When you rent a house, condo, townhouse, or apartment you put a deposit down with the landlord. The money you use to place the deposit with the new landlord is from your savings or directly from your pay check - either way if you tithe you probably tithed upon receipt of the funds. Then you wrote the deposit check.
It's time to move out now. You clean your home and make sure everything is in order. You do your walk through and the landlord gives you a sign off. You know that you will be getting your security deposit back soon from that landlord. That's great. Because most deposits are equal to one months rent, one generally uses that incoming deposit to pay rent in their new home.
Which brings me to the fork in the road. I've been very faithful on tithing all incoming money. A returned deposit is incoming money. It is also money, in my opinion, equal to funds coming from your saving account. Which as mentioned earlier you already tithed off that income when you originally wrote out that security deposit -- so why tithe again?
In this particular instance that I'm speaking of is my own current situation. My landlord not only paid me my deposit back, but also had to pay me a $250.00 fine for late return of the security deposit. Immediately, I acknowledged I needed to tithe off the $250.00. Makes sense. New money. New benefit. Equals tithing.
Somehow, I guess I was uncertain as to whether I should tithe off the deposit as well. I spoke with my SO who always assumed we would be tithing off the entire balance. Not the response I wanted to hear. However, I guess I was wavering, as to whether to tithe or not, since I had to ask in the first place.
Another factor that we have learned is you should never tithe when you are not happy about tithing. By doing so, will leave you with a negative feeling about tithing and no benefit can come from that negativity.
My problem is I'm not upset about it. I just needed to have the confirmation that tithing from the full amount was the right thing to do. Think about that. Why? Tithing is never bad. You can never tithe to much. Therefore, tithing is always the right thing to do.
You might be wondering if that was the outcome, why in the world am I rambling about this. Simply, because when I searched the internet for others with this situation I didn't find anything. Therefore, if someone else stumbles across this one blog entry and it benefits them in their time of confusion, this rant was completely necessary.
Now let's all go tithe!
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6 comments:
Sometimes writers use the term 'tithe' only in a general sense like 'give'. At other times, some writers mean that a person has the obligation to pay God 10% of their income. If that is what you believe then please consider an alternate view. A good place to start is the LINKS page at www.nomoretithing.org where you will find about 24 books and about 36 other web sites that all teach that believers are free from the Law of tithing. Yes, we should be generous TO THE NEEDY.
George
RESPONSE TO COMMENT:
Hi George,
Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you asked for the clarification. While I appreciate and respect your point of view, I mean tithe, as it is intended.
My blog address is onetenth.blogspot.com and my title is "Give to God. Give to yourself. Give to Others."
I was raised with the traditional Christian meaning of tithing. As an adult I have found myself with opportunity to explore various religions to see what works for me. I remain a Christian. I'm actually a very proud Christian. Although, I also believe in spirituality.
For me I pray to GOD. However, I respect and honor that your name for GOD may differ from mine. You may call GOD, Allah, Jehovah, or another name for your higher power.
I also believe in spirit of prosperity. By tithing through the teachings of both Catherine Ponder and Creflo Dollar I tithe on all money received. I thank GOD for the opportunity to tithe. I thank GOD for allowing me to tithe and reach my potential, my inherited rights, my riches and all my GOD given prosperity.
I also agree that you should give to others. I fully support that ideal. I give my time and money to charity. I have been actively involved with charities since I was 10 years of age, and continue to do so.
Thank you again for your comments.
Blessed Be.
So it sounds as though you're hesitating because of the definition of the money that you are receiving back from the ex-landlord. Do you consider it money that was always yours that they were holding for you? Or do you consider it found money, because we've all heard the stories about people not getting their deposits back.
If that money was always yours and they were holding it for you, you've already tithed for that amount.
If the money is 'found money' then per your own definition of tithing, you will tithe on the entire amount.
It's your perception of where the money is coming from at this point in time.
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for your take on the situation. I'm enjoying the feedback I've received. I very much value opinions of the many.
I finally found peace with the whole situation. I decided to tithe. Tithe I did.
I'm very glad you found me though. I love your blogs. I hope you find your way back here and have a chance to see The Secret video.
Blessings...
I did find my way back. ;>) Thanks for your feedback on my ramblings. I actually have the Secret DVD. It's been a big help to me while I step out into the unknown on this adventure. Another DVD you may want to watch is 'What The Bleep Do We Know'. It came out before The Secret but the underlying definition of connection is there also. Just defined a bit differently.
I'm glad you found your way on the question you had.
Take care.
Hi Nancy,
Welcome back. We actually did watch "What The Bleep Do We Know," awhile back. I do see similarities. I also watch a lot of Creflo Dollar and his daily ministries which helps, plus read Catherine Ponder. All of which I think are positive reinforcements to our daily lives.
Hope to see you around again.
Take Care
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