THE orthodox church is leading a moral revolution. At least the Methodist Church will no longer permit entry to church members or visitors dressed as if they were heading for a beach party. Those dressed in hot-pants and skimpy tops will be ushered out or physically prevented from entering.

It has taken a lot of courage for the Methodist Church to come to this decision, even at the risk of losing members who believe in sartorial liberalism and ecclesiastical democracy.

Some churches have still not mustered that courage, because they still nurse misconceptions about the church. Some say the church must be built with increased membership, which is unbiblical. Narrow is the path of righteousness.

Others claim the church is the hospital for sinners, so all manner of weirdos and winos should be accepted including strip-teasers, so long as they do not appear stark-naked and scare the deacons. This is also unbiblical.

The house of God is not a market-place or a discotheque. It must be kept holy. Anyone who wants salvation should be humble enough to dress decently before coming to the altar of the Lord. Jesus had to cane people who desecrated the synagogue.

The other change people want in the church is about TITHING. It is a very controversial matter, made more controversial by some pastors insisting that all church members must pay tithe.

In other words, tithing has been made compulsory. Even some tithes are allegedly calculated and deducted at source. When Jesus hears some of these things he’d lament.

In some churches, you must pay tithe, otherwise when you die, the church will have no hand in your burial. Is that the unscriptural mandate the church has arrogated to itself?

Tithing began with the Levites, the priesthood. Because priests were not permitted to work, God stipulated that Israelites should see to their welfare through the submission of 10% of their crop and animal yield. This was to be put in the storehouse of the Lord. Anyone who did this was expected to be blessed in terms of increased farm or animal yield.

The priesthood itself has gone through many changes. Today, it is only the Catholic Church that properly undertakes to cater to the needs of their priests, so tithing in the Catholic Church cannot be challenged.

In other churches, what pastors are given is so puny that they virtually have to fend for themselves. So pastors have drifted into other vocations, and pastoring has become a part-time job.

When Jesus came, He neither condemned or promoted tithing, probably because He did not want to be an impediment in the way of the Law and neither did He want to condone a practice that was outliving its usefulness. So He spoke very little about tithing, not saying whether it was good or bad.

What He however stressed was GIVING. "Give and it shall be given unto you..." Luke 6:38. He emphasised kindness to the poor, because both the rich and poor have the spirit of God in them.

What I am sometimes curious about is why the modern church has abandoned all the Old Testament edicts and laws, but sticks so rigorously to only tithing.

In the Old Testament, believers in God were sacrificing sheep, cows, doves and burning grain as a way of atoning for their sins or as offering to God. They were barred from eating certain animals and birds because they were labelled unclean.

When Jesus came, all these stopped because there was a new dispensation. It no longer mattered what your sins were or what you ate. If you became penitent and believed in the Lord Jesus as your personal saviour, you were indeed saved.

Jesus or the church did not come to prosper anybody. He said give and it would be given unto you. And giving must not only be to the church, but to fellow human beings who need our support. With the advent of Jesus, tithing had become an issue of little relevance, because instead of tithing (giving to the church a tenth), Jesus declared no limits. You give according to your freewill "because God loves a cheerful giver."

Today, those who tithe give it grudgingly because it is not of their own freewill. It is like a tax. This should not be!

And because it has become more compulsory than obligatory, believers are paying tithes on gifts, on loans they take and whatever monies they get. Even those who do not work borrow money to pay tithe, when your tithe is supposed to be from your income earned out of productive work.

Those who don’t work are not supposed to pay tithe. You can give money to the church but not in the form of tithe, because tithe is paid only from productive work. Once you pay tithe, you are supposed to be working.

Now, should tithing be abolished? I would say no, because I feel that the priest-line must still be maintained so that we cease having part-time pastors who have divided attention. So the church must look after their pastors so that they can lead the flock safely to heaven. However, those who give towards this cause should not be called tithers. They should be called GIVERS TO THE CHURCH.

It doesn’t have to be 10 per cent. It could be 20 or 30 per cent so long as you give of it cheerfully. It could be five per cent or a widow’s mite.

I personally do not believe that unless you tithe, you will not prosper. What of if I give more than a tenth? It is not a tithe, but would God not appreciate it?

I believe, there must be no limit to giving. The tithing was God’s limit to Israel at the time so as not to overburden them. That should not be the standard of today. Jesus didn’t say "tithe." He said "give."

Giving to the church will open doors of blessings. And giving to the poor will open even greater doors.