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History of Tithing

The origins of tithing can be found in the Bible, yet many Christians and non-Christians alike, practice some form of tithing today.

Tithe is conventionally a Christian term that signifies the contribution of one tenth of one's earnings as donation to one's Church as a type of Church giving. However, every other religious system has similar practices within itself. In Islam the word used is 'Zakat'. In the Sikh religion of India the name for it is 'Dasvandh' which again signifies setting apart a tenth of one's earnings for pious acts. It was Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru who started the practice. The sacred texts of Hinduism like the Bhagavadgita and the Upanisads state that 'true alms' is that which is given as a part of one's duty in the right place and at the right time to a worthy individual, from whom nothing is expected in return.

The word tithe is derived from the Hebrew word 'asair', which means to give the tenth part of something, often of a person's income. Today, tithes (or tithing) are normally voluntary and paid in cash. However, there are still European countries that allow the church to mandate tithing and enforce it by law.

Denmark is an example where members of the Church of Denmark pay a church tax, which varies between municipalities. The tax is generally around 1% of the taxable income. And in Finland members of state churches pay a church tax of between 1% and 2.25% of income and the Church taxes are integrated into the common national taxation system.

But still tithing as a confirmed tradition was established only after Exodus. Tithes were routine in the olden days through much of the Near East and also later in Carthage, Lydia, and Arabia.

The Hebrew habit of tithing is recorded in the Bible, the first mention being the gift from Abraham to the Canaanite priest and king Melchizedek (Genesis--:20). Ancient Arabia, Lydia and Carthage were places where the custom of tithes existed. Tithing was implemented by the early Christian church, and had found mention in councils at Macon in 585 and at Tours in 567. They were granted formal recognition during the time of Pope Adrian I in 787.

Tithing in some Christian churches is controversial because it applies an Old Testament process to a New Testament organisation (the Church). No evidence exists in the New Testament for the tithe to be applied to Christians. Indeed, only Jews living in the promised land were required to pay the tithe in the Old Testament, as it was actually a form of income tax used to support not only the government of Old Testament Israel, but also the temple and the priesthood.

Modern day Tithing

Despite it's origins in the Bible and ancient Christianity, today it is a special way to give every time you receive. Giving EVERY time you receive is such a powerful form of giving because it allows the giver to experience something incredibly powerful - more on that later.

Let us have a little more of history. Malachi 3:10 is the section of the Bible that Christians hold in importance when they deliberate on tithing. Many Christians do tithe to their church as they feel that they are duty bound to do as per the rules of the Bible. Many Churches have all throughout maintained that their members should tithe to the church to help it conduct its activities. The core of giving is its voluntary nature and its delightful experience, without which it does not get its ideal effect - if in fact you are hoping to create an ideal effect by giving.

Controversy about Tithing

Tithing has often been a controversial subject.The question of should a Christian pay tithe is often raised in many Christian circles.

An article has been published in Wall Street Journal about tithing under the title 'The Backlash Against Tithing', in which the writer Suzanne Sataline says, 'As Churches push donations, congregants balk; 'that's not the way God works'.'

Unfortunately, the potent mix of ideology, power equations, and a narrow perspective, can often give rise to a Jekyll and Hyde situation - the perfection of giving being lost in the mishmash and mix-up of mysticism. Despite the conflict, tithing is still a complete and amazingly forceful action that anyone can carry on to turn their lives around to come face to face with a more plentiful direction.

For those who are interested in finding out more about a Christian perspective in tithing there are plenty of materials to go through. For those who are keen on knowing the reason WHY tithing is so compelling, what follows will be useful.

Why is Tithing so powerful?

This is indeed a very compelling question because if you just blindly carry on something without any idea of what it indicates, you could be proceeding in the wrong direction.

If more of the people who do regularly practice tithing knew exactly why tithing is effective when done in the full spirit of a perfect gift, then it could possibly release a better yearning to give even more. And for those who give not on a regular basis, it could motivate them to give every time they get something.

To look at the real 'why' of how regular giving creates more we have to move into the world of Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics. The laws in this world are not the same as in our physical or Newtonian world.

The picture 'What the Bleep' paints the quantum world through easily graspable examples. The link to the movie here gives some details about how matter gets converted into waves and behaves like liquids when seen from a quantum physics angle: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1349535/4653525.

The film portrays a wonderful world seen from a quantum space. When a beam of electrons is shot through an opening in a plate onto a wall - as is expected, it would hit in a straight line on the flat surface just opposite the opening.

If the same experiment is done using an energy wave that has the properties of a water wave, again one can get an expected outcome. As the surge hits the plate the tendency for the wave is to ricochet but still because of the cut, some parts of the wave goes in through that cut. Emerging from the cut, the wave spreads out in an arched way, thus resulting in a new wave more or less similar to the old wave. It is exactly like the experiments one would have done in smaller classes regarding the behaviour of waves. It hits the wall opposite with a lot of force at the point just opposite the cut and hits with lesser strength all around the wall. This is just like the pattern the electrons create.

If we added a second slit in the plate, again we would get a predictable result with the wave experiment - two small waves would appear through the slits and when those new waves touch each other they would cancel each other out creating an interference pattern. Several waves would now hit the wall making a stripped affect on the wall. All this is as expected for wave energy behavior, so nothing new here.

Here is where the whole experiment takes on an entirely different direction. When electrons are sent through the two cuts in the plate, what should ordinarily result are two lines in the wall opposite. On the contrary what one sees is a stripped appearance with an intersecting pattern. This is unbelievable. The matter seems to have been turned into a wave. We can perhaps imagine that electrons were hitting against each other and ricocheting and causing a wave pattern; so if electrons are sent across separately the result should be different. But it is not, it is the same. The explanation has to be that the electron leaves as a single particle, and splits into a wave on collision with the plate, then goes across through the cuts and intervenes with itself after that on the other side. This idea of solid having fluid properties -or mattering acting like a wave - is totally surprising. The world is much more than we understand it to be.

Despite the apparent 'solidness' of this world that we live in, it would appear that actually we live in a world that is more like a liquid - liquid energy or flux, which behaves like liquids in our physical world. And as we know from simple physics that fluids of a similar nature always come together and those of a dissimilar nature move apart and separate into clear areas of distinction. Oil and water is a simple example of this. Chromatography also shows the effect very graphically when a single substance can separate into its individual substances in clear bands much like how large groups of people split off into smaller groups of similar interest, energy or intention.

The secret of it all is that when we give we feel delighted and know utmost joy. As a donor we get the best of gifts, which is the gift of contentment. Often we think that it is the one who gets a gift that gets the thing and thus overlook the fact that the giver is the real getter. If anybody is in doubt about this equation, then look at yourself with kids around and observe how intently you feel when you give to them and how much you enjoy irrespective of how they respond.

When we recognize that it is to we ourselves that we are giving when we make the gesture of giving and we do it for the gratification we feel, we have the clue. This clue opens the door of comprehension of giving. And when we give repetitively the force builds up with a snowballing effect enlarging more and more the more we pour to it with our continuous gifting.

The truth that we feel happy when we gift things alters our power equation fully - we feel good and in that moment we are lovelier to others. Have you ever known a vendor on the street peddling things that we do not want like tissues, which you usually do not buy, but one day you buy and the motive for doing it is just to see that vendor happy and relieved? A similar situation could be seen in relations to buskers playing music at a street corner.

A contended individual radiates a natural magnetism that draws others to him and in doing so he enriches himself. It is clear-cut. They pull towards them both those who are desirous of experiencing that feeling as well as those who have already known the richness of it.

Exactly like water and oil, those who give and those who do not give are compartmentalised in different groups. And the ideal place where one can receive something is there where givers congregate! But you can remain in that group only as long as you gift things! Givers enjoy giving to others who give.

We may be able to look at quantum physics for resolving things, but these are very much in front of us all the time. Alike attracts alike - right. See what is going on all over the world. Lions like to be with lions, students like to be with students, women prefer the company of women, guys like other guys, 'poor' people prefer to be with 'poor' people and 'rich' people like to form groups with 'rich' people. And yes - givers like to make friends with givers.

