Saturday, September 10, 2011

Amazing facts about Tithing

1. Who are the world’s Biggest tithers? Kim Kardashian has given millions of dollars in tithes! Kim Kardashian gives generously to a foundation for the terminally ill, and tithes 10 percent of all her earnings to a church co-founded by her mother. What does she make a year? Her net yearly income is estimated in excess of $35 million. Figure on at least $3.5 million a year going to tithes!
(There are probably many more big givers. But they don’t want me soliciting them, so they make sure it’s all hush-hush…)
2. On the other hand… The patriarch Jacob tithed his sons, consecrating Levi. That’s a pretty heavy tithe!
(Anyone else is offering a son as a tithe?)
3. The longest tithe is that of smiles, because there is a MILE between the first and last letters. Har, Har!
(Or is it maybe Neons, where there is an EON in middle.)
4. Tithing turning deadly; On the 14 December 1831 at a place called Carrickshock, Ireland a crowd of locals attacked Edmund Butler, a tithe collector and a detachment of the Royal Irish Constabulary who were escorting him. A hail of stones rained down on the police, and the Chief Constable, Captain Gibbons and fourteen of his men were killed. So also was Butler and twenty-five to thirty local people, who had attacked the detachment with rocks and other implements.
It makes me weep to even think of it…
5. The oldest tithe; the ancient Babylonians collected a ten percent tithe, The Esretu, benefitting the governor, many years before the Bible.
It was CALLED a tithe. Like other things in life, it was not exactly as it seemed. It was really a TAX!
6. Tithing for free; you can now safely tithe without paying out a plugged nickel: give your unwanted gift cards instead! Want to know how? Go now to www.giftkards4kids.org for more information!
This information is non-promotionalJ.   
7. Mormons are required to tithe above all other obligations, such as paying bills or debts. It comes before rent too. Non-tithing is considered more sinful than worst-sins alcoholism and smoking.
So what does the Mormon Church profit from tithing? $4.3 billion a year is the estimate!
8. The Tithe War; From 1830-36 there was an actual war waged by the Irish against paying the tithe for the upkeep of the established state church - the Church of Ireland. Tithes were payable either in cash or kind (that’s nice of them!) and payment was compulsory, even atheists needed to tithe!
I guess the old adage “…when atheists start tithing…” is a bit suspect!
9. Tithing jail; In 1832 Andrew Fitzgerald, the president of Carlow College was imprisoned for not paying his tithes! Things have changed since then, I hear.
10. On the menu; In the middle ages not only was there a wine tithe on wine cellars, there was a tithe upon cut wood, slaughtered meat, and even land that had been prepared for farming!
I wonder if you cut your hair and wanted to make a wig of it, did you need to tithe that too?
11. Who tithes? Only three percent of American adults tithe ten percent or more of their income to churches.
Shucks…
12. Tithing is fairly universal; Jews Christians and Muslims all tithe!

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