MORE EVIDENCE THAT BIBLICAL TITHES WERE ONLY FOOD

HISTORICAL MAPS WERE CREATED TO FACILITATE THE TITHE SYSTEM OF TAXATION

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http://deborahmjones.hubpages.com/hub/Historical-Maps-Were-Created-to-Facilitate-the-Tithe-System-of-Taxation

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Note from Russell Earl Kelly, PHD: this is yet another proof that tithes were only food even late in Europe. “Later (than the 18^th century),” the article says, “laws enabled the Church to convert tithes paid in kind into financial tax [into money],”

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We can investigate our past without digging simply by studying old maps. Accurate mapping was born out of the navigation in the great age of exploration from the 15th century.

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Prior to that, surviving maps were created to facilitate the tithe system of taxation. Attempts to map the landscape in detail were mainly due to military needs arising from wars.

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KEY PARAGRAPH

Most of the maps that survive in records offices from before the 18th century are to do with land tenure and taxation. In Europe, the Church was a major landowner, and it derived much of its wealth from the tithe system, whereby landowners obeyed the Biblical instruction to pay to the Church a tithe (or one-tenth) of their income. Later laws enabled the Church to convert tithes paid in kind into financial tax, where the landowners could donate a piece of land to the church as to perpetuity to free themselves from the annual charge.

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As a result, some of the earliest maps to survive show details as land boundaries, field names and the names of landowners and tenants take the form of tithe maps. They provide a detailed picture at the time they were surveyed.

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Where can you find historic maps online?

Thanks to digitization, more maps are available on the internet. Libraries such as the Perry-Castaneda Library Collection at the University of Texas in Austin that not only provide access to their own collections, but also provide links to tens of thousands of historic maps from all over the world. The link to the university's website is www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

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Old historical maps provide a unique look into our past as a people. The older the map is the greater that peek into the past is. Many artifacts are found and debated as to whose they were, what they were used for, why they were made and how were they made. Yet maps visually feature undisputed surveys of rivers, roads, canals, railways, settlements, cities, kingdoms, woods, fields and boundaries. Maps are a great human treasure handed down from the ages. The true historical story is theirs to tell.

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Deborah M. Jones, Hubpages, June 21, 2012

REPLY TO CHRISTIAN POST.COM 6-11-2012 ON TITHING

Reply to Christian Post.com on Tithing by Russell Kelly, 6-12-2012 http://www.christianpost.com/news/is-tithing-an-iron-clad-rule-for-christians-76479/

There are 16 O.T. texts which describe the contents of the HOLY tithe as only FOOD from inside God’s holy land of Israel (Lev 27:30-34). That definition is still valid 1000 years later in Malachi 3:10 and another 400 years later in Matthew 23:23. Although money was common in Genesis and essential for sanctuary worship, money was never a holy-tithed item in the Bible.


Greear errs when he says Jesus left “us” under no part of the law. In reality, “we” Gentiles and Christians never were under that law – it was specifically only for Old Covenant national Israel (Ex 19:5-6; Lev 27:34; Neh 10:29; Mal 4:4).


When he says “How God has set up his economy for His people has not changed," he ignores the fundamental difference between the Old and New Covenants. Tithing in the Old supported a Levitical priesthood which, in turn, was not allowed to own or inherit property in Israel (Num 18:21-28). In the New, every believer is a priest and giving is freewill, generous and sacrificial following the self-less sacrificial gift of Christ.

Eternal moral principles are written in the heart of every man and in nature (Rom 2:14-16). Giving and rest-for-worship are eternal; tithing and Saturday-sabbath are not. The “higher level” argument is based on the false assumptions that everybody under the Old Covenant was required to begin their level of giving at ten per cent. O.T. tithing was not even a beginning point of giving for many Old Covenant Israelites who worked trades and crafts. The only ones required to give were food producers who lived inside God’s holy land. Tithes could not come from what man increased, from Gentiles, or from outside Israel. Even Jesus, Peter, and Paul did not qualify as tithe-payers.

What the Church needs is a return to old-time evangelism and pastors who will instill within their congregations the fact that all believers are ambassadors for Christ who should become soul-winners. If tithing were the key to church success, it would work for every tither, yet many faithful tithers are never blessed with “overflowing blessings”” because obedience to the whole law was required before God would bless O.T. Israelites (Gal 3:10).

If the “equality principle” of giving described in Second Corinthians 8:12-14 were taught, many wealthy believers would take up the slack from poor believers and give much more than ten per cent.

Calling the tithe “firstfruits” is wrong. Firstfruits were very small token offerings given before the tithe from food within Israel (Deut 26:1-4; Neh 10:35-38). In the New Covenant after Calvary, the Christian’s first obligation is to buy essential medicine, food, and shelter for his/her family per First Timothy 5:8. It is wrong to teach that the first 10% must go to the church to the exclusion of medicine and essential food and shelter.

I challenge any tithe-teacher to explain Hebrew 7:18 in its context. Verse 5 is the first mention of “commandment,” “tithes,” and “law” in Hebrews. Since Christ’s priesthood was not from Aaron, there was a “necessary change of the law” from 7:5 (7:12). And, according to 7:18, that “necessary change” of 7:12 was NOT to give the tithe to gospel workers; instead the change was to “annul the commandment going before” to tithe from 7:5.

Just as gospel workers are allowed to own and inherit property, even so they are not supported by tithes.

Russell Earl Kelly, PHD; author of Should the Church Teach Tithing? A Theologian’s Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine