Tithing – to pay or not pay and what the Bible really says

Tithing is one issue that has generated and continue to generate a lot of debate both within and outside the church. Opinions are always divided whenever the issue of tithe is raised. Many Christians believe they should always give 10% of their income to the church no matter what. There are however, a small minority of Christians on the other side of the debate who also believe tithing has no place in the New Testament and should not be paid. Interestingly both groups use the Bible to support their arguments. One would ask, why would a simple command by God which is captured in the bible continue to knock heads and generate so much debate? Malachi 3:10 the scripture usually quoted to support tithing comes with a promise of abundant blessing for tithe payers. This blessings and benefits, I understand apply to anyone who tithe irrespective of whether the person is born again, church goer or do not even go to church at all. Comparing the way we worship today to the past, one can confidently say that Christianity has come a long way. Many things have changed with regards to the way we worship today because some people like Martin Luther, John Wesley and others led a positive revolution in the past. With this, I hope people will appreciate and be accommodative of others who hold contrary views on issues such as the tithe instead of demonising them by calling them all sort of names. I am not interested on which side of the divide you belong to but I am interested in a dispassionate discussion of the issue devoid of doctrinal and personal sentiments.

Highlights of some of the concerns;

1. If we are to tithe, is the tithe supposed to be on our yearly increase or on our yearly income. Can one have income without incurring any cost? Apart from gifts all other income come at a cost to the recipient. If the church were to pay taxes, will they be happy if the government asked them to pay taxes on all income without taken care of their expenditure? Churches in UK include in their submitted accounts to the charity commissions cost of generating revenue or income. Why is that?

2. Are we to tithe every year or every three years? As Christians, are we also beneficiaries of the tithe law? Is the tithe indeed for the church or for the people in the church?

3. That tithe was given under the law and since we are no longer under the law it is not applicable in our time.
Based on the issues highlighted above, I will proceed to discuss what the law on tithing say and wade into the argument of whether tithes should be paid or not. The first part will look at the argument in favour of paying tithes and whether the law is being correctly applied or we are doing our own thing. The second part will look at tithing from the stand point of those who believe it has no place in church today as we are longer under the mosaic laws.
Now I want us to critically look at tithing and what the law on tithing really say. Let us look at the popular biblical quotation usually used to support paying of tithes by our chosen men of God and all churches that believe in tithing in Malachi 3:10-12 and the tithing law itself in Deuteronomy 14:22-29.

Malachi 3:10-12
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

Deuteronomy 14: 22-29
22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Granted that tithing is still applicable in our time and thus we are obliged by the Holy Book to pay so that we don’t rob God our creator as in Malachi 3:10, then we definitely have to use the same bible as our guide on how to do this. God always gives us specification and guidelines on whatever he want us to do so that we do not deviate from it to the left or right. For example, when God wanted Noah to build the ark He gave him specifications (Gen 6:14-19). God gave specific instructions regarding what to do to bring the walls of Jericho down (Joshua 6:2-5) and how the ark of God should be carried (1 Chronicles 15:11-15).

