Tithes and Offering: My Opinion.

This is my opinion on this issue. I believe tithing is a law of the old testament, anybody who sticks to tithes can probably still kill animals for the atonement of sins, I am not saying the old testament is to be abandoned and ignored, I am saying we have allowed our pastors and church leaders deceive us for far too long, why will your church want you to register your name on a tithe register, why is it only those whose tithes are heavy that are recognized by the church, what happened to the spirit of helping the poor in churches, now we even have people who trek to church because of lack of money and we have pastors cruising around in private jets, now let’s remember the bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 — “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”, what has then happened to this generosity? Let’s be sincere here, the church has really gone astray in the area of giving, if not why can’t the church just provide the necessary tithe cards and bless all those who have given, God knows them, why do they need their addresses and phone numbers, our pastors seem to have forgotten that the bible says in Deuteronomy 17:16-17 — “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”, we now have pastors travelling in convoy of expensive cars to church when there are hungry missionaries in the field who don’t have food for the next day, there is simply no excuse for the extravagant life many men of God now live.
I am not saying pastors should be hungry, infact, they deserve the best, but we have to realize that nowadays church has been turned to business, there is always something they want you to pay money for, the pastors seem to have forgotten the bible says in James 2:14-17 — “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”, and in Acts 4:32, 34-35 — “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”, and in Acts 20:35b — “. The Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”, our pastors think it’s the other way round.
In Matthew, Jesus speaks to the teachers of the law, and talks about how legalism and man’s law (specifically about money pledged to the church instead of to the needy), can be made to go against God’s true intentions for his Kingdom: Matthew 15:5-9 says ‘But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ he is not to ‘honor his father with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’
So, as for me, There is not one word written about tithing in the New Testament to the people of the New Covenant…. The New Testament teaches Christians are to give from out of their heart - there is no percentage used. This only makes sense since you cannot give cheerfully if you are giving out of some legalistic requirement. I am not saying I wouldn’t give to the church anymore, I will give what I am led to give, because the bible says in Luke 14:33 — “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” And 2 Corinthians 8:1-3, 9 — “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability ... For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-9 — “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: ‘He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ ”
So.. I will give to the church what my heart gives, and give to the needy what my heart gives, for the bible says in Proverbs 19:17 — “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.”
This is my take on tithing and giving generally.
Most of this write up was gotten from the web, they however perfectly state my own views, so I decided to use them too.
References:
http://www.bible.com
http://www.biblemoneymatters.com/2008/02/bible-and-tithing-to-give-or-not-to-2.html
http://www.generousgiving.org/page.asp?sec=9&page=172
http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/i/churchgiving.htm

Black Judgement

This is a write up I wrote on the 20th Jan, 2009.

Black Judgment
Its 6.45am GMT on 20th January 2009, today the first black president of the United States of America will be sworn in. As Dr King said in his ‘I have a dream speech’… Obama has been judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin.

Black Failure
Where do I start from… the Kenyan election violence that left many dead and homeless, the South African “Hero” who believed he couldn’t be infected with HIV because he took a shower after having sexual relations with an infected person, the wars in Congo & Somalia, the poverty prevalent in oil rich Nigeria, the Zimbabwean leader who blames the West for inflation of 231,000,000% in his country, the constant failure of leaders and poor electoral reforms in Nigeria and many other African countries, the violent black neighborhoods in the US, the black kids who can only think of being hip-hop stars and wouldn’t give education a thought, the black drug traffickers all over Europe, the black internet fraudsters that proudly showcase their ill gotten wealth at any opportunity, Africa, a continent vastly blessed with every kind of natural resource you could think of is swimming in poverty and has to plead for aid from Western and Middle Eastern countries… the list of failures seems endless.. I could go on and on.

Black Success
Hope lies in people like Nelson Mandela who after his tenure of office willfully left power, in the recent successful and peaceful presidential elections in Ghana, in Philip Emeagwali, a Nigerian who helped give birth to the super computer, in Morgan Tsvangirai who has refused to be bulldozed and bribed into a deal in Zimbabwe, in Bishop Desmond Tutu who is an embodiment of a true African, in Koffi Annan, the immediate past United Nations Secretary, hope lies in Barrack Obama.. the son of a white woman from Kansas and black father from Kenya… but most important of all… hope lies in the great black people from every nation and from all works of life, who try their best to make a honest living, who raise honest and hardworking children who will be the leaders of tomorrow… the greatest hope comes from within the innermost minds of these leaders of tomorrow.

Black Judgment
Back to Barack Obama… a lot of controversies in his life, he is a Christian who attended an Islamic school in Indonesia and has a middle name Hussein, he was raised by a single mother, he did drugs as a youth, however, he is being addressed as the first Black US president, not the first US president who attended an Islamic school, or the first US president who lived in Indonesia, or the first with a funny middle name… this goes to say the color of his skin will be a major basis for his assessment, I have listed a lot of black successes above, but Obama’s success so far has had the most effect on the way blacks are viewed worldwide, so… somewhere within me… I cannot but pray that Obama succeeds, because if he fails, it wouldn’t be seen as another failed presidency like the Bush presidency is seen, it will be seen as a failure of the black race.. we have an opportunity now, and we had better make good use of it.. Obama had better succeed.

Love - Is it War?

LOVE - Is it war? In war there is chaos, the air is thick with smoke, you can hardly breath as the thunderous sounds of bombs and gunshots disrupt the once peaceful and beautiful scenery… Certainly it feels like war. All the peace is gone… The mighty have been hit! They cant believe it! They are the supposed to be the masters of the game, how did they fall for the trap… could they be losing this war? Where did they miss it? Oh my heart aches… it aches from these thoughts… too many questions, no answers… if only they saw it coming…

Hmmmmm, a big sigh, how are the mighty fallen! The losses are irreparable… the fighter jets and pilots are lost, the navy grounded, foot soldiers dashing down and crawling to the nearest cover… The Commander gives the order: RETREAT, RETREAT…

They wonder… Why werent the tracers shot and biggles blown to give us an alert, how could those sand models have been so wrong? Who changed the bullets from live to blank amour? What happened to the guards on senturi? All the night navigation and point to point compass marches couldn’t have been so futile? Where did they go wrong…

Tra la la… a General finds the answer… we relaxed, believed too much in our strenght, didn’t put soldiers on senturi, our enemies became our closest friends… they said they don’t have the strenght to even think of attacking us…we thought it was all over… WE RULE… Alas… we were hit before we knew it.

So now the mighty are in hiding… building walls around the city… walls they once thought they will never need, they choose to play the games from now on... and grab the best ally that comes along for a life long romance… They now have a huge gate at the entrance to the city… But suddenly there are loud sounds of chariots and soldiers marching towards the city… CLOSE THE GATES shouts the General… our enemies are here again…

Oh… wait… Maybe they are allies? But they are too scared to take any risks… and want to keep the gates locked… the body is willing… but the heart is weak… the heart draws towards this ally… the gates have to be opened once again… But the General says NO, its too soon… we will be decieved again.

How long will we play games the Commander says, how long will our gates be locked… Open the gates… we have plenty to eat, drink and share with our friends and allies… hoping they wouldn’t once again turn into enemies… hoping it will be for a life time… we have to keep trying… So then… can we say LOVE is WAR.