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"What if I Decide to Give Less Than the Tithe? If as Christians we are faithfully seeking to be loyal to Christ, but decide on a standard lower than the tithe, we must believe the following: 1. Jesus, our Lord, sets a lower standard than did Moses under the law. 2. The gospel of Jesus Christ sounds a retreat. 3. The Christian under grace has less obligation to God and his fellowmen than did the Jews under the law. 4. The stern demands of the law produce better results than the gospel of grace. Sinai is stronger than Calvary. 5. Either Christ's cause is less worthy than Judaism or needs less to carry it on. 6. That Christians receive less from God than did the Jew and therefore not as much is required of them. 7. That Christians are not as able to give as were the Jews." Quote from page 200 of Milo Kaufmann's 1975 book 'Stewards of God."
My commentary: A big problem with this type of thinking (asking the question in the title) is that the tithe itself is defined by the questioner as something discretionary and subject to one's personal desires or assessment. This is based on the false assumption that the nature of tithe as being holy has somehow changed with the changing of the priesthood from Aaronic/Levitical to Melchizedek. However Hebrews 7:9 proves that tithe is just as holy in both priesthoods because otherwise it could not be said that the Levitical priesthood paid the holy tithe outside their priesthood to Melchizedek. While the giving of offerings above and beyond the first tenth can be argued to be subject to one's discretion, the first tenth/tithe is not. It is holy to the Lord and non-discretionary and must be returned. When people try to argue against tithing ask them if the above seven statements are true. If your experience is anything like mine they will try to find an escape or diversion in order to avoid these statements as much as possible. Comments are closed.
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