Tithes – Should it be on our INCREASE or INCOME

God has clearly spelt out in Deuteronomy 14:22-29 the rules regarding tithes. Contrary to the above, we have been made to believe that tithe should be paid on our gross income. But is that what the bible is saying? We have been made to believe that we need to tithe every year. Is this the position of God? We have been made to believe that tithe (10% of one’s monthly or annual income) is to be given so that the church can pay their pastors. Is that what the bible is saying here? We live in a world where pastors go on holidays abroad with their families every year, come back from holiday to tell the church how he enjoyed the holiday and justify how it is important to go on holiday yet they do not bother to ask whether the congregation they preside over are able to do the same. They don’t bother to ask because they know that most of them cannot even afford once in every three years holiday to even a local holiday destination.
From the above one could clearly see that the tithe should be on one’s increase. Let us do some critical analysis here. If your son’s height at his first birthday was 27 inches and is now 34 inches at age 2. By simple calculation the increase in height for a year is (34-27) inches = 7 inches and not 34 inches. Similarly, if a farmer uses a bag of maize as his seed during the cropping season, incurs production of cost estimated to be 3 bags and harvests 10 bags of maize, his increase is clearly 6 bags and not the 10 bags. Business men also have to factor in cost of goods and cost doing business which includes transport, rents, taxes, etc to arrive at a profit or what we can now call his/her increase.
Currently, Christians all over the world incur monthly cost on rents, food and transport to and from work to get a monthly salary. So when one is looking at increase per month, I believe it should be after this basic monthly cost has been taken out. Whatever is left represents the increase of the person and not the monthly salary as we are made to believe. If the argument is that we pay 10% of whatever we earn at the end of the month then if one takes a loan from a bank to finance a project the person have to tithe the loan as that also represents income. It is indeed sad that university students are made to pay tithe on their SSNIT student loan knowing very well that students have to pay back the loan after their studies. This is a common practice Christians on our university campuses are subject to. In my opinion this is not right and much as I believe no church leader will attempt to tithe a loan taken from the bank, they should desist from this acts which rather cast a slur on the church’s moral reputation.

Tithing Should Be Done Every Three Years:

Are we to pay tithe every year to the church? The answer to this question is NO. Per the law that instituted tithing in Deut 14:27-29, the tithe to the Levites should be done every third year. And this tithe should not go to only pastors but to other people as well. The scriptures below in Deuteronomy 14:28, Deuteronomy 26:12 and Amos 4:4 clearly support this fact.


Deuteronomy 14:27-29
27And you shall not forsake or neglect the Levite (God's minister) in your towns, for he has been given no share or inheritance with you. 28At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29And the Levite [because he has no part or inheritance with you] and the stranger or temporary resident, and the fatherless and the widow who are in your towns shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
Deuteronomy 26:12-15
12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God: ‘I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Amos 4:4 (Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years).
Are we supposed to keep some of our tithes and use it to go on holidays or pilgrimage? Yes, truly God recognises the importance of family trips and family holidays and thus made it a law to set aside 10% of one’s yearly increase for this purpose. Let us look at what the scripture says once again in Deuteronomy 14:22-26
22You shall surely tithe all the yield of your seed produced by your field each year. 23And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place in which He will cause His Name [and Presence] to dwell the tithe (tenth) of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and your flock, that you may learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God always. 24And if the distance is too long for you to carry your tithe, or the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His Name [and Presence] is too far away for you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, 25Then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place [of worship] which the Lord your God has chosen. 26And you may spend that money for whatever your appetite craves, for oxen, or sheep, or new wine or strong[er] drink, or whatever you desire; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
If the bible says we should pay tithe every 3 years on our increase, why are we told to do it every year? Why are they saying it should be on our gross/net income knowing very well that increase cannot be equated to income? Why has our pastors kept this all important information or message under the carpet for a long time? Your guess is as good as mine.

The constitution of every country remains the guiding principles upon which that country is governed. The bible like the constitution of a nation has been given to us by God as our guide so that we don’t do our own things. If politicians flout the supreme law of the land (constitution) by doing things outside the constitution our anointed men of God are amongst those who descend heavily on them. Yet the same anointed men do certain things that have no basis in the bible. Unless the church leadership does not believe in the very promises and blessings associated with tithing, I do not understand the current practice where membership of most churches is linked with tithe payment. This is another fundamental mistake most Pentecostal and charismatic churches make. Salvation is free according to the bible and there is no example in the bible regarding an instance where somebody was told he can’t be a member of a church because he failed in paying his tithe. So brethren, where is this teaching coming from. I have been in a church where a young bride was refused offering taken on her behalf a week after her wedding for the mere reason that she was not current with regards to her tithe obligation. So many examples abound today on active members of churches who have been denied help at the time they were bereaved all in the name of non payment of tithe. Where in the bible did Jesus, link our salvation and other help to payment of tithes?
The bible say in 2 Corinthians 9:7 (So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver).
What do we see today in our churches? People give their tithes grudgingly either because they don’t have the money or what they earn is too little and may not be able to see them through the month but for the sake of keeping their membership they do so anyway. Instead of the church using the payment or non payment of tithe to decide who is a member and who is not, I believe the church and its leadership should just preach the word and allow members to take that decision based on the benefits, protection and blessings they see tithe payers enjoy.
Should tithe payment be at all cost? That is, at the detriment of one’s family? I believe that is not what God want us to do. God expects us as Christians to take care of our family but the church want us to put church first before family. Check what the word of God says in1 Timothy 5:8 and Mark 7:9-13
1Timothy 5:8 (But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever)
Mark 7:9-13
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother, and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
If you withhold money that should have gone to support your family in order to pay it to the church as tithe, the bible say you are making God’s word invalid and guilty of the same offence Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing.


