruits, vegetables, oil, calves, pigs, sheep, etc, being brought into the storehouse of the church, nor have I personally obeyed this. The “tithe” on the “increase” you referenced out of De. 14:22, 28; 26:12; 2 Chr 31:5 is not just monetary increase; it’s also “the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year (De 14:22) and out of the “abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.” (2 Ch 31:5). When have we tithed in NT churches of all our “increase the third year, which is the year of tithing” (De 26:12)? If you want to establish the tithe, then at the very least do it according to Scripture (Num 18:20-32; Lev 27:30-34; De 14:22, 28; 26:12; 2 Ch 31:5). But I believe even in so doing, you are transgressing Gods Word, because the tithe was commanded and given by the LORD to the “children of Levi” (Num 18:21).
Christ’s mention of the tithe in Matt 23 was to the Pharisees under the Mosaic law. The conversation took place prior to Christ’s fulfilment of the law. When Jesus said “ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Mt 23:23), the Mosaic law was still in place. Furthermore, the entire purpose of this reproof by Christ was to show their hypocritical lost estate in exposing their outwardly adherence while inside dead man’s bones. The “weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” leads to salvation in Christ Jesus. They hadn’t done that but had gone “about to establish their own righteousness,” and “not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Rom 10:3-4). It was meant to be reproof of their hypocrisy, NOT to establish the tithe, as the passage is frequently abused today.
We are commanded to rightly divide the word of truth, and upon doing so, it becomes very evident that the tithe has been done away.
Heb. 7:1-12 declares succinctly what the tithe was for and that it was abolished with the Levitical priesthood: “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: . . . And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” (vv. 5, 9-12). The Levitical Priesthood does not exist today. It was abolished by the Priest after the order of Melchisedec, the Lord Jesus Christ. The priesthood has changed, thus the “commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law,” has changed. NT saints have become the “royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;” (1 Pet 2:9a).
Hence, why the tithe is never mentioned again anywhere in the NT epistles. Were the tithe still relevant and applicable to us, it would most certainly be mentioned in chapters such as 1 Cor 16 & 2 Cor. 8, 9 which deal with monetary giving, located in epistles penned by Paul the Apostle, a Pharisee of the Pharisees who was indoctrinated heavily in the Mosaic Law. He understood the tithe as well as anyone in that day, but zero mention of it by him. This clear fact buttresses what Heb 7 is teaching.
1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor 8 & 9 are silent about tithing and what is written buttresses giving, not tithing. 1 Cor. 16:1-2 says, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” If putting aside a tenth was required, it would be stated here. Likewise in 2 Cor. 9:6-7 makes it absolutely clear that NT saints do not tithe: “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
I understand that some make this argument because they don’t want to be obligated to give. That’s not my argument however. I believe a desire to obey 2 Cor 9:6-7 out of of love for the Lord and for the brethren, will result in giving even more than a tenth. That’s a cheerful giver and not tithing because he has to out of necessity, which is the purpose behind the tithe.
Reuben
Reuben,
I don’t agree with what you’ve written on tithing and I’ve read that whole argument. It’s the one John MacArthur makes against tithing. I’m not saying you got it from him, but I’ve read his argument and yours sounds almost identical to it. I have no problem rejecting a tithe if it is not true, but you you didn’t give the best NT argument for the tithe. Proportional giving is taught also in the NT, and the established proportion is the tithe.
Kent,
I didn’t get it from John MacArthur. I don’t read him and never have for various reasons, besides quotes by others. So I have no idea of his position on that matter.
How do you explain for what Heb 7:5-12 is teaching, in that the tithe clearly was commanded for the Jew but changed with the change of the law and priesthood? Verses 5, 10-12 (the context) makes this quite clear: “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: … If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”
And how do you tie tithing into 2 Cor 9:8-9, or explain for its complete absence in 1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor 8 & 9 and any other place that speaks of giving in the NT epistles?
What is the best NT argument for the tithe?
Reuben
I wrote on this.
Here, part one.
Here, part two.
Here, part three.
1 Corinthians 9 has the best argument in the NT for tithing and it actually uses the Levites as a basis for taking care of the pastor with the tithe, especially when you combine this with 1 Timothy 5.
