Several weeks ago a friend invited me to attend a financial seminar with him (the Financial Peace seminar by Dave Ramsey).
Last night was the last session. It was about giving. After the class was over, the moderator read the ever-famous tithes passage: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. Mal 3:10-11 (KJV)
Suddenly a question popped into my head: Why is it that the churches that reject Covenant Theology and see a fundamental discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments read that passage in reference to New Testament church giving?
Of course, I could multiply the examples of the logical inconsistency that this demonstrates to me, but last night the oddity of it really struck me with particular force. So much of "Evangelicalism" bifurcates the Covenant of Grace by driving and insuperable wedge between the Old and New Testaments. All aspects of godly living get this treatment, from the sacrament to politics, but strangely enough, money escapes the divide unscathed.
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