Cornerstone Financial Education
Tithing is a religious and spiritual enterprise that is between an individual person and God. As I travel across the country giving financial stewardship and economic education courses someone usually brings up the concept of tithing. As a committed Christian, practicing Catholic, and theologian I would like to think that I have a good grasp of tithing, but I would not dare to presume that my interpretation of tithing is absolute. However, I will offer readers my humble opinion of tithing, especially in these tough economic times, and it is only an opinion.
For the sake of those who are not familiar with the terms "tithe" and "tithing," I will give a brief explanation. Historically, the term "tithe" comes from the Old English word teogba, which means "tenth," and is, or represents, a one-tenth part of something. The tithe is typically a payment, usually a voluntary contribution, donation, tax, or levy, generally supporting a religious organization or Christian church. Tithing is normally voluntary and paid in cash, checks, or stocks, whereas traditionally tithes could be paid in kind through bartering goods and services or could be paid in land or other agricultural products.
In the Bible, the word "tithe" or "tithing" is mentioned approximately 60-65 times, and it is usually referenced as a form of charity and as a way to give back to God and to the community, but is typically agricultural not financial. In fact, Jesus only mentions tithing once (Matthew 23:23), and because of Jesus' specific remark, those who are staunch supporters of tithing believe that Jesus mandated or ordered the practice of tithing for all time. While the majority of Christian scholars and theologians-not pastors or bishops-disagree, pointing out that Jesus was simply obeying the religious customs of his day as a faithful first-century Jew.
Today, tithing is pretty much an exclusively Christian concept, and tithing is a systematic and intentional way of giving and is part of charity. Christians may refer to the practice of tithing as offering God or offering the "first-fruits" of one's income to God and it is a voluntary giving from one's surplus. Tithing is a term that is referred to as "sacrificial giving," "voluntary giving," or "biblical tithe," which means a person gives ten-percent (10%) of their gross income back to God, to the church, or to charitable cause. Tithing is typically associated with Evangelical denominations and some Protestant denominations, but the Catholic and Orthodox churches frequently discuss tithing as part of a more comprehensive plan involving living a life of stewardship.
In our current climate of stressful economic times tithing becomes a difficult decision for many Christian families. There is a large percentage of Christians that will always give 10% of their income back to church where they participate and worship, while there is also a large contingency of Christians that will refuse to tithe when economic times become overwhelming. In truth, this is a difficult matter to speculate. Whether a person chooses to tithe or not to tithe does not reflect on an individual's faith in God, nor does it put someone's salvation in jeopardy. A Christian is called to follow their God-given free-will and conscience. Nevertheless, the answer for the majority of church-going Christians lies somewhere in the middle, that is, give some portion of their income to the church and keep the rest for necessities.
Tithing in tough economic times does not always seem to make sense because if a person owes large amounts of debt to creditors ($10K or higher), especially to bank credit cards and/or department store cards, they might find themselves in a financial position that does not allow them to tithe because their debt-to-income ratio is too high. In this scenario the money for tithing could be better spent getting a person out of debt and once the person is back on track financially then can begin to tithe again to the church. No doubt this is not the message that most pastors and bishops want to hear. Truth be told, if a person is heavily in debt then not only are they not living a life of authentic stewardship, they cannot live a life of stewardship because of their debt-load is too high, and thus, the tithe may seemly feel like a burden instead of a blessing. In such dire financial circumstances: loss of job, excessive medical bills, heavy credit card debt, etc., the church-community may want to consider helping to defray the expenses of a particular parishioner instead of expecting a tithe or making people feel guilty for not tithing. Ultimately, though, when "push comes to shove," tithing is a matter of personal faith even in tough economic times, and again, these matters are between God and the individual.
