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I am from Mozambique, Africa. I have been going to a church since 2007 after being requested by the Senior Pastor to take care of the new cell group they had created in our town. During that period, he lived in another town and never new how their Ministry plans would go. After a year, the Pastor was sent to our town to lead the cell which has grown into a church of over 100 members.
In my life, I never tithed and the church has been teaching about tithes. 3 weeks ago, I was told that I would no longer preach or share any message concerning Jesus Christ in that church because of not tithing the 10% from my salary. I asked the church leaders to explain to me more about this subject and we had a meeting on the 20th of July 2014 after service.
The meeting was fully participated by church leaders, about 22 of them including my wife who used to lead praise and worship.
They first asked me about the reason for not tithing. My response was: Jesus Christ came, He died for me and fulfilled the law for me. Tithing is one of the old laws that He fulfilled. All I need now is to believe in Him and practice good acts with mercy and love. I prefer giving when guided by the Holy Spirit. I can give any quantity without following the 10% law.
My wife was on my side and the Pastor decided to fire us from their congregation and ministry for good saying I am the Antichrist.
Please, help me to understand: Am I sinning by rejecting tithing?
Please, help me to understand: Am I sinning by rejecting tithing?
"Sin" in this context is simply whatever the pastor says it is. You are correct not to accept his arbitrary doctrine for yourself; this is simply a personal boundary. However, your pastor is also entitled to set boundaries for himself and his leadership of the church, even if they are self defeating and inconsistent.
He is not interested directly in 10% of your income, but he is interested in you setting an example so that he can get most of 10% of every member's income.
His labeling you "antichrist" also indicates a cultish, unhealthy and uncharitable mindset which you are also right to reject.
It is too bad that you have so much invested in this particular church, but it is right to maintain your personal integrity and honor. There are plenty of churches that will be happy to have you. Some months or years down the road when this pastor's leadership inevitably unravels, you may even have an opportunity to help the survivors recover from his abuse.
I am from Mozambique, Africa. I have been going to a church since 2007 after being requested by the Senior Pastor to take care of the new cell group they had created in our town. During that period, he lived in another town and never new how their Ministry plans would go. After a year, the Pastor was sent to our town to lead the cell which has grown into a church of over 100 members.
In my life, I never tithed and the church has been teaching about tithes. 3 weeks ago, I was told that I would no longer preach or share any message concerning Jesus Christ in that church because of not tithing the 10% from my salary. I asked the church leaders to explain to me more about this subject and we had a meeting on the 20th of July 2014 after service.
The meeting was fully participated by church leaders, about 22 of them including my wife who used to lead praise and worship.
They first asked me about the reason for not tithing. My response was: Jesus Christ came, He died for me and fulfilled the law for me. Tithing is one of the old laws that He fulfilled. All I need now is to believe in Him and practice good acts with mercy and love. I prefer giving when guided by the Holy Spirit. I can give any quantity without following the 10% law.
My wife was on my side and the Pastor decided to fire us from their congregation and ministry for good saying I am the Antichrist.
Please, help me to understand: Am I sinning by rejecting tithing?
Anyone who really knows Jesus--knows tithing is not in effect anymore---Jesus gave us a parable about that---all the teachers gave their tithe--a little old woman put in two small coins( from her heart)--Jesus said what she gave was more valuable than all the tithes combined--so no we are not under the tithe---teachers of darkness seek the tithe--these teachers-2Cor 11:12-15)---run away. Learn to believe Jesus over mens dogmas--John 4:22-24=Jehovah.
Doesn't one think it might be a sacralidge to use the Messiahs name as their handle?
I am from Mozambique, Africa. I have been going to a church since 2007 after being requested by the Senior Pastor to take care of the new cell group they had created in our town. During that period, he lived in another town and never new how their Ministry plans would go. After a year, the Pastor was sent to our town to lead the cell which has grown into a church of over 100 members.
In my life, I never tithed and the church has been teaching about tithes. 3 weeks ago, I was told that I would no longer preach or share any message concerning Jesus Christ in that church because of not tithing the 10% from my salary. I asked the church leaders to explain to me more about this subject and we had a meeting on the 20th of July 2014 after service.
The meeting was fully participated by church leaders, about 22 of them including my wife who used to lead praise and worship.
