Tithing Is Not for Today

This one will rankle some feathers but I feel compelled to write this just the same.
I could write a book on this subject but that has been done by many on both sides of this argument. Instead I'll use just one example.

Here is an often used scripture many in the church use to justify tithing.
Malachi 3:8-12
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. NIV

Malachi was written to whom? Israel.
Malachi 1:1 An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. NIV

So, who was robbing God of Tithes and offerings? Israel! More specifically tithes to the storehouse of the Levites for the Temple, neither of which exist today.
While we can extract lessons from the Old Testment, none of the laws God gave to Israel apply to us today for we have a New Covenant, (New Testament) through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law, because NO ONE is capable of keeping the law.
The tithe(s) were part of the law, but we are no longer under the law but under grace. If you select bits and pieces of the law to follow you deny grace you are in a world of hurt.
Also,in this case many churches focus on one tithe, the Temple tithe, so the selectivity is even more egregious. Some argue that the principle still applies but I disagree with this assertion.

James 2:8-11
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. NIV

You cannot choose to follow one part of the law, for if you do you are subject to the all of the law. If you break one one aspect of the law, you are guilty of all of it.

While true believers will not suffer loss of their salvation over this secondary issue, they have, in my humble opinion, none the less been led astray.

I implore everybody to stay alert, read your Bible, and test everything you hear against the scriptures.

Until the next time, may the LORD bless us and keep us, in Jesus name I pray.