Why I Don't Tithe

I had a student in my bible study that challenged me and some others on tithing. The guy doesn't believe in the tithing as a New Testament practice. I was searching the net for perspectives on tithing and most of the links I googled, I discovered didn't support tithing. I found this very surprising considering I've never attended a church that didn't tithe. I admit also the arguments that come which are against tithing are very persuasive (but that's doesn't mean they are true). So does anybody care to share whether they tithe or not and state their reasons?

Last year, I gave more that $12,000 to charity, but I do not tithe and nor will I tithe. I consider this to be yet one more perversion of Biblical teaching, a disconnect between what the Bible says and what preacher's preach. If you have the choice between being generous and being stingy, you must always chose generosity. Be generous with your emotions, your time, and your money. But experience has taught me two principles. First, avoid cash charity gifts to individuals, as those gifts seldom address the underlying reason for the problem and can sometimes make the problem worse. People are eager to take your money but not so keen on taking the effort to master the principles that made that money possible.

My second principle is to tithe with caution. My parents and members of my family are aggressive tithers, and it isn’t for me to question their motivations. Dad’s goal for 1991, for example, was “to contribute no less than 15 percent of income to the work of the Lord.” Perhaps the genesis of my views toward tithing came out of those tough years in and immediately after college when I was financially strapped while my parents were supporting other ministries. Whatever is the case, my view today is that I should support the church in proportion to the value that it gives my family. When I pay $1.99 for one gallon of milk, I expect one gallon of milk in return of $1.99. Value has been exchanged for value. The same is true at church. Don’t pay too much or don’t pay if the value doesn’t exist. If you believe that the value you receive from your church amounts to one or ten or fifty percent of your income, then by all means give the church the one or ten or fifty percent, but don’t write the church a check just because a man of cloth quotes Malachi 3:8 (“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But, ye say, How have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”). No such commandment for tithing exists in the New Testament, and in fact the early church “had all things common” (Acts 2:44 ), a disquieting model for us capitalists. I sometimes ask myself when the collection plate nears: To whom goes this money? Sometimes, but certainly not always, it is a few greedy folks who live far more lavishly than anything I can imagine. Giving is a virtue, except when it is done without discernment and accountability.

There are many ways to give. And you can sometimes give most effectively by getting involved. To paraphrase President John Kennedy, don’t ask what the church can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for the church community. Authoritarian churches often make it difficult to get involved, and for such churches, I would let the plate go by with nary a cent and no regrets. A minister’s teaching on giving and the structures in place to ensure financial accountability can give you insight into the ethics of that church and whether or not you should even attend that church. I would look for another church if the preacher claimed that tithing was a moral law, or claimed that writing a check to them was identical to writing a check to God, or claimed that the financial needs of your church takes precedence over the financial needs of your family.

Is it really true no commandment for tithing exists in the New Testament? Would you be willing to demonstrate that from the Bible?

You are asking me to prove the lack of something, which is illogical. It is like asking you to prove that a commandment against biking don't exist. It cannot be done. All that you can do is prove a commandment for biking does exist.

There is a backward-looking reference to tithes in Hebrews 6:5 "the sons of Levi...take tithes of the people according to the law" but that falls far short of a principle of action for Christians.

I often hear we do not tithe anymore because Jesus or the disciples didn’t explicitly teach tithing in the New Testament. Suppose this was the case...

It either is the case or it is not the case. Which is it?

So with anything in the Law, we cannot be so quick to think that the things in the OT serve no purpose anymore just because Jesus is here. All things in the Law of Moses had purpose and I believe only when we can identify and understand their purpose can we adequately understand how that purpose applies to believer today, such as with the sacrifices. Otherwise, we're just picking and choosing what applies and what does not and bound to not divide the Word of Truth correctly.

All things had their purpose at one time. But the question is: what is culturally bound and what are transcending principles of Christianity. As I mentioned earlier, the early church held all their possessions in common, perhaps because they expected the immanent return of Christ. Are you a communist? If not, by your own logic, how can you call yourself a Christian? In terms of the levitical law, would you say a cafeteria Christian is one who does shave their head and trim their beard (Leviticus 19:27)?

So I perhaps ask a detailed and complicated question, but from my experience, many of the people who are against tithing don't understand how tithing fitted in with the Law and what the implications are now that Jesus is here. So that's why I asked what proofs could you give for tithing not being applicable anymore? It's insufficient I think to say it doesn't apply anymore because Jesus is here.

What I believe is there is no scriptural evidence at all that the New Testment teaches tithing either as a specific commandment or as an ethical principle.

My sister and I have an agreement -- to wit, if either of us wins the lottery, 10% goes off the top to educational and health-related philanthropies. That's the minimum. We even have a list.
I have been donating to Doctors Without Borders for years before they won the Nobel. I have been impressed by the willingness they have to treat both sides in any conflict situation and their work on starvation in the world. I don't give to religious organizations -- I leave that to others -- but I do believe, as a humanist, that starvation and unjust distribution of resources to be a sin.

I think playing the lottery is a sin albeit a minor one, but perhaps that's a discussion for another thread.

I think at the end of the day, motivations of giving to the church or elsewhere are not so much doctrinally based or rationally motivated than a reflection of subconscious feelings and emotions. Much of my life has consisted of an extended, heated argument with God, which, at least I see and I believe God sees as a kind of a faith and love. When some mentions the word "church" however, if was to free associate, for me the following words would pop to the surface of my mind unbidden: loneliness, cruelty, ignorance, wealth, domination. It is only when I struggle to think about it that I modify these feelings but what I know to be the deeper truth with words like this: accountability, community, adventure, wisdom, hope. Perhaps for many people on this forum, these sentiments would appear: love, home, freedom, assuredness, faith. And for those people I can see why tithing could be not just an obligation but a pleasure. I wish my sentiments were in the latter camp, but my biography is such that I it is not.

C'est la vie.