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Saturday, May 14, 2005
I grew up in the buckle of the Bible Belt. I know lots of places claim to be the buckle of the Bible Belt, but you'll have to trust me on this one. Birmingham, Alabama is really it, in my opinion. If it isn't, it's certainly the first notch in that Belt.
What that really means is that conservative thoughts and beliefs sort of pervade the culture of the entire community. There are all sorts of "do's" and "dont's" based on, or believed to be based on, the truth of Scripture. So, the result is that you have all sorts of social mores based on some sort of Biblical reasoning: What television shows to watch, movies to see, clothes to wear, music to hear, dating rules, etc., etc., ad naseum.
(As an aside, I always found it interesting that these behavioral rules always fell on what teenagers might do, but never focused on adult behavior so much. You know, like being more frugal when purchasing a home or car, or money spent on clothing, or not being a glutton during meals--which, in the Deep South, is a legitimate temptation every time you sat down to eat--etc. Maybe it's because I was a teenager and didn't see those rules applied to adults...but now that I'm outside looking in, I still don't see them.)
One of those "cultural norms" was related to giving financially to the church. It had its own word, too: tithing.
Loosly translated, it means giving 10% of your income to the church. It it taught with a vengeance in churches, and it's the only thing I ever remember hearing regarding giving. We were supposed to take our paycheck, give the first 10% to God, and be wise with the rest.
It fostered all sorts of nuances, too.
Do you tithe off the "gross" pay or the "take-home" pay? What about bonuses? What about gradma's birthday cash? Does it all go to the church? Could we take it and give it to the homeless? Does a time tithe reduce my financial tithe? Etc.? Etc.? Ad naseum.
But, even as teenagers, we did it. Well, we tried to do it. And when we came up short for whatever reason, we felt guilty. Sometimes it felt like a burden to do it (even cashing the check at the bank, annoying tellers with things like, "Could you give me 'cash back' in two twenty's, four ones, and 81 cents, please?").
But we did it, no questions asked.
Which went well until I was in college. Being discipled by a guy who really believed and lived out the message of grace, I asked him one day, in all seriousness, "Hey, Chuck, do I have to tithe on the allowance money my mom sends? I mean, she's probably already tithed on it, but it's still new to me. Should I just tithe on it again to be sure or what? I mean, money's a little tight being in school and all, but if I should tithe on it, I better do it."
Well, Chuck asked me why I tithed. I laughed. Chuck, c'mon. Everybody tithes. It's in the Bible.
"Really?" asked Chuck. "Tell you what, you comb through the New Testament for the next week and when we meet next you show me everywhere Jesus said we should tithe, okay? Or better yet...tell me where Paul or any of the other writers talk about it, too."
I combed.
I couldn't find anything.
And neither can you.
Because Jesus never brought it up.
Neither did Paul. Or any of the other writers.
And I discovered that it's an Old Testament doctrine that actually isn't even taught correctly in churches today...because if it were, by the time you added up all that you were supposed to be giving under the Old Testament Law, you'd wind up actually giving 20% to 33% of your income (depending on how much you made) to the church or whatever...
So imagine what I went through. Here I was, tithing because I felt like I had to, based on what was culturally normal and seemed like a good thing, when it wasn't in the New Testament and now I found out that I still wasn't giving enough.
Nope. Grace gives us a better way to give.
Read 2 Corinthians 8: 16--24.
You'll see we're to give generously to the work of the church and our ministries and our ministers.
Now read 2 Corinthians 9: 7 & 8.
You'll see we're to give cheerfully...joyfully. Not under duress or because someone is making us. We're to give abundantly.
And so the myth of tithing might actually limit giving when you think about it. The myth of tithing might actually rob you of joyfully being a part of someone else's ministry. It might actually reduce the love felt by the reciever if they knew you weren't giving because you wanted to but because you had to.
It's a lose-lose doctrine.
So, giving should be a part of the spiritual life...joyful, loving giving. Anything else falls short.
For today, how does this change your view of giving? How will this knowledge affect your giving?
Brent 8:05 AM
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