Sunday, October 24, 2010

If stars are stars, and sand is sand, the tree of good and evil is no tithe!

Have you heard it yet? People are saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is tithe, you know. Got such thing, meh! Not new, but even big-time grace preacher saying that, you know!

For those not having any idea of what I was referring to, for the first part of the title, “If stars are stars, and sand is sand”, you may want to read my separate article, “Stars are stars, sand is sand”. In this article I would like to address the saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is tithe.

The intention of this article is not to attack a person as such (I am only against teaching, not person, per se), and there can be, by now, many people subscribing to this saying. For understanding of my stance, let me re-quote a text I put up on someone’s “forum” where discussions were made concerning theologies and doctrines, even heresies of some preachers:

“To be fair, many of us who speak out against false teachings within the body of Christ, especially those teachings against the core tenets of the faith, are not fighting other believers. Jesus Himself did not like false teachings, the Apostles taught against it; the Apostle Paul was particularly vocal about it. Jesus, in His end-time messages, via the illustrations of the 7 churches, also warned of subscribing to false teachings.

Scripture gave us indication that the coming on of greater measure of false teachings as sign of time, but still it did not say we are not to resist them. I see things are happening as foretold in 2 Tim 4:3-4 - For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

The tree of knowledge of good and evil being referred to, according to the “doctrine”, is that same tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, which we read in the Book of Genesis. The purported doctrine is this: Adam and Eve can eat from all the trees, but not this one tree. And accordingly (?), this is the tithe, like this is money, and this is the money {tithe portion} you cannot use (you got to give back to God). What is this? To me, it is PURE speculation. As far as I know there are no verses that suggest such a “filling in the gap of this story” is tenable, i.e. there is not even partial support for such a doctrine from the Word of God.

That a glass, I can put marbles in it, does not necessary mean that all glasses are made for the purpose of putting marbles in them, likewise, when God said {concerning tithe} we cannot have all of our income, it does not necessarily mean that everything that God said we cannot have, are tithes! When God said you cannot have someone’s wife (against covetousness), it (the woman) is no tithe to God. Or when God said you shall not eat of the food offered to idols, is that tithe to God? Then why is it that it becomes tithe to God when God told Adam not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil! If God said it, I accept it, but God did not say or implied it, then we should not say such. The food to be offered for idol, is food made available by God, still it does not mean that the abstinence of it, is tithe to God; in the same way, the trees in the Garden were made available by God, the abstinence of one tree, did not mean it was tithe to God! I say this looks like one making up story anyhow! Go write a novel, perpetrator, or shoot a fiction movie, but do not adulterate the Word of God, with hidden agenda.

I want to make it very clear that I am not against tithing. But I know many overly grace believers, under the influence of their preachers, are; because in their view, tithing is of the law. Now, can you figure out what this is all about? When the tyre hits the road, we get to see who are the real champions of particular ideology. “Grace, grace, grace” they shout! “No law, no law, no law.” But wait a minute, no law means no tithe, no tithe means no money, and no money means ….

{Deep call unto deep?!, Well, deep in thought-lah} “Mm, Mm, Mm {deep in thought-what}, got to stick with no law, but must have tithe………….{Deep in thought, but MUNCHING…} Hey, where did my wife get this apple from, it is so sweet; ….. Aah, we were first, at the Gar… Gar… Guardian PharmaC Den… Den…. Then, we went into NTU-See. Aha! Apple, Gar…Den. I got it! The Holy Spirit has spoken – Apple and Garden, ….. and Adam and Eve, and the tree of (knowledge of) good and evil. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.” {Now, I am even more convinced that we have to be careful not to anyhow think the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. We continue} “The ‘First’ is always special, Guardian PharmaC is not,…. but ‘First’ is special. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The first law is special, I can say, it is not counted the same way with the rest, like the FIRST Sin was special, it has perpetualty. That’s right, the first law must have perpetualty, so tithing must continue. Yah! Yah! Yah!”

That is pure speculation of how it came about!? Sure. So is the saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the tithe! And so is the first prohibitive law being God’s command for tithe, a speculation. I rest my case!

As one from churches which believe that churches should be allowed to receive tithes, on behalf of God, I say thanks, but no thanks, to such teaching, which speculates on the Word with selfishness, and hidden agenda.


Anthony Chia – Incompatibility between grace and tithing? But this is NOT the answer! We still need to be careful with what we hear from such b i g – time preachers!

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