Book Review - Tithing Test Me In This

Tithing has long been a controversial subject within the Christian community, and most Christians have a very strong opinion on it one way or the other. I believe that tithing, while it began as an Old Testament practice, is also clearly a New Testament directive (see this book for several good Scripture references to back this up). Now you know my mindset as I began to read Douglas Leblanc's book. I was excited to read about fellow believers' attitudes toward tithing.

Each chapter is the result of an interview with one person/couple/church and outlines how and why they have chosen to tithe. In and of themselves the stories are interesting and well written. But - and for me this was big - there seems to be no cohesiveness to the book. Yes, there is an overarching theme of tithing, but nothing ties these stories together, nothing grabs the reader by the collar and says, "This is the reason you should tithe, too!" . It seems that the only reasons you would read a book like this are if you 1) already tithe or 2) don't tithe but are seriously considering changing your stance. The book certainly did not change my opinion of tithing and I agreed with most of the reasons the interviewees chose to tithe. But if I didn't already choose to tithe I don't believe anything in this book would make me change my opinion. It's a good book, but it seemed to be missing something.

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers.