The biblical principle of tithing is to give to the work of the church 10% of your increase (your salary). There are reasons why you one is encouraged to do this. But the one I like is to compare tithing to that of planting seed. It could go towards an Aids home for orphans, or a soup kitchen, or an outreach. So although your personal contribution might be small, when accumulated everyone’s small contribution adds up to a very big difference in someone’s life.
Why the bible lesson? Well, I found another wonderful example of tithing. Tim Smit, the co-founder of the Eden Project (which in itself is awe-inspiring) is working on his Tithing College. This is a campus where business leaders, artists, scientists, engineers and bureaucrats will commit to spending 5 days a year sharing their knowledge. “Tithing College is central to my manifesto,” Smit explains. “It will attract those who want to imagine a new beginning and contribute to the debate, What does ‘great’ look like, and how do we get there?”
I think that the possibilities for this type of college are phenomenal. What if all leading sportspeople, business leaders, doctors, musicians, artists etc gave 10% of their time, either annually or monthly to share their passion, knowledge, wisdom and experience with anyone who wanted to listen and learn? People could attend at no cost to sit at their feet and be inspired.
If you read about the Eden Project (www.edenproject.com) you will see that it’s a wonderfully collaborative environment. And that is what we need to foster – collaboration. Not a jockeying for power, position or wealth, but a way to share knowledge and resources – so that everyone’s small contribution adds up to a very big difference in many lives.
And isn’t that the real reason we’re all here?
Tithing is the way to go
I like the post Anj. But I’d like to suggest that there’s an invisible ‘tithing community’ that exists in a form far bigger than we can imagine. It seems that we often only recognise the formal programmes that exist (the one you write above is a case in point) when every day very ordinary people are doing an extra-ordinary amount of ‘tithing’ in their own environments. I’m not advocating for no formal programmes, I just wish there was a way to track and document the invisible.
Nuf Sed
Maybe part of the reason of tithing is that you don’t go around broadcasting the good you’re doing. People who would tithe as an integral part of their daily lives would, by association, be humble. So perhaps it’s meant to stay invisible because as soon as the spotlight is turned on people, then maybe their motives wouldn’t be as clear? And then you would get those who jump on the bandwagon to gain some publicity. Or maybe I’m just being a cynic.
Like the post, and I like the principle of tithing. I think you are right Anj, too many people who “tithe” in the open i.e. for publicity do it for the wrong motives and essentially it becomes a marketing exercise. You know the deal, “this childrens hospital was made possible by kind donations of Acme inc, you can visit their website at http://www…..”
I also like the idea of 10% of time as opposed to just money. Whilst the Bible talks about 10% of your firstfruits, talent is also a gift from God, giving that in time is in some way a tithe. Today our most precious commodity is time, giving that can be quite a sacrifice and what does giving mean unless it costs something…
Good post.
People need to tithe to themselves, first. I don’t know about other countries, but in the United States, personal savings is ridiculously low. I hate to think how people are going to take care of themselves when they are older. They certainly can’t expect the government to do it if they are honest.