Tithing - Beginning Your Surge Of Magical Involvements
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by: David Anttony
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Word Count: 3000
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 Time: 11:36 AM
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Story 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 derives from the Hebrew word 'asair', which means to donate one-tenth portion of something, mostly a person's earnings. Nowadays tithes or tithing is optional and is given in cash. Still, in some European countries church can demand tithing and thus make it enforceable by law.
Denmark is a case in point where a church tax is mandatory for members of the Church of Denmark. The tax varies in different municipalities. It is mostly about 1% of the taxable income. And in Finland members of state churches have to pay a church tax ranging between 1% and 2.25% of their earnings and the Church taxes are included into the general national taxation process.
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 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.
Present day Tithing
Despite the fact that it has originated in the Bible and earliest Christianity, now it is a unique way to gift something whenever you are given something. Giving EVERY time you are in receipt is a compelling form of giving as it allows the benefactor to experience something exceptionally eloquent - 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.
Conflicting Views about Tithing
Tithing has often been a disputed issue. The subject of should a Christian pay tithe is often brought up in many Christian get-togethers.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
So just like water and oil, givers and non-givers gather in separate areas. And the best place to receive something is in a place where givers hang out! But of course you can only stay in the giving group while you give! Givers love to give to those who give.
So even though we can run to quantum physics for our answers, they also lie right in front of our face. Like attracts like - simple. Everywhere you look you see this happening. Lions hand out with lions, students hang out with students, women hang out with women, guys hang out with guys, 'poor' people hang out with 'poor' people and 'rich' people hang out with 'rich' people. And yes - givers hang out with givers.
So those who give out of remorse cannot benefit from it - it will only help in attracting to him others with similar guilt complexes who are not able to sense joy or ecstasy. Guilt is very close to anger in the ladder of negative emotions; for those who give out of a sense of self-reproach anger might be their next step in understanding things. Joy is very near the pinnacle of human sensations - you can graduate from there only to love - something that everyone is trying to do.
When a person starts giving he is just a couple of steps away from love - rather surprising to realize that isn't it. Particularly because most people are frantically searching for love. Now we know the answer is straightforward -start giving! And giving money is not the beginning and end of it, it is only a small part of giving - it will generate a niche of joy for us, however small what is given.
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 share an item with someone - particularly something that we ourselves do not possess in abundance - we are sending a persuasive communication to our own brain that life is trustworthy. When we give something and later analyse the act we are connecting with the trust. The converse of trust is terror. So again, a group of terrified people are not likely to be happy and fine and so no one would find them appealing. On the other hand, a gathering of trustful people would themselves be happy and would attract many others to share their perfection. So finally when we believe the belief gets transformed into happiness and again we are very near to love - the most important thing that all of us are searching for.
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 charity - or transaction based generosity
This shows us the way to the potency of transactional giving. Many organisations give when they have plenty of money. When they do not have extra they choose not to give. Due to this their level of happiness rise and fall on the basis of market fluctuations - they have no regulation over it. But those who share EVERY time they get are in command and bond with their feeling of joy consistently.
Transactional giving rather than single payments is connected with the ups and downs of profit so it is an easy way of giving. The rule is that whenever you get something you give proportionately - easy. If you have a bad season you might give, but less depending on sales. And when business is better one can give more.
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 commercial transaction, including profitless ventures, can do Buy1GIVE1 transaction-based giving - there are absolutely no prohibition to entering and the business decides most of it. The charity amount per operation starts from just a single cent and rises up to any amount of dollars with each venture choosing his or her own level of donating and giving to help and support completely based upon their business type and productivity. There is absolutely no reason to refuse to donate in this manner when the advantages of giving are so endless. Commercial ventures that are presently giving to a purpose can change very fast and without difficulty to Buy1GIVE1 transaction-based giving while continuing to support the same issue delivering more visible results to their enterprise.
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 donate to 'get back.'. We're here to give more and more.
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