XPost: alt.religion.christian.adventist, alt.religion.christian.baptist,   
   alt.religion.christian.biblestudy   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.boston-church   
   From: spamtrap@spambouncer.org   
      
   On Fri, 05 Dec 2003 11:09:46 GMT, "Christopher Robin"   
    wrote:   
      
   >> Cain and Abel paid tithe to whom?  And which verse states that?   
      
   >They gave the first fruits to GOD.   
      
   Which is an entirely separate issue from tithing, a rule specific to the Law   
   of Moses.  The only mention of "ten percent" before Moses was when Abraham   
   paid tribute to Melchisedek, priest of Salem.  (Later Jerusalem.)  I shouldn't   
   have to point this out, but Melchisedek was *not* God.  He was merely a priest   
   of God.   
      
   Nobody ever stated that we were not obliged to give to God any more, merely   
   that the specifics of how and when are no longer governed by the Law of Moses   
   for Christians.  From what Christ said in the Gospels, and St. Paul said in   
   his letters to various first-century Christian churches, the principle that   
   Christians are expected to follow is to "give from the heart."  That principle   
   is a lot harder to follow than simply obeying a rule, of course.   
      
   My parish priest, when I was a catechumen (I'm Russian Orthodox) said that   
   giving ten percent of your income was a good base line, but what a person   
   should give depended on the individual and circumstances. He further stated   
   that you did not have to give to the church to be giving to God; giving to a   
   good charity or directly to someone who needed it was also giving to God.  The   
   important part was to recognize that *everything* we are and "own" is not   
   ours, but God's.   
      
   He added that he felt ten percent could be too much for a single woman raising   
   children alone and struggling with finances, or too little for a single person   
   with a good job, good income, and few expenses.  But in any event, the   
   decision of precisely how much to give was the responsibility of the   
   individual.   
      
   I'd snip the Newsgroups: line here (this is ridiculously crossposted), except   
   that I'm not sure which newsgroups qualify as "off-topic" for this discussion.   
   This one, alt.religion.christian.boston-church, is really not for general   
   Christian theological discussions -- it is for discussions about the   
   International Churches of Christ/Boston Church of Christ/Boston Movement.  (So   
   called because it really got going in Boston many years ago.)  My apologies if   
   this isn't relevant elsewhere.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Catherine Hampton    
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