The X file

It is always about the tithe.  All the 52 Sunday and Friday service sermons surely somehow related to tithing.  Occasionally, in the cell groups and prayer meetings also we hear about tithing.

Let it be from the Old Testament or the New Testament -  Genesis to Revelation  the only “sin” the Church is very much “concerned” is the tithe, which is actually not a sin at all. It is mind boggling  to figure out how the story of Gideon (Judges : 6) and the story of  a woman  caught in adultery (John : 8 : 7) can be related to tithe.  No matter how you say it or you put it, the actual meaning of tithe has been manipulated for reasons best known to the Church.  It is the X file.

DID JESUS TITHED?

The answer is  no.   Therefore, it is much easier to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ than to follow the teachings of the Church. Mohandas Gandhi said ” I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

After Jesus Christ, there  are only two people whom I know  ”walk”  on the water. They are Morgan Freeman and Jim Carey in the movie Bruce Almighty.  I can’t walk on the water.  The Bible teaches that we can even move mountains if we have faith.  I have not reached there yet.  If anyone has, please let me know.

GAMBLING AND THE BIBLE

Lately, gambling has become a  hot political issue. In Malaysia, gambling for non-Muslim is a right provided under the federal law.  According to Act 3 : 23, all of us have sinned. None of us is righteous. Having said that, let us not indulge with moral and gambling.

The principal behind gambling is the mathematical theory known as chances and probability. There are many incident in the Bible where the theory of chances and probability was applied. The Bible commonly refers to this theory as “casting of lot”. We can note that from the time of Moses, property or inheritance for the house of Israel was divided by casting of lots.

Numbers 26:52-56

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying … the land shall be divided by lot.

Joshua 14:2

By lot was their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

Joshua 18:6

Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

Joshua 19:51

These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD.

Joshua 21:8

And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

1 Chronicles 26:13-14

And they cast lots, as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate. And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counsellor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward.

Nehemiah 10:34

And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God.

Acts 1:23-26

And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen…. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Gambling is defined by Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as “to play or game for money or other stake; to hazard; wager.” Connected with gambling is the strong element of uncertainty, the large chance of losing. It has been popularly defined as “getting something for nothing without rendering service or exchange of goods, and is essentially stealing and a form of robbery”. It involves taking a risk in order to obtain something for nothing and often means losing what one has and obtaining nothing.

If that is the definition of gambling, investing in share market and buying insurance is also a form of gambling. There is strong element of uncertainty. The dividend that you earn from a share or insurance investment is also “getting something for nothing” without rendering service or exchange of goods and is essentially stealing and a form of robbery. A wealthy person can afford to pay a very high premium. When he or she claim the “insured sum” of $1,000,000.00 for an unfortunate event, they are actually “robbing” the premium of another poor person who may be paying a small premium for  “insured sum” of $10,000.00

Gambling is often perceived as “evil” because the chances and probability of you winning is very little. The only way to increase the chances and probability of winning is by buying more lottery tickets.  The situation in “investing” in stock market and insurance is also the same.  The more stock or policy you buy, the better is your return.

In insurance, the chances and probability of a insured person claiming due to accident, medical or death is marginally very small compared to the premium collected by the company. So, the insurance company plays the gambling game for you and pay your claims, bonuses, dividend and so on.   Either you buy lottery or “invest” your hard earn money in stock market or insurance policies, there is a risk factor.  There is strong element of uncertainty.

Matthew 6:26

26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:32-34

32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own

If you honestly belief in the verses above, you need not invest in insurance policies and stock markets to take care of your future.  You don’t have to bet in the next lottery draw to get rich quick.

The message here is not asking you to stop investing in stock market or insurance policies.  Investing in stock market, insurance policies or betting in the lottery is a personal preference. All the three get rich quick schemes are govern by the same mathematical principal.

FOUR GOLDEN RULES

If you read Act 15, there was a sharp dispute between some men from Judea and the apostles regarding the circumcision of the gentiles. The apostles lead by the Holy Spirit concluded that only four restrictions will be placed on the gentiles like you and me.

