In a recent column about tithing in which I discussed a Wall Street Journal article about critics of the practice, I intended to take a pro-generous giving stance rather than a pro-tithing position.

Despite that, one retired pastor who served as a source for the Journal story wrote to object that Christian media print pro-tithing articles and will not allow others to be heard.

"Like yourself, we teach that most in affluent nations should give more than 10 percent," says Russell Earl Kelly, whose doctoral dissertation led to his book, "Should the Church Teach Tithing?"

"However, we are strongly against abusing the poor by teaching falsely that the tithe was a first-fruit of income, even expected from the poor before medicine and food are purchased."

Questioning traditional teaching

Kelly, who describes himself as a "conservative, evangelical, dispensational Baptist," went on to say that the use of the word in modern church life runs contrary to the biblical definition of the tithe's context.

His note touched off a search of his website on the subject, which contains enough material to keep one busy for a year's worth of study. Historically, Kelly asserts tithing wasn't even discussed in U.S. Protestant churches before 1870. He adds that the subject wasn't introduced in the Southern Baptist Convention's faith statement until 1963.

Kelly also argues that the apocryphal text of Malachi 3:10 isn't meant as an ironclad directive to bring tithes to the church (namely, the storehouse). He calls that a simplistic interpretation when in fact there were a series of tithes, directed to Levites who served in various occupations, certain festivals and the poor.

Since most Levites and priests did not stay at the temple in Jerusalem, Kelly says people normally did not bring tithes to the temple; the vast majority remained in the priestly and Levitical cities where they lived.

Generous giving

Kelly's views find some agreement from a financial consultant I interviewed earlier this year. Steve McSwain says in his youth he was drilled in the idea that 10 percent was the "gold standard" for giving until he researched the topic.

That brought the former pastor down on the side of 2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

"It's to be freely given, not under force or pressure," says McSwain, who writes more about giving in his recent book. "We uphold it as a rule people should follow (but) they don't. We have in Bible churches less than 2 to 3 percent of the people practicing it."

(McSwain makes a valid point. If demanding people submit to a principle as if it were an ironclad law worked, we wouldn't see such miserable results.)

The author went on to say that pastors must teach people correctly and that tithing is not a New Testament standard. He says the real standard is yielding everything, meaning that we are mere stewards of what God owns.

Giving patterns yield picture

As a long-time tither, I found myself questioning the practice after interviews for my previous column. Particularly when one expert pointed out the person earning $20,000 shouldn't be expected to give the same percentage as someone making $500,000.

I haven't stopped tithing, but am more sensitive to the serious damage the Church can cause when it teaches as law (tithing) what is a principle (generous giving), one where grace and freedom should prevail.

Granted, the Church could demand everyone tithe, but in the end money given grudgingly won't win anyone's heart.

While some people will use freedom as an excuse to avoid giving anything, they're already doing that under the "tithing is a law" approach.

What is more disturbing are surveys by the research group, empty tomb, which show that per-capita giving in the American church has steadily dwindled in recent decades while personal indebtedness for luxuries has risen.

Regardless of where you stand on the question of tithing, that is a picture that reveals many hearts are in the wrong place.