I Am Not Guilty!
by Ronald W Robey
Why I am not guilty of “robbing God” when I don’t tithe…
1. God said His holy tithes were to be agricultural, not monetary (Lev. 27:30-33) I do not grow crops, nor do I breed livestock.
2. God said His holy tithes were to be given to widows, orphans, Levites and foreigners living in the land of Israel/Canaan (Deut. 14:22-29) I am not in the land of Israel, so it is impossible to give my tithes to those who are the only ones God said His tithes were to go to.
3. Tithing is to be observed only once one crosses the Jordan and enters Canaan. (Deut. 6:1-3; 12:10-11) I have never crossed the Jordan River, nor have I entered Canaan.
4. The ordinances God gave to Israel, He gave to no other nation. (Psalm 147:19-20)
5. Judaizers in AD 51 demanded that Gentile Believers be made to observe Israel’s ordinances of the Mosaic Law. (Acts 15:5) The Apostle Peter told them they were tempting God by demanding such. (Acts 15:10) The Apostle James said they were subverting the souls of Gentile Believers with their demands. (Acts 15:24) The Apostles and the Holy Ghost determined and decreed that the Gentile Believers were not to be required to keep the ordinances of the Mosaic Law. (Acts 15:28-29)
6. The Apostles sent a letter to the Gentile believers telling them they were not bound by the ordinances of the Mosaic Law, but that they had to observe four “necessary things”. Tithing was not one of those “necessary things”. (Acts 15:28-29)
7. In AD 59, the Apostle James reminded the Apostle Paul that the Gentile Believers were free from the Mosaic Law. (Acts 21:23-25)
8. In the last place in the Bible that tithes are commanded, the commanded tithes are still “according to the Law”; i.e., agricultural, and for the children of Israel. (Hebrews 7:5-8)
9. The tithe still belongs to the Levites, not to pastors living on Gentile soil. (Hebrews 7:5-8)
10. Remarkably absent from the pages of the word of God is any command or instruction for members of the New Testament Church to tithe their money to their local Church.
11. God never commanded a tithe of money in His Holy word. It is a doctrine of man-made construct.
Jesus said of the Pharisees, “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”
12. In the Bible,
a. tithes were never commanded for the New Testament Church,
b. tithes were never carried to the New Testament Church,
c. tithes were never collected in the New Testament Church,
d. tithes were never controlled by the New Testament Church.
In light of the Scriptural facts, I can say without a doubt that I am not “robbing God” if I fail to tithe my money to a building doing business as a ‘Church’. In light of the fact that God never authorized pastors to teach their congregations that He requires tithes of money, I can say without reserve that pastors are robbing their congregations of money through their monetary tithe requirement lie and through their handling of the word of God deceitfully.