Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Deuteronomy 14

1 - 2 Pagan Practice Forbidden

Practices from other religions forbidden (i.e. lacerating oneself or shaving "forelocks" for the dead). Reason: For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people on earth to be his people, his treasured possession" (2)

3 - 21 Clean and Unclean Foods

Clean and unclean foods are described in the order of animals, things that live in water, and birds. Finally, don't eat anything that dies of itself (not a good idea anyway), but you may give them to aliens. This section concludes, "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk." I wonder if this is a question that came up later and was added.

22 - 29 Regulations Concerning Tithes

This is the prescription for giving to the church. I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey, and his advice on tithing is given here. (However, he doesn't base it on any specific biblical passage). But a tithe is a tenth of income - and Dave recommends a tenth after taxes (take home pay).

Question: How does giving affect the giver?

2 comments:

Karlton said...

Good quote, JP. Dave Ramsey says when we give, "we change" inside. We don't tithe. Yikes! I worked it out to about .015, which seems like a lot but when it comes out of the budget, but it's only about 15% of tithing. It's something I need to work up to.

FireBoy said...

I find it kind of funny that they couldn't eat something that died naturally, but they could sell it to strangers. I think it would be pretty cool to go to a church where tithing was done as described in this chapter....bring your tithe, invite everyone in the community and eat.
My bible says tithing teaches you to fear the Lord your God. My notes say "what we do with our money first shows what we value most." I think giving to the needy opens up a great opportunity to witness to people that the rest of our society overlook.