Shifting the goal post

It is not uncommon to see preachers particularly those of the WoF movement pick and choose scriptures in a way that suits them. They keep inventing new ways of bending scriptures to suit their beliefs; deceiving the gullible as they go along.

I still cannot understand why the concept of the tithe being the tenth seems too difficult to grasp. Instead there is still the huge mistake of equating the tenth with 10%; they are not the same thing! I will buttress my point with the popular doctrine of the firstfruit.

It is common knowledge that the firstfruit denotes the first of something, even the bible says so. And even though the concept is limited to agricultural produce and livestock alone, these preachers try to extend it to money. Some call it the first salary or wage you earn in a year while other call it the first 10% of what you earn monthly (As if one can tell the difference between the first 10% and last 10% of £1000). Although none of these schools of thought enjoy scriptural support, they all share one common truth; calling the firstfruit the first. If they understand the first to mean the first of something and not 1% of that thing, then why don’t they extend that same knowledge to the tenth? Why will you say it is the same thing as 10%?

If I had ten balls of different colours lined up and wanted to know their colours, the logically way of doing so will be by listing the position of each ball and name its colour. For example

First –red

Second-blue

Third-green

Fourth-purple

Fifth-indigo

Sixth-maroon

Seventh-violet

Eighth-yellow

Ninth-peach

Tenth-fuchsia

If this was a classroom exercise for some kids and I asked them which ball is peach, will an answer of 9% be correct? Definitely not! Why then is the belief that tenth also means the same thing as 10%? It is even more annoying when we all agree that first means first and not 1%.

How will it look if I decide to extend our concept of the tenth meaning the same thing as 10% to all of the balls?

First (means same thing as 1%)–red

Second (means same thing as 2%)-blue

Third (means same thing as 3%)-green

Fourth (means same thing as 4%)-purple

Fifth (means same thing as 5%)-indigo

Sixth (means same thing as 6%)-maroon

Seventh (means same thing as 7%)-violet

Eighth (means same thing as 8%)-yellow

Ninth (means same thing as 9%)-peach

Tenth (means same thing as 10%)-fuchsia

Even the unschooled can tell that these definitions are off.

The tithe and the firstfruits were positions, positions which were Old Testament shadows of New Testament realities. The firstfruit, the first, was a shadow of Jesus the firstborn of all creation and the tithe, the tenth, was a shadow of the church as ten represents grace. We were saved by grace remember?

Seeing that the bible never defined the tithe in terms of percentages neither calling it 10% of currency for that matter, where then did this definition come from? Well your guess is as good as mine.