Legal links, to a wide variety of Alaskan legal resources.

Legal links, to a wide variety of Alaskan legal resources.

Links to primary legal resources, from Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.

Links to primary legal resources, from Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.

LBoogie wrote:
> A question came up in Bible study concerning the application of 1Pe
3:1-6.
>
> The passage is clear that God's will for women is to submit to her
> husband. Woman of faith are known and commended for their submission
to
> their husband.
>
> However, what if the husband tells his wife not to tithe and the wife

> feel that God's will for her is that she must tithe. Whose will
should
> she follow? Should she disobey her husband and tithe -- thus
inviting
> more strife between her and her husband. Or should she submit to her

> husband and not tithe. In both cases it is apparent that she is
doing
> God's will.
> >
> What if her husband doesn't want her to go to Church? Worse, deny
God
> and Christ? Can any of you who have wisdom spell out how best to
apply
> this passage?
>
> Thanks,
> Lawrence
>
>
The issue is representative of a broader range of question that
frequently arises.

First of all, tithing is an Old Testament concept that applied under
the Law. The New Testament concept is addressed particularly by Paul in
passages such as I Cor. 16:2: The believer is to give as God has
prospered him; for some this will involve a greater proportion than for
others (cf. Jesus' remarks regarding the widow and her sacrificial
giving in Mark 12:43; Luke 21:2); II Cor. 8:12,13: For those with
limited resources, God will accept their spirit of willingness to give
had they had the means to give; and II Cor. 9:7: God does not desire
coerced giving, but rather that which is of a willing, cheerful act.
God will bless the person who, in a spirit of generosity, joyfully does
what he or she can - those giving who can; those willing to give had it
been possible.

The wife whose husband does not support her desire to give to the
Church does not provide occasion for either a defiant spirit and
determination on the wife's part, nor does it authorize the local
congregation to demand such of her.

Indeed, were believers still under the Law and thus mandated to tithe,
the principle that both Jesus and Paul so elequently expounded would
still apply: To be right in doctrine but wrong in spirit is to yet be
wrong.

As to attending Church and professing faith, the problem is sometimes a
little more difficult. It is important that Peter's first concern in
addressing the believer/unbeliever relationship deals with the
believer's attitude and quality of spirit - "so that even if any of
them (i.e. unbelieving spouses) are disobedient to the word, they may
be won without a word by the behavior of the wives" (I Pet. 3:1).

This, first of all, does away with the religious nagging by which many
wives have driven their husbands further away from the faith. Second,
tho