I have been reading Malachi this week.  I ended up there after reading several passages on Tithing.  It is a very interesting book, and while this post won’t be a very well-thoughtout one, I decided to do a little blogging tonight.

One thing I noticed early on in Malachi is that it is full of Q&As.  It is like a dialog between the Priests of Israel and God.  I found it interesting that He is addressing his Q&A session to the Priests and not the general population at large.  At least that is what it seems like to me.  What do you think?

Another idea I want to make a note about is Tithing.  I grew up taking Tithing for granted…meaning that without question, we should tithe to our local church - off our Gross Income of course.  I have to admit, I have begun to question that over the last several years of my life.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I still believe in giving and being generous.  However, I’m just not sure I will give any church my total 10%.

A few questions I have about it are these:

1. Does anyone know of a place where Jesus discussed it?  I’m looking for any NT references.
2. I’m very cautious about giving all my gifts/donations to 1 local church, b/c I have connections to other places & people.  Also, I worry in general about where & how many local churches I see are spending their money.
3. What do you think about the ‘History’ of tithing?  What I mean is, we talk about tithing off every paycheck, etc.  It seems that maybe tithing was only done a few times a year in Scripture.  Any thoughts about that and the relation to an agrarian society as opposed to our modern culture?

I’m a believer in living below our means, so I hope this doesn’t come across as I want to have more for myself.  Just some questions about this theological concept called ‘Tithing’ that we often stand behind and promote.

I was reminded that Malachi was a neat book, as I had read it before long ago.  I would encourage you to check it out if you haven’t had a chance.  Let me know your thoughts!