There are so many good reasons why COG7D acknowledged annual holy days and permitted people to observe them BUT refused to make them official doctrine of the church. HWA chose to make them one of his pet doctrines and used them to carve out his own cult following. Making them a New Testament requirement brought with them a laundry list of questions on how this was to be done. And no answers can be found in Scripture. So what is a man to do? One way is to declare yourself an Apostle and Elijah and presto, your answers are now un-admittedly on par with Scripture.
I have a whole series of posts coming on the topic of tithing but since many are just days away from traveling to feast sites around the world, I thought I would make one simple observation about 2nd tithing that when thought through, proves it is not a New Testament concept.
The highlight of the year is "keeping" the Feast of Tabernacles for many brethren in the churches of God. While the sermons usually suck and it is annoying to be expected at services every morning, it is a vacation better than a vacation because not only are you with family but you get to be with like-minded friends on your vacation. It is always exciting to see what old friends show up at the same feast site.
The dark side of 2nd tithe is the fact that it is compulsory. Church of God tithing is an egregious doctrine to the poor. It is inherently unfair and actually drives the poor out of the church. If you don't believe this, just look at the cars in church of God parking lots today. The truth is the poor can't afford to be in the churches of God. This is the exact opposite from Christ who told John the baptist's disciples that one of the proofs that He was the Promised One is the fact that He preached to the poor. Why bother preaching to the poor? They cannot support your ministry through compulsory tithing. The poor are unable to sustain an organization dependent on cash to preach the gospel so the end will come. (I will talk more on the poor and tithing in another post)
I spent many years on meager wages saving 2nd tithe to the harm of my family. While the feast was always an oasis of joy for 8 days, the stress it put on me and my wife the other 357 days of the year was almost unbearable some years. And to fail to obey God in this would bring great mental anguish and shame... so year after year, I sucked it up, obeyed and suffered and watched my family suffer.
It is funny how ministers will say to test God on tithing and say you can't afford to not tithe. They will say (and sometimes without saying it) that tithing is proportionately related to your faith and obedience Well, I can say I did test God on tithing for over 20 years. I was very faithful in "doing it" for a long time. I am now in a time of my life financially where tithing is no longer burdensome. So these ministers need to know that some people actually stop tithing or never start because it truly is unBiblical and unGodly.
I could not see the real problem with 2nd tithe until a wealthy friend pointed this fact out to me. The church takes an Old Testament concept and has to force it into a New Testament construct that is functional to a people in today's society. This gets back to simply accepting a man's explanation as to how this should be done. HWA decided that brethren should put aside 10% of their incomes to pay for annual holy day observances. The bulk of this would be needed to observe the feast of tabernacles. The reading of this feast tells people to enjoy the feast, spending their tithe on food and drink. This has been interpreted by HWA to mean that one must blow 10% of your annual income in an 8 day spending spree on food and alcohol. If you fail to spend it all, you must give the excess to the church.
What a wealthy person can observe about this is something I never could afford to see but it is very true. Let us say you are a person who does have an above average annual income. Maybe you are a successful entrepreneur, doctor, lawyer or IT guy. Maybe $300,000 a year. Maybe $500,000 a year. Does it sound like a Godly principle to take $30,000-$50,000 and blow it on whatever your heart desires in an 8 day spending spree? And do this year after year? You can quickly see as a rich person with Godly principles, that this would fly in the face of what God would have us do and not do concerning money.
Keeping 2nd tithe in its Old Testament context and thinking this one through actually appears to be a very sensible socio-economic principle for the financial well-being of a country. Largely an agrarian society, wealth and value was measured in nondurable goods. Enduring wealth building would involve making annual purchases in items that would grow your agrarian family business into the next year. My wealthy friend proposed that the Feast of Tabernacles was used as an annual market place at the end of ingathering when one would take 10% of his annual increase and use it to trade and purchase what would be needed to continue growing into the next year.
This is just one really good example of how myopic HWA was in trying to take a specific socio-economic construct designed for an ancient nation and force it into an American religious cult. COG7D leaders who were smarter than HWA thought this through and probably told him as much in so many ways but as they said, "Herbert was not one to listen to anyone."
I still save money and attend the feast. It is a family vacation that we get to spend with friends that love God. I even suffer through the morning sermons. BUT I enjoy the feasts now more than ever because the other 357 days are not spent agonizing over a soul stealing doctrine of the church.
I have much more to say about tithing coming soon.
V