1. don”t eat blood,
2. don”t eat animals killed by strangulation,
3. don”t eat food that is sacrificed to idols
4. don’t sleep around outside of marriage.

It’s very clear that there is no provision for tithe. Tithe is collected to help the poor and needy. The Councils of  apostles and Jesus himself does not teach tithe. The Council of Apostles devise another method to help the poor and needy. According to Acts 4 : 32 – 36, the believers share their possessions. There were no needy person among them. If the Churches that collect the tithe used it as per the provisions prescribed in the Bible, then there will be no needy person among us today. If there is no needy person, no one is required to sell their own property to help the poor and needy.

 

THE MOVIE DILEMMA

It has been some time since I watch a long movie.  However, yesterday I watch one and the movie was exceptional. There was no super or mega stars in the movie.  All the stars were ordinary people.

Usually a long movie starts with a theme song.  The second song will be a solo for the male lead actor. The third song will be a solo by the female actress. Then come the duet. Just before they get married there will be some misunderstandings. This time, the duet will be sung in the same melody but with a very much slow tempo.  After they get married there will be a special song for the new-born baby. Typically by the end of the special song, the baby will grow up. When the grown up baby give a problem to the parents, the special song will be repeated with same melody and low tempo.

Oops, I forgot. Just before the baby give problem, he or she may probably sing a group song with college friends. In between all these songs, there will be some comedians creating havoc. Most of the time the jokes are not related to the main story.  After three hours, one would realize that the movie was good but there was no any lesson or moral in the movie.

Yesterday’s movie was short and entertaining.  Many issues in the society was addressed very well in that short movie. I  hope to see more of these kind of short and meaningful movies in the future.

ARE WE SOMEWHERE THERE ?

The Star Tuesday 18 January 2011

I READ with dismay the decision by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) to ban Muslims from working in entertainment outlets serving alcohol and the Selangor State Government’s seeming support of these actions.

Why focus on just these workers alone?

To be fair, and if the principle underlying such action is correct, the authorities should be looking at the whole supply chain, i.e. banning Muslims from working on the construction of beer factories; on vehicles that transport alcohol from the factories or ships (if imported); in companies that lay the road that enables the alcohol to be transported to the entertainment outlets, in the Customs department, which approves the importation or sale of alcohol to the customers, and collects revenue from the sale of alcohol; in Tenaga National which supplies electricity to these entertainment outlets so enabling them to sell alcohol to customers, and so on.

Religious paranoia can wreak havoc if left unchecked.

I remember well the words of one Quranic sage, a truly spiritual man whom I had the blessed fortune to come across, that no one can be truly religious if he is paranoid about religion.

Words so true when we look at the extremism and intolerance that is creeping into “religion” these days.

AHMAD MUSTAFFA ABDUL MANAF,

Petaling Jaya.

It’s my personal opinion that “no one can be truly religious if he is paranoid about religion” means what is written  in Roman 3 : 23

THE BIG QUESTION

So, the big question is if tithe is not a Christian doctrine, how do Churches finance their activities ? To summarize,

1. Tithe MUST be of agricultural or edible products,
2. Tithe is to be consumed by the tither,
3. Tithe is to be collected once in three years’
4. There is no tithe in the 7th year, the year of sabbath and the most important
5. Tithe must be given to the Levi
6. Only 10% of the tithe collected by the Levites goes to the house of God. The balance 90% to be consumed by the Levites or the tither themselves.

The rules for the collection and utilization of the tithe in the Bible is written very clearly. If tithe is collected as per the scripture, it must also be utilized as per scripture. To practice tithe, the first obstacle is to define who among us is from the descendant of Levite. Therefore, for Church and ministries today, the fund is to be financed by New Testament giving and not tithing.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 (New International Version, ©2010) 1 Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Verse 2 says “set aside a sum of money”. There is no mention of any percentage. The rules on how we should give in found in 2 Corinthians 9:7 (New International Version, ©2010) 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

The scriptures says “give what you have decided in your heart to give”. It is not what the Church decide. We should realize that all that we have belong to God. Haggai 2 : 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty”. Psalm 50 : 10 further declare “for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills”. I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that only one-tenth of our money belongs to the Lord”. Christian giving should not be done for the sake of getting a reward. A reward will be given by God to those who gave liberally with cheerful heart of love. 2 Corinthians 9 : 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”. Read further

IS IT REALLY 10% ?

