I’ve talked about this often enough in the past. (See the “Related posts” list at the end of this one!) But it bears repeating . . . especially if and when it can be said briefly. And I think this is the briefest way I have ever said these things.

What follows is from an interview I did five and a half years ago with the newsletter editor of one of the non-profits we support. I quote his questions and my answers: Read the rest of this entry »

The following is not exactly a rehash of what I covered in Tithing, Law, Grace and Teaching, a post I wrote nine months ago in direct response to a “challenge” laid down by our legacy planner at the time. But when I ran into this on Saturday, I realized I wanted–and needed–to re-post it, with slight modification, here. This was the first article that caught my eye on Saturday, but, if you saw my post yesterday, you will realize it is the second among my rediscoveries that I am posting.

(Originally posted, in slightly different form, at Tithing: replaced by grace?

Read the rest of this entry »

I was doing some maintenance on my personal blog on Saturday, when I bumped into a couple of old posts that would have properly belonged over here on Strategic Inheritance . . . if I had been writing Strategic Inheritance at the time!

So I thought I’d more or less copy them here. I think they deserve another look by another audience.

(Originally posted, in slightly different form, at Tithing and Sabbath as Freedoms?!?

Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and then I read self-congratulatory articles about how generous Americans are. This one from World magazine is relatively typical:

Americans are the most generous people on the planet, and they mostly don’t toot their own horns about it.

A new study by the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity says that Americans account for 45 percent of all philanthropic giving worldwide. Not only is that significantly more than any other nation on earth, it’s also dramatically more on a per capita basis. One example: The average American gives 14 times more to charity than the average Italian. . . .

“Americans give at least twice as much as anyone else,” [Arthur C. Brooks, a fellow at the Hudson Institute and the author of Gross National Happiness] said. “And we’re giving now more than ever before.” Read the rest of this entry »

Do North American evangelical Christians really believe in heaven? Not if you look at their behavior, says one speaker. Here’s his evidence.

I’m at the The Seed Company‘s President’s Forum. Great stuff coming out.

One of the speakers spoke provocatively: “Based on their giving patterns, American evangelicals do not believe they are going to heaven.” Read the rest of this entry »

Below, you will find a portion of one of two videos we’ve seen from Bob Coy.

It matches what I just wrote about last night.

Actually, now that I think of it, Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve gotten into some fairly philosophical discussions with our professional legacy planner. As a result, several months ago–I didn’t know at the time whether he was seeking merely to be provocative or whether he was really serious, but–he said he is opposed to ministers who teach the concept of tithing. He said he thinks such teaching holds too many wealthy Christians back from giving more.

Since then, I have come to realize he is actually very serious in the matter. And a month or two ago he sent me a note in which he said he believes “the concept of tithing as taught in the Old Testament does not apply to New Testament Christians in any way and is nowhere endorsed in the New Testament as a basis for giving.”

For some initial food for thought, he said, he thought I would enjoy reading some “very scholarly papers on the subject”: “Will a Man Rob God?” (Malachi 3:8): A Study of Tithing in the Old and New Testaments, Part I and Part II by Andreas Köstenberger and David Croteau.

“I’ll enjoy the dialog with you after you get a chance to digest all this material,” he wrote.

Just what I need–more “material” to digest! I’ve got thousands of books sitting on shelves in front of me still needing to be read!

But this guy impacts a lot of people, and he’s trying to influence me, so I thought I’d better read up on the subject. I finally completed the assignment while on vacation the last couple of weeks, and I wrote back.

I, too, have some severe concerns about tithing, but of a very different nature, I expect, from his. Read the rest of this entry »