Reply to D Thrash, part 2 tithing

Reply to D Thrasher on Tithing, Part 2
http://dthrasher.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/tithing-misunderstood-part-two/ edited

Thrash: God’s purpose for instituting the tithe was so much more than giving a commandment to the Israelites to get a part of their income. Thinking such as this is pure foolishness, but you hear it all the time from well meaning people in the church.

Kelly: You have invented a straw man to attack.

Thrash: God has no need of our material things because God is a Spirit … The church has the same needs as our home. …

Kelly: The "church" is not a building nor an institution. The "church" is an assembly of beleivers. Perhaps if the institution was not burdened with so many worldly things it could make better use of its money.

Thrash: So to combat our selfish natures God instituted the tithe and commanded us to pay it to the local church so we could overcome our fear of being without and He could bless us to the extent we would let Him.

Kelly: There is not a shred of truth in your last sattement. (1) God never instituted the tihe for the Church or Gentiles. (2) God never commanded New Covenant believers after Calvary to tithe.

Thrash: When people won’t tithe; God cannot bless them because the amount of blessings one receives from God is directly proportionate to the amount they give to God.

Kelly: The whole law was a test --not merely tithing. Obey ALL to be blessed; break ONE to be cursed. You do not define the word "law," you do not distinguish between the old and new covenant and you previously said that the entire law of the Old Covenant is still relevant to the church (which is completely wrong).

Thrash: And when people don’t tithe; those people who would have been blessed by our tithe will not receive the blessing God wanted to bestow upon them.

Kelly: You cannot expect God to bless you for obedience to an annulled Old Covenant when you are breaking most of that same Old Covenant. See Galatians 3:10-13.

Thrash: … When we don’t tithe; people who could have been helped will not be helped.

Kelly: The same thing can be said of people who do not give as the New Covenant suggests -- freely, generously, sacrificially, joyfully, not by commandment and motivated by love for God and the lost.

Thrash: … there are tens of thousands of people dying every day because most people won’t share even a small portion of what they have been blessed with.

Kelly: There are also tens of thousands of ghetto dwellers who have been faithfully "tithing" for generations and playing the lottery every day who stay bogged down in poverty without an education. We only hear the success stories.

Thrash: When we fail to do what we have been commanded: people die. And when people die who could have been helped, but their help was withheld from them, God will hold the person withholding their help accountable for the death of that person in need.

Kelly: Read the tithing law in Numbers 18. So-called tithe-reciptients fail to obey any of the tithng commandment. (1) tithes are only food from inside Israel, (2) the first whole tithe to the servants of the priests, (3) only 1% to the ministers, (4) tithe-recipients cannot own property, and (5) kill anybody who dares to worship God directly.

Thrash: … The church has a lot of blood on its hands for which it will be held accountable …

Kelly: Tithing was never commanded to the Church or Gentiles after Calvary as part of the New Covenant. However, the Church does have a lot of blood on its hands for not teacing true doctrines. It talks more about money than it does salvation.