TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT PAY YOUR TITHES

MEANING OF TITHES

The word tithes comes from the Hebrew word MA’ASER which means a tenth of the whole. That means if you have ten sticks, one would be the tithe. If you have a hundred sticks, ten would be the tithes.

The majority of Christians today practice the tithe which they rightly equate as being ten percent of their gross income. But a careful look into the scriptures reveals that the Israelites whom Christians today are striving to emulate did not practice tithing the way it is done today. 

Tithing for the Israelites was 23.3% of their gross income. You may wonder how it came to be that percentage when payment of ten percent only is what is emphasized by today’s church. 

THREE TYPES OF TITHES

The Jews in scriptures practice three types of tithes. Yes, you heard me right. There were three types of tithes that the Jews practiced. When you added all the three together, it amounted to a total of 23.3%.

Levitical Tithes: Numbers 18:21-24, Malachi 3. The Levitical tithes was meant or the Levites. It was their portion since God had not assigned them any portions in the distribution of the land. They were given the work of the tabernacle. They were to be ministers on behalf of God to the people. They were to teach the people God’s law. In short, they were the ministers of God’s constitution to Israel which is His Torah. They were civil servants running the government of Israel. Hence, the ten percent of the Levitical tithe served as their salaries.

The Festival Tithes: Deut 14:26-27. This tithe which was also ten percent was meant to fund Israel national festivals of national days as instructed by God. There were three festivals in Israel during which all males were required to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem. This tithe was used to fund the celebrations. The individual Israelite will take this tithe to Jerusalem and use it to buy food and drink and celebrate with others before the Lord.

The Poor or Welfare Tithes: Deut 14:28. This type of tithes was used to take care of the orphans, the widows, the strangers and the downtrodden. The welfare tithe was paid once every three years. Calculations would show that if it were to be paid yearly, it would amount to approximately 3.33%. 

If we add all the tithes above, we would see that under the dispensation of Israel, the worshipper ended up paying 23.33% of his gross income as tithes to the Lord, which was no mean feat. Worship wasn’t cheap. It was expensive to worship under the law of Moses. 

A lot of people talk about tithing. But very few are those who know what they are talking about. A lot of ministers in the country have come out to curse believers who don’t pay tithes. A particular minister has actually said that those who don’t tithe won’t go to heaven.  I couldn’t understand where he got that from.

Having defined tithes and given the three types of tithes, let me go ahead and give you the ten reasons why I feel nobody should ever tithe. These reasons aren’t exhaustive in anyway.

#1. ONLY THE LEVITES CAN RECEIVE THE TITHES

 Only Levites were authorized by God in scriptures to receive tithes. Not even all Jews could receive the tithes. Only the appointed Levites had the power to receive the tithes.  Our Lord Jesus himself couldn’t receive the tithes as he wasn’t a Levite. Even Old Testament prophets like Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel and many others weren’t qualified to receive the tithes of the people. Even the powerful Pharisees couldn’t receive tithes. They had to humble themselves and bring their tithes to their fiercest enemies, the Sadducees, who belonged to the priestly tribe of Levy which qualified them to collect tithes.

As far as we know, the tribe of Levy was lost after General Titus sacked Jerusalem and scattered the Jews in A.D. 70. Till today they haven’t been found. When the State of Israel was founded in 1948 upon the return of the supposed Jews, the genealogy of the Levites couldn’t be found. So, there was no way for them to identify the Levites among them if there were any. Hence, the Jews themselves who still live under the laws of Moses don’t practice tithing anymore. For if they wanted, there would be no Levites to receive the tithe from them as mandated in the law.

This means that if you are to pay your tithes, you must first find a Levite who will receive it from you. People say that their pastor is the Levite. We know it isn’t true. Levy is not your pastor’s ancestor. If another Jew cannot assume a Levite’s identity, why should your pastor who isn’t even a Jew? Payment of tithes to someone who isn’t a Levite is an act of disobedience to the Lord as He clearly mandated in his word that only the Levites could receive the tithes.

#2. TITHE WAS TAXATION TO THE JEWS:

If you are paying taxes to the government, you are tithing already. Tithe was taxation to the Jews. The Levites ran the government and they were supported financially by the tithes the people brought. Today we pay taxes on salaries and all the purchases we make (VAT). All these monies go into supporting the government whose duty it to run the country. The Levitical tithes took care of the civil servants Levites, the festival tithes took care of national holidays and the poor tithes took care of welfare needs.

#3. TITHING IS NOT TEN PERCENT:

Tithing over a period of one year amounted to 23.33% of the worshiper’s gross income or revenue. If you are paying ten percent, you are robbing God of the remaining 13.33%. You are not practicing Biblical tithing. The real Biblical tithing is 20% every year and 3.33% every three years.

#4. THE TITHE WAS KEPT IN STOREHOUSES:

There are no storehouses available today as in ancient Israel. God ordained special storehouses where his tithes would be stored. That’s why the prophet said, 

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10

Storehouses were special stores that were built in towns throughout Israel. They were special stores attached to the temple of God. God ordered them built for the purposes of storing tithe that was meant majorly for the poor

Now, your church building is not the Biblical storehouse. We do not have storehouses today. Hence, where would the tithe be kept since there is not temple? Muslims took over Jerusalem and built a mosque where the temple stood.

