Expert: Cooper P. Abrams III - 10/19/2007

Question
""Hi Pastor,

I understand that you are a Baptist. I have many issues with tithing Baptists and I hope you can help me. This is an issue I have struggled with for a while and I would like your response.

Originally the founders of the Baptist denomination in the early 17th century, John Smyth, Thomas Helwys, and Roger Williams, were dead set against tithing. They were rebelling against the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church and the Puritan Congregational Church and they felt that a professionally paid clergy who expected a tithe to pay their salary would create men who wanted to go into the ministry just for the money. It also would cause a hardship on Christians, which is one thing Paul tried to avoid in the New Testament.

Paul said he worked with his own hands to make a living, so as not to be a burden on new converts. Paul and the early Baptists preached Christian liberty. Tithing was not introduced historically into the Baptist Church till after the civil war, as a way to help support missionaries. But the old Baptists preached the very opposite. People who make minimum wage, or are on a fixed income literally cannot afford to tithe.

I hear how preachers say that God will bless them if they do, but that would mean that a worker at Wal-Mart, or some other low level job, would have to find a better job and quit his current job. If he/she has no education its really impossible for them to find a better job which pays more. It seems to me that the tithe and the blessings surrounding it pertain to the Old Testament for the most part, and that NT believers often do not get their rewards for tithing till after death. Jesus said blessed are the poor. But with Churches enforcing tithing rules means that only the elite get to be Church leaders, since no deacon or church leader is chosen from among the congregants who do not tithe because they cannot afford to.

It is only recorded that Abraham tithed once to Melchizedek. Jacob tithed voluntarily and no one knows where that tithe went. Whether it went to the poor, or in a burnt offering, or both. And the tithe of the Law went to support the Levites which made up an entire tribe. There was another tithe just for the poor, once every 3 years, but it seems like those poor were the ones who received the tithe, and were therefore not required to tithe out of what they received. That's like modern day people on welfare who do not pay taxes. Malachi 3:8 only refers to the Jews of the Old Covenant, not the Christians. It mentions all the tithes, not just the one which went to Levites, and it mentions offerings, which were animal sacrifices in the Mosaic Law. This is not a command for the NT believers. In the NT tithing is only mentioned once when Jesus was denouncing the Pharisees on how they hypocritically disrespected the Old Law. But that same Law was nailed to Christ's cross.

In the OT tithing was only on farmers for farm products. The Israelites were provided with free land from God as an inheritence. If they lost the land it was redeemed in the Jubilee year. And the poor were allowed to glean the corners of all fields.

One tithe went to the poor, so since they were the ricipients, I assume that they did not have to tithe into it. The Levites received a tithe, but they made up about 8% of the total population. And taxes were very low. In fact the tithes were the taxes. It was a theocracy and it was run that way. So the tithes were in fact the taxes, just like we pay taxes in the US to the gov't. The entire tax was about 23% in total if you add up all the tithes. 10% to the King. 10% to the Levites. And 3% to the poor. The Jews in the diaspora who did not live in Israel did not tithe. I don't think Daniel tithed while living in Babylon. And the promises God made to the Israelites are not the same as the promises made to Christians.

We live in a different world, which is not the theocracy of Israel. The tithe no longer applies, so I cannot see why there all this talk about tithing, except to enrich the Church and give good salaries to clergymen, who usually live better than the people to which they preach about tithing. Pastors talk about how they more than tithe, but they usually make more than the average laborer who can't afford to pay the rent. If someone has a low paying job because they have no education, or they are illiterate, or can't speak English, how will get a high paying job once they start tithing? Maybe God will bless them after death, and not with riches in this world. If men all got well taken care of if they tithed, the there would be no poor, yet Jesus said that you will always have the poor with you. And why were there beggers in Jesus' day, if everyone was so blessed in this world due to tithing? Think of the blind begger who Jesus healed. Jesus said that as Christians we will have trials, yet preachers who talk about tithing talk about how God blesses with prosperity.

There are men like Billy Graham who makes 400,000 per year. John Hagee who makes 1 million. Ravi Zacharias, who makes 190,000, plus an expense account, and his wife makes another 100,000 from the same ministry. RC Sproul, who makes over 250,000 per year. Etc., Etc. These are preachers who ask for money from the poor to support their ministries, and they talk about tithing, yet they are filthy rich. Money has become their idol and this preaching of Christian tithing is part of it all. I believe in giving, but when Churches do not allow poor members, who cannot afford to tithe, to be leaders in the congregation, then it is creating an elitist church, which turns the poor off from the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a Baptist, but I respect the Jehovah's Witnesses, because they are dead set against preaching tithing. And they have no professional clergy. All their clergy are non-paid part time volunteers. Just like the Plymouth Brethren, of which Darby, the founder of Dispensationism, was. What is your response to my disapproval of tithing churches which discriminate against the poor, who cannot afford to tithe? Have you ever tried to raise a family by working for minimum wage?"

