SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN PAY TITHES?

I have been compelled to write this piece because many preachers and ‘custodians’ of the Word of God have failed to convince me that tithing is mandated to be paid by anyone who professes to be a Christian. Many christians’ inability to pay tithe because they earn a little has emasculate them in worshipping and attending church because non-payment of tithe carries with it an enduring and nagging guilt and condemnation which if not ‘overthrown’ from the minds of budding and mature Christians, could make a lot backslide.
My reason for having this strong view is epitomized in Richard Wayne Garganta’s article “The Truth About Tithing-FACT vs FICTION”, page 2, which reads:

“Tithing was NOT money or income based; it was LAND based.

If two farmers had crops of 10 carrots each, they would both be obligated to tithe one carrot.  Under the agrarian tithing system it didn’t matter If one sold the other 9 carrots for $5 and the other sold his remaining 9 carrots for $10.  The tithe of the harvest was unrelated to the income of the harvest.  Plain and simple – THE TITHE WAS NOT 10% OF INCOME, it was 10% of the harvest.  The Jews under the law were NOT obligated to give 10% of their incomes! This simple fact alone is enough to destroy the false doctrine that God DEMANDS you pay 10% of your income or be cursed.

Money was rarely, if ever, the thing tithed in the Bible. [Nehemiah 13:10-13] To be truly biblical, tithing was NOT based on your income or money AT ALL! [Deuteronomy 14:22-23, 18:1-5, 26:12, Nehemiah 10:38-39, 12:44, Leviticus 27:30-33, Joshua 13:14]   Pre-law tithing was voluntary and profit based and law tithing was mandated and PRODUCTION based [i.e. agrarian]. Agrarian means “of the land,” and agrarian tithing was based on what you were able to PRODUCE from the land, plants or livestock. God commanded people bring a tenth of what they produced from the land BEFORE they sold it. So Tithing was NOT based on the income of a given harvest. In fact, it was against the law to sell the tithe. One was to bring the PRODUCT, not what the product was worth. [Leviticus. 27:28] There are many references to tithing the “increase” [Example: Deuteronomy 14:22 using the Hebrew tbuw'ah] which literally means fruit or produce and in the tithing verses EATING the tithe is often referred to. Note in Nehemiah 13:10, the Levites went to THE FIELD to replace missing tithes.  During the time of agrarian law tithing bartering was common but there were also MONEY SYSTEMS in place. [Genesis 23: 15-16 and 42:25, Jeremiah 32:9-11, Deuteronomy 14:25 and Malachi 3:5] Yet the tithe remained agrarian [land based].

According to the Douglas / Tenney NIV Bible Dictionary Leviticus. 27:31 makes clear a penalty of 20% of the tithe was exacted from one who redeemed his tithes and refused to use the money to pay for a substitute. Again, this shows the tithe was not income or money based.

God gave Israel’s tithes to the Levites as an inheritance in lieu of land. [Joshua 13:14, Deuteronomy 10:6-9, 18:1-5, Numbers 18:21, 24] The Levites gave tithes and offerings out of the tithes to the priests [Nehemiah 10:38, Numbers 18], but they apparently didn’t have to tithe the income from the sale of inherited property. [Deuteronomy 18:6-8] The Levites and priests were dependent on tithes for FOOD. God’s house was a STOREHOUSE and DISTRIBUTION POINT for the sacrifices, Levites, priests and those in need. [Malachi 4:10 "Bring all the tithes into the STOREHOUSE that there may be FOOD in My House. [Nehemiah 13:10-13, 1 Samuel 8:15, 17, 2 Chronicles 31:11, Deuteronomy 12:6-7, 17-19, 14:22 - 23] There was one exception for converting a tithe into money that was allowed early in the law. According to many scholars, this exception was abolished later. Deuteronomy 14:24-27 gives this early exception proving money systems were in place without tithing being based on money. In this early exception one could sell the tithe given specific circumstances and spend the money on whatever one desired provided one shared what one bought with the local Levite. Also, these verses make clear, “if the distance was too long for you to CARRY YOUR TITHE” proving the tithe was NOT money based. The New Testament shows Pharisees tithing, not income or money, but what they OWNED and GREW. [Luke 18:12, Matthew 23:23 showing tithing was PROFIT and AGRARIAN based.]”
From Garganta’s piece,the evidence against tithe in this Day and Age screams out in inviting the proponents of ‘Tithology’ to take a look at the overwhelming evidence against coercing and using undue influence[curses, hell, thievery ] to make Christians pay tithe. It is a stumbling block which Jesus spoke about that no one should put before anybody.  God bless us as we meditatively ponder over this heavenly argument against tithing. I would love to see anybody with a superior argument to counter this argument.

Credit:V.  Obamba