The Principle of Tithing v. 1

Biblical tithing was an Old Testament Mosaic Law requiring ancient Israelites to give a tenth (10%) of their agricultural produce and livestock to support the Levitical priesthood and provide for festivals and the poor.

Tithing in the New Testament

No Command: The New Testament does not command Christians to tithe a specific percentage of their income.

Focus on Principle: New Testament teachings emphasize a “selfless and sacrificial attitude” and giving “as he has resolved in his heart,” raher than under compulsion.

Voluntary Giving: The principle is to give cheerfully and generously, according to one’s means, with the understanding that “God loves a cheerful giver”.

Examples: The story of the poor widow who gave her last two coins shows the importance of selfless giving, even if it’s not a large amount.

Key Differences Law vs. Grace: Old Testament tithing was part of the Mosaic Law, which Christians are not bound by.

Obligation vs. Heart:

Tithing under the Law was a legal requirement, whereas New Testament giving is a voluntary act of love and gratitude.

Jesus affirmed the continuation of the tithe (Matt. 23:23). “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.

But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Since Jesus upheld the tithe, then Christians are commanded to tithe today.

Tithing in Other Faiths

Exists in several faiths but with varying percentages and requirements, such as Judaism’s tzedakah or ma’aser (a tenth), Islam’s zakat (2.5% of wealth), and Hinduism’s ancient daśamāṃśa (a tenth).

Tithing in Unification Movement /Sun Myung Moon

Tithing is a basic duty of the chosen children. When you offer the portion of the number one, that is, the number of God, you set up the condition of having offered the portion of the number nine. Therefore, you must think more of this one-tenth than of the remainder.

Sunday is the day of tithing, not your own day. Thus, it is the day when you obey God as He commands. It is a sin to use that which belongs to God as if it were your own.

Tithing applies to all things. Even in a school, one out of every ten classrooms should be used as a free class for unfortunate children.

Tithing in Unification Movement /Sun Myung Moon

I must dedicate one of my own children to Heaven. If you cannot do that, then you must at least educate a child from another family and dedicate him to Heaven.

Tithing in Church life is such that ten families must support one leader. Without doing this, they cannot receive heavenly citizenship.

Ten people who live nearby must support one heavenly man.

/Way of Tradition

Sun Myung Moon did not require followers to pay 30% tithing; rather, he taught the biblical principle of offering one-tenth of one’s income to God.

However, Moon expanded on this concept, instructing members to offer a “three-tenths” of their income – one-tenth to their nation, one-tenth to the world’s people, and one-tenth to God’s church – to signify God’s dominion over the world.

TODAYS WORLD March 1983

Tithing: The Principle of Prosperity (9/10th) Teri Giltner Lester American brother

I would like to share some experiences I have had tithing. I have been a member of the church since I was in high school.

After I graduated, I came to New York to work in Performing Arts, where I have been the past seven years. During the first few years I was in the churh, I was a fairly good fundraiser, but then I started having health problems. Thus for the last four years I have been unable to fundraise. Since Perfoming Arts is supported totally by fundraising, I was somewhat a financial burden. Also, it was difficult to ask for money for medical expenses when I was not contributing anything. So two years ago I was given permission to get a job to support myself and pay my bills.

Job hunting was pretty miserable. I had no work experience and no job skills. I had not taken typing in high school because I assumed that I would be a fundraising religious fanatic for the rest of my life.

Interviewers would ask me what I had been doing since I got out of school. Witnessing, fundraising, playing the clarinet in the GoWorld Brass Band, and restoring the world. They would ask me what I was getting paid. Nothing. Bed and board. They were not impressed.

After two weeks I applied at temporary agencies-they are not so picky. I finally, got a job paying $3.50 an hour.

For 40 hours of work a week, I was barely making $100.00 after taxes-a far cry from fundraising. Things improved a bit. After picking up skills and getting raises, I finally landed a job as an assistant bookkeeper. I had enough money to live on, but just barely.

I guess you could say my question was, “How can we be financially successful?”

One day at the end of November, during morning service the director read from the October 1981 issue of Today’s World a 1978 speech by Father called How to Gain Spiritual Help. I liked that; I could sure use some help.

At the end Father said: “Return a portion of what you earn to God, as a tithe. Give one tenth to the local church, one tenth to the national level work, and one tenth for the worldwide level-three tenths in all.

“When you give to others, don’t think that you are giving to them out of your own pocket. Give out as though it were coming from a heavenly treasure. Then he/she who receives through you is actually receiving from God. Then the spirit world can help you, and God will remember everything and return it all to you ten times over.’’