The Argument That Tithe Has No Place In The New Testament:
1. The New Testament Covenant has a higher authority than the Old Testament covenant. Read Hebrews 8:6-7
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
2. Most Christians believe the New Testament has freed us from food regulations, Sabbath, sacrifices and other laws declared in the Old Testament Covenant. Furthermore, while believers tend to ignore many Old Testament laws, e.g. Sabbath, A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing,” (Deut. 22:5); “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk,” (Exod. 34:26), “Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material,” (Lev. 19:19), they strongly hold on to some of the laws e.g. the tithe.

Christians under the new covenant are led by the Holy Spirit and therefore not under the law
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law through his death and resurrection. We are therefore no longer under the law and whoever wants to still be under the law, the bible says you are cursed. We are under grace and not under the laws of Moses.
Let’s read Galatians 5:18 (But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law).
Galatians 3:10-11, 13
10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, The righteous will live by faith. 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

The Law acted as our tutor to lead us to Christ
The purpose of the Law was to act as our tutor to lead us to Christ and had a mandate which expired after the coming into being of the New Covenant.


Galatians 3:24-25
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
This means the mosaic laws of which tithe is part ended when Jesus Christ came into the scene. In other words the law of which tithe part expired immediately Christ died on the cross.
The Verdict of the first Church Council
In the early church, there were those who tried to force the Gentile Christians to live under the Law. A dispute arose which quickly lead to the first ever church council.
Acts 15:1-13, 19-20
1Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the brothers very glad. 4When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
5Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
6The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
19"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
The church council did not recommend tithing as one of the things the Gentile Christians should do. Rather, they were given four instructions to abstain from a) things contaminated with idols, b) fornication, c)what is strangled, and d) blood.
If the then church council did not recommend tithing to the Gentile Christians it means it has no place in the New Testament.

Jesus Consider tithing as a tradition /Tithes are ‘Corban’
If you have money your family needs, but you withhold it from them in order to pay it to the church as ‘tithes’, you are doing exactly what the Pharisees did and were accused by Jesus as keeping traditions. You are saying your money is “Corban” and Jesus is saying if you do so you are invalidating the Word of God.
He was also saying to them, “You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death’; but you say, ‘If a man says to his father, anything of mine you might have been helped by is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many such things as that” (Mark 7:9-13).

What does the New Testament teach about giving?
We are to agree with God that He owns us, and in keeping with that belief we are to present ourselves to Him.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1).
Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favour of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing (1Corinthians13:3).
God looks at the heart of believers and not our loveless giving aimed at keeping our names in the church’s books. From the scriptures above, God requires us to present our hearts and bodies rather than gold and silver which belong to Him. If God is not impressed by loveless giving why do we compel people to pay tithe.


Giving to God should not be by compulsion
You should be moved to give. The desire of God is that our contributions should be made only when we are genuinely happy to give. This position, I believe has not changed in the New Testament.
“Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution (Exodus 25:2).

