Wednesday, September 23, 2009

34: I give God money and He blesses me, right?

Tithing came up at church this weekend, as most Sundays. It is a subject that I often wonder about. The Bible distinctly says in Malachi that we can challenge God on this. We can't test Him on anything else, but the giving of money is fair game. Wow, I wonder which high church official thought of this one. It seems like a great way to get money from people.

First off, why can't I test God on other things? To me, that's a little picky. I would love to say, "God, I'll stop sinning in this area of my life, if you give me (fill in the blank)." Yet, I can't because that would be testing God and He doesn't like to be tested. This makes me wonder if man created this rule instead of God because it is inconsistent with His character. We either can or can't test God on all things. There are no exceptions. Exceptions and excuses are man-made.

Secondly, the verse says that if you tithe, God will give you more blessings than you know what to do with. "Test me on this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour our so much blessings that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:10. In other words, if we challenge God and tithe our money away, He will bless us with more stuff than we know what to do with. Is this true? It's starting to sound like we can buy blessings from God if we give Him money. I believe the Catholics tried this once. They called it indulgences.

I've heard people (pastors), earthly people, guarantee that if I give money to God, I will be blessed. The only way to see if this is true, to truly test God, is to count one's blessings when not tithing compared to the blessings one receives when tithing.

Also, no where does it talk about or consider the heart of the giver. I can give a million dollars to the church, but if my heart is bad, my money becomes nothing to God. It will mean a lot to man, but nothing to God. The heart's condition, therefore, is critical in tithing. If I were to give with a hateful heart, surely God would not bless me, right?

Can God bless someone with a hateful heart?

I've personally tried this challenge with tithing and was disappointed that I wasn't blessed after giving. I gave ten percent of my income for a few months, and was promised that after those months, I would be blessed. While I was blessed in life during that time (meaning I didn't die), I never got what I truly wanted. Thus, I concluded that tithing doesn't work. I've heard stories that people give money when they really can't afford to and somehow God blesses them. In my case, I challenged God, called His bluff, and found myself a little poorer.

Maybe you've tried tithing and have been blessed. Good for you. But while God blesses you, He ignores thousands of others who give each week, all expecting their lives to change.

2 comments:

  1. Alright. Remember what I told you that we're not mean to understand God with our mind. It's a feeling, a heart-complex if you will. And let's face it, you are a rational person. You need that evidence to support whatever you do. Even in your religion. You believe God and that he exist, but you won't fully engage in the proper relationship with him until he gives you something. Right?

    That one part earlier where you said you tried tithing before and it didn't render the results you were looking for. Is this the thing at FAOG? Because, I'm sorry, you cannot use that as you as your testimony. You can lie to me as much as you want, but you totally went into that looking not to God for the right answer; knowing that it would please him. You went into that because you were looking at the bigger picture, down the road, of his gift to you. Which I believe he gave you, just not in the proper format. Which ties right back into the whole "right heart" of giving part you talked about.

    I'm not one to speak I rarely tithe and when I do, I doubt it's ever ten percent. First off, I don't call CS my church and therefore I don't feel obligated to it's well-being. I honor it as a house of God, for which I'm allowed there to worship there. And secondly, I'm a poor boy, and I don't quite have the level of faith that old lady with the two pennies did back in the bible.

    **THE LIGHTNING ROD HAS SPOKEN**

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  2. See www.tithing-russkelly.com for a different view.

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