By the way, this post was not intended to prove the doctrine of tithing. It was to encourage people who already believe in tithing to apply their Biblical thinking to investments, not just to wage income. There are plenty of other worthwhile resources that establish the Biblical basis for giving at least 10% of one’s “increase” to the Lord.
Thanks for the comment, Reuben. I am glad you believe in giving generously to the Lord. This post was not to prove that tithing is Biblical in the NT period of time. Thanks again.
I think what I wrote is quite clear, but just in case someone reading this does not get it, if you tithe on investment gains you can also deduct investment losses, even if they are big losses and take over a year to recover them. So if in our current boom you are tithing year after year on your gains you can deduct what goes down in the next crash until your loss is gone through new gains of wage income and other income including investment income. However, if you aren’t doing what this post says when you have gains but suddenly get the conviction it is right when you have losses, maybe you should examine your motives.
Also, in the somewhat harder discussion on retirement accounts above, please keep in mind that ordinary taxable investment accounts are a very easy call here.
Thanks.
Thanks, Bro Gleason, for the 2nd comment.
I’ve just been grappling with this very issue the last couple months. I’ve tithed/given on the interest and dividends, but never really thought much about the capital gains. We have stocks that have large unrealized capital gains. I think paying on all the unrealized capital gains as they happen is probably not practical or realistic, because they could evaporate in a market downturn, and also theoretically you don’t even have the cash to pay for it.
While I like the farming analogy someone else gave of ‘sowing’ (which would be the investing earning capital gains) and ‘reaping’ (which would be selling stock and “reaping” the gain), I think it’s problematic to follow that analogy 100% when you talk about very long-term capital gains, like for me, as a “buy and hold” investor, so it is likely for us that our capital gains would not be “reaped” until we die. And that doesn’t feel right!
So where I settled on is a process where we will “tithe” on any capital gains that would remain, theoretically, after a 50% reduction in the stock market (we are 50% stocks, 50% bonds so that would be a 25% reduction roughly in the whole portfolio). This approach balances the concerns about tithing on a paper gain that evaporates while not leaving the capital gains “untithed on” for a lifetime.
A little geeky I know, but I feel peace about it.
Thanks for the comment, Todd.
I appreciate that you care about doing the right thing. It was wrong of the Pharisees to neglect judgment, mercy, and faith, but Christ said that when they tithed even on their herbs that was a right thing (Matt 23).
I believe that tithing on the complete gain, and then if (when) it goes down making that a negative amount in your income and keeping that negative until it eventually balances may be a better plan. It may require a cost if one has very large capital gains, but giving is about sacrifice. However, I appreciate that you actually want to do something here, and if that is the way you want to do it, and your pastors think that is a good idea, I’m glad you are attempting to put in practice the proportional giving principle here instead of not tithing on what can become a huge amount of income, and I would not say that your approach is sinful, although I am open to correction if other readers disagree and can prove it from Scripture.
Using Matt 23:23 to support tithing is misusing the Scriptures. Jesus was speaking to unsaved religious Pharisees who were yet under the Old Testament Levitical priesthood. Upon Christ’s resurrection and ascension, He became our High Priest and the Levitical priesthood was done away (Hebrews 7:9-19). “And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: … If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” (Hebrews 9:5, 11-12). Do you read that? The law has changed, but you continue forcing the law.
The tithe has a very specific and focused meaning in the Bible. It was for the Levites. It was meant to support the Levitical priesthood since they did not have an income. It was not just money but all increase agriculturally as well. Have you done that, out of your garden? It was a command for the Jew and established by the Levitical priesthood. It doesn’t exist anymore, but here we are reading of its existence in your practice.
If you care about the right thing, then reject the continuation of the law of the Levitical priesthood, or institute the tithe according to the actual law of tithing, which requires instituting the Levitical priesthood. Also, don’t be a typical independent Baptist by refusing to hear correction over this issue, and not publishing this comment.
A legitimate negative is also from inflation; if one has, say, $100,000 in investments, and inflation this year is 6%, then whatever gain comes on the investments is reduced by $6,000.
What about buy & hold real estate investments that increase in value over time but you can’t access unless you refinance?
By the way, I tithe on my refi-cashouts because in my heart I know the tenant is paying the mortgage off…
Hello Frank!
