Funny you should mention the Good Samaritan. We have set up a fund in that name to help those who suffer with Infection Associated Chronic Fatigue, and some of the proceeds of the book would go to that fund.

God’s blessings to you and your work. You have helped me and blessed me today!

Tina

Do not feel any guilt about how you are doing it. So what if 10% doesn’t go to a specific type of organization? You’re giving 100% to meet others’ needs. I see nothing that would dishonor God about that. Blessings to you!

Then Malachi 3:10 came to mind, and I wondered if 10% should go to a Christian organization, and 90% to helping those who suffer from Infection Associated CFS.

I’ll think about this today, and would love your comments. I am leaning towards keeping it as it is, with all proceeds going towards those who suffer with this illness (to help pay for labs and doctors visits) and to help with research.

I appreciate the insights you have shared. I do desire to do what God would have me do with the proceeds of this book. And I now feel more free about keeping things as I originally had them, rather than changing them…

I do need to make a final decision asap, since I had OK’d my book for publishing, then emailed them this morning telling them to hold off…. So, if you have any insights, I would enjoy hearing them.

Thanks, Tina

I think your last paragraph illustrates what is wrong with tithing. It’s not about throwing a certain amount of money in an offering plate every week. It’s about making Jesus Lord over every area of your life and serving Him with your wealth (whether that’s a large amount or small).

Second, read all of Galatians, Colossians, and Hebrews and tell me how the only Laws that were nailed to the cross were the Laws concerning animal sacrifice. If you wish to justify yourself by keeping the Law, then you’ve declared that Christ has accomplished nothing by dying on the Cross. If you want to keep one part of the Torah, you’re bound to keep it all. It cannot be separated. And if all the other Laws were still in effect, why did the apostle Paul argue so strongly against circumcision for Gentile believers? That is not an animal sacrifice – it was a mark of belonging. Yet Paul argued again and again against Christians holding to circumcision as the only way to be a “true Christian”.

The Law and the Prophets certainly speak of Jesus Christ. He’s the Messiah. It was the purpose of all things to point toward His coming. But He has come now, He has accomplished all through His life, death, and resurrection. And the Law has been fulfilled completely (satisfied, finished, made complete). It is in living by the Spirit and fulfilling the Law of Christ – the Law of Love – that we have God’s Law written on our hearts.

1. The amount of giving (10 percent) is referenced by Jesus himself when he corrects the Pharasees with the remark that “you tithe mint and rue, and yet ignore the weightier things of the law.” He did not tell them not to tithe, which He knew was 10%, but it had become to them a following of the Law without the Spirit behind it. In other words they tithed for the wrong reasons.

2. The reason for the tithe was also initially set as a test of trust — would one trust in their own abilities to take care of their needs or families needs, or would one trust first and foremost in God to provide their every need? By turning over one tenth of what God had provided them they were trusting in a power they could not see, and they could experience this power in a daily relationship with God. They were putting God first in all of their considerations of taking care of themselves and others like family.

3. By tithing, they were to put the sharing of the spiritual things first over the physical things. The tithe was used to minister to the needs of the Levites and Cohanin who were given the ministration of the Temple.

4. The New Covenant in our Savior’s blood is misunderstood by many believers. While your description correctly describes the incredible gift of salvation offered through His sacrifice for us, a believer needs to also know that the entire meaning of the New Covenant is more far reaching: Ezekiel 36:26 says that He will write His Law (Torah — which means teachings and instructions) on our hear, which are like stone, and He will thus make our hearts into hearts of flesh. This would be done through the atonement of Jesus.

5. Continuing with the above paragraph, the New Covenant is based on the fact that the God came to replace the lamb sacrifice for sins and that He would, because of His sacrifice, now be able to write His laws (Torah) upon our hearts, turning them from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. This is what is meant to happen as a sinner comes to the understanding that God allowed Himself to become the Kippur, replacing the lamb sacrifice with His sacrifice for us — love that was meant to break our natural hearts of stone into heart of flesh (soft and subtle) eager to listen to and obey God.

6. The Torah, or Law (again, meaning His teachings and instructions), were not done away with as a result of the New Covenant. Jesus said Himself that He did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill, (or firmly establish) the Law, but this time through His blood and not the blood of an animal. The only Law that was now nailed to the cross due to His atonement, was the ordinance concerning animal sacrific. The animal sacrifices were established as an atonement for sins.

7. To further establish that the Law and the Prophets, or the Coventant were never nailed to the cross comes from Jesus’ own words when He spoke to two disciples after He was resurrected. It says that when He walked with them He spoke to them about the Law and Prophets and said, these are they WHICH SPEAK OF ME.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of these points made.

God Bless,

Danielle