#5. THERE IS NO PHYSICAL HIGH PRIEST:

When the Levites received the tithe, they would take 10% of it and pay it to the high priest. The Bible calls it tithe of tithes. Numbers 18:26, Nehemiah 10:38. There is no high priest today to receive the tithe of tithes from the priest. No pastor alive today is qualified to receive whether the tithe or the tithe of tithes. The high priest had to be a descendant of Aaron. If you can show me a descendant of Aaron, then he would be qualified as high priest. Your pastor is neither a priest nor a Levite. The practice today is that; the members tithe to the pastor and the pastor tithe to the general overseer. Your general overseer is not a high priest of God after the order of Aaron. Your church is not the temple. The tithe of tithes was taken to and presented to the high priest in the temple in Jerusalem. And the temple isn’t the headquarters of your church. And as such, you have no business given them tithes. 

#6. GENTILES DIDN’T TITHE, ONLY THE JEWS DID:

God has never mandated gentiles to tithe. It was the Jewish people God commanded tithing to. As a gentile man, I have no business with tithing. And neither do you if you are also a gentile. Non-Jewish people have no business with tithing. Even the Jews themselves don’t tithe today because of a combination of circumstances which I have mentioned above. And if the people to whom the command was given cannot practice it, how can we who were never asked to do such in the first place? 

#7. TITHE WAS FARM PRODUCE:

Tithe was farm produce and not money. Some people think that they paid tithes using farm products because money didn’t exist. Disabuse yourselves. Money existed a long time before the Israelites were even enslaved in Egypt. Abraham bought the plot where he buried Sarah using money. Genesis 23 That means if you were a carpenter, a teacher, a scholar or anything other than a farmer who grew animals and crops, you were not expected to tithes. Check the Pharisees. They didn’t tithe money. They tithed leaves from their gardens. 

All those who tithe today, do so using money. That too is a violation of God’s law. If you’d practice Biblical tithing you would bring farm products. That is if you’re a farmer. But if you aren’t a farmer, you wouldn’t be required to bring a thing. But people today are only skin deep. They do not study to show themselves approved. Hence they swallow anything thrown at them, line, hook and sinker. 

#8. OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF DIDN’T TITHE:

Jesus is our example, role model and all. Our calling is to be filled with the knowledge of him so that we become like him is every way. But is the area of tithing, many Christians including church leaders are not interested in being like him. As a priest in the order of Melchisedek, he was expected to collect tithes, but he didn’t. He didn’t ask his disciples to tithe either. The only time he spoke about tithing was when he rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. They would tithe all the leaves in their gardens but neglect more important virtues like mercy, faith and Justice. Luke 11:42, Matthew 23:23.

Our Lord Jesus did not pay tithes, he didn’t receive tithes and he didn’t teach tithing. Do you know why? He wasn’t expected to pay tithe as a carpenter. He wasn’t qualified to collect tithe since he was not a descendant of Aaron. And finally he didn’t teach it because his church would be in all nations. All the believers in the commonwealth of Israel lived within a single nation or were members of that nation. Hence their tithes went into the building and running of that nation. The tithes they paid like taxes went into the building and running of the nation of Israel. Now, the church exists in all nations are its members are subjects to these sovereign nations. Citizens of the nation already had taxation as a means whereby they contributed to the building and running of their country. Adding tithes to an already existing system of taxation would be what economists call double taxation.

If the Lord whom you claim to follow didn’t tithe, why should you?

#9. THE APOSTLES DIDN’T TITHE:

Just like their master, the apostles including Paul ad Barnabas did not practice tithing. They didn’t pay tithes. They didn’t receive tithes. If they had collected tithes that would have been a queue for others after them they didn’t teach tithing. Most of the apostles were not farmers. The closest thing to being a farmer was Peter, Andrew, James and John. They were fishermen. They didn’t farm the fish. Hence they too were not qualified to pay tithes. They couldn’t also collect tithes because they were not Levites. When people had financial needs in the early church, the apostles should have asked them to bring their tithes. But they didn’t. That was the queue for them to introduce tithing into the church. But they didn’t. People willingly sold properties and brought all the proceeds to the apostles’ feet. They didn’t bring 10%. Those that brought only a part died. God killed them. If the apostles didn’t tithe, why should you who claim to be their follower?

#10. THE EARLY CHURCH DID NOT PRACTICE TITHING:

There is no single situation throughout the entire New Testament where the early church did tithe. In Acts when the brethren were needy, they didn’t bring their tithe to the apostles’ feet. They sold properties and brought all the money instead. In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul didn’t ask them to bring tithes when the brothers in Judea were going through a famine. He asked for them to give from a willing and cheerful heart. He didn’t ask them to tithe. 

HOW DOES GOD RAISES MONEY TO DO HIS WORK?

One of the reasons tithing is pushed very strongly in the church today is because the church needs money. And tithing is the best way the church can get it.

When we look at scriptures carefully, it becomes clear that God’s chief means for raising finances for his work has always been free will offering. 

When God wanted to build the tabernacle he commanded Moses to collect free will offerings from the people. The people gave so much so that Moses had to ask them to stop giving because they had brought more than enough. Exodus 25:1-2.

Before his death, David at God’s command raise offerings for the building of the temple. Again the people gave so much that he had to ask some to go back with some of the goods because they had brought more than enough. 1 chronicles 29. Will there ever be a time in the church when they ask people to stop giving because it is enough? 

In Acts of the Apostles, when the early church was in need, it was giving cheerfully that bailed them out of the situation. Believers wholeheartedly sold properties and brought the money to the apostles. Acts 5

When the church is Judea was going through a famine, Paul went through the gentiles churches asking the people to support. 1Corinthians 8-9. 

Examples of believers supporting God's work abound in scriptures. From the women who supported the ministry of Jesus to the people who lodged and took care of the early missionaries, it is clear what method God uses to raise funds to his work. God has never used tithing as a means for raising money to do his work. Tithing was taxation meant for running the theocratic government of Israel.