So if you every give from guilt then it will have the reverse effect for you - you will attract others feeling guilty and guilt-feeling people are not usually that joyful and happy. Guilt is a short step away from anger emotionally; so people giving from guilt often make the jump in that direction. Where as joy is almost at the top of the ladder of human emotions - and the jump from there is just to love - which we are all looking for.

So when you initiate the act of giving, you are very close to knowing perfect love - really wonderful to know that it is. More so as we know that most people are continuously trying to find love. We now know that the answer is so easy - begin giving! And gifting money is only an aspect of giving - giving on the whole will create a special place of joy for us, no matter how 'little' the amount.

There is also a psychological aspect to giving regularly. Even though at first this aspect doesn't seem connected to the emotion of joy - in the end it directly connects us to the feeling of joy.

When we gift a thing - especially a thing which is definitely not in surplus in our lives, we are sending a strong message to ourselves that life is reliable. When we have accomplished the act of giving and afterwards see that act in retrospect we understand that we can form a perfect relationship with that reliability. The opposite of reliability is fright. A group of frightened people are unlikely to be happy and delighted and so will not be able to attract any one. On the contrary, a group of reliable people would be contented and so would be quite appealing to those who are seeking such enriching experiences. At the end of the day, when reliability gets transformed into delight and again we find ourselves very close to that which we yearn most - love.

The sum and substance of what has been ignored for years is fully in front of us for anyone to bond with in finely. For Christmas my son got a good amount of money. I queried him as to what he planned to do with all that money. He replied that he wanted to set aside almost whole of it. Then I enquired how much of it he would like to give to someone. It was something that he had not even taken into account until I introduced the idea. What would be the result if upon receiving anything our first consideration was to give away part of it - do you think we would know delight in abundance?

Transaction based giving - or transaction based philanthropy

This takes us to the force of transactional giving. Many enterprises give when they have enough of money to give. When they do not have much they do not prefer to give. So their possible levels of joy fluctuate depending upon market variations - they do not have any restraint. But whoever gives EVERY time they get something is in charge and has their relationship with perfect joy forever.

Transactional giving rather than total giving is based on the highs and lows of business and so is a self-evident way of giving. The method is that when you get something you also give something - straightforward. If your business is bad you might give but according to the income. And when business is marking a rising graph, giving can also improve.

One of the major secrets of transaction based enterprise is that you can partake in the joy of giving so perfectly with all concerned - clients/society - staff - and enterprise. In this scenario customers understand that when they buy something they are also giving though it does not cost them anything other than choosing and shopping with you they feel power of the giving - that is why the traditional CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility, gets transformed into Customer Social Responsibility, with the customer responding perfectly to giving just by appreciating you and have that extra cause, though an elusive one, for preferring to do the shopping with you.

Your personnel will also be able to partake in the happiness of giving as every time they manage to close a sale, they realise that they have managed to give something to a needy person. This is an extremely satisfying experience especially in a team as it can get converted into motivating the team and encouraging the staff.

Any business, including startups with no profit, can do Buy1GIVE1 transaction-based giving - there literally are no barriers to entry and the business controls everything. The contribution amount per transaction starts from just one cent and goes up to thousands of dollars with each business choosing their own level of giving and charity cause project to support depending on their business type and profitability. There is simply no reason not to give this way when the benefits of giving are so numerous. Businesses who are currently giving to a cause can usually convert very quickly and easily to Buy1GIVE1 transaction-based giving while still supporting the same cause providing extra tangible benefits to the business.

When the game is over business -based giving is a present day form of tithing that is practical and possible for anyone, at any place. Now that we realise that it is not about the actual money that we give such as a tenth of the income, but only the fact that we are gifting it that makes the change. When we enter the fraternity of donors we move into a special and fortunate world that only those who give to others are allowed to enter. And unless you start giving today itself, you just may not start doing it and might never will till you start. So begin today.

'We're not here to give in order 'to get'. We're here to have more to give more.