They first asked me about the reason for not tithing. My response was: Jesus Christ came, He died for me and fulfilled the law for me. Tithing is one of the old laws that He fulfilled. All I need now is to believe in Him and practice good acts with mercy and love. I prefer giving when guided by the Holy Spirit. I can give any quantity without following the 10% law.
My wife was on my side and the Pastor decided to fire us from their congregation and ministry for good saying I am the Antichrist.
Please, help me to understand: Am I sinning by rejecting tithing?
An egotistical richman once bought a property in a foreign country so that he would collect more money; he invested his money in the hopes of getting even more money as was his religious custom. He cared little about the wrong he did to others, because his first priority was himself. He desperately wished to be immortal and immaterial so he decided to simply believe it and thus ease his suffering. This is also why he had joined a religion that threatened his precious, precious soul but agreed with his personal beliefs and promised to reward his obedience (so at least in order to care about himself he would have to care about others too); such a richman cared more about himself than the truth though, so he was skilled at coming up with excuses to ease his life and interpret what "obedience" meant to his own favor. He would not give up everything he owned, to give it to the poor. He charged a poor man to do the hard work of farming the property, and the poorman planted the seeds and gathered the sheep into pens supplied by the richman. Once the hard work was done, the egotistical richman decided to check on what he believed to be HIS FRUIT from HIS SEEDS which fed HIS SHEEP in HIS PENS. The Heavens looked down in sorrow and sent tribulation hoping for education, but the richman was too stubborn and chose to believe that his ways must have been so correct that an Enemy was testing him, and he should not quit. Then a child came up and handed him Four versions of the Good News haphazardly chosen by Ireneas because Ireneas wanted the other versions to be incorrect herecy. As the richman needed to pretend to believe it, wishing to ease his fear and gain reward, he tried to find excuses that suited him, but could find none. For Jesus said those who do not forgive are not forgiven. The sheep did not realize that good fruits can come from bad action, which is why the evil can be rich, but The Heavens rains down on rich and poor alike. So when the richman came to collect the fruits grown from his seed and other people's water, he found that the fruits withered and instead spread their seed on the vigilant poor man while the sheep had escaped their scorched pens to be fed by the poorman, because of his harder work and better care. The richman called it a lost investment, and went on his way to commit his self-serving evil in other pastures. The poorman sent news of the richman's bad ways all across the world, begging all to forgive the richman for he knew not what he did. Justice was but a breath away.
I think the Paulites lust after money, money is their God and they are collecting it as much as they can because it is the blood that they feed on in order to grow THEIR churches. Paul collected money from those who sold themselves to him anywhere he could, and he used tithing as a big income for his Paulite Christian movement. But he said he was giving it to Christian charity (which probably included his expansion of his empire of converts by funding new churches) and to Glorify God (as Paul saw fit to).
The Jesus of the Four Remaining Gospels would probably agree with you about being guided by the Holy Spirit instead of a False Shepard's needs and wishes. Keep Going to that church, show the vipers the true fruit of preaching the Holy Spirit and Love. Tell all the world about the true teaching of Forgiveness from not eating shell-fish and from not tithing. If they want you to Tithe they should follow all the laws, or they are hypocrites. Buildings do not glorify God, mandates for money do not Glorify God, forced charity does not Glorify God. The OT mandate of tithing was made for man, not man for tithing.
My wife was on my side and the Pastor decided to fire us from their congregation and ministry for good saying I am the Antichrist.
Maybe God wanted you out of that church; perhaps God was trying to save you from having your mind rotted by the ravings of a delusional madman. Because anyone who would call someone 'the Antichrist' for not tithing comes pretty close to being a delusional madman.
If I were you, I would hold your head high and find somewhere else to worship, resting comfortably in the knowledge that God was really trying to tell you something.
I've never been convinced by any 'Tithing' arguments. Voluntary contributions, yes, there is NT basis for that, but regular kick -in is something that Jesus argued against and falls into the category as an OT procedure, superseded by the new. I have always rather cynically regarded this as a way that the church leader guarantees himself an income. (btw, I should say I am an atheist, so you may reject my ideas on that basis, if you wish ) So no wonder they get shirty with anyone who threatens to cut their pay. But to invoke Satan and antichrist as coercion, there ougtta be a law against it.
I am from Mozambique, Africa. I have been going to a church since 2007 after being requested by the Senior Pastor to take care of the new cell group they had created in our town. During that period, he lived in another town and never new how their Ministry plans would go. After a year, the Pastor was sent to our town to lead the cell which has grown into a church of over 100 members.