The early church which is our example gave in response to need
Christians today are beset by demands that they give ever increasing sums of money to professional church leaders who live in luxury homes, drive the latest cars and jet around the world, while building multi-million dollar, family-controlled empires all in the name of God. Whilst pastors continue to tell their congregation to “seek the kingdom of heaven first and all other things shall be added to them” they continue to grab properties and flashy cars from left, right and centre. They tell you the flashy cars, houses etc are worldly things that will pass away yet they crave for the same things because in their hands these worldly things become spiritual tools. What a world?

Check what Acts 4:34-35 says
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
Our men of God should base on this scripture show the way by selling their mansion and flashy cars to support the work of God as well as support the poor. They could also show the way by going in for low cost houses and cheap cars instead of mansions and flashy cars.

It is our Prayer and Gifts to the Poor and not our Tithes that Comes up as memorial before God.
There is no where in the bible (I stand to be corrected) where someone’s continuous tithe payment came up as a memorial before God. What became a memorial before God as recorded in Acts 10:4 was somebody’s gifts to the poor and not tithes.
Acts 10:4
4Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
Paul knew of tithing yet he advised the Galatian church to set aside money in keeping with their income.
1 Corinthians 16:1-3
1Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Why is Paul’s advice in 2 Corinthians 12:14 not heeded.
2 Corinthians 12:14
14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?
According to this scripture, Paul was interested in the people (their hearts, souls and well being) instead of their possessions. He was prepared to rather offer help to them. The practice nowadays is that every pastor invited to preach in another church is given honorarium (money). Even when church overseers or founders visit other branches regardless of whether the branch is struggling financially or not he has to get his honorarium. This attitude make it seems like the word of God is for sale. By implication what our men of God are saying is if you want me to preach for you then you should be prepared to pay for it.

Tithing – punishment or a curse for nations that submit to the authority of men instead of God.
When you submit yourself to the spiritual authority of a man instead of to God, you will end up paying him tithes, being a virtual slave to him, his family and his organisation and have your prayers ignored by God. Read the scripture below.
I Samuel 8:11-18
10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. No! they said. We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.
The above scripture proves that God is not interested in our money. He rather wants us to submit to Him and make Him King of our lives. Tithe in this scripture is seen as a curse placed on the children of Israel for asking for a king (human being) to rule them. So if we are no longer under curse which is the law because of Jesus then logically, the tithe which represents a curse has also been lifted from you. You can now judge for yourself if tithing is still applicable today.

What did Jacob pay – tithe or a vow? Read Genesis 28:20-22
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.
The fact that Jacob vowed to give 10% of everything God gives him does not mean that Jacob paid tithe. What Jacob did was a conditional vow in which he gave God certain conditions to fulfill to merit 10% of whatever He (God) gives him. Again, we are also not told in the bible whether Jacob indeed paid this vow or not.
Unlike Gideon, there is no record of Jacob paying this vow? Read Judges 6:17-19
17 Gideon replied, if now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you. And the LORD said, I will wait until you return.
19 Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

Did Abraham Really Paid Tithe
One scripture used to support tithing apart from Malachi is Hebrew 7. According to this scripture Abraham even paid tithe. There is no record of Abraham paying tithe apart from the account given in Genesis 14 and Hebrew 7. The question that needs to be answered here is this. Why did Abraham give 10% of his war spoils and not his first fruits and increase as required by the tithing law?
Hebrew 7:1-4
1This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness; then also, king of Salem means king of peace. 3Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. 4Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!
Genesis 14:8-12 - The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah (Plus their allies) fought a battle against king Chedorlaomer king of Elam (plus his allies). Chedorlaomer king of Elam and his allies won the battle and took all the food supply and other goods from Sodom. They also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he (Lot) was living in Sodom.

Genesis 14:14-17 - 14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

Genesis 14:18-20 - 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

What Abraham gave to Melchizedek wasn’t from his personal property, it was rather tenth percent (10%) of the booty obtained from the Sodomites. Can we confidently say that Abraham paid tithe? I believe the answer is NO.

I hope this has provided you with the necessary information needed to decide which side of the tithing debate you want to be. I am of the conviction that you will stand for the truth and insist that the right things are done so that we don’t just follow the crowd. The bible is our guide, so do not be quick to believe whatever men of God or anybody tell you without first checking to know what the good book say.


