Tithing Vs Heart-led Giving

If you know someone who believes and teaches that you will be cursed, for not tithing, or that the Old Testament tithing is relevant for the New Testament believer, gently, point them to this e-book - Should The Church Teach Tithing - A Theologian's Conclusions About a Taboo Doctrine, by Dr. Russell Earl Kelly.

If you are not into e-books, here is the link to the paperback.  

If you are not into reading, the video series starts here.    

Lest it be misread, I am not against cheerful, heart-led giving (which is not necessarily limited to a set %) and/or financial abundance.   

What I am not for, is misinformation and/or manipulation. There shouldn't be a place for either, in this information age.   

I also, do not believe that everyone who teaches Tithing are manipulators. Some people simply do not look beyond what they have been taught. But, that does not excuse the rest of us from studying the subject.

Cease from Striving

I'm striving to please God."

Trying to "please God" is an OT concept, because in their minds, they were distant from God. Under the new covenant, we are accepted in the Beloved(Ephe 1:6 NKJV). 

"But what about good works? Because it is all 'grace' now, does that mean we are to ignore good works?"

We are masterpieces created in Christ for good works (Ephe 2:10), but the good works does not come as a result of us striving from our insecure need to 'please God'; it naturally manifests as a fruit, because it is God in us, who does the bearing (Jn 15:5, Phil 2:13).

In other words, relax. : )

"The entire law was based on the performance of man. The new covenant is based on the performance of one man, Christ." 

- Susan Woods Avello

Did God send Sandy?

Warning: If you are easily offended, please do not read any further.

I can't believe some still believe that storms are from God and that it is sent so people might repent. Another popular interpretation is that storms are happening because America is not supposedly standing with Israel. 

i. If the storms are from God, Jesus was defying God's will when he calmed the storm.

ii. 'Repent' is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. It is associated with guilt, deep remorse, beating one's chest, wailing and all the associated actions.

The word 'repent' comes from the Greek word Metanoia, which simply means "a change of mind". Disasters do not make one repent; it is the GOODNESS of God that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4).

Think about it, who in their right minds would want to have a "relationship" with a god who is looking forward to "test" them with natural disasters?

iii. As for the Israel connection, Obama has said time and again that under his leadership, America is and will continue to stand with Israel. And given his penchant for drones, there is no doubt that he will bomb Iran, should Iran act on their dumb idea to "wipe Israel off the map." But I applaud Obama's strong stand for maintaining diplomacy. 

What else does the religious zealots need? Go ahead and bomb Iran without any solid proof that they have nuclear weapons? What was the excuse again, for invading Iraq?

Forget about international politics, do we realize how colossally stupid we sound to 'the world' (that we so love to judge and condemn) when we scream "pro-life", but are for war (regardless of how overt or passive we are in our support)?

iv. This is the New Covenant. God is not angry, as we are led to believe from the Old Testament.

v. God is love. Love does not destroy lives and property. How simpler could it get?

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..." (1 John 4:18). Any teaching, interpretation and/or prophecy that promotes fear is not from God.

At the end of our lives, may we not say, "I was a faithful parrot all my life". We may not have all the answers, but let's not blindly believe something because "that's what my favorite preacher says" or "that's what I've heard all my life, so it must be right".

God gave us a brain, to think.

Thou Shalt Circumcise!

This comic strip nails it. One of my favorites from the Searching for Grace series, by Mick Mooney.

"Abraham tithed before the Law, therefore, thou shalt tithe", is a popular line among ministries that know tithing is from the Old Covenant, but still overtly or subtly imposes tithing. This is done while conveniently forgetting that Abraham circumcised before the Law as well, and yet, we don't see the same zeal for preaching about circumcision. 

Secondly, Abraham did not tithe "to be blessed", as it is popularly led to believe. What he gave was from the spoils of a war. Abraham was blessed simply because God conferred the blessing upon him. Period.

Fast forward to Moses. Under the old covenant, blessings or curses hinged on one's actions. Under the new covenant, however, a person is blessed because of Jesus' finished work on the cross. It's called Grace. Under the new covenant, giving (to whoever the heart guides) is done cheerfully, whether it is 0.1% or 100%.

Law Lovers

We are already in union with God.