Does the Bible have anything to say about tithing when things are tight financially and life circumstances change?

QUESTION:

“I understand that the Bible talks about tithing 10% and have been doing so. However, I’m struggling financially at the moment, yet I know that God will provide for me. If I continue to tithe I will be honoring and obeying God while at the same time be headed straight into foreclosure on my house unless my circumstances happen to change again. Is there something in the Bible that talks about tithing during those seasons of life when it does not seem possible at the moment to give what you can or are able to? Because of my full time job and the hours I’m required to work, it's not possible for me to get an additional part time job or I would do that in a heart-beat.”

RESPONSE:

First off, let us start off by saying how sorry we are that you (and many others) are having to deal with the difficulties of the financial landscape that so many are having to navigate during this season of life. Such challenges can be a real stressor and we pray that God would give wisdom and insight to you (and others) who are trying their best to walk God’s path for life during these days.

That being said, yes, the Bible does speak about giving and also speaks that in life we will go through different seasons of life with different circumstances. However, different cases can be made for different perspectives on how exactly giving should be carried out by people who desire to follow Jesus. Some biblical scholars understand the tithe and giving to be just as you have mentioned, a baseline of 10% of the overall income that a person earns or receives. Other biblical scholars make the case that it is less about a specific percentage, and more about becoming people who are living generously and giving generously as they live as faithful stewards with the resources God puts in their care. Regardless, the scriptures are full of passages that call for followers of God to be people who care for the poor financially, give sacrificially, cheerfully, and in faith, and live lives that are not controlled by money.

It is also important to remember that God does not need our money. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills as it says in Psalms. If God wants steak for dinner, God will not put it on a credit card. God will just kill another cow! It all belongs to God. God just entrusts people with what is already under God’s authority and care. The whole reason for giving and tithing and being generous with the resources God has put in our care is to make us people who grow to become more like God in every area of our lives. This is why we stress week in and week out that when we pass the plates at The Heights, we continue in our worship and give our church family an opportunity to worship through giving. It is when we give that we “put our money where our mouth is” from a worship and trust perspective. It is much less costly from our perspective to sing a song about trusting God to provide for our every need than it is to write a check or put our cash in the offering plate. The rubber meets the road of our faith when we trust God with our finances.

The Bible does not specifically speak to the question above with a chapter and verse. You will not find, “Thou shalt tithe 10% unless things get tight. At that time thou shalt reduce giving to 5% and then fend off the banks against foreclosure. Once things stabilize, thou shalt go back to 10% and increase giving to 12% just to get back on God’s good side.” Sorry, you just don’t find that kind of explicit explanation. However, what you do find are principles about giving and living and being wise with the money that is under your authority. For example, God speaks in Galatians 6 about people “reaping what they sow.” Meaning, if we have (sow) a huge house payment and the circumstances of our lives change, unless we live with margin in our lives (sow) and have a plan in advance for when our circumstances change (sow), there will consistently be too much month at the end of the money. That leaves us with the dilemma: do we give to God what God has commanded us to give as people who are to trust Him and give sacrificially and generously…or…do we give to the bank what we said we would when we signed the note? One is our God…the other is our house…unless we have made our house into a god that we worship.

What we are trying to say is this: God does not need your money. God wants us to be people who are generous and cheerful givers who give and live sacrificially. God also speaks in Proverbs 22:7 about how “the borrower is slave to the lender.” Meaning, if you are not wise with your money, and you always owe other people money, you very well can feel like you are living life like a person in bondage to slavery. God does not say borrowing money is unbiblical. God is saying that you limit your options for freedom in your life when you live under the bondage of always owing someone else money.

If circumstances do not allow you to get another part time job to make ends meet and keep giving sacrificially, in faith, and cheerfully like you understand God to command, then perhaps it is time to make steps towards getting out of slavery. That may mean evaluating whether or not you need to sell the house rather than it being foreclosed on you. It may mean spending less and living within your means if you have not yet reviewed your budget with a fine toothed comb. It may mean making some real change in your life as it pertains to your lifestyle and what you spend money on. It may mean talking with people who have money and know how to live within a budget and spend and invest wisely so that you can begin to get a game plan on how to take action steps towards doing the same. The Bible speaks about surrounding ourselves with wise people who can help us know how to live wisely and make wise choices be it in our pursuit of God, our relationships with others, or even how to handle money in a wise way.

Does the Bible have anything to say about organ donation?

