So Shimmie since I MUST obey the LAW then if I gave more I'd be breaking the law, right? Coz that's NOT what I was told to give. I've been told 10% so I'd be breaking the LAW by giving a different percentage from what is asked. And if my household is hungry because of the economy and I'm behind in bills so that I cannot afford to pay them, feed my kids and give ten percent, then I should just leave my household without so I can meet this demand, right? After all there's no way around this as you say.
The way you all are so RIGID with this ten percent when I never heard Jesus or the apostles command it makes me wonder if you think God sets parameters. This is probably why some people become ministers because after all, they don't have to work (like Paul did or serve like Jesus did. Never mind the fact that both Paul and Jesus were setting examples for them to follow). All they have to do is wait for Sunday since they will get 10% from everyone. And what more does this message say, God only wants 10% so the other 90% is all yours to do with it as you please. They don't have to give anymore because "God only wants 10%". Do you see how crazy that sounds?
In Jesus' sermons, He made it clear that He didn't want a fraction from us. He wanted all. From telling people to sell all and follow him to telling them that anyone who doesn't denounce all he has cannot be his disciples. To drive that point home, He even said that "if you don't hate your own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, you can't be his disciple". For One who commanded we must love to challenge us to hate in order to drive home the point that the people who matter most to us must fade in comparison to Him, and that the devotion/love (dare I say percentage?) we ought to give to Him should be so great that it's at the far opposite end of the spectrum of what we give our loved ones shows what sort of sacrifice He expects from us.
But is He saying to give this to the church or the Pastor? No, he repeatedly talks of giving to those without in more places than one. Does he talk about firstfruits? Or a percentage thereof? No. He talks of giving what you have. He mentions food, clothes, shelter....
You know, if we are to understand the Bible, we cannot just take a tiny part of it (Malachi) and blow it up to make it the be-all-and-end-all of God's direction for our lives. We have to read it all to get its full context. We aren't stoning adulterers or sacrificing animals, so can't you all see how sly it is that tithing has been turned around to be "salary for the church" when it was never that? Let's look at that scripture you quoted before you said (again) "there's no way around it":
22Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 [can't argue with that] Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, [not put in a plate that goes back to the Pastor to maintain that church but WE are to eat this tithe in God's presence] so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. [So we may learn to honor and worship the Lord our God always] 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, [Now if the place of God's dwelling is far away, we may sell the firstfruits but again we don't put that money in a plate going around church but we are told instead] and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. [We are to use that money to buy whatever our hearts desire] Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. [Then WE and OUR HOUSEHOLD shall feast in the presence of the Lord (makes me think of how we just celebrated Thanksgiving!)] 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own. [We are told not to forget those who have no land or inheritance of their own] 28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, [Every three years we are to bring 10% x 3 and store it in town so that the poor, those not from around here, the fatherless and those who lost their hubbies but live in our town may come and eat and be satisfied] and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. [So that the Lord our God may bless the work of our hands]
I have a friend who was telling me about her Pastor. He has a job besides the service he does for God in the church. The church's finances come not just from the people's heartfelt donations but also from his own contribution. The main thing that the congregation does is feed people during service. So rather than just bring money, the bulk of their support for that ministry is food--the sort of tithing of old according to what we read in the bible. So the pastor doesn't have to worry about what he will eat, and the church's maintenance is a task that all who worship, including the Pastor, take to heart.
If preachers were not demanding 10% claiming it's for God
but were instead serving and following Paul's example, I bet my bottom dollar, they would never be without and buildings would not be falling apart as we are led to believe.
People would give cheerfully and freely according to what they could afford or wanted, and no one would be without, not the giver or the receiver. But this crazy rule has churches living it up--and you all know MAJORITY of them are so let's not act brand new--while the congregation is living way below the level of the Pastor. Show me a Pastor with only one pair of shoes, and I will show you 10+ in his congregation without any shoes at all.
So there is a way around it
for me, Shimmie, even if you have decided that there isn't one for you. I will obey God. I will give to the poor, and the hungry, the naked and so on. I will let His Spirit direct me in my giving and in how I use my income. But I will not listen to one more person tell me that I am to give a specific quota of my money to God and then expect me to give it to the Pastor, whom when I last checked wasn't God. Jesus who said He and God are one always referred to the lowly as representing Him, never the church leaders or the guy in the pulpit. While holding a child in His arms He said, "
Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." (Mark 9:36-37). He said that when the Son of Man comes the King will say, "I
tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" referring to the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger... (Matthew 25:31-46). And I will not limit my God to just 10%. I will give Him whatever I can because it is from Him that I get all things.