Tag: tithe

We Need to Stop Interpreting Scripture Through the Lens of Our Practices

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 7, 2021

The Bible Should Inform Our Actions, Not Justify Our Habits

Christianity has its traditions and religious practices. We often persist in them with unexamined acceptance. And if we do question our behaviors, we can often find a verse in the Bible to justify them. But that doesn’t make them right.

The Lens of Scripture

We need to interpret the Bible through the lens of Scripture and not from the perspective of our own practices. The Bible is the starting point, not the ending.

When we begin with what we do today and work backwards, looking to the Bible for support, we will usually find it, but we may be in error.

Consider the following.

Church Attendance

The Bible says to not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25). Most people interpret this as a command to go to church. That’s not what the verse says. This command is a call to Christian community.

This may happen at church on a Sunday morning, but it could also happen at a different location the other 167 hours of the week. This meeting together thing happens whenever two or three are gathered in his name.

The point of this verse is that we shouldn’t attempt to live our faith in isolation.

Communion

Another area is our practice of communion. We even read the Bible when we partake. This makes us wrongly conclude that our celebration of communion is biblical. It’s not.

The context of communion is at home with family, not as part of a church service. We’re doing communion wrong.

Sermon

Why do we have a sermon every Sunday at church? Because it’s in the Bible, right? Yet biblical preaching is to those outside the church.

You’ve heard the phrase, “preaching to the choir,” which is understood as the futility of telling people the things they already know. Yet preaching to the choir is effectively what we do at most churches every Sunday. P

reaching is for people outside the church.

Worship Music

Why does a significant portion of our Sunday service include music? While singing to God is prevalent throughout the Bible, it’s interesting to note that nowhere in the New Testament is the use of musical instruments mentioned.

Does this mean our singing to God should be a capella? It’s worth considering.

And the idea of having a worship leader is also an anathema to the biblical narrative. When we gather together we should all be prepared to share and to participate, which might include leading the group in a song.

Sunday School

The justification for Sunday School—aside from tradition and “that’s the way we’ve always done it”—often comes from the Old Testament verses to train up a child (Proverbs 22:6) and teach your children (Deuteronomy 11:19 and Deuteronomy 6:6-8).

But who’s to do this training? The parents. Delegating this critical job to the church is lazy parenting.

But if we’re going to persist in the practice, let’s at least give Sunday School a meaningful purpose.

Tithing

Giving 10 percent is an Old Testament thing. The New Testament never commands us to tithe.

Think about that the next time you hear a minister say we’re supposed to give 10 percent to the local church. That’s wrong. Though tithing might be a spiritual discipline, it’s not a command.

Offerings

Though there is some basis for the Sunday offering, we’ve co-opted it into something it wasn’t meant to be. Paul’s instruction to take up a collection each week was for the express purpose of giving money to those in need (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).

How much of a church’s weekly offering goes to that?

Church Buildings

Though the Old Testament had their Temple and the Jewish people added synagogues, the New Testament followers of Jesus met in homes and sought to connect with others in public spaces.

The idea of building churches didn’t occur until a few centuries later. Church facilities cost a lot of money and take a lot of time, distracting us from what is more important.

Paid Staff

The concept of professional, paid clergy also didn’t occur until a couple centuries after the early church started. Peter tells us that we are all priests (1 Peter 2:5, 9), and Paul tells us that we should minister to each other (1 Corinthians 14:26).

When we pay staff to do what we’re supposed to be doing ourselves, we’re subjugating our responsibility and acting with laziness. Paul set a great example, often paying his own way on his missionary journeys. Today’s ministers should consider this. Seriously.

Read the Bible

Prior posts have touched on these subjects in greater detail. They might be worth considering as you contemplate the above items. We persist in these practices out of habit and under the assumption that the Bible commands us to do so.

We conclude this because we read the Bible wearing blinders, focusing our attention on our practices and seeking to find them supported in the Bible.

It’s time we reexamine everything we do through the lens of Scripture and make needed changes. And if we do, it will be a game-changer.

Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags church attendance, communication, early church, good music, good sermon, minister, Sunday school, tithe

Christian Living

9 Perspectives That We Must Change about Church

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 4, 2020

Re-examine Our Church Practices from a Biblical Viewpoint

Over the past few months, I published a series of posts about assumptions we should change about church.

Here is a list of all nine:

What perspectives should you change about your view of church? Pick the assumption that most convicts you and work to reform it, first in your mind and then in your practice.

Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church, disciples, kingdom of God, membership, seminary, Sunday school, tithe, unity

Christian Living

Should We Distinguish Between Christian and Biblical Worldviews?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 1, 2020

Exploring Christian Practices That Lack Biblical Support

For years I’ve told people that I strive to write from a Christian worldview. That’s what I believed I was doing.

