Tithes... Capitalism or Church Doctrine?

I'm writing this post based on a person who called into a radio station and what they said absolutely baffled me. I couldn't comprehend their financial logic or economic reasoning. A woman called into the station and explained that her husband pays the bills and she doesn't have a job. She is a "God fearing" "christian" woman who would like to pay her "tithes" to the church. The only problem is she doesn't have any income and she asked her husband for the money. His response (which is very rational) if you want to give tithes to the church go get a job but I refuse to give you my hard working money that I use to pay the bills with. This woman thought her husband was out of line and was very upset with him for saying this. People were calling in bashing this man and defending her.

Now before you start throw scriptures at me let's think about this logically for a second. This woman doesn't have a job where she can contribute 10% of her income. I understand when you are married critical financial situations are always a mutual decision but tithing to the church should not be considered a critical financial situation. Now if this woman is a avid believer in the scripture and feels delegated to give back to the church let her carry that burden. If her husband doesn't have that same temperament he shouldn't feel guilty or vilified for wanting to have financial mobility with HIS money. I'm not taking his side because he is the man and the financial provider for the family. I am simply trying to "problematize" the psychology behind tithing. Let's take a closer look.

Different people tithe for different reasons. Some people tithe for financial prosperity and some people tithe to help out the church. I want to understand the psychology behind both mentalities.

Financial prosperity (blessings)
This is a very capitalistic mentality because what you are saying is that I am investing money for future blessings. The more money I give God the more blessed I will become and he will return that investment tenfold and I will gain financial stability. Also, the people who can't afford this generous donation will not be blessed and should be looked down upon.  So let's review, pay a little (10%) and get a big return. Now some people might call this gambling, I will give it a little more respect and call it the casino mentality.When you walk inside a casino your only goal is to spend as little money as possible and go home with the biggest return on your small investment. How is this mentality different from tithing?

Help out the church

Some people give money to help out the church so the church can turn around and put that money into the community. Right? That's a great idea. In the old testament Genesis 14:20 – Melchizedek comes out to meet Abraham, as Abraham gives him a tithe of the spoils of his victory. So Abraham was using spoils of war to help out the less fortunate which is the basic concept of "tithing". The only problem is that Black and white churches are doing the exact opposite. They are entrenched with this capitalistic mindset where they have to make a profit and they function and act how a business functions and acts at the expense of the hard working middle class that lives paycheck to paycheck.

Now most people are saying "I am obligated to pay 10% of my income because that's what the bible tells me to do." Well let's look at that scripture
LEV. 27: 30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD. 
31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. 
32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
Now this scripture like many others in the bible has been taken out of it's proper context. Notice it is saying tithe of the LAND which already belongs to God. You have to place this passage in its proper historical context to fully comprehend it's meaning.


People will say "well that's the old testament, what about the new testament?" Well let's look.
There is no command to tithe for the new covenant Church. That is part of the law. You will not find one command by Christ, Paul, Peter, John, James or any of the gospel writers telling the Church to tithe. The purpose of the tithe was to support the Levitical priests who had no land or means for income, it was the Jewish community supporting the temple and the priests. If you look at Malachi it doesn't say anything about giving tithes either. Malachi stats the tithe already belongs to God.
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings


In summary, Tithes are nothing more then a TAX system created by the church. I searched the entire bible for the "10% scripture" and I couldn't find it because it DOESN'T EXIST!! Churches use people's guilt, empathy, and apathy under the guise of scripture to finance their own agendas. Pastors and preachers have been taking bible verses out of their proper context for centuries to fund their own selfish greed. This is  just a byproduct of this capitalistic profit driven culture that we all fall victim to. You can vehemently support any belief system you wish but don't put yourself inside this superficial charity box. God sees everything that we do whether it's giving money to the homeless or giving your jacket to someone who's cold. I want to end on this by saying Black churches nationally make 3 billion dollars every sunday. 3 BILLION!!!! TAX FREE!!! With that money we could build 10 comprehensive high schools and send numerous of people to college for free so they wouldn't owe Sallie Mae for the rest of their lives.