Dr Paul Allen

About 15 years ago God showed me the results of tithing and believing (faith) so quickly that I was pleasantly surprised by it and I still am today. God does not require us to give our all, but I did, especially when things started to get desperate with my cash situation, he wants to bless us, and by us, I mean everyone who follows his word. At the time I was reading the bible and came to the book of Malachi. When I read God saying for us to test him and see if he doesn’t fill our coffers, this really stirred me into action. It was a few years after my stroke which had left me with many problems, I could not do any physical work anymore (no way to earn a wage) and had used all my cash funds up on trying to stay alive. Then one Friday afternoon I went to the ATM to get some cash-out and found that there was only $50 left, after withdrawing this I was in a quandary on how I should use it. After much pain, I departed with my last and gave it to my Church on Sunday. On waking up Monday ...

I Get Money (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Thou shalt not be required to financially support your church – but you should anyway. That’s the upshot of a new informal survey of evangelical leaders finding that less than half believe that the Bible requires church members to tithe , the practice of giving at least 10 percent of one’s income to the church. The survey, conducted by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) among its 100- member board of directors , found that 42% of evangelical leaders believe the Bible requires tithing, while 58% do not. “The Old Testament called for multiple tithes, sort of combining government taxes with religious stewardship,” NAE President Leith Anderson said, reacting to the survey. “Since there is such a strong tradition of tithing, I was a little surprised that a majority of our evangelical leaders say the tithe system of the Old Testament does not carry over to the New Testament or to us,” Anderson said in a statement. The National Asso...

Jesus and Saint Peter, Gospel of Matthew 4.18-20 Français : Jésus et Saint Pierre, Évangile selon Matthieu 4.18-20 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 6:1 –4 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (v. 1). Society is apt to take notice whenever the wealthy establish a foundation for the sake of charitable giving. Such persons are lauded for their generosity and good work in giving to those in need. More often than not, these people seek this publicity, wanting us to know how open-handed they truly are. The world pursues the accolades of men, but God’s people are not to do the same. In fact, if we practice righteousness for the accolades of other people, Jesus tells us we have no reward from our Father in heaven ( Matt. 6:1). He applies this general principle to the three chief acts of Jewish piety —  almsgiving , prayer, and fas...

BERNIE DYMET'S INCOMPLETE VIEW ON TITHING When I told people at my church that this Sunday, I was going to preach a message called “Why I Don’t Believe in Tithing ” – well, you can imagine! A few people were a bit twitchy about that. But the long and the short of it is that I don’t believe in tithing. At least not the sort of tithing that much of the church teaches us about. Here’s why: There are a lot of things I really like about the US of A – but their system of tipping isn’t one of them.The original idea they tell me, is that tipping was supposed to turn every waiter, doorman and taxi driver into an “entrepreneur”. Great theory. I really like tipping people who go above and beyond. These days though, unless you tip most of these people, they simply don’t earn a wage. So now, in effect – I’m obliged to tip. I really don’t like that. In a sense, that’s a bit like the approach that some churches have to tithing. od’s original intent with giving was that it should be ...

Cover of The Doors [Blu-ray] John Densmore , longtime drummer for the Doors , took up tithing after John Lennon praised it in a  Playboy  interview.  Years later, Densmore mentioned in an essay for  The Nation  that tithing helped him resist greed. He wrote, "During the Oliver Stone film on our band, the record royalties tripled, and as I wrote those 10 percent checks, my hand was shaking." My left hand did not shake in 2008 when I tithed on an advance check for my book about tithing, but my soul quaked a bit.  I was going through one of the most barren periods of my life as a journalist. I was filled with shame about not bringing more money into our household. I was unsure I could deliver the book. Who was I to continue tithing? What, apart from a distaste for brazen hypocrisy in myself, moved me past this hesitation? Mostly this: I could not see in the voluntary discipline of tithing the same escape clauses that I would expect in a prenuptial agreeme...