First of all, let us be reminded that according to the Bible the tithe MUST be of edible products. Leviticus 27 : 30 says “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.” Leviticus 27 : 32 “Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD.” There is no provision for cash tithe in the Bible. The Bible says one can redeem his own tithe for cash. Leviticus 27 : 31 “Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it.”

Mathematically speaking, a fifth is equivalent 1/5 X 100 = 20%. If a farmer wants to keep his sheep that worth $1,000.00 then he has to pay $1,200.00 to redeem the sheep. In this scenario, the farmer would not prefer to redeem the tithe because of the higher value he has to pay. He rather tithe the sheep itself. The moral of the story is that God discouraged his people to tithe in cash. If for whatsoever reason the tithe is converted to cash, shouldn’t it be 20% ?

TITHE OF SODOM

Genesis 14 (New International Version @ 2010)

In Genesis 14, we read about the war between the allied of four and five kings. It is interesting to note that the allied of four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah including  Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions. Lot lived lived in Sodom.  According to Genesis 13 : 13,  the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

The rest of the story is familiar to us. Abram rescued his relative Lot and his possessions from the king of Sodom. Abram gave a tenth of everything to Melchizedek and then returned the balance to the king of Sodom. What is “everything” in Genesis 14 :  20? If we read Hebrews 7 : 4, Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!

What is meaning of plunder ? Let’s look at Dictionary.com

Plunder

1. to rob of goods or valuables by open force, as in war, hostile raids, brigandage, etc.: to plunder a town.

2. to rob, despoil, or fleece: to plunder the public treasury.

3. to take wrongfully, as by pillage, robbery, or fraud: to plunder a piece of property.

So, the tenth of everything that Abram gave to Melchizedek according to the scripture is actually the spoils of the war.  Abraham does not tithe his own property. Since the people of Sodom was so wicked, Abram does not take any of their property. Abram returned the balance back to the king and his people meaning the one who actually tithed are the  Sodomites.

TITHE OF THE TITHES

The Scripture Reading for today’s Posting is taken from the Book of Nehemiah 10:37-39 (New International Version, ©2010)

³⁷ “Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work. ³⁸ A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. ³⁹ The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept.

From the passage above it is very clear that the Levites were not honest in the management of tithe. The situation was so bad that a each time the Levites went out to the town to collect the tithe, a Priest from Aaron have to accompany them.  It is like a check and balance to ensure that the Levites return 10% of the tithe collected.  It is very clear according to verse 38 that the Church is only entitled for 10% of the tithe collected for maintenance of the sanctuary, for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians.

Let me put it the other way round. Let the Church take 90% of the income and spent the balance of 10% on charity instead. The sum we are talking about is 100k per year assuming that the gross income is 1m.  In this scenario,  the Church is supposed to give 100k for charity. What is 3k?

After taking more than 90% there are still Churches that announce weekly that they are helping the poor and needy and request  members  to contribute again towards the “good” course. Mite boxes, donation envelopes, festival envelopes and even tithe envelopes are distributed to students, widows and non working members.  On top of that there is the usual Sunday offering (some weeks 2nd offering), Friday offering, cell group offering, prayer meeting offering, women’s meeting offering, Sunday School offering, various membership dues for the youths, young adults, seniors and womens, thanks giving offering and auctions.  Who is robbing the Church now ?

That is why the Prophet Malachi warn the Priest (Church) in the Book of Malachi.  Please read Malachi 2 : 1 Additional Warning to the Priests ¹ “And now, you priests, this warning is for you”. He goes further to warn the Priest (Church) because they are not honest in the tithe Malachi 3:8-10(New International Version, ©2010) ⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.  To further understand the issue in hand, one should read the whole Book of Malachi.

John 8:31-32 (New International Version, ©2010)

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Beware people, please don’t be ignorant for the truth will set you free.