History of Tithing
The beginning of tithing can be seen in the Bible, yet many Christians as well as non-Christians have the habit of doing some type 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 origin of the word tithe can be traced to the Hebrew work 'asair' which also means to give one-tenth of a thing, generally an individual's income. Today, tithes, or tithing, is a cash payment and is voluntary in nature. Nevertheless, in certain European countries there is still the provision for enforcing tithing by allowing the church to make it mandatory.
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.
Anyway the custom of regular tithes was not instituted until after Exodus. Tithes were popular all across the Near East in olden days, as well as in later Lydia, Carthage and Arabia.
The Hebrew practice of giving tithes was mentioned in the Bible, beginning with the gift from Abraham to the Canaanite king and priest Melchizedek (Genesis--:20). Tithes were also given in ancient Lydia, Arabia and Carthage. Tithes were adopted by the early Christian church, being mentioned in councils at Tours in 567 and at Macon in 585. They were formally recognised under Pope Adrian I in 787.
The practice of tithes in some Christian churches is contentious for the reason that it is putting into operation an Old Testament idea to a New Testament establishment (the Church). No proof is available in the New Testament that tithing can be applied to Christians. Actually, it was mandatory only for Jews living in the promised land to pay the tithe even according to the Old Testament, as it was in practice a form of income tax that was necessary to help not only the government of the then Israel, but also the shrines and the priestly class.
Present 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 return to history. That section of the Bible that Christians refer to with regard to tithing is Malachi 3:10. Lots of Christians tithe to their church as they feel that they are under obligation to do so according to the Bible. And many Churches then as well as now insist that their members contribute to the church to help it carry on its activities. In spirit though, if the giving is not done out of free will and with a happy intention, it does not accomplish its proper benefit - if in fact you want to create a proper benefit by the gift.
Controversy about Tithing
Tithing has often been a contentious topic. The issue whether a Christian should pay tithe is often argued in many Christian congregations.
In a Wall Street Journal article about tithing titled 'The Backlash Against Tithing', Suzanne Sataline writes, '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 wish to understand a Christian perspective in tithing there is no limit of materials to read. For those who want to understand the reason WHY tithing is so powerful read on.
Why is Tithing so compelling?
This is indeed a powerful question because if you just mindlessly follow something without knowing some key background pointers you may be heading in the wrong direction.
If more people who are in the habit of tithing knew exactly why it works when done with the feeling of total giving, then it is likely to make people eager to give even more. And for those who do it intermittently, it could encourage them to give first every time they are in receipt of something.
To see the actual 'why' of how proper gifting gives rise to more we have to learn something about Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics. The rules that govern these disciplines are unlike those in our physical or Newtonian world.
The movie 'What the Bleep' describes the quantum world through simple examples. The movie segment linked below describes a little about how matter becomes waves and acts like fluids when observed from a quantum physics perspective : http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1349535/4653525.
The movie paints the picture of a startling world visible from a quantum space. When a line of electrons is fired through a plate with a cut in it onto a wall - predictably, it would hit the wall straight across the cut in a single line.
If you repeat the experiment but this time using an energy wave that behaves very much like a water wave would do you get a predictable result. As the wave hits the plate it bounces off the place but where the slit exists some of the wave goes through the slit. On the other side of the slit the wave opens out in an arc fashion forming a new wave just like the old experiments you would have done at science school with waves patterns. As the wave hits the wall it hits with the most intensity in the middle right opposite the slit then hits with less intensity all along the wall. This is similar to the line the electrons make.
If one more cut is made in the plate and a wave sent through, the result would again be foreseeable - two lesser waves would emerge through the cuts and when these come into contact with each other, they would stop being separate and would give rise to an interference pattern. Many small waves would then strike against the wall opposite producing a stripped effect. All these are normal behavioural patterns as far as wave energy is concerned and so fully expected.
