Tithe

If you regularly attend a religious service where the leader of the service is a Mikraite man, then you should spend one tenth of your after-tax income on that temple (church/synagogue).


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“Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields. You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of Yahweh your God at the place where He chooses to have His name dwell, so that you will always learn to fear the Lord your God. But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, since the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far away from you and since the Lord your God has blessed you, then exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place the Lord your God chooses. You may spend the money on anything you want: cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or anything you desire. You are to feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with your family. Do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

“At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your gates. Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come, eat, and be satisfied. And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
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Deuteronomy 14:22-29

What this is saying is that one tenth of your income should be spent on the temple, but of this, one third is for the priesthood while two-thirds is meant to be spent on anything that you want as long as it is spent in the temple.  To make this work with modern tax law, you should give the full tenth to the temple but then the leader of the temple should allow you do decide how two-thirds of that is spent.  The other third is like a normal donation and is used as the temple decides.

This tithe only applies to temples that support our practices, which means temples where the leader is a Mikraite and will follow the above rule.

The priests of the Old Testament were men.  Women can be prophets, judges, and teachers, but never priests.  Therefore the tithing rule only applies where the priest is a man.

Unlike the other Mikraite practices where the reasoning for the rule needs explanation, the reasoning for the tithe is obvious.  A temple (church/synagogue) needs money to operate.  Giving the donor control over two-thirds of the donation gives him an opportunity to become engaged in the temple.  Setting the donation to a fixed percentage of after-tax income removes ambiguity and confusion over how much to give.  Tithing is putting your money where your mouth is, to use the American expression.

I have two questions. First, when you say "Mikraite man," do you mean a man who is affiliated with our group, or do you mean any religious leader from a religion that we determine to be acceptable? Also, what if someone is very poor and cannot afford to give one-tenth of his or her income to the church? Should that person just give as much money as he or she can give? Would it make more sense to treat the tithe like a graduated tax, where the wealthiest people pay more than 10% and the poorest people pay less than 10%?

None of us have put this into practice, so I would say that this isn't finalized yet.  So we don't know exactly which churches should get tithes.

I would be reluctant to complicate this with a graduated tax.  I would first hope that none of us are poor since we should help each other be successful.  But if someone is poor and can't afford to pay the tithe, then I would hope that a wealthier member would help him with this.

In my own church the less financially capable can 'tithe' by offering to the community a portion of their time or a resource instead - for example, looking after a neighbour's children for an hour, or mending clothes for somebody else. Could something similar work here?

Iscah wrote

In my own church the less financially capable can 'tithe' by offering to the community a portion of their time or a resource instead - for example, looking after a neighbour's children for an hour, or mending clothes for somebody else. Could something similar work here?

My gut reaction to that suggestion is that it sounds a little like indentured servitude.

We haven't figured out tithing yet.  I think it will depend a lot on which religion we align with.

I don't really understand that. It is more like an an act of charity - both to a neighbour, and to the person unable to tithe in the financial sense. Also fulfils one function of tithing, to benefit the community as a whole.