In my life, I never tithed and the church has been teaching about tithes. 3 weeks ago, I was told that I would no longer preach or share any message concerning Jesus Christ in that church because of not tithing the 10% from my salary. I asked the church leaders to explain to me more about this subject and we had a meeting on the 20th of July 2014 after service.
The meeting was fully participated by church leaders, about 22 of them including my wife who used to lead praise and worship.
They first asked me about the reason for not tithing. My response was: Jesus Christ came, He died for me and fulfilled the law for me. Tithing is one of the old laws that He fulfilled. All I need now is to believe in Him and practice good acts with mercy and love. I prefer giving when guided by the Holy Spirit. I can give any quantity without following the 10% law.
My wife was on my side and the Pastor decided to fire us from their congregation and ministry for good saying I am the Antichrist.
Please, help me to understand: Am I sinning by rejecting tithing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina
Maybe God wanted you out of that church; perhaps God was trying to save you from having your mind rotted by the ravings of a delusional madman. Because anyone who would call someone 'the Antichrist' for not tithing comes pretty close to being a delusional madman.
If I were you, I would hold your head high and find somewhere else to worship, resting comfortably in the knowledge that God was really trying to tell you something.
Reiterating Shirina.
You were blessed being able to escape from that den of hypocrites and vipers.
Count your blessings God(swt) saved you from them idiots.
Wow! Really amazing and encouraging to get comments from this forum. I do not know how I ended up here from Nampula, Mozambique. I thank you all for all your advice and encouragement. We are at home with our 3 kids: Caleb, Carlissa and Joshua. Trying to figure out we are going to do this Sunday.
However, I now know where God is leading me to: I have a very important message to give to the world. It has always been so hard to find space, I feel like I am the endtime prophet.
I will post some of the things that are coming constantly to me in these last days. I feel like, this may be a place to share before God calls us all. Wait for my next thread.
Wow! Really amazing and encouraging to get comments from this forum. I do not know how I ended up here from Nampula, Mozambique. I thank you all for all your advice and encouragement. We are at home with our 3 kids: Caleb, Carlissa and Joshua. Trying to figure out we are going to do this Sunday.
However, I now know where God is leading me to: I have a very important message to give to the world. It has always been so hard to find space, I feel like I am the endtime prophet.
I will post some of the things that are coming constantly to me in these last days. I feel like, this may be a place to share before God calls us all. Wait for my next thread.
Wow! Really amazing and encouraging to get comments from this forum. I do not know how I ended up here from Nampula, Mozambique. I thank you all for all your advice and encouragement. We are at home with our 3 kids: Caleb, Carlissa and Joshua. Trying to figure out we are going to do this Sunday.
However, I now know where God is leading me to: I have a very important message to give to the world. It has always been so hard to find space, I feel like I am the endtime prophet.
I will post some of the things that are coming constantly to me in these last days. I feel like, this may be a place to share before God calls us all. Wait for my next thread.
Yeshua, just a word of advice ... this is the Religion and Spirituality forum. If you are going to speak directly to Christians, then you would get best results one level down in the Christianity sub-forum. The reason being, that the Christianity forum is for people who are, in the main, believers and interested in discussing matters of doctrine, dogma, prophecy, practice, etc. from a Christian perspective. On the other hand, here in the Religion & Spirituality (R&S) forum, you have all sorts of people, including deists, animists, Muslims, and even atheists like myself, discussing and debating spiritual and religions matters.
You're entirely welcome, of course, to engage with us here, but understand it is "no holds barred" debate and no one is spared scrutiny, skepticism, or not asked for substantiation, just because they are a sincere believer -- and automatic respect and deference are not accorded to any specific belief or holy book. If you are easily offended by such things, then the Christianity forum may be a better place for you. Although, in all honesty, the Christians can be pretty merciless with each other too, as you recently discovered when your pastor labeled you "antichrist" ;-)
Regardless of what you decide specifically regarding your "important message", I hope you'll hang out here and participate as you see fit. While we are still heavily dominated by Americans, there are plenty of people from all over the world here and the diversity is welcome.
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) So no wonder they get shirty with anyone who threatens to cut their pay. But to invoke Satan and antichrist as coercion, there ougtta be a law against it.