Now this is where the quantum experiment gets interesting. With the two slits in place if electrons were fired at the plate we would expect to see two lines to be created on the wall. But guess what - instead a stripped affect appears - an interference pattern is created! This is totally unexpected. Somehow the matter had changed into a wave. You would think that electrons were bouncing off each other creating a wave; so then if you fired the electrons one at a time and then see what happens. The result is the same! This can only happen if the electrons leave as a single particle, splits into a wave of potentials when it hits the plate, passes through both splits and then interferes with itself on the other side of the plate. This is simply amazing - matter behaving like a wave - or solid behaving like a liquid. Maybe the world is different to what we think it is after all!
Though the world that we live in appears to be hard and solid, it is perhaps possible that in reality we are living in a place that has more properties of a fluid - liquid energy or persistent movement of a fluid, which reacts more like the fluids in our material world. According to the rules of physics, similar fluids have a tendency to congregate, while those with dissimilar properties tend to diverge and remain separate. A typical example of this is oil and water. Chromatography explains how a single substance can break up into its individual components in clear bands the way groups of people break up into smaller ones with common interests, potencies or aims.
The key is that when we give we feel joyful and experience joy. As a giver we receive the most divine gifts of all the gift of joy. Often we think that it is the receiver of a gift that receives something and it often overlooked that the giver actually is the greatest receiver. If you're not too sure about this, then watch yourself around children and see how you feel when you give to them and observe how you feel no matter how they respond.
When we appreciate that we are actually giving to ourselves when we give and that we do this because we want to feel satisfied then we have an answer. This answer unlocks the door of cognizance to giving. And when we give again and again the impetus builds up just like a swelling wave that grows larger the more we put in to it with our idea of our bountifulness.
The fact that we feel joyful when we give changes our energy literally - we feel better and in that moment we are more attractive to other people. Have you experienced someone on the street selling something that you don't want such as tissues and normally you do not buy, but one day you do and the only reason why is because the person is happy and smiling? You may have experienced the same with buskers playing music on the street.
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.
Similar to water and oil, givers and non-givers tend to collect together in different places. And the greatest place to get something is a place where givers come together! But of course you will be allowed entry into that group only if you are ready to give! Givers relish to give to those who love to give.
So even if we may turn to quantum physics for our solutions, they are very much there right in front of us. Similar attracts similar - simple. Wherever you look you see this going on. Lions group together with lions, students interact with students, women form groups with women, men makes friends with men, 'poor' likes to be with 'poor' people and 'rich' with 'rich' people. And in the same way - givers prefer the company of givers.
So if you give from a sense of self-reproach then it will only boomerang on you - you will just attract to you like-minded others who have a guilt complex and cannot be contented and delighted. The borderline between remorse and anger is narrow; so people gifting things out of a sense of guilt tend to turn in that direction. Joy is one of the highest of human emotions - and from there one can only turn to love - and that is what all of us are forever searching for.
So when you start giving you are two steps away from love - pretty amazing to think that isn't it. Especially seeing most people are desperately seeking love. Now we know the answer is simple - go get giving! And of course giving money is just a small part of giving - giving in general will create a space of joy for us, no matter how 'small'.
There is also a mental aspect to giving steadily. Even though at first this facet of it may not seem related to the feeling of happiness - in the end it right away brings us into contact with the supreme experience 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.
So the gist of what has been overlooked for years is right in front of us for any one to build a relationship with it with ease. My son got a lot of cash for Christmas and I enquired how he was going to spend it. He said he was going to put aside much of it. I asked him how much he would like to share. He had not even thought of it as a possibility until I gave the idea to him. What is likely to happen if our first response to getting something was to give something away - is it likely that we will know more of happiness?
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.
Members of the staff also get a chance to participate in the pleasure because every time they are part of making a sale, they know full well that they had their role in giving something to someone who needed that help. The event generates a strong sense of camaraderie within the team that promotes team spirit and motivates the team members.
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.
At the end of the day commercialised giving is the current day reincarnation of tithing that is simple and manageable for any person, anywhere. Now that we recognize that it is not about the amount that we give such as a specific percentage, but only about the fact that we are giving that is making all that effect. When we enter the brotherhood of givers we move into a restricted and exclusive world that only those who give can enter. And if you do not begin giving today, you may not 'get' giving and never will till you begin. So get going.
'We're not here to give in order 'to get'. We're here to have more to give more.
