Should Adventists Redirect Their Tithe? Thoughts on Conrad Vine's View
Due to recent controversy resurfacing on the issue of tithing, I have been asked to address this topic. Specifically, I’ve been approached by a coupe of people on Dr. Conrad Vine’s recent statements on the topic of tithe.
Recently, Dr. Vine delivered a sermon by the title of Entropy (Linked here.)
Now, I listened to part of it as a worked through one of my recent routes, and, because I got stuck in the mud at one of my stops, I decided to read through part of the transcript for that sermon. And I must say, Dr. Vine, you have my respect for being so bold and courageous to address most of the topics in that sermon. That said, I have to disagree with his stance on tithing. In that sermon, starting at approximately the hour mark, he begins to explain his stance.
His basic stance is this: if we continue to return tithe to a conference where the leadership is unfaithful, and the tithe is being used to support sin or unfaithful ministers/workers, then we are complicit in the evils committed there. He continues to argue that when a conference is unfaithful, we are at liberty to return tithe elsewhere, say, to an independent ministry or to a faithful conference.
Before we go any further, let me say this: I like Dr. Vine. He seems very solid (aside from the tithe issue). I don’t agree with those who are raging at him because he said things in that sermon that exposed evils in the church. And to those people I say, get over it. God calls us to call out sin and to call for repentance and reform. I also don’t agree with how he was treated by people such as Pastor Stephen Bohr after his previous statements on Vine. Rather than public backlash, conversations should’ve been called for. This was the perfect time to practice open compassion and respectful dialogue as a church, and we blew it. Royally.
That said, we shouldn’t bash the church before unbelievers or bash the church at all. Our calls must be respectful and godly, as well as Biblical. And again, I respect the man for having the guts to preach such a hard sermon. As a preacher myself, I know how hard that can be.
Now, let’s tackle just a statement or two from his sermon.
He states at about 1:03:03 of his sermon that in the Bible, there’s no examples of money being used to return tithe. And while that may be true, the culture was a lot different back then, as many used livestock and food in place of money. What we do find is money being used to support the early church in Acts, and there’s no record that tithing ceased in the first century church.
Now, some will use how Ellen G. White gave tithe to what she called, “the most needy cases…as God instructed me to do.” The following few quotes are taken from 1SM 33.
Later on in the same short letter she also wrote,
“I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money.”
She wrote this and did this because there were those who had lost confidence in how their tithe was being used by the church. She seemed to understand where they were coming from, and took the money, gave a receipt, and passed on the money elsewhere. But she did not want this to become the rule.
Notice what she said next in the same letter:
“I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and give publicity to this matter, lest many ore shall follow their example.”
Now, before we get to the next EGW quote, I want to address something else he said. At about 1:18:23 of his sermon called, Entropy, he states basically the principle that the presidents who don’t object to apostasy, such as the Loma Linda lgbtq+ affirmations recently, then they are complicit. And yes, I agree. Anyone who does not do what they can to correct evil in the church, when they know about it and do so respectfully, is complicit in the evil.
Consider:
We are just as responsible for evils that we might have checked in others by exercise of parental or pastoral authority, as if the acts had been our own. EP 418.2
Christ’s instruction as to the treatment of the erring repeats in more specific form the teaching given to Israel through Moses: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in anywise rebuke thy neighbor, that thou bear not sin for him.” Leviticus 19:17, margin. That is, if one neglects the duty Christ has enjoined, of trying to restore those who are in error and sin, he becomes a partaker in the sin. For evils that we might have checked, we are just as responsible as if we were guilty of the acts ourselves. DA 441.3
However, he states this in context of his tithing statements and in that same context states that to support conference structure, who does these things, then, he states, “fearful woes from God are coming down your path.”
Now I have studied this topic before as Dr. Vine is not the first person I’ve heard say things like this.
A., no. I, p. 27
Notice what Ellen G. White has to say about this though, from Special Testimonies, Series A., no. I, p. 27
“You who have been withholding your means from the cause of God, read the book of Malachi, and see what is spoken there in regard to tithes and offerings. Cannot you see that it is not best under any circumstances to withhold your tithes and offerings because you are not in harmony with everything your brethren do? The tithes and offerings are not the property of any man, but are to be used in doing a certain work for God. Unworthy ministers may receive some of the means thus raised; but dare any one, because of this, withhold from the treasury and brave the curse of God? I dare not. I pay my tithes gladly and freely.
“If the Conference business is not managed according to the order of the Lord, that is the sin of the erring ones. The Lord will not hold you responsible for it, if you do what you can to correct the evil. But do not commit sin yourselves by withholding from God His own property.”
In 2T 518-519, place she says:
“Some have been dissatisfied and have said, ‘I will not longer pay my tithe [into His treasury]; for I have no confidence in the way things are managed at the heart of the work.’ But will you rob God because you think the management of the work is not right? Make your complaint. . . Send in your petitions for things to be adjusted and set in order; but do not withdraw from the work of God, and prove unfaithful, because others are not doing right.”
