What is your opinion on this whole matter, on tithing, etc?
All opinions - all - are welcome.
My take,
1) Tithing is a voluntary act, given of your first fruits, to be undertaken with a cheerful and giving heart.
2) Tithes are for the church and to allow the church to do Gods work.
3) Thus, some of the tithe is for the Pastor. Some of the tithe is for the church to use - supporting missionaries, giving aid (we give to needy families identified by the congregation or other churches) and as well, for the support of the churches elderly/widows.
Having said all that, I am thankful to the Lord for giving me the ability to give and help.
I'm sure you can find a church that would meet your expectations if you look and ask. Many give larger amounts to missions than locals. You should have a say in that, IMO. I look for a church that gives to the locals and ministers to them. Christ becomes real to the helped if they can see it in the community. To brag that you support missions in Africa and such is fine, but we don't see it up close, so it seems of little use.
IMHO, to worry if a church gives to widows every 3 years to match the Bible is a little like the Pharisee's. The pastor knows his salary going in, so He should be more worried about how the money is distributed. If the church grows, he must be doing something right, so why not a raise? If it's shrinking, obviously he doesn't need a raise. Wanting a nicer car doesn't make your preaching better.
As far as the Christian duty to tithe, that's covered in Scripture, no matter where the money goes. I'm sure you can find a place to tithe if you disapprove of the local method.
This government has taken over the task of supposedly caring for those in need.
This was and is accepted by most of the church in America as right and good, because like everything else, is absolved the individual to do charity and put it within the province of government to handle.
This too absolved the church in it’s responsibility, and many were happy that the funds saved by no longer needing to do James 1:27, could be spent on the gilded chairs, blue wigs and coffee shops in the atriums of newly finished mega church buildings.
I cannot say I am sorry for painting with such a broad brush - because this depraved culture that the lukewarm church has lost to Secular hedonists, are the fruits of what I charge.
The church is the complicit party in helping the government replace it’s role in doing charity and James 1:27, of which it was our individual responsibility within the congregation to provide. So much so that government has now replaced God in the religion of many in this nation in decline towards collapse.
As a matter of biblical record, tithing was done BEFORE the Law of God was handed to Moses (i.e.: Abraham and Melchizidek). And since John 1:1-3, 14 was cited - I bristle at the suggestion that tithing and all aspects of the Law of God are no longer valid. Clearly it was Jesus Himself who made all things and did all things in behalf of the Father. That would include writing the Commandments and even all the ordinances of which tithing was also part.
God loves a cheerful giver, and while mandated tithing does not encourage a cheerful giver, willingly offering the first of your labors to God, is not just a test of faith - but it often opens the gates to blessings one may never realize and puts their heart in the place they place their treasure.
Well here goes and no doubt i will catch hell.
The old covenant has been done away with.
God says to bring all of the tithes into the store house so that the people can be fed.
The people could not be fed the truth from a bunch of government paid hirelings.
Not just a tenth but all of it, the tithes were called in.
The government of Israel was destroyed, they no longer had a state run Church.
The early Christians who wanted to serve God sold what they had and gave it to the apostles and they all lived in common,
They collected alms from people who were not members of the church but were Christians, the actual church members could not pay alms because they did not have money of their own.
A paid preacher is a hireling, Jesus said you can not trust them because they will flee when the wolf comes.
It is common knowledge that they will quit one Church and go to another for better pay.
So are they really serving God or them selves?
My opinion is that most people don’t tithe. They throw in a 10 or 20.
A pastor told me recently that he had someone write a check for $3. You gotta wonder what that’s all about.
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. “ (Matthew 5:20)
I think that a mere 10% should be preached as a bare minimum, and the above class gave over 30% of total goods by at least one estimation, but that the NT does not preach 10% giving but 100%, (Rm. 12:1) so that you purpose to make all work toward the kingdom of God, and basically try to live on maybe about 10% for personal things and 90% to support the work of the ministry.
This will be reviled and disregarded by those who think that the Old Testament is done away with in total - but since the Apostle Paul stated that ‘all scripture is given by inspiration of God (meaning the Old Testament - because that is all that existed at the time), then this verse ought to answer your question:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. -Malachi 3:8