I decided to experiment. Not having the guts to tithe three tenths, I thought I would start off the year by tithing one tenth and see what happened.

If spirit world will return a 30 percent tithe tenfold, then they should give back at least a little bit of a 10 percent tithe. Also, I figured that if worse came to worst, I could tighten my belt and get by on only nine-tenths of my former income.

So I made a condition for 1982 to give one tenth of all the money I received to my department (as my “local church”). Things became very interesting.

That Christmas I went home for my sister’s wedding. Since for once in my life I had a little money, I bought Christmas gifts for my family. Returning to New York, I realized that I had been a bit foolish; true, I had a job, but it didn’t start for another week, and it would be a week or so after that before I started getting paid. Fortunately, I have lots of friends, who fed me and helped me keep going.

Things looked promising at work when suddenly I was called for jury duty. That means you go work for the government and get paid $12.00 a day-six months later. So far, I hadn’t thought much about my tithing condition; I hadn’t gotten anything to tithe. Then my grandfather sent me $300.00. I stared at the check. I looked at my wall where I had a list of all the people I owed money to . . . and I thought of the commitment I had made to God on God’s Day . . . and, oh boy, what a mess!

In any case, I had made a commitment to tithe, and I couldn’t violate that.

On January 21 I wrote a check to the band for $47 .50, which was one-tenth of all the money I had received so far. I have kept records of all my income and expenses for both 1981 and 1982, accounting for every penny that came in or went out. If I made a phone call for a dime, I wrote it down; if I found a dime on the sidewalk, I wrote it down.

Comparing my records for the two years, I have substantial, objective evidence that the tithing principle does work.

The day after I gave the band $47.50, I received a check from the temporary agency for $46.57. Close enough for the first try. On February 11 , I gave the band a check for $30.00, and within a week I received $32.00. On March 10, I gave $40.00; by the 14th I had received over $120.00.

Financially, 1982 should have been a disaster. With workshop, weddings and school, I had less-than-steady employment and some frightful expenses. However, at the end of December, I discovered that I had received more than twice as much money in 1982 as in 1981!

I say received, not made, because some of it was gifts from various sources, and also because of a changed attitude about working and money.

The most important insight I received from tithing was that neither God nor the spirit world can lift a finger to help me as long as I think first about my own situation.

However, if I put God’s situation and desire before my own, even in a small way, He is eager to do everything He can to assist me.

Intuitively, I am absolutely sure that tithing made the critical difference between my situation in 1981 and 1982. I also have cold, hard facts-in the form of my account books-that point to the same conclusion.

Furthermore, I used to feel guilty and ashamed when I would spend money, because it seemed that somehow I had no right to it.

Now when I spend money, it feels cleaner because I first offer it to God and contribute to the purpose of the whole before caring for my individual needs.

Please think and pray about tithing. I am convinced that anyone who follows the tithing principle will receive an abundance from God;

moreover if enough of us are tithing consistently, God can direct economic resources to our whole church.

The more we give, the more we receive, and if we allow God to direct the giving and receiving, then we can have heavenly prosperity for ourselves and our children.

Sermon summary: TITHING WORKS!

Because God and SpIrit world exist ruled by Spiritual Laws!

Remaining 9/0th will be Blessed

Please join me in Prayer!

Short Vocabulary:

AGS =Absolute Good Spirits Ahn Shi Il = 8th Day Pledge CBG = Chambumo Gyeong, Holy Textbook CSG = Cheon Seong Gyeong, Holy Textbook CIG = Cheon Il Guk, Two persons become one, KoH CSW =Cheonji Sunhak Won (Museum) CP = Cheong Pyeong, Spir. training ground Korea DP = Divine Principle, v1973 EDP = Divine Principle, v1996 ODP = Original Divine Principle, 2008

Short Vocabulary:

KoH = Kingdom of Heaven LSA = Lord of Second Advent OT = Old Testament NT = New Testament CT = Completed Testament PHG = Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (Peace Messages) TF = True Father, SMM = Sun Myung Moon TM = True Mother, Hak Ja Han Moon TP = True Parents, TF+TM TTM = Textbook and Teaching Material UC = Unification Church See also extended Vocabulary: http://www.slideshare.net/bdp003/vocabulary-uc

More slides at Slideshare bdp003 https://tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/dePaulis/0-Toc.htm

Korea Remember the beauty in Gods Nature is there to inspire us! Have a great Blessed week. Prepared for 2nd,3rd … Gen. Inspiration by Bengt Sweden/Finland