By John Awotwe

He is excused from Idiocy. He knows the Bible?

I remember when the issue was raised amongst friends; Why is there an upsurge in the number of Churches in the Country (Ghana)? I listened quietly to see where the debate will go, but much to my disappointment, it wasn't much of a debate. There was a unanimously consensus that it was the beginning of a "Revival" for the nation. There, at that very moment my heart sunk. It almost unbelievable that ones you can memorise a few Bible verses you are excused from idiocy. You can run amok in ignorance and its fine. I remember reading from somewhere,that a good tree never bears bad fruits,neither can a bad tree give forth good fruits. And the only way you can determine the wolfs in sheep clothing is by looking at their deeds. Yes, I remember reading that.

A fellow materialises out of nowhere in hideous clerical robes of indeterminate origin, wearing a big crucifix around his neck, brandishing a Bible and speaks in a voice that I only emit from my vocal cords when I'm constipated. He crowns himself Archbishops, yet goes ahead and divorces his wife, and its all good and dandy. Perhaps he thought his problems were bigger than Hosea, the Prophet who married a Prostitute, or perhaps the book of Timothy that spells out the criteria for a Bishop is missing from his scriptures. Or is more likely he knew more than the Lord Jesus himself who abhor the practise of dismissing a wife with a written testament.

I wonder, if he were my Bishop, and I had trouble with my wife? I wonder if he will have the moral authority to advice me on the subject of marriage? I wonder if these well fed Christian gentlemen who occupy the corridors of power and prestige in his Church are oblivious of what is good and what is bad; Or may be, an expensive and exhausted reason with a contracted common sense was likely the product this effect. That his deeds have the ability to condemn an entire congregation. I guess I heard you right, and its true. When that blind man, leads these blind men, they will all cascade into that horrible pit.

The Churches, are not safe any more. They are worse than slaughter houses. They don't just steal your hard earned money from you, they also steal your soul as well. In a world where Good is no longer measured through external absolutes, but rather in what is new and modern. Whatever is new is also deemed good and beautiful. The Church on the other hand is eager to bend doctrine in the name of unity to suit modernity. So now I hear they say, you may not cover your hair. Now I believe you don't cover that hair any longer. Wait a minute. Did they tell you why? Perhaps they did tell you the reason for covering it before? Yes? Oh! so the nature of your relation with God is determined by the Church's headquarters.

The Lord God almighty is not a God of contradiction nor does he bend because you built a space shuttle. Human irreverence can not bring about his glory diminution. A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the wall of his cell.

What I speak of may sound controversial to some ears, but its no more controversial as distinguishing the law from the gospel. No I speak not of Constitutional Law, no. But the Law that was spoken of in the letter to the Galatians. Brother, if the Lord bless you with bounty and you seek to make an offering to him. make that offering to that neighbour, that man on the street, that fellow who can hardly afford a cup of gari. That is what Jesus told you to do. Don't send it to the man with eloquence sitting on his high horse in the large building. He is a WOLF!

Nothing prevents you from gathering your household on a weekend and sharing the gospel for free. Nothing prevents the husband or the wife from studying the word and sharing it with the rest of the family. What God cares about is the temple, fortunately enough, YOU ARE THE TEMPLE.

Loss of Shame, Loss of Reason, and Loss of Meaning

What is destroying the moral and spiritual foundation of today’s society?

I believe a convergence of many factors has taken place. Much of education in the 1960s came unhinged from any moral absolutes and ethical values. There have been many voices alerting us to this. But more than just a philosophy took over; a mood took over.

First, secularization generally held that religious ideas, institutions, and interpretations have lost their social significance. People liked the idea of a secular society and a secular government. But in terms of moral values and ethics, they never checked into the internal assumptions of secularization that made it wide open to almost any view on any subject. Beginning in the 1960s, the moods of secularization ultimately led to society’s loss of shame.