I even regularly prayed that God would empower me to do so, that each word I wrote would embrace, support, and advance a Christian worldview.

However, I realized I don’t always write from a Christian worldview. In fact, I often question a Christian worldview because too much of it isn’t biblical.

Too often I can’t find support in Scripture for many of the practices, traditions, and beliefs that most Christians include in their worldview.

As a result, my prayer has changed, asking God that I will consistently write from a biblical worldview. This is how I honor him and encourage others.

What’s a Worldview?

First a definition. A worldview is a set of perspectives through which we view and understand our world. More specifically, it’s a group’s collection of beliefs about life and how we fit into our world.

This means that a biblical worldview sees the world and our role in it through the lens of Scripture. The Bible informs those with the biblical worldview how to think and act.

Similarly, a Christian worldview is the set of beliefs that Christians have about their faith. The basis for this assemblage of ideas should be the Bible. If this were the case, a Christian worldview and a biblical worldview would be synonymous.

Unfortunately, there’s a disconnect. Too many things that comprise Christian perspectives and practices lack a biblical mandate. These topics often come up in my writing.

A Christian Worldview

Christian means to be like Christ, that is, to be like Jesus. As Christians (a word I usually avoid because it means different things to different people) we want to be like Jesus.

The Bible is the best source to help us understand how to be like him (WWJD).

Our Christian worldview should emanate from Jesus, through the Bible.

Yet Christians hold many beliefs that don’t have a biblical basis. Christians pursue practices that lack a biblical mandate. Yes, this includes me. But I’m trying to shed these erroneous Christian pursuits that lack biblical support.

A Biblical Worldview

Because some ideas that we accept as Christian don’t have much of a biblical origin, I base my faith and my writing on what God says in the Bible. It’s more important than writing about what other people think is Christian—even if it offends.

When I read and study the Bible—both to inform my life and my writing—I strive to do so without interpreting it through the lens of traditions I’ve been taught and the practices I observe.

I don’t look for justification of our present Christian reality in the Bible to reinforce what we do and believe. Instead I seek to study the Bible to inform my perspectives and reform my practices.

Differences Between a Christian and Biblical Worldview

Over the years I’ve noticed many disconnects between what I read in the Bible and how society practices our Christian faith. This often includes my own practices and pursuits.

I can’t list them all in a short blog post. Even a book wouldn’t provide enough space.

Knowing that it’s incomplete and without assigning any priority, here’s a quick list of some of the things most Christians accept as correct, even though there’s not much support, if any, for them in the Bible.

These often comprise their Christian worldview. Here are six considerations:

1. Go to Church on Sunday

I go to church most every Sunday. I’ve done so my whole life. But I’m still looking for a command in the Bible where Jesus, or anyone else for that matter, tells us to go to church each Sunday.

Yes, we’re to not give up meeting together, but that verse doesn’t say weekly or on Sunday (Hebrews 10:25).

2. Fold Your Hands, Close Your Eyes, and Bow Your Head When You Pray

My parents taught me to do these things as a child, and my wife and I taught them to our children.

Yet I’m still looking for a verse in Scripture to back up this practice. Though I often assume all three of these postures when I pray, I’m more likely to skip them.

3. Tithe to Your Local Church

I’ve often heard preachers implore the parishioners to tithe to the local church—that is, the organization that pays their salary.

The tithe was an Old Testament command, which averaged about 23 percent a year, not ten. It went to support their national religious infrastructure, not local gatherings.

The New Testament contains no command the tithe. Instead we see a principal that all our possessions belong to God, which we must steward wisely to take care of ourselves and to bless others.

4. The Prayer of Salvation

Many people teach that to become a Christian you need to pray and ask Jesus into your heart. Jesus never said that. In fact, he gave different instructions to different people.

The most common and general command was a call for people to follow him.

No prayer, no altar call, and no commitment card. Instead we simply do a U-turn (repent) and follow Jesus. (See my book How Big Is Your Tent?)

Salvation is a lifetime practice, not a one-time commitment.

5. Sunday Church Format

Most church services have two components: music and message, but sometimes they seem more like a concert followed by a lecture. Other services focus on worship and Communion, the Eucharist.

The Bible records all these things, and the early church did them, but I’m having trouble finding any verses that commands these activities or shows them as a regular practice that happened each Sunday.

Instead the early church focused on meaningful community, something that most churches today struggle to fulfill with any significant degree.

6. The Lord’s Supper

Our practice of communion is another custom that diverges from the biblical narrative.

I understand communion (an extension of Passover) as a practice that should happen at home, with our family, as part of a meal, and as an annual celebration in remembrance of Jesus.

Instead it’s become a Sunday ritual that happens at church, apart from a meal, and with little familial connection.

