Bob... I am reading a book on tithing. I haven't been doing close to enough to what God asks. I am determined to tithe and gift. I realized a lot about ...giving when you don't make anything. My question is most people get paid a paycheck. I get paid and then I turn around and pay rent on my booth and supplies used. Do I give first fruits of what I earned before I pay my booth rent, etc. or after the booth rent?
Answer from Pastor Bob:Jennifer, that is a question many people ask. Many wonder if they should tithe on their gross income or their net income, which is a question similar to the one you are asking. Many would point out that Exodus 23:19 and other passages teach that we give our firstfruits to the Lord. Some would say that applies to the gross, meaning we tithe first, before taxes or before expenses. Whether or not it applies to the gross, I definitely think it means that we should set aside our tithe before paying any other bills.
Now to answer your specific question: I think you have to decide in your own heart what is right. Second Corinthians 9:7 (HCSB) says, "Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not out of regret or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver."
God owns it all, and everything we have belongs to Him. But more than our money, He wants our hearts. It says in 2 Corinthians 8:5 that the churches in Macedonia gave first of themselves and then gave their offering.
If you resent God because you had to give the gross, then you cannot be a cheerful giver, and you should tithe the net. But if you feeling guilty for tithing the net, then you need to the tithe the gross. It all belongs to God, but we need to give it cheerfully.
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For another simple idea on giving cheerfully (with toy-filled birthday gift bags for less fortunate kids) visit the Cheerful Givers site at www.cheerfulgivers.org
ReplyDeleteDr. Bob Rogers
ReplyDeleteYou are using horrendous hermeneutics and are totally ignoring the biblical definition of the tithe. While money occurs 44 times before tithing in Leviticus 27, money is never a tithe-able item. True HOLY biblical tithes were always only food from inside God’s HOLY land which He had miraculously increased. Tithes could not come from what man increased, from Gentiles or from outside Israel. There are 16 texts which support this definition and none which allow anything different. Jesus, Peter and Paul did not qualify as tithers.
Neither are firstfruits tithes. Firstfruits were very small token offerings per Deu 26:1-4 and Neh 10:35-38. Tithes were tenthfruits from inside Israel.
While God also owned it all during the Old Covenant, He only accepted HOLY tithes from inside His HOLY land of Israel. You are manipulating the Word by ignoring this fact.
I dare say that you obey NONE of the tithing statute of Numbers 18. If you accept tithes then you should be a Levite or Aaronic priest and you should not own any land.
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Join me at Yahoo Tithing-Study Group. Russell Earl Kelly, PHD
So, Dr. Kelly, what do you propose is the proper biblical thing for a Gentile like Jennifer who asked the question? That is I assume she is a Gentile (non Jew). What do you say the Bible teachers she should give?
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