QUESTION:

“Does the Bible have anything to say about organ donation? The question about cremation got me to thinking about that issue?"

RESPONSE:

As it pertains to the types of organ donation that you and I would think about for transplants in the field of medicine, the Bible does not speak of such things. One reason is that such medical practices were not yet available as options in the days the Bible was written. However, the Bible does speak about doing good to others, serving others, considering others as more important than yourself. We can interpret some of what Jesus says about giving His body for others in such a way that He could be viewed as pro-organ donation.

At the Last Supper with His disciples, Jesus says these words to His friends that we echo in churches today in preparation for partaking of the bread and cup.

“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” --Luke 22:19-20

From one point of view Jesus is saying, “I am becoming an organ donor. In fact, I am also becoming a blood donor. If you want to push the metaphor, I am donating my whole body for the good of mankind and the salvation of those who will receive my body and blood as a sacrifice for their own sinful, decaying, and dying bodies. Receive the gift of a new heart, soul, mind, and strength and receive eternal life in me.”

God speaks of heart transplants in the Old Testament when He speaks of how He will renew Israel when they come back to Him in repentance.

“And when they come here, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.” --Ezekiel 11:18-21

Jesus goes on in John 10 to speak of how He lays down His life and in a very real sense, donates His life for the life of those who may be saved when He says these words.

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” John 10:17-18

In conclusion, Jesus does not specifically speak of organ donation as we ponder the issue today. The Bible does not explicitly speak for or against organ donation in the manner we consider it in our day and time because it was not an issue in that day due to medical limitations. However, a case can be made that Jesus modeled giving His own life away that others may benefit. God’s desire is that faulty hearts and souls might be made right by receiving healthy hearts and souls that have been made new by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.

Does the Bible have anything to say about cremation?

QUESTION:

“Does the Bible have anything to say about cremation? I know it talks about burying people, but did not know if there was any direction about the practice of cremation as an option when people die instead of burying them?”

RESPONSE:

“For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19 Those are the final words that God said to Adam and Eve after the Fall just before the Lord God made coverings of skins and clothed them in their nakedness. When dealing with the issue of death, it is important for us to remember that regardless of how one’s life on earth is remembered, all will eventually return to dust until the time God makes all things new and brings history to its final culmination of restoration and ultimate renewal.

The Bible has countless records of how the majority of those who were followers of the one true God responded to those who died. They primarily buried the bodies. Great significance was placed around the remembering of life and making sure the bodies were properly dealt with rather than simply being left in a field for the birds of the air or wild beasts to dispose of them. Such an act was actually seen as a curse in the eyes of biblical society.

However, there is one reference in the Old Testament that references a type of cremation that took place that is worth noting as we consider the question listed above. It is recorded that the people of Jabesh-gilead cremated the bodies of Saul and his sons and then buried their bones under a tamarisk tree. Saul and his army, which included his sons, were brutally defeated in battle by the Philistines as recorded in 1 Samuel. Chapter 31 speaks of how Saul died and how the Philistines treated his body and the bodies of his sons and soldiers with great disrespect.

However, 1 Samuel 31:11-12 indicate that people of Jabesh-gilead took it upon themselves to take risky steps to ensure Saul and his sons did not remain in such a humiliating fashion even in their state of death.

“But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.” 1 Samuel 31:11-13

In a very real sense, Saul and his sons were cremated before their bones (and ashes) were finally laid to rest. The men of Jabesh-gilead were simply speeding up the process of decay most likely out of an act of mercy due to the severity of how badly the bodies had been mutilated by their captors. However, when people were buried in biblical days, the custom for burial was to place the body in a tomb for a year to let the body decay. Then, after the year of decay had passed, family members would return to the tomb or cave where the body had been laid, and would gather the remaining bones. These bones were then buried in a type of box called an ossuary where they were then placed or buried with other family members who had died.

Different cultures and different time periods have recorded different ways to approach the process of disposing of the body at the time of death. However, it has been consistent throughout history that much significance was given to a person’s life in a memorial or way of remembrance across the different cultures on the earth. It seems that in Saul’s case and in the case of his sons, their cremation, along with those who have been cremated throughout church history in different cultures up to present day, are simply speeding up the process that God spoke of in Genesis 3:19 when God said, “and to dust you shall return.”

In conclusion, the Bible does not specifically speak for or against cremation. It merely indicates that cremation did occur for Saul and his sons at the end of their lives and that they were properly remembered and honored at the end of their lives by those who remained alive.