Thanks for asking.
Maybe you would have to tithe only when you sell or refinance. You can ask godly men with financial wisdom in your church about what to do.
Dear Anonymous,
This post was not about proving tithing, but to your questions:
“Do you read that?”
Yes, I have read Hebrews many times, in both English and Greek.
Believers in this dispensation are under the spirit of all the law but the letter of none of it (2 Cor 3). The tithe is not a type of the death of Christ or His Person, etc. The spirit of Mosaic tithing, which is binding, would be to give joyfully at least 10% if not more, as the spirit of “Thou shalt not kill” is not to even get unjustly angry. So I hope that as you warn people about tithing it is because you encourage them to give way more–20%, 30%, whatever–joyfully to the work of God, since we are not under the law, but under grace.
All through Scripture, before, during, and after the Mosaic dispensation the Bible teaches proportional giving, and the proportion is the tithe (as a minimum).
Yes, you should tithe on all your increase. So take the dollar value of what you make from a garden and give at least 10% of it in money, or bring 10% of it to a church meal.
Abraham did not tithe to Melchizedek because Melchizedek was a Levite.
“Also, don’t be a typical independent Baptist by refusing to hear correction over this issue, and not publishing this comment.”
I suppose the sort of unbiblical and inaccurate generalization in that statement is loving your neighbor as yourself?
Hello there, Anonymous! There is some interaction with 2 Cor 3’s teaching that the spirit of all the law is binding while the letter is not here:
https://faithsaves.net/the-sabbath-saturday/
and here:
https://faithsaves.net/sabbath/
within a larger study.
You are dead wrong that God would be pleased with a joyless, grudging giving of the tithe in the OT. God always was only pleased by a cheerful giver.
If your position is that everything in the Old Testament is irrelevant for the Christian unless explicitly repeated in the NT (and the tithe is repeated in the NT), you are going to have a lot of trouble with many Biblical passages, such as, for example, 2 Tim 3:16-4:2, where the Old Testament is a crucial part of what makes the man of God perfect and completely equipped for every good work.
Thanks.
Dear Anonymous,
I don’t choose what comments get published and which ones don’t, although I see them.
I suspect that Bro Brandenburg thought that a comment like your latest one, where you say provide no interaction at all with my response, but said you “see a rat,” ask “Are you also a liberal democrat [sic],” throw around a lot of insults, say “Why lie, argue false arguments make up stuff …” see “wickedness” and “a scorner” but provide nothing at all that relates to the post you are commenting on did not deserve to be published. While I don’t make the decisions on this, I agree–your comments don’t deserve to be published as you insult me in your anonymity. You can build your own website and post random insults there if you enjoy that, but you aren’t going to be successful at doing it on this one. Here we seek to follow the Bible, including what it says about edifying speech.
If you feel good writing slanderous falsehoods about me, enjoy it, and enjoy trying to hijack posts with the insults while feeling indignant when they aren’t allowed. You won’t enjoy it when you stand at God’s judgment seat, though, so maybe you should reconsider.
Please see: faithsaves.net/salvation/ and make sure you have truly repented and believed the gospel. That is more important than your false position against NT proportional giving of at least 10%.
I took the time to write this to help you. Please consider it.
Thanks.
Anonymous,
Speaking of anonymous against tithing. I would print your insulting comments if you put your name, but I’m not going to print the comments of anonymous when they are like you have written. That isn’t censorship.
Anonymous,
You say I print Thomas’s comment, but not yours, even though he’s insulting. I didn’t say I didn’t print yours because you were insulting. I said I didn’t print yours because you were anonymous and insulting. I said I would print them if you put your name. Thomas has his name out there. You are insulting and he is not. That is obvious. I’m not going to provide the difference. Maybe you could write without being insulting, but it seems like you just want to insult. That’s a main goal.
If I invest $120K and start receiving dividends from the investment, do I tithe immediately on the dividends received, or wait until I receive my entire $120K investment back and then tithe? I already tithed on the $120K when I received it.
Thanks for asking!
What some, or many, do is look at the gain or loss once a year and then tithe on that. It would include dividends +/- the value of the stocks themselves. But feel free to talk to your pastors for their thoughts on it.