LEGALISTS OUT OF CONTROL: HAMMER AND TONGS

 To many believers today, the fact that the Bible teaches a different way of giving for us than that of Israel under the shadow of Mt. Sinai is a new thought, but there it is in plain sight, in black and white in II Corinthians 9:7, "Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 

While under the Mosaic Law, there was no "as he decides in his own heart;" the Law made the decision: 10% of their income which was a flat income tax for the Jews. Then there's I Corinthians 16:2 in which Paul gives further instructions: "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections need to be made when I come." 

Couple those texts with Romans 6:14, "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace," and lo and behold, the tithing system has been abolished! (Some may seek to use this new method of grace giving to excuse their "no-giving," but that's a perversion of the truth, which is another subject.) 

But legalism is a difficult beast to control. Fallen man carries on an illicit love affair with rules, traditionalism, regulations, and laws so that he may inflate his life's resume with pride. And then there's the legalist, armed with hammer and tongs who's flat-out out of scriptural control. One Bible teacher on a foreign mission field reports just such rampaging beasts of legalism.

With hammer and tongs, these pastors go after their congregations hurling soteriological threats from the pulpit into the defenseless pews. How so? They stand behind their pulpits and connect tithing with the gospel, telling their congregants that if they tithe, they keep their salvation, but if they do not tithe, they lose it. By this, the legalist in sheep's clothing guarantees himself a full stomach and an overflowing offering plate. 

But they don't leave it there. They instruct their listeners that tithing will bring them the coveted trio: wealth, happiness, and prosperity. Wait. What? That sounds familiar, very familiar. It's what we hear from television, radio, and CD presentations of the good life that awaits those who give to this, that, and the other ministries. 

It's what we read in the "Your Best Life Now books," and as we play the new "Best Life Now Board Game which "enables players to step beyond the one-on-one nature of the book[s] and feel, touch, and live [the] 7 Steps To Living At Your Full Potential with your friends and family. Your Best Life Now: The Game is an entertaining and educational way to take inventory of yourself and accountability of your actions." It's for 2-6 players, age 16 and above and will take an hour of your time. (It can be yours for $27.95.)

The imposition of tithing for keeping your salvation upon the unwary smacks of John Tetzel's sales of indulgences to help finance the bondage system of the Roman Catholic system; it was Tetzel who promised, "As soon as the coins clink in the money chest, the souls of those for whom the indulgences had been purchased would fly out of purgatory."

The saying is old but true, the more things change, the more they stay the same.