Reply to Bobby Eklund, SBC Stewardship Leader

Reply to Bobby Eklund, Stewards For Him - Eklund Stewardship Ministries by Russell Earl Kelly, PHD

http://stewardsforhim.blogspot.com/2009/12/tithing-and-stewardship-praying-it.html

Eklund: Good discussion and debate actually leads to learning and prayerfully conviction.

Kelly: Empty words because most tithe-teachers will not defend their position but chose to punish those who disagree with them.Eklund: Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." NKJV

Kelly: You totally ignore the most basic hermeneutic for biblical interpretation --the context. Jesus is clearly speaking BEFORE CALVARY to only Jewish disciples. He could not and did not command his Gentile disciples to tithe or obey any of the Law because it was not legal.Eklund: Clearly Jesus taught and one might say reinforced the tithe in this statement.

Kelly: Of course he did. This occurred while the Law was still in full force and Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law. It would have been sin if he had opposed the Law.

Eklund: The words here are spoken in a clear lesson being taught to the multitudes.

Kelly: Yes, clearly addressed to "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." It is not addressed to Gentiles or to the Church.

For the truth see www.tithing-russkelly.com

Eklund: The Pharisees are being called out for their lives which were not lived in surrender to Jesus as Lord. Interesting here is that as the "wrong approach" to life is being called out, the right disciplines are being taught.

Kelly: NONE of the tithing statute-ordinance of Numbers 18 is obeyed by you or any of the church today: (1) tithes are only food from inside Israel, (2) the first Levitical tithe goes to the servants of the priests (ushers, deacons, choir, etc), (3) priests only got one per cent, (4) only ministers can enter the sanctuary, (5) ministers are to KILL anybody attempting to worship God directly and (6) those who receive the Levitical tithe are not allowed to own or inherit property. Why, why, why don't you teach and obey any of these?

Eklund: So why do you think that with Jesus clearly teaching the tithe people today desire to belittle or do away with it?

Kelly: If the Church followed ANY of the tithing ordinance of Numbers 18, it would be laughed at.
Eklund: Just think of the changes that could occur when we return to this Biblical Doctrine.

Kelly: There would be no Christians if tithe-receiving ministers killed everybody else who attempted to worship God directly.

I used your boo, Partners with God, as the backdrop for my PHD dissertation, Should the Church Teach Tithing? You are wrong on every point about tithing and you will not enter into an extended in-depth dialog with me on the subject. Whatever happened to holy boldness?