Ray All I will do is pray for you brother. You are definitely twisting and misconstruing the word into your own beliefs and understanding. Take the Bible for what it is and not what you think it to be. I agree with you there are some churches today who mis-teach and mis-use the principles of tithing, but you aren't making matters any better sir. 1st off I noticed in your entire 45 page excerpt that not once did you quote any scriptures from the book of PROVERBS, if you are trying to teach anything from the Bible you could have at least started here sir. The bible says in Proverbs 3: 5-7, 9 "5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil." That is straight from the bible, you should go back and study and read that sir. If we go down a tad bit further in verse 9, please read with me: "9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops" If you just take the time to read the Bible you would understand that GOD predicted what you are trying to do in the book of Revelations. But Going further a long Deutoronomy 14:28, 29 which you did quote "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 aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." This is the principle that is taught, in order for them to be blessed they first had to TITHE, by tithing they were sowing a seed, w i th that seed they were able to take care of the poor, widows fatherless, etc., I do not know what church that you go to, but this is what we do with our tithes, we help the homeless, help foreign countries such as Africa, if anyone in the church is in a bind, the Tithes that have been stored up is where they come to get help instead of Bank Of America, Wachovia, etc. That is the principle that GOD is teaching. The bible teaches to set aside a tenth of you WEALTH, which it states in proverbs, wealth could be crops, money, etc. DO YOU GET IT!!! I am sorry you had to waste your time on all 45 pages of this nonsense that you wrote, but I hate to bust your bubble but you are wrong, please go back and read the Bible and understand it for what it is and not what you want it to be. I just want to share with you one more scriptures for you to go back and read again and understand.
Nehemiah 10:38: 38 "A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury."
--Definition of Treasury - a place in which stores of wealth are kept
b: the place of deposit and disbursement of collected funds;
Hope you can start to understand the Bible and stop misinterpreting it
Dear Ricky: You have not the slightest clue as to what you are bragging about in your foolish attempt to discredit my paper.
I do trust in the Lord and I do not lean to my own understanding, but it is not necessary that I quote that verse in every one of my papers. As for "honoring God with your wealth and firstfruits," that commandment has absolutely NOTHING to do with the law of tithing. Tithing is giving a tenth of farm products to the Levites, priests, poor, and strangers. Tithing has nothing to do with voluntary giving, or firstfruits. They are two different things. There was also a very small temple tax, but that tax has absolutely nothing to do with tithing. They also had a place called the treasury at the temple where people could drop coins if they so desired, but this had absolutely nothing to do with the tithing law on farm products. The hired laborers who harvested the tithes of the land did not pay tithes on their wages. Fishermen did not pay tithes on their fish, etc. By "tithing" they were not "sowing seed" as you foolishly suggest. By tithing they were obeying the LAW of Moses, and breaking that law was a SIN.
They had no choice in the matter. They HAD to tithe. "DO YOU GET IT?" You don't know anything about tithing, do you? I have worked on teaching the Truths of God without salary and free of charge for over eight years now at bible-truths.com. I have averaged about 12 hours a day (ask my wife) now for eight years. If I got paid only $25 an hour for my work, that would be $25 X 12 hrs. X say 350 days a year X 8 years = $840,000.00. Don't even suggest that I do not honor God with my wealth or firstfruits! You are out of your league.
God be with you,
Ray
