A: Many years ago, the Church of God, under Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, the late Pastor General of the Church, made the administrative decision to ask Church members and co-workers to send one tenth of their second tithe to the Church, to be used for necessary Feast of Tabernacles expenses, including rental for Church halls. Since then, the Church has usually referred to this amount as the “tithe of the tithe.” Church members and co-workers were asked to calculate their second tithe available to them at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, and to send ten percent of that (calculated) amount to the Church, in advance, as soon as possible. This practice has allowed the Church to avoid using for the payment of Feast expenses general contributions received to be spent for the preaching of the gospel and the feeding of the flock.
At the time of the institution of the “tithe of tithe,” and sometimes since then, consideration has been given to the possibility to, instead, charge each individual Feast attendee with the same amount for his or her Feast attendance. This possibility was rejected, however, as it was judged to be arbitrary and unfair. Some Church members do not have jobs or live on small pensions, while others earn good salaries. Following Biblical principles (compare Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35; 2 Corinthians 8:12-15), it was determined that the institution of the “tithe of the tithe” was the most equitable way for all concerned, to provide for the payment of necessary Feast expenses to be incurred by the Church, and also to help those less fortunate, as much as possible, to attend the Feast.
The Church of the Eternal God sees no Biblical reason to change Mr. Armstrong’s decision, realizing the Biblical wisdom for the decision, and acknowledging that the Church has the administrative authority to bind and loose matters like these (compare Matthew 16:19; 18:18).
