Would Jesus approve of a trademarked system sold to churches to increase their tithes?

Question

Doesn't the bible say tithes are 10% of your food/agriculture/wine...to be shared with the poor and the (unpaid) priests every 3 years? Wow.

Increase Tithing & Giving in 5 Weeks

Using the ten-step Dynamic Giving System™ by Dr. Rod Rogers, your church can now biblically increase tithing and boost your tithe and offering 10 to 60 percent in just five weeks. In fact, it comes with a no-risk 100% money back guarantee. If you've prayed for ways to increase tithing, this is your answer.

A tithing quote from the holy bible
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. ‘Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,’ says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10, 11)

THE DYNAMIC GIVING SYSTEM™
Biblically Increase Your Church's Giving
10%-60% In 5 Weeks!

For tithing to increase quickly in your church, a strong leadership role is needed to make it happen. Increasing tithing and offerings now and on an ongoing basis starts with knowing the Bible's teachings on stewardship, why people don't give, and what really causes people to give. Then, it means acting boldly on that information in a way people can relate to.

Learn and apply these tithing tips in your church:

1. Master the biblical principles of stewardship.

2. Practice tithing before you preach tithing.

3. Share the biblical principles in an annual sermon series.

4. Let testimonies of faithful givers deliver the messages for you.

5. Ask for a written commitment to give at least 10% to the church and offer a no risk money-back guarantee.

6. Reinforce their tithing and offering commitment with follow-up letters.

7. Pray for God to motivate and bless those making giving commitments.

8. Use simple methods to help monitor their giving throughout the year.

9. Unleash the power of estimate of giving cards.

10. Use new member classes to gain giving commitments from newcomers throughout the year on an ongoing basis.

Increase tithing in your church with these 10 simple steps
The above 10 steps are biblical, positive, simple, inexpensive, non labor-intensive (no home visits or committees required), and reusable—year after year. I've created them to help pastors increase their weekly giving by 10-60% (sometimes 100 to almost 300% overseas). Pastors who have applied all these steps have seen outstanding giving results quickly, more than covering their investment in just a few weeks.

Your giving will increase by at least 10% (usually 20 to 60%) within five weeks of starting your stewardship sermon series.

http://www.leaderskillsinc.com/increase-tithing-in-5-weeks.htm

Bow Down: Right? If I saw this on the Daily Show, I would laugh my *** off, but it is true! You should google "church marketing" - I found a whole site dedicated to the "Toyota" method of branding and marketing your church - totally serious. (Ha - not even an American company! Holy Moses).

Answer 1

Sounds Great. I am starting a church as soon as possible. Increasing revenue by 10-60% sounds like a wonderful plan, especially when you consider that you are selling a product with unlimited supply(hope). And that if clients attempt to leave you can threaten them with eternal pain and suffering without being sued.

Answer 2

WHAT????????
Let me tell you in plain english what the manuscripts say about tithing:
First of all, yes, ten percent of your income should be given to THE CHURCH OF GOD WHERE YOU ARE FED - FED - THE WORD OF GOD.
God does not expect something that you do not have. If some priest tells you to tithe on your social security check, and that means not paying your food bill, they are full of it. -
You need to pay for your life - you need food to survive, electricity to run your household, water to live, etc.
You are not expected to give by neglecting your needs - when a person does this, they end up needing to rely on others anyway, because they won't have the money for their food.
You must apply common sense to what you read in Scripture. God demands that - its part of wisdom.
If you have something extra this month, and you want to give a love offering - thats great, do that; The widow who only gave the two pennies was better than the guy who had alot, and paid the ten percent.
These tv preachers who get on the tube and all they ask for week after week is your money, should be ashamed of themselves. They even ask people to pledge money that they don't have. Thats ridiculous. They are preying on those senior citizens who are on limited incomes, but are up in age, and know they will be meeting God face to face, soon.
Remember that God does not send out beggers. If all they do is ask for your money, quess what they have on their minds, instead of the Word of God? your money!!! your wallet.

People have taken Scripture, and made folks feel guilty enough to give what they don't have to give - they will get whats coming to them.
God does not expect you to give your food money away, and esspecially he does expect you to give any money at all to a church where you are not fed the truth of Gods Word.
If its just a "mass" where people get together and sing songs, and then recite the same things recited last Sunday, with the same prompted reponses, etc. - thats not getting fed Gods truth. You are not to tithe there - God certainly will not bless it, you can be sure of that. You are throwing your money to the wind, if you believe God will bless it.
You know your own financial situation, and so does God. You should do what you are able to do, honestly. And do it where Gods Word is taught. Then, you can be sure that God will respect that, and love you for it. Even if its a love offering of only two pennies.

Answer 3

This "Tithe System" has a fatal flaw:

Christians are not under the Law, we're under Grace. Therefore, we are NOT obligated to tithe, despite what some (misguided or dishonest) preachers teach.

Anyone who disagrees, please read the following source:

http://www.truthorfables.com/Tithe_Test.htm

EDIT: "Eurotrip Don," you miss the point. "Tithe" means "one tenth." We are freed from the law and are not required to give 1/10th; under the New Covenant law, WE are priests (1 Peter 2:9) and our priesthood (under High Priest Jesus) has replaced the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 7:11-19). The tithe served several purposes: provide for the poor; feed the Levites and their families; ensure the Temple was stocked with provisions; rebuild roads and walls in and around the Temple; and ensure materials were stocked for festivals. Of all these things, only the poor still exists.

But the New Covenant brought us freedom from the Law (see Romans 7). Under this system, we are to give to the poor and to our church as we may prosper (1 Cor. 16:2). This means there is NO SET AMOUNT such as 10% that we must give. If we can truely only give 1%, God rewards that; if we can give 25%, God rewards it. But the person who can only give 1% is not rewarded less than the person who gave 25%.

Again, we are FREED FROM THE LAW.

Answer 4

Rod Rogers is the devil in disguise. The giving principle should never be commercialized. It IS important to teach giving in the church so that a person can reap the rewards of God, BUT giving should never be taught from a standpoint of enriching the church. Christians are supposed to be givers and should only take when God allows for it. Keeping track of a person's giving and sending out reminder notices is just plain miserly.

Answer 5

Tithing is not Biblical. It is a invention of those who would fleece other Christians.
Jesus told his followers not to ask for money and not to carry money, at least not for religious purposes (Matthew 10:8-9 , Luke 10:7)
We are to give freely, and help the poor (all 4 Gospels) but we are not required to, besides what we desire.

Answer 6

I tend to agree with the question. In my opinion, saying that something has God's stamp of approval is not to be done lightly. Selling and trading in the name of God, for personal profit, is using God's name in vain. And isn't there a commandment about that? Hmm....

The first answer is partly right. But then we have the recorded interaction between Jesus and the "rich young ruler." Perceiving himself to be righteous, he asked Jesus what else he needed to do. Jesus said "sell all you've got, give it to the poor, then follow me." He couldn't do it, hung his head, and walked away. Following Jesus (aka, what "christian" originally meant), means you hold nothing back--not even your money. If tithing were still true, Christian churches would have to change the hymn; "one-tenth to Jesus, I surrender, one-tenth to Him I freely give. (all together) I surrender one-tenth...." (of course, the hymn is "I surrender all", not one-tenth).

Answer 7

I think Christ would disapprove. Tithing is there to help the church pay its bills not to make the church rich. So glad I am not Christian anymore.

Answer 8

I thought this was a joke at first... but your serious! Someone... stop the fundies!!!