Next is pluralization, which sounds like a practical and worthy idea; and in many ways, it is. In pluralism you have a competing number of worldviews that are available, and no worldview is dominant. But smuggled in with pluralization was the absolutization of relativism. The only thing we could be sure of was that all moral choices were relative and there was no point of reference to right and wrong. This resulted in the death of reason.

Last is privatization, which is an accommodation to the religiously minded. If secularization and pluralization were going to hold sway, what does society do with the large number of people who are spiritually minded?

Being spiritually minded was okay as long as people kept their spiritual beliefs private and did not bring them into the public arena. The irony of this was the fact secularization — which had its assumptions on absolutes and anything of the metaphysical nature — was allowed into the public place. In fact, its very trust was to bring it into the public place. But anyone who believed in a spiritual Essence, an Ultimate Reality, and the fact there were transcendent absolutes that needed to be adhered to was told to keep those beliefs private. That ultimately paved the way for the loss of meaning.

These three moods — secularization, pluralization, and privatization — brought about What has happened? How was this authoritatively pontificated in the social strain? This is when philosophy stepped in, the moralizers against morality came in, and political correctness came in. These gave society some parameters that allowed it to expel the moralizing from outside the secular realm.

As a result, everything became pragmatic. Philosophers and naturalists stepped in. In this new century, we have lost all definitions of what it means to be human, and what sexuality, life, and the home are all about. We are on the high seas, battling the storms of conflicting worldviews without a compass. When the mornings papers capture the headlines, "Bomb blast, Sniper kills twelves, Student gun down colleages in School, Man weds Man" Do not ask 'what went wrong?'

Wave Particle Duality And My Trinity.

The wave particle duality principle of quantum physics holds that matter and light exhibit the behaviours of both waves and particles, depending upon the circumstances of the experiment. It is a complex topic, but among the most intriguing in physics.

In the 1600s, Christian Huygens and Isaac Newton proposed competing theories for light's behaviour. Huygens proposed a wave theory of light while Newton's was a particle theory of light. Huygens' theory had some issues in matching observation. Newton's prestige helped lend support to his theory, so for over a century his theory was dominant.

In 1905, Albert Einstein published his paper to explain the photoelectric effect, which proposed that light travelled as discrete bundles of energy. The energy contained within a photo was related to the frequency of the light. This theory came to be known as the photon theory of light ( although the word photon wasn't coined until years later ).

With photons the ether was no longer essential as a means of propagation, although it still left the odd paradox of why wave behaviour was observed. Even more peculiar were the quantum variations of the double slit experiment and the Compton effect which seemed to confirm the particle interpretation.

As experiments were performed and evidence accumulated, the implications quickly became clear and alarming: Light functions as both a particle and a wave, depending on how the experiment is conducted and when observations are made. ( emphasis: depending on how the experiment is conducted )

In the realm of the physical Sciences, such an observation does not seem to conflict with logic. In fact, it is not an anomaly for an entity to behave in such irrational way. In one experiment the entity behaves as a particle and in an other a wave. Such a phenomena has not been questioned nor deemed an absurdity. If light can behave as two different things and still be light, then why does it perplex the minds of men to question God behaving as a father and a Son whiles maintaining his integral substance at the same time. Depending on the time and condition he acts as the Father and in another realm or situation as the Son or the Holy Ghost. ( Using in principle, the same underlining assumptions implicit in the Light experiment ).

The intriguing part of this whole Light Duality issue is the contradiction between the properties of Wave and a Particle. Waves, be as it may, has nothing in likeness to Particle. Yet Light displays both contradictions. I find it amusing that Light, as ordinary as it is, could exhibit in itself such irreconcilable contradiction, then why will we choose to deny God the same quality and even go further to label it an absurdity. In my view, such blatant display of intolerance towards transcendent interpretations, whiles views using the same underlining assumptions in Science is tolerated only amounts to nothing but self-serving double standards.

If one will not question the Wave-Particle Duality of Light, then I find it hypocritical on the part of anyone to ridicule the Father-Son-Holy Ghost Trinity of God. Light the Wave, Light the Particle. Just as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.