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Volume 3 · Honest HereticsLesson 27About 22 minutes

Tithing

Is ten percent the measure of a generous life?

Honest Heretics edition for skepticsSwitch to Centered (for believers)

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The center · Matthew 23:23
23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

In this lesson

In many churches the rule is simple: the first ten percent of your income belongs to God, and it goes to the church. Pay it before anything else. Keep it back and you are "robbing God." For a lot of families, the tithe is the clearest line between a faithful Christian and a lukewarm one.

You're not imagining it. Many people have been told, sometimes from the pulpit by name, that they were stealing from God because they couldn't give ten percent, even when the rent was due. The rule is preached as if Jesus made it. He mentioned tithing once, and it was to say that other things weigh more.

Measured against the center

An add-on
The ten percent rule comes from the Law and Malachi, not from Jesus; he mentioned tithing once, to say justice, mercy and faith weigh more, and making it the test of faithfulness is an add-on.

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