The book of Deuteronomy totally knocked me out yesterday. How many times have I read this book and completely missed these several verses. Has the church intentionally left these verses out? Is there some conspiracy to not look at the Bible in its' entirity and explain it to the people? Why am I and many around me so naive to the spefics found within the book?
Churches for centuries have instructed parishioners to give a tenth of what they make. Usually this is called a tithe and as a guide the tithe is ten percent. This guide is taken from various places throughout the Old Testament, one of them being Deuteronomy 14:22-27. These verses together show that a tenth of what you make should be returned to God, the problem is that every church I have heard talk about this, never continues this passage on. In verse 14:28-29 there is something interesting, the verses read as follows (NIV):
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
(parallel in Deut. 26:12-14)
Do you realize what this says? Not only are people supposed to tithe, but one years worth of that tithe is supposed to be set aside to help, the widows, orphans and foreigners of the land. With a little math that means that before the New Testament at least 33% of all tithes were going to help those who could not help themselves. How many churches do this? If we encourage those in our congregations to tithe ten percent, should churches not first budget by the 33% rule?
Other questions come to mind. Like who is the foreigner? Is the foreigner only those who are in this country legally, or should we help those in the country illegally? If we shouldn't help the illegal immigrants, then why doesn't it say which ones we should help and which we shouldn't? Why is the conservative church so against the illegal immigrant, when the Bible does not differentiate between the two? What about Deut. 10:18 where it says give the alien (foreigner) food and clothing, how do we reconcile this? Or, Deut. 24:19-21 should we not leave the sheaf, the olive, and the grape for the illegal alien?
Deut. 27:19 says that those who withhold from the widow, orphan and foreigner are to be cursed. Hwat does it mean to be cursed? Is the church cursed for not caring? Again, does it mean that if I don't help the illegal alien I am cursed?
... just ponderings from a passage...
1 comment:
Perhaps you are taking "foreigner" too literally. Maybe it means people who are not members of the church.
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