Well, here's an uncommon topic. But as a Christian who respects the Old Testament as God's word, I don't dismiss passages such as Leviticus 27:19 ("You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.") and say, "that's the Old Testament so doesn't apply."
Here is part of a study I did on the subject several years ago:
In my next few posts, I plan to outline why I believe things on certain doctrines. Partly, this is to help me remember conclusions to things I have studied and save time for the future. If anyone reads this, (hi there!) it'll hopefully benefit them too.
Before I begin, why I tithe at all:
In the Old Testament, tithing is clearly commanded of God's people (Malachi 3:10). In fact, it seems that three tithes were commanded (Levitical, rejoicing, and third year. See link at end of paragraph.) Although there's no longer an earthly temple nor a Levitical system, we do have churches and elders, and it seems to me that tithing continues in the New Testament as words such as "commanded" and "must" indicate in scriptures such as 1 Cor 9:13-14 and 1 Cor 16:1-2. I recommend reading this paper for further study.
Even if someone were to convince me that tithing is not commanded in the New Testament, giving clearly is. And, from my experience and a "general equity" standpoint, giving a 10th to the church, a 10th for rejoicing, and a 10th every third year for the vulnerable makes perfect sense and I would likely keep doing so.
Tithing prior to paying unjust taxes is not required:
As Greg Bahnsen argued in a debate on the subject, sometimes (not long ago actually) the government has taxed people at rates of 91% of their income. This makes tithing 10% (or the three tithes) impossible, which reduces to absurdity the idea that someone must always tithe on their gross income, not the net.
But one may argue that we don't have government currently taking 91% of income. That's true. But the question is, if we did have that, what would someone do? Tithe and not pay all their taxes? Maybe that would be the Biblical answer, but I'm not sure. Though my heart wants to say to tithe on the gross (as I used to do and sometimes still do), I cannot logically believe this is required because of Bahnsen's argument as well as the following:
I've never heard those advocating tithing on gross (pre-tax) income mention sales taxes or similar, which would have a big impact on those who have their own businesses (e.g., me): If I purchase 10K in materials (1K of which is sales tax) and a client reimburses me for the 10K, then would that 1K of sales tax be considered part of my pre-tax income that I should tithe on, even though I never saw it? That seems ridiculous but would be required if someone thought that we needed to pay tithes even on money that is taken via taxes.
As might be obvious by now, part of the problem is that we do not have a Biblical tax system. Romans 13 outlines the God-given functions of government, which taxes ought to support. The current American government goes far beyond its biblical authority, and this makes it extremely expensive. When Samuel warned Israel about turning from God and getting a king (rather than trusting Him to provide as He had done toward the end of Eli's life) he warned them that the king would take a tenth from them, which was viewed as oppressive!
Ok, but what about biblical taxes?
To be honest, I'm not certain. So, the way I've done it myself, in order to err on the side of caution, is to tithe prior to a 10% tax rate (which may be a just rate) and anything above that, treat as money that was stolen from me, which, like crops consumed by locusts, are not part of my increase and so aren't tithed on. In other words, if I make 10K and 2K of it goes to taxes, I treat 1K as Biblical taxes and 1K as non-Biblical, so I'd for certain tithe on 9K, though perhaps more.
This split may seem a bit arbitrary, but it's the best I could come up with for now. If you have scriptures to show a better view, please do so. Thanks!
