Rather than pontificating, I’m simply going to question today. How much should one tithe?
As I see it, there are two answers to this question. Old Testament: Ten Percent. New Testament: Cheerful Giving.
So what do you do if you’re cheerfully giving five percent, but ten percent would make you grumpy? On one hand, most pastors (mine included) would tell you that you should cheerfully give at least 10 percent, and they have a lot of biblical reasoning for it. One of the most compelling I heard said that when it came to Old Testament law, Jesus didn’t waive the requirements, he strengthened them. For instance, Jesus clarified that if a married man lusted, he was also committing adultery, even if no physical act had taken place. So when it came to tithing, the ten percent was a minimum.
Another consideration is that tithing is a recognition that everything you own belongs to God. He gives us a portion to see what we’ll do with it. Do we squander it? Hoarde it? Or do we share it? Our actions say much about our heart.
Steve Pavlina has an essay on tithing that says monetary donations, though, are the smallest part of tithing, and that there are many other ways to give (encouragement, time, talents, etc). In addition, if you’ve developed a guilt complex about not tithing (or not tithing enough), then don’t do it.
It’s perfectly OK not to tithe. If you don’t feel a desire to tithe, don’t beat yourself up about it. Let go of the guilt, and forgive yourself. Not tithing doesn’t make you a bad person.
Tithing must be done from a state of abundance. If you harbor thoughts of scarcity as you tithe, then tithing will only become a source of incongruence and pain for you.
Lest you think he’s the speaking evil, he counters his own thoughts on tithing, about why not tithing is bad:
Tithing must be done from a state of abundance. If you harbor thoughts of scarcity as you tithe, then tithing will only become a source of incongruence and pain for you.
and
Instead of tithing to “better†causes, I wanted my life to become a tithe-worthy cause of its own. It saddened me to feel that only 10% of my money was serving the greater good. Sure it’s better than 0%, but why not 20% or 50% or even 100%? In order to reach those higher percentages, I had to transform my work completely, which I consciously did last year when moving from game development to personal development. In this capacity I feel I’m able to serve the greater good more directly and purposefully.
Anyway, no pontification on the subject today, I’m just sharing some information I’ve gathered. How do you feel about tithing?
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