Essay Sample on Direct Relationship With God

Historical Background

The issue of tithing is perceived as a significant issue, especially among Christians. However, the church is considered to be adamant about the point about the need for believers to offer tithes. Also, theologians believe that the church dramatically suffers from the financial challenge, which affects staff, buildings, as well as members. However, the real question that Christians should ask is what God truly deserves from believers. The only way that can be used to offer an appropriate answer to the problem is to focus on the bible to provide an insight on understanding the concerns of God as well as his purpose that required people to provide tithe.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Based on the teaching of the Church, there are sermons from the Bible that suggests that people are robbing God, especially as indicated in the book of Malachi. In essence, Christians have experienced such attitudes regarding tithing that the finances that are offered by believers and questions that ask if enough tithe is being given to the church. Also, individuals who can provide food to their households are usually blamed since they are not able to give enough tithe to God. In such cases, individuals are told that they should not complain that they cannot tithe but should instead understand that they cannot afford to tithe. Also, believers are usually informed of the need for more faith in case they want to be submissive to God and if they need their finances to be blessed by God.

Some sermons focus on the seed of faith and giving and how such harvest should be determined. There are several verses in the bible that have been quoted to justify the sermons. However, Christians believe that there is some element of truth that should mainly focus on the church as well as the ministry of God when preaching and the manner in which Christiana are required to offer tithe, which is also regarded as the financial seed. Almost all Christian churches, as well as the congregation, are required to offer their tithes. As such, after accomplishing the requirement, the verse according to the book of Malachi is read concerning robbing the church and God. In some larger churches, there is specific discussion regarding the offering that individuals who minister the word of God should receive.

By examining the foundation about the issue of tithing based on the Law of Moses, it is stated that the notion of tithing had been in existence before the law of Abraham, which is believed to set the precedence for all forms of tithing. In essence, the law makes formal all aspects of life for all Christians. As such, the law required the behavior has been specified as a form of punishment or rather the consequences that had been defined especially when believers do not adhere to the requirements of the Bible. As such, the meaning of the tithe was based on God's commandment to offer support to the priests. These were the tribe of Levi and were not obliged to inherit the land. However, the primary purpose of the priests was to serve God as well as the tabernacle. The tithe offered was mainly channeled to the high priest.

The offering in the form of the tithe was perceived as their chief inheritance rather that land since their work was considered to be associated with the tabernacle and to work on the ground. The components of the tithe mainly comprise of the produce from the area as well as the herds that were owned by the other tribes. Tithe has never been mentioned regarding money. The only time money was used as an offering was mainly during the third year festival tithe. Nonetheless, the products that were offered as tithe could be turned into cash and channeled to assist widows and strangers

Accordingly, as provided by God's commandment, those who were required to receive the tithe were the tribe of Levi. The main reason for the tithe was to offer support to the priests since they were not required to work on the land. Also, the tithe was offered to support widows, orphans, as well as strangers. Furthermore, there were instances where individuals who were offering the tithe were entitled to the benefits. Hence, in such circumstances, the offering in the form of the tithe was transported to a place before God, and consequently, the tithe was used as a celebration before God.

Literary Context of Tithe

According to 7 Testimonies, 176, the Lord desires to ensure that humanity is in direct relationship with Him. Hence, in all his dealings with humanity, God realized the principle of personal responsibility. God seeks to encourage the sense of own dependence and to ensure that he impresses the need for personal guidance. God's gifts are mainly committed to men as individuals. All people are required to be stewards and discharge their trust based on the direction of the giver and by an account of stewardship that should be rendered to God.

A tithe is considered as the tenth part of an individual's increase that is claimed by God as His. For instance, it is stated that the Sabbath is day is preserved for the Lord, as indicated in Exodus 20:10. As such, God reserved to himself a specified for of man's time and no one could without guilt appropriate for his interests. God claims that tithe belongs to Him and man can only achieve all another form of an increase as a result of his blessings. In Psalms 24: 1 "the earth belongs to God and all the fullness that dwell therein.

