Gross or net

We recapped the church vs parachurch as recipients of tithing. The key is if we define tithing to be God's money, we must seek God's will for it. In our session on calling, we concluded that the methodology for determining a calling may be applied to any situation for determining God's will. The methodology includes consulting God's community. If we write a cheque in the privacy of our rooms without prayer or consideration, then it is almost certainly not an example of seeking after God's will. If we seek the full affirmation of God's community: our pastor, our church treasurer, say, then it is very hard for anyone to criticize. That is why the focus has been on the giver and not the recipient. The best way to avoid an apparent conflict of interest is to give up complete control of God's money and give it to our local church.

We had a small group discussion where we shared some of our motivations for giving to non-church groups. Those who felt compelled could share whether they consider that tithing or not; though that is really only encouraged in a personal small group rather than a large Sunday School class.

The topic of gross or net should be approached by remembering the key principle of tithing: it's about the 100% not the 10%. We are simply God's stewards in deciding what to do. So it really depends on the motivation for "deducting": for most, if it is an attempt to minimize what we give then the attitude is wrong. For some, there may be good, legitimate reasons. For example a draft-dodger objecting to a war could hardly tithe on that portion of the tax spent on war.

For the rest of us, the specific answer is found in the idea of giving to God our "first fruits". Prov 3:9, Ex 23:16a, Ex 23:19a. Anything less means we're giving God our second fruits and the government first fruits.

The economic counter argument to the "net" position is that we must tithe on all our increases. So fine, deduct & tithe on net, but remember to tithe on every benefit you receive from tax money or otherwise: the subsidized portion of education, the subsidized portion of TTC, health benefits, work health benefits, expensed lunches at work, red pouches, etc.

We ended the class with 2 Cor 9:6,7. We shouldn't just be a cheerful giver, but a "hilarious" giver.