Tithing is something misunderstood by many people. The two major misconceptions I see are looking at tithing as a statement of pleasure or displeasure, or as an obligation to a particular pastor or church.
Prosperity Gospel preachers would like to tell you that you have to tithe in order to receive a blessing. Don’t agree? Force yourself to listen to Creflo Dollar on “The Tithing Question” Or, for some horrifying comedy listen to Creflo Dollar share his wishes about executing non-tithing members.
Because of this teaching, people think that tithing is an obligation in the human sense. As if, tithing is an act that will grant you salvation. The problem with that is this: salvation is from God! It is a God-ordained act…not a human initiative. You don’t owe any pastor, or any church, anything. The pastor, priest, and/or church do not grant salvation. Only God does. In the obligation perspective on tithing, the leadership tries to convince the flock that they owe it to the pastor or church.
The other perspective on tithing has people thinking they are tithing to the church or pastor as a statement of their pleasure or displeasure. It’s as if they have ownership of the church…of the pastor…of God! And so, if they feel the church or pastor is doing what they would like, then they tithe. If the people are displeased with the church or pastor, they do not tithe.
Both of these perspectives on tithing are wrong.
Tithing is not about your pleasure or displeasure with a man or woman, or any particular house of worship. Tithing is also not a way to “buy a blessing.” With this sermon, we shift the perspective on tithings to something that makes more sense. What do you say?
