I heard this, or a statement very similar, from a well-known Christian radio speaker. A very good person as far as I can tell. An excellent teacher and communicator. I like the guy.
But he gave this canned response when confronted with a question about tithing.
Here’s how the events unfold. The person is teaching about tithing. Someone calls in or emails asking if tithing is taught in the New Testament. So far, so good.
Now, instead of directly answering the question, the teacher turns it around and asks if this person tithes, and then makes a comment such as “Almost every time (or every time) that question is asked it comes from a person who doesn’t tithe.”
But I have never heard the actual question answered.
Whether that person tithes or not, whether that person gives one dollar to his church, does not matter in regard to the question: “Does the New Testament teach tithing?” Whether I tithe or not does not alter NT teaching.
One very well-known Christian financial counseling ministry does the same thing. I believe I am accurate in saying that I have personally heard the question asked three different times: “Does the NT teach tithing?” Every time, instead of directly answering the question, the caller was asked if he tithed. Not one single time was the question answered. Not once.
One well-known Southern Baptist preacher’s answer is that “it is assumed.” Can anybody say slippery-slope?
The only person I have heard biblically address the issue is John MacArthur on Grace to You. The only one.
Here is a response.
When you hear – “Every time I am asked that question it is from a person who does not tithe.”
Think – “Every time I hear that question avoided is from a person responsible for a large ministry dependent on donor dollars.”
Interesting post. I found MacArthur’s response (which I assume is the one you mention) here:
http://www.gty.org/resources.php?section=issues&aid=176379
I agree that his response seems to “buck the trend” of most other well-known Christian figures.
I think that tithing is an issue of faith, but it also seems to be juxtaposed against a view of obligation (or rather, cause and effect) – especially in light of Malachi 3:7-12.
Granted, that is OT, and you were specifically talking about the NT. And I believe that God loves a cheerful giver, and I believe that giving in and of itself is a blessing (especially as noted in Mal. 3:10). And I’m not looking at this as an “under the law” issue, because we are no longer under the law. But: If God does not change, does He therefore still consider it robbery (along with being “cursed with a curse”) when His people do not bring in their tithes? Or: If, as MacArthur writes, the tithe was basically a “theocratic income tax”, how (if at all) does it relate to the NT, or to modern times?
I’m not trying to play “devil’s advocate”, or trying to push any buttons. 🙂 This is an area where I really do want to understand what God has said – regardless of whether or not I happen to follow it. 🙂 So, I’m not offering up any answers, nor and I intending to start anything more than a discussion.