Man is only a steward of God's possessions and is not the owner. In Mathew 25: 14, "there is a parable provided about a man traveling to a far country and called his servants to deliver some goods." In this regards, the system of tithing was to impress the minds of people concerning God's truth as the main source of blessing to his creation, and it is only through God that the gratitude accorded to man is due based on His providence. Hence, as an acknowledgment that all things belong to God, he gave a direction that a tenth of the bounty received by man should be returned to him in the form of gifts and offerings.

Key Word Meanings

The meaning of a tithe is 10th of an individual's income, and the process can be traced before the days of Moses. Therefore, the early church depended on the tithe as well as other offerings to operate, as do the churches of today. Based in the Old Testament, the first instance of tithing can be traced in the book of Genesis with Abraham offering his possessions to the King of Salem. The passage does not shed light on why Abraham offered tithe to the King although some theologians believed that the King was considered as some form of Christ. Next, after God appeared to Jacob in a dream, he made a vow to God provided that God would keep him safe and give him the much needed basic needs,

Therefore, giving tithes was considered as a fundamental part of the Jewish religious worship. In essence, the concept of tithing is very predominant in the Numbers, Leviticus, as well as the Deuteronomy. Based on the Mosaic Law, the Israelites were required to offer a tenth of their produce to God, primarily to provide support for the priests. Found in the New Testament, the concept of tithing s evident when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. However, based in the biblical teaching, it is evident that the early church held a different opinion based in tithing. For instance, some individuals sought to separate the notion from the legalistic practices of Judaism whereas others mainly preferred to honor and continue with the traditional idea of priesthood. Therefore, since the biblical times, the idea of tithing has mostly been believed to set aside a tenth of an individual's possessions to offer support to the church and promote the spread of the gospel.

Literary Genre

In the literature, the kind mainly focuses on the analysis of sentences with various phrases or terminology used in the text. For instance, there are verbal sentences, simple sentences that are necessary for the interpretation of the biblical passages. For example, the relationship between God and man are explained in great detail. For example, the use of the phrase divine intervention o test God, the prophets mainly extends to the restoration community as well as the opportunity to prove the usefulness of God in keeping the relationship between God and man. Therefore, based on this analysis, there are basically to units which include the unification through repentance and restoration. It is asserted that humanity must return to God by ensuring that they bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, As such, the Lord would turn to his people by restoring to them the material blessings. Also, it is explained in the biblical verses that tithe is necessary as a sign of obedience to Gods ordinances. Based on the critical analysis, a conclusion can be made to offer hope to humanity by making emphasis on Gods immutability through countering the community's charge, especially on God's part.

Theological Interpretation

The general population was liable of numerous genuine sins. The priests were offering imperfect creatures in a formal yet unscrupulous religious ceremony. Many were separating from their spouses to wed unbelieving ladies. Most had been defying God's law by retention tithes of their harvests. What's more, they were all blaming God for adoring them just pitifully and of being crooked in His dealings with them, since He had not thrived them sufficiently. The response to this is God had not changed. In theology, this convention is called changelessness. It implies that being impeccable; God cannot and does not change. Thus, the general population had changed, falling far from secret romance for him and from the honorable their progenitors once had. The root happens in different structures in the Old Testament with relative recurrence. The nominative and the descriptive word occur inconsistently.

As needs are, in the Old Testament, the action word in its different structures is set apart by a mix of attributes - a high recurrence, a rich assortment of implications, some equivocalness about heading. In the religious sense is the most widely recognized term for both swinging definitively to God (or icons) or getting some distance from Him (them). An action word of movement, with the importance of return, turn back, go back, come back, frequently about the physical change of coming back to the point of takeoff. A typical use action word happens with regards to good and otherworldly slips by, takeoff (dismissing) from Yahweh or swinging to God. God through his prophet requests wayward ones to come back to Him. The goals are various, now and then by the method for notice, and on different occasions by the way for the request. Further, the intrigue to abandon symbols is enhanced by advance to individuals to swing...