Reverse Tithing

In ancient Babylon, the standard tax was a simple one-tenth of one’s assets were reserved for the state. It was an easy code that anyone could understand and calculate. At a later time, this political idea of giving 10% to a worldly king was transferred to giving that same amount to God (or, more realistically, to those organizations that were viewed as representatives of God, such as the Jewish Temple or the Christian Church).

Reverse tithing is just what it sounds like: giving away 90% of your annual income and keeping just the remainder for living expenses. I first heard of this concept from Sir John Templeton, who customarily gives away 10 times to charity that he spends on himself.

Of course, this would be hard strategy to complete successfully on a salary of $50,000. Certainly, this is reserved for those with a high net worth and income. Yet, I do think this is a noble aspiration: to one day to share the majority of your abundance with family, friends, non-profits, religious organizations, scientific research, and other secular causes.

Would you like to become a reverse tither too?

Comments

[Chris Cree]

Hey, Thom. The reverse tithe is a great idea. I'm not there yet, but talk about an abundance mindset!

[john]

my wife and i don't reverse tithe but since being married 15 years ago we committed to living on minimum wage and using the rest of our income for minstry, etc. It gets a little harder as we adopt more children to stick to a minimum wage budget but it is very do-able. We thought living on minimum wage was at least a starting point, but still manage to live a life of tremendous excess... if atheist philosopher Peter Singer can suggest for ethical reasons that people live on $30,000 per year, then we as Christians can at least do a little better than that! Just imagine all the glory and praise and honor we might give to God if we really consider our wealth His and dedicate ourselves to giving it all to His glory!