The beginning of tithing can be seen in the Bible, yet many Christians as well as non-Christians have the habit of doing some type 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 origin of the word tithe can be traced to the Hebrew work 'asair' which also means to give one-tenth of a thing, generally an individual's income. Today, tithes, or tithing, is a cash payment and is voluntary in nature. Nevertheless, in certain European countries there is still the provision for enforcing tithing by allowing the church to make it mandatory.
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.
Anyway the custom of regular tithes was not instituted until after Exodus. Tithes were popular all across the Near East in olden days, as well as in later Lydia, Carthage and Arabia.
The Hebrew practice of giving tithes was mentioned in the Bible, beginning with the gift from Abraham to the Canaanite king and priest Melchizedek (Genesis--:20). Tithes were also given in ancient Lydia, Arabia and Carthage. Tithes were adopted by the early Christian church, being mentioned in councils at Tours in 567 and at Macon in 585. They were formally recognised under Pope Adrian I in 787.
The practice of tithes in some Christian churches is contentious for the reason that it is putting into operation an Old Testament idea to a New Testament establishment (the Church). No proof is available in the New Testament that tithing can be applied to Christians. Actually, it was mandatory only for Jews living in the promised land to pay the tithe even according to the Old Testament, as it was in practice a form of income tax that was necessary to help not only the government of the then Israel, but also the shrines and the priestly class.
Present 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 return to history. That section of the Bible that Christians refer to with regard to tithing is Malachi 3:10. Lots of Christians tithe to their church as they feel that they are under obligation to do so according to the Bible. And many Churches then as well as now insist that their members contribute to the church to help it carry on its activities. In spirit though, if the giving is not done out of free will and with a happy intention, it does not accomplish its proper benefit - if in fact you want to create a proper benefit by the gift.
Controversy about Tithing
Tithing has often been a contentious topic. The issue whether a Christian should pay tithe is often argued in many Christian congregations.
In a Wall Street Journal article about tithing titled 'The Backlash Against Tithing', Suzanne Sataline writes, '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 wish to understand a Christian perspective in tithing there is no limit of materials to read. For those who want to understand the reason WHY tithing is so powerful read on.
Why is Tithing so compelling?
This is indeed a powerful question because if you just mindlessly follow something without knowing some key background pointers you may be heading in the wrong direction.
If more people who are in the habit of tithing knew exactly why it works when done with the feeling of total giving, then it is likely to make people eager to give even more. And for those who do it intermittently, it could encourage them to give first every time they are in receipt of something.
To see the actual 'why' of how proper gifting gives rise to more we have to learn something about Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics. The rules that govern these disciplines are unlike those in our physical or Newtonian world.
The movie 'What the Bleep' describes the quantum world through simple examples. The movie segment linked below describes a little about how matter becomes waves and acts like fluids when observed from a quantum physics perspective : http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1349535/4653525.
The movie paints the picture of a startling world visible from a quantum space. When a line of electrons is fired through a plate with a cut in it onto a wall - predictably, it would hit the wall straight across the cut in a single line.
If you repeat the experiment but this time using an energy wave that behaves very much like a water wave would do you get a predictable result. As the wave hits the plate it bounces off the place but where the slit exists some of the wave goes through the slit. On the other side of the slit the wave opens out in an arc fashion forming a new wave just like the old experiments you would have done at science school with waves patterns. As the wave hits the wall it hits with the most intensity in the middle right opposite the slit then hits with less intensity all along the wall. This is similar to the line the electrons make.
If one more cut is made in the plate and a wave sent through, the result would again be foreseeable - two lesser waves would emerge through the cuts and when these come into contact with each other, they would stop being separate and would give rise to an interference pattern. Many small waves would then strike against the wall opposite producing a stripped effect. All these are normal behavioural patterns as far as wave energy is concerned and so fully expected.