And this has been my mindset for years on this topic. Those who withhold tithe from God’s church because they don’t like what the conference is doing make a mistake. Make your complaint. Do so respectfully. But don’t withhold tithe. Do what you can to correct the evil in the church. Respectfully. But don’t withhold tithe. Ellen White explicitly states that when you do what you can to correct the evil, God won’t hold you responsible for the evils the conferences may do. I think one problem is, many of us don’t have the guts to try and correct the evil, so some would rather just do what doesn’t cause the discomfort correcting evil carries with it.
Yes, a conference may be unfaithful. But that doesn’t mean every pastor or teacher or worker in the conference is. There may very well be some faithful workers still in an unfaithful conference. Withholding tithe hurts them financially as well.
And yes, I know there are many mistakes the church has made. And yes, we must do our part in calling for repentance, revival, and reformation. Respestfully. (Did i say that already?) And, with the exception of his tithing statements in that sermon, Dr. Conrad Vine did a fine job doing just that in his sermon called, Entropy.
And to both sides who are raging at each other over this controversy, please, let us all humble ourselves, and submit to the Holy Spirit. This is God’s church, not ours. He will direct its movements. He will see it safely through to port. And He will thoroughly purge out of His church all that defiles and offends.
An Addendum:
There are those who are apparently using a quote from Roger Morneau to apply it to Conrad Vine and make him look like the bad guy. The quote is produced below. It is from his book, When You Need Incredible Answers to Prayer, p. 60.
Notice:
"In 1946 while I was affiliated with a group of spirit worshipers, I heard the high priest of the secret society declare that Seventh-day Adventists are the people that 'the great master (Satan] hates most on the face of Planet Earth.'
"He declared that Satan and his chief counselors, the highest ranking spirit beings in his government, were studying ways of reducing the Adventist Church into splinters.
"One of their strategies would be to cause some Seventh-day Adventist individuals possessing great intellect, great capacities to convince and convert, to sow discontent and dissatisfaction among the people.
"They would greatly magnify some of the mistakes made by some of its leaders, and would do so without ceasing.
Demonic spirits would then bitterly attack and fill people's minds with the thought that the entire leadership of the church is corrupt, and that the Creator has rejected His com-mandment-keeping church.
'''As a result, vast numbers of people, the priest predicted
'will withdraw their tithes and offerings from the church, causing cancelation of many of the programs of mercy and benev-
olence it had successfully carried on for so very long.'
"The high priest continued, 'It will be a great day for our master and his chief counselors when the Seventh-day Adventist Church is reduced to splinters. There will be great celebrations taking place.'
Applying this to Conrad Vine is problematic. First, the quote says the demon spirits would magnify leader mistakes in the SDA Church without ceasing. Conrad Vine isn’t doing this. He has called for reform, yes, but we all should be calling for reform. Our leaders are not perfect and many of them have unfortunately shown that in their handling of this situation. Rather than humble themselves and take full responsibility, many in the church, both leader and lay people, have attacked Vine for obeying Isaiah 58:1.
Now, is Dr. Vine a man of great intellect? Absolutely. Is he being controlled by the evil angels as some are insinuating? Again, while I don’t agree with his stance on tithe, I don’t believe he serves the enemy of God and man. I’m not saying there will never be exceptions to the rule on tithing, but just make it a matter of much prayer and Bible study, along with the Spirit of Prophecy writings.
To be fair, Dr. Vine did not say to withhold tithe entirely, but to redirect it away from unfaithful conferences. I still don’t believe that’s the correct path, but we have to be accurate in this conversation when speaking about what others have said or done. One problem with redirecting tithe away from what we feel are unfaithful conferences is going by our own definition of what conferences are being unfaithful. Again, go back up and read the quotes from Ellen G. White. She doesn’t give us license to redirect tithe or withhold it simply because conference leadership is unfaithful. She says to do what you can to correct the evil, make the complaint, but don’t withhold tithe. God will not hold us responsible for their evils if we do what we can. Call for reform. Call for repentance.
Folks, I believe this is just part of the shaking. The more of these messages that come up, and there will be more, the more the shaking will upset people, until eventually people begin using various things as an excuse to leave the church. And when the sunday law crisis begins, that is when the shaking will reach fever pitch levels, and those who are not solid in Jesus will be shaken out.
I believe it’s also important to note that Dr. Vine isn’t telling people to leave. He’s not trying to splinter the church. And to those who are using the quote from Roger Morneau to attack Dr. Vine, stop. You’re doing it wrong. Have a conversation with him, whether public or private. Swallow your pride, repent of your own sin. Get the log out of your eye, so you can see clearly what to do next.
This is an opportunity to show the world what God has called the SDA Church to be. Let’s not blow it. Again.
