What's with the Tithe?

I know my title makes it sound like I am against tithing, and that is not the case at all. I am reading a chronological Bible this year (one reading each day and the readings are done in the order they happened), and so far I am up to date with all the readings. Just the other day I read what I think is the first mention of the tithe in the Bible. In Genesis 14, there is a record of Abraham conquering several kings. Toward the end of the chapter, one king (Melchizedek), praised Abraham and at the end of verse 20, the text reads "Then Abraham gave him a tenth of everything." Is this the first mention of a tithe? If so, it doesn't seem to make much sense with how we think of a tithe today.

Several chapters later Jacob has a dream and God promises Jacob that he will be a blessed nation and that God will be with him always. Jacobs response? He promises God that he will give 10% of everything that is given to him. How does Jacob do this in the time of the Bible?

I know there are many more examples of tithing in the Bible, but these brief accounts have led me to wonder what the purpose of the tithe is, and what it should be. Is the purpose to pay the pastors of churches? If so, it must be much nicer to be a pastor of a megachurch than of a church with 20 members. Is a pastor being rewarded for having a larger congregation? Does that even make sense?

I have many more questions than answers, so maybe I will take some time to look into this matter and write more in the future. At the least, it made me want to know where my tithe is going...

I'm Back

After many long months of working 40+ hours per week and going to graduate school full time, I have decided to give this blogging thing another try. Instead of calling the blog "Reflections on Community Development," I decided to call it "Thoughtful (or Thoughtless) Reflections." I hope that most of my posts will be rather thoughtful, but now that I don't spend every waking hour thinking about graduate school, my thoughts seem to be "thoughtless" (is that even possible?) at times. That being said, my blog posts will not all be related to community development, so I decided to change the title.

I just finished a book called "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. Claiborne is from East Tennessee. Growing up in the "Bible Belt," he considered himself a traditional, white, middle class, conservative, Christian. After finishing his undergraduate degree in Sociology, he began graduate work in theology. He found himself questioning a lot of things that were going on in the Christian church around America and began to ask himself, "Does anyone really take what Jesus said seriously? Is anyone trying to live like He did?" And so began Claiborne's journey to living as an "ordinary radical." While Claiborne takes almost 400 pages to describe what this means, it seems to be fairly similar to Saint Francis' lifestyle of living among the poor with a hint of crazy protesting.

Anyhow, the book was extremely thought provoking, and while I don't necessarily agree 100% with all his theology and lifestyle choices, I respect him for his passion. It is a very quick read and I would be interested to hear any thoughts you may have on it.