A Message for all the God-robbers

[tbpew]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

Please understand I'm not trying to cause contention or tell people not to support the church or the ministry God forbid.

...and certainly none of your posts would be read with that conclusion, unless some reader was blinded by their reliance on a status-quo not being further disrupted.

Cheerful giving is God-ordained, God-motivated, God-provided.

[Scott Hutchinson]

Yes Giving is Godly and churches have bills to pay and such and I realize this.

[A.W. Bowman]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

This is a good study on the subject.
http://www.adbrown.com/tithing.htm

Another very good resource: http://www.nomoretithing.org/nmt_links.htm
This site contain a number of links to arguments such as listed in your referenced url. It is not the amount one gives, but the reason(s), motivation, and justifications for giving, along to whom the giving is to be presented and for what purpose.

Note: Like any reference to a topic of emotional content, some sites can get a little "shrill" in their arguments. I generally pass over such presentations as not worth my time. Give me rational, Bible based arguments and anyone will have my attention.

[A.W. Bowman]

A very much needed Bible study is to answer the questions:

1. What are the appropriate projects, activities, and needs that the New Testament church is to be engaged in and supporting?

2. What is the legitimate method(s) for a church to support its mission and those obligations identified in the first question?

[tbpew]

Originally Posted by HaShaliach

Another very good resource: http://www.nomoretithing.org/nmt_links.htm
This cite contain a number of links to arguments such as listed in your referenced url. It is not the amount one gives, but the reason(s), motivation, and justifications for giving, along to whom the giving is to be presented and for what purpose.

Note: Like any reference to a topic of emotional content, some sites can get a little "shrill" in their arguments. I generally pass over such presentations as not worth my time. Give me rational, Bible based arguments and anyone will have my attention.

Your approach consistently serves peace and wellness in the communities you are a part of.

Thank you for being a participant in this online discussion community.

regards,
tbpew

[Aquila]

If Christians paid the tithe, they would have paid it to the Temple priesthood, not their elders. The priesthood would have then taken the beasts to the slaughter and stored the grain in the storehouse. Remember, the tithe was in the form of grain and livestock per the Law. Also remember that Christians met in homes for Christian worship for nearly 200 or more years. If they "tithed" to their elders...where'd they store these things?

The New Testament church thrived on generous voluntary giving from a greatful heart to meet the clear and present needs of the ministry and the body. Plain and simple.

[Scott Hutchinson]

Another question we must consider did not some tithes go to help,the poor and the stranger what about that today ?

[Withdrawn]

Originally Posted by HaShaliach

Note: Like any reference to a topic of emotional content, some sites can get a little "shrill" in their arguments. I generally pass over such presentations as not worth my time. Give me rational, Bible based arguments and anyone will have my attention.

YEP!

When things get emotional, that's usually when I bow out. It's impossible to argue/debate when emotion is involved. Emotion always trumps reason and logic.

Thank you for being a voice of reason (among many others) on this forum.

[tbpew]

Originally Posted by Aquila

The New Testament church thrived on generous voluntary giving from a greatful heart to meet the clear and present needs of the ministry and the body. Plain and simple.

The secular lending community does not find your view very comforting.

Their underwriters would like you to put your name, personal assets, and future earnings at risk to collateralize your new shiny tabernacle building mortgage. They will then be happy to let you gather up any bounty resulting from the generous voluntary giving, from grateful hearts, that materializes.

[Withdrawn]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

Another question we must consider did not some tithes go to help,the poor and the stranger what about that today ?

Jesus said that whatever we do for the least among us, we do it unto Him.

James 1.27 tells us "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."

The early church had all things in common so that anyone who had a need had that need provided by the community that was the church. The church was actually a community and operated like a family. Today, the church operates more like a business - complete with regular hours of operation.

I truly believe that a lot of the problems we have reconciling the Book of Acts and epistles with today would be understood a lot more clearly if we stop trying to use our current, modern definition of "the church" to interpret what is being said in scripture. The way we "do church" today has very little in common with how the first century saints "did church."