Now this is where the quantum experiment gets interesting. With the two slits in place if electrons were fired at the plate we would expect to see two lines to be created on the wall. But guess what - instead a stripped affect appears - an interference pattern is created! This is totally unexpected. Somehow the matter had changed into a wave. You would think that electrons were bouncing off each other creating a wave; so then if you fired the electrons one at a time and then see what happens. The result is the same! This can only happen if the electrons leave as a single particle, splits into a wave of potentials when it hits the plate, passes through both splits and then interferes with itself on the other side of the plate. This is simply amazing - matter behaving like a wave - or solid behaving like a liquid. Maybe the world is different to what we think it is after all!
Though the world that we live in appears to be hard and solid, it is perhaps possible that in reality we are living in a place that has more properties of a fluid - liquid energy or persistent movement of a fluid, which reacts more like the fluids in our material world. According to the rules of physics, similar fluids have a tendency to congregate, while those with dissimilar properties tend to diverge and remain separate. A typical example of this is oil and water. Chromatography explains how a single substance can break up into its individual components in clear bands the way groups of people break up into smaller ones with common interests, potencies or aims.
The key is that when we give we feel joyful and experience joy. As a giver we receive the most divine gifts of all the gift of joy. Often we think that it is the receiver of a gift that receives something and it often overlooked that the giver actually is the greatest receiver. If you're not too sure about this, then watch yourself around children and see how you feel when you give to them and observe how you feel no matter how they respond.
When we appreciate that we are actually giving to ourselves when we give and that we do this because we want to feel satisfied then we have an answer. This answer unlocks the door of cognizance to giving. And when we give again and again the impetus builds up just like a swelling wave that grows larger the more we put in to it with our idea of our bountifulness.
The fact that we feel joyful when we give changes our energy literally - we feel better and in that moment we are more attractive to other people. Have you experienced someone on the street selling something that you don't want such as tissues and normally you do not buy, but one day you do and the only reason why is because the person is happy and smiling? You may have experienced the same with buskers playing music on the street.
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.
Similar to water and oil, givers and non-givers tend to collect together in different places. And the greatest place to get something is a place where givers come together! But of course you will be allowed entry into that group only if you are ready to give! Givers relish to give to those who love to give.
So even if we may turn to quantum physics for our solutions, they are very much there right in front of us. Similar attracts similar - simple. Wherever you look you see this going on. Lions group together with lions, students interact with students, women form groups with women, men makes friends with men, 'poor' likes to be with 'poor' people and 'rich' with 'rich' people. And in the same way - givers prefer the company of givers.
So if you give from a sense of self-reproach then it will only boomerang on you - you will just attract to you like-minded others who have a guilt complex and cannot be contented and delighted. The borderline between remorse and anger is narrow; so people gifting things out of a sense of guilt tend to turn in that direction. Joy is one of the highest of human emotions - and from there one can only turn to love - and that is what all of us are forever searching for.
So when you start giving you are two steps away from love - pretty amazing to think that isn't it. Especially seeing most people are desperately seeking love. Now we know the answer is simple - go get giving! And of course giving money is just a small part of giving - giving in general will create a space of joy for us, no matter how 'small'.
There is also a mental aspect to giving steadily. Even though at first this facet of it may not seem related to the feeling of happiness - in the end it right away brings us into contact with the supreme experience 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.
So the gist of what has been overlooked for years is right in front of us for any one to build a relationship with it with ease. My son got a lot of cash for Christmas and I enquired how he was going to spend it. He said he was going to put aside much of it. I asked him how much he would like to share. He had not even thought of it as a possibility until I gave the idea to him. What is likely to happen if our first response to getting something was to give something away - is it likely that we will know more of happiness?
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.
Members of the staff also get a chance to participate in the pleasure because every time they are part of making a sale, they know full well that they had their role in giving something to someone who needed that help. The event generates a strong sense of camaraderie within the team that promotes team spirit and motivates the team members.
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.
At the end of the day commercialised giving is the current day reincarnation of tithing that is simple and manageable for any person, anywhere. Now that we recognize that it is not about the amount that we give such as a specific percentage, but only about the fact that we are giving that is making all that effect. When we enter the brotherhood of givers we move into a restricted and exclusive world that only those who give can enter. And if you do not begin giving today, you may not 'get' giving and never will till you begin. So get going.
'We're not here to give in order 'to get'. We're here to have more to give more.
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