Parting Thoughts

The above list may offend you. I get that. Writing about these things makes people mad. It challenges what we hold dear. We want to maintain the status quo.

Suggesting that these practices aren’t biblical can rattle the traditions that we cherish. Pursuing faith from a biblical worldview is an ongoing struggle for me. But this is one way that I work out my salvation (Philippians 2:12).

In doing so, I use the Bible to better inform, and then reform, how I practice my Christian faith. It’s not a comfortable path, but this journey takes me in the right direction.

It’s a course to better embrace what the Bible teaches us about God and our relationship to him, society, and creation.

I hope you will travel with me as we move closer to Jesus.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

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Tags Bible, church services, communion, pray, salvation, tithe

Christian Living

The Truth about Tithing

Discover What the Bible Says and Doesn’t Say

We’re supposed to tithe to the local church, to give 10 percent of our income, right? Hold on. Not so fast. What does the Bible say about tithing?

The Bible talks a lot about tithing, of giving one tenth of what we have to God. However, there are multiple tithes mandated in the Old Testament.

Bible scholars say that when these are added up, they average out to 23 percent a year (one tithe is given every three years). That’s close to one quarter, far more than one tenth.

These Old Testament tithes were commanded by God to support the religious institution of the day: the temple, the Levites, and the priests. To equate the Old Testament temple and its priests with the modern day church and its ministers is a misapplication.

When Jesus fulfilled the law, he replaced both, turning us – you and me – into priests and making us into his temple.

Instead, Jesus talked about helping those in need and being good stewards. The early church in Acts shared all they had with each other; that’s 100 percent. And being a good steward of all God has blessed us with also implies 100 percent.

We are to use every penny in the best way possible.

Whenever the New Testament mentions tithing, it always refers to the Old Testament practice. Nowhere do New Testament writers tell us to give 10 percent to the local church, yet that is precisely what many ministers preach.

Rather, we see commands and examples to use the money God blesses us with to cover our needs (not our wants), help others, and advance God’s kingdom.

If you feel being a good steward of God’s money is to support your local church, then by all means, do so.

However, if you thinks it’s better used somewhere else, then donate it to that cause, but don’t be misled by preachers who claim something the Bible doesn’t say.

[Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32]

Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more about the book of Acts in Tongues of Fire: 40 Devotional Insights for Today’s Church from the Book of Acts, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church, early church, give, tithe

Christian Living

Is Tithing a Spiritual Discipline?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 15, 2015
2 Comments on Is Tithing a Spiritual Discipline?

Last Sunday I asked if going to church is a spiritual discipline. I surprised myself. As I wrote to discover the answer, my opinion shifted from “no” to “it could be.”

Today I ask the same question about tithing. Remember that a spiritual discipline is something we willingly do to draw us closer to God or to honor him.

While stewardship is a spiritual discipline, as is service and sacrifice, none directly relate to the Old Testament command to tithe. Though some may claim that the spiritual discipline of stewardship is merely a codename for tithing, they miss the point.

A tithe is an Old Testament legal requirement to give ten percent; the New Testament does not mandate tithing. Stewardship is a biblical principle found in both the Old and New Testaments where we use our blessings to bless others.

This may be through giving money, but it also refers to sharing our material possessions as well as our time.

Too many people write a check to appease their guilt and do nothing else. I was that way once. I thought that as long as I gave money to the church, I met my obligation.

I didn’t need to concern myself any further with true stewardship or actual human need. The church would do that in my stead.

That is legalism. That is the Law of the Old Testament. That is tithing.

Yes, people can make a willing decision to give money to God in order to draw closer to him and worship him. That would qualify as a spiritual discipline.

But if they tithe because the Old Testament Law says to or, even worse, because the preacher insists upon it, then their tithe ceases to be a spiritual discipline and becomes a spiritual snare.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags spiritual discipline, tithe

Christian Living

Should We Tithe or Not?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date July 1, 2012

Some people who follow Jesus give his church 10 percent of their income. The Bible calls this a tithe and it was a requirement from the Old Testament portion of the Bible.

Other people say 10 percent is more a guideline than a rule. I don’t see much support for this perspective—other than the fact they don’t think they can afford to give away a tenth of their income.

A third group points out that Jesus never asked for 10 percent and whenever the New Testament part of the Bible mentions the practice, it’s always in reference to the Old Testament. They conclude the requirement to tithe no longer holds.

Personally, I see truth in all three. Giving 10 percent is historical, it is a guideline, and it may not hold true any longer.

When many people talk about tithing, the implication is 10 percent is God’s and 90 percent is theirs.

I think Jesus wants us to view 100 percent as belonging to him. Be it directly donated or indirectly spent, we need to disperse it wisely to care for our basic needs and help others.

We are blessed to be a blessing to others, so we should spend carefully and give generously, not just tithe 10 percent.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

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Tags tithe