Hello:
If I may I'd like to make one more note, that like everything else the ritual and all was done through the time of Christ's ascention, then it all changed and all the ritual, and the commandmants were officialy gone. As the second part like any promise or covenant and the often quoted Mal ch 3 talks of theivery, in all these the tithe has two sides, and deut 14.22-29 states without doubt what is expected from tithing; and later Christ said "if you do not see the works of my Father then believe me not".
My conclusion is , if you don't see what you're supposed to by the book, then there is a problem, and it's usually the interrpretation of the scripture, so if you see what God says from your tithe great, but if you see counterfit junk, and lame excuses, go with 2 Cor definition?
Thank you and God bless you,
Connerron

This is my rebuttal of Hemphill's rebuttal to me.

Please be fair and allow this link since he will not reply to my email directly to him. Thank you.

Russell Earl Kelly
http://www.tithing-russkelly.com/id142.html

Hello and God Bless you:
I appreciated you article, and for once someone stood up for the integrity of the overall intent of the action, and not the cash flowing of the elders, or pastor.
In my area there is an outright sickness about the matter.
I have another point that I have never heard anyone be willing to address, and around the south will start a fight in 3-5 seconds. Heb chapter 7, and especially verse 18, "there is verily disannuling of the commandments going before",.......; then opposers rage it only pertains to the Law vs. redemption by Christ Jesus, and on,on,. The old idea that the "Holy Man of God" is going to be a regining patriarch, and yet have every kind of grace, and every out of man's laws is the only thing they want to hear.
To me this verse and refernce like verse 12, explains,as does the ordinences nailed to the cross, that the rules under the law are gone. And the rituals, and requirements are gone.
Please comment if you will.
Thank you,
Ron

An excellent article for such an age old debate. I agree with all the comments so far. God has given us the freedom to serve HIm without fear by loving Him deeply and growing in His love. The key is obedience to Him by His love. Tithing is great when you know that God loves you and wants to protect you and it is just one of the ways to show you how to live God's way. If we love God we will obey Him. What tends to happen is that many of us believers have been taught to obey our pastors, teachers & other men/women of God more than God Himself and that has been the trouble. Men are after their own benefits and sometimes that slips in even into the sermons on finance because we do not trust God to take care of us entirely. I always suggest to my friends who struggle with Church and financial matters in Church to find out what the Lord is saying to them on a daily basis and that will give them the strength to follow His voice when deception does arise. Tithing is good but giving is great.

We argue endlessly about these matters without any constructive result. Jesus is my Lord, my High Priest, my Teacher and Comforter by His Holy Spirit. He has settled my account forever, paid in full and has set me free from all who would step between me and God. Jesus in effect abolished a priestly class and anyone who attempts to dictate a set of rules for my relationship with Him is wrong. If you feel the Lord leads you to a strict 10% tithe then by all means obey the Spirits leading. If your heart feels otherwise then follow your leading. Do all as unto the Lord. Try ALL the spirits, no matter who is talking or how exalted they may seem. I am FREE, and restrictions and rules about giving, eating, drinking,holidays,the sabbath,clothes etc are between me and my Saviour! There is a spirit among us all that feels it must dictate to others and Jesus set us free from that. Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling and be careful not to destroy your brother with your freedom....

This site does not have an option for editing once the message is posted, so I'll just add here, that I meant to use Malachi 3:8,9, AND 10 in my comments on tithing and to apologize for the typographical errors that ended up in the comments that were submitted by me.

Tithing is indeed biblical, but because it's never been taught from the whole of Scripture rather than just from Malachi 3:8-9, I never fully understood all of what it meant y until I read an article I found on the internet. The article also explained the true meaning of what Abraham's 10th to Melchizedek really was. It's a long article, but it was a real eye-opener for me, and you can be sure you'll never hear it taught in today's churches. Here is the link: http://bible-truths.com/tithing.html

I have never given 10% because my heart wouldn't allow me to stop at just 10% as the needs were much greater and I saw that 10% never satisfied what I felt was enough to meet them. I'm not a rich person, but one of the ones Jesus said would always be with us:

John 12:8
For the poor always ye have with you; [but me ye have not always.]

However, the way the congregation is brow-beaten in almost every sermon would turn off the most devout Christian. Tithing is taught more than Jesus.