Tithing The Natural Way

During my high school years I had a friend whose family maintained a pantry full of enough food to feed them for two years. He didn’t smoke, drink, take drugs, or even swear. He was my kind of guy and as it turned out, he was Mormon. I had never heard of a Mormon.

One day, his father took me aside and started up a conversation about a guy named Joseph Smith. He asked me if I would like to watch a short film that would clarify things a bit. I didn’t see any harm and it sounded interesting.

About all I remember of its content was a bunch of people wearing white sheets and standing around in water. Then, one by one, this one guy bent each person back until their head was under water. I remember thinking how unpleasant that must be, since whenever my head goes under water at that angle, I get loads of it up my nose.

Then he told me that my parents, should I choose to become a Mormon, would have to donate ten percent of their income to the church. He used a word I had never heard before. The word was “tithe.”

I went home and asked my parents about it, and I seem to recall that their attitude was I could become a Mormon if I wanted to, but any tithing would have to come out of my pocket. I decided to not become a Mormon.

Decades later, the subject of tithing once again crossed my path – this time at a Unity church and this time, I was a member. The church coffers were low and the minister thought it a good time to educate us on the power of giving. As a result I learned a great deal about tithing, both how to do it and how not to.

The sermon was based on Malachi who said: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Once again the minimum amount deemed effective was ten percent. Now, this minister wasn’t going to let us off easy. Her interpretation was ten percent of our gross income. At that particular time, the church wasn’t the only one having some financial difficulty and ten percent of my gross was going to be, well, painful.

But the minister said for it to work, we needed to be happy about our gift. We needed to be giving from a place of gratitude, knowing that the money was going to a worthy cause. In fact, and this was rather brave of this minister, her definition of tithing was giving to whatever or whomever provided our “spiritual food”. In my case, that wasn’t entirely her church. There was Self Realization Fellowship, Peace Pilgrim, and a guy named James.

It was a struggle, but I did manage to muster up some gratitude. All I had to do was think about how these organizations and/or people had benefited me and my heart swelled with gratitude – naturally.

That was when it made a difference. My previous attempts at tithing seemed to net nothing in the way of blessings gushing through open windows. When I actually wanted to show my appreciation, my fortune changed in the form of a raise in pay that made it much easier to do ten percent.

I suspect it isn’t really tithing unless you really want to do it. And when you really want to do it, you are behaving like that grand source that just loves to give us exactly what we want. I think that is what tithing is really all about. It’s about being like the essence of who we really are.

When we live and act from gratitude, we are closest to that higher part of us that is Creator. As a result, we come into the act of creation, and thus create. That’s what opens the window. That’s what delivers the blessing -- us being who we really are when we aren’t absorbed in ourselves.
When a tithe is offered out of obligation, I suspect it’s coming from a place of lack, and can only create more lack – which may be just fine. There is nothing like a little pain to promote piety within the flock ;)