Sorry if this is a bit overbearing. But it is an issue which has really bothered me a lot and I'd like your answer.  

Answer
Hi Joshua,

  You have clearly done some good research on the matter of giving.   I agree with all that you stated in your email with the exception of your conclusion that people on low income cannot tithe.  First, the New Testament does not require tithing or giving any percentage to the Lord.  As my earlier response stated it is a matter that a believer decides for himself of course being lead by biblical principles.   Tithing is only a voluntary guideline.

    I have tithed for over thirty years and though I to not publish this....my wife and I give about 30-35 percent of our income and we give that amount on the gross.   You said a person on minimum wage could not give ten percent.  Well, I have and did for many years.   Never once in all that time has our family not paid its bills or went without.  We have only few "extra" things, but God always provided for us.  Before I surrounded to preach both my wife and I had great positions in business and were well on our way to being very wealthy.   However, we sold all we had including a beautiful home on a lake to pay for Bible college.  When I graduated and I took my first church we had a total of $32.00 between us.  Yet, we were never hungry or missed a payment on our expenses.   The church I pastored though having lots of money basically starved us.   They even cut the amount they promised to give us the week before we arrived.  When I resigned the church two years later we were broke and I took a minimum wage job which was all I could get.  God provided a way for me to make extra money and in six months and a lot of hard work we were debt free.  We never missed giving God his tithe.   We purposed in our hearts to give Him that amount out of appreciate for saving us and our love of God.  My wife has for seven years since coming to Tremonton, Utah worked for minimum wage.   She has a college education and worked a the controller for the seventh largest chemical company in the United States.  He handled millions of dollars every day and is probably the most qualified and experienced book keeping in the area.  But Mormons do not often hire non Mormon so see works as a associate in a discount store.   
           I live on missions income from supporting churches.  Some months our income drops over $1000 dollar below what it was the month before and it is never as much as most missionaries receive and about half what regular pastors get.  Yet, NEVER have we gone without anything we needed and we have the highest credit rating one can get.   The only thing we owe on is our home.   We lived in a travel trailer for over eight years while we were working in Price, Utah planting a church there.  We do not drive new cars, but both of them are over 12 years old.  They look nice, we take care of them and they run great.  We both have nice clothes.  I have about ten nice suits.   A wealthy lawyer died who I never met and he and I were the same size and his wife gave them to me.    We have always given sacrificially to the Lord and He has always met our needs.
    Any believer can give a tithe and I know literally hundreds over the years who have done so.  I cannot explain how God does it, but He takes care of those who are faithful and show their love in their living and giving.   This past week we my wife commented after paying our monthly bills that she did not understand how we were able to do all we do month after month.   We not only give a percentage...we regularly also give to special needs that our church has from time to time and to others who need help.  No one other than the two men who count the offering know about our giving and that is the way it should be.   All we have is the Lord’s....we are simply stewards of His material things and we happily give whenever the need arises.   I could tell us story after story of how God has provided from us.   The more we are blessed the more we are able to be a blessing to others.

  I have seen widows living and as little a $600 a month give their tithe to the Lord and have never seen one of the suffer for doing so.

   Something I do know though is this....a person who cannot surrender their whole life to the Lord...including their money will always be the poorer spiritually and materially for it.   I had a pastor many years ago explain it to me.  His name was Steve Simons and he told me that to please God as Hebrews 11:6 says one must live by faith.   I believed him and God's word and thank the Lord regularly for blessing me and my family.   I do not think that if I have not surrendered my all and especially in the area of money I would have never been called to preach.   For me it was the beginning of a long road of having peace and joy in my heart in serving the Lord.
   I am not trying to rebuke you...that is the furthest thing from my mind....I deeply and sincerely wish to help you.   I may be wrong, but you seen to resent the idea of tithing.   Clearly,  it is not required of God for Christians.  Christians are free to serve the Lord in liberty.  It is true that God does not state an amount, but if you think about it....what we give and the amount are important as a gauge of our devotion, faith, trust and commitment to the Lord.  

   I hope that you understand my motives.  I could tickle your ears and agree with you on this...but that would mislead you and deny you the blessing of sacrificially giving to the Lord.   I know that you are struggling with this.  I too once had a similar struggle, but I thank God He showed me the principles and wish for you the blessing it has been to me.
            I all sincerity I wish you God’s best.

Cooper Abrams