"Ninjas And The 10% Rule"

I tithe. Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't give as much as I should, nor have I been a consistent tither, but I've been working to spend less and give more. As I think about my giving patterns and my relative income, I've come to understand that I gave much more when I made considerably less. I've also come to understand that I seem to have a predisposition to spend more than I make. Given the bleak financial outlook for "most" Americans that's broadcast on the nightly network news, it seems that we have an epidemic of spending more or exactly what we all receive in income. If I think about it, as a nation, we have more "cash flow" than we've ever had and yet we're all drowning in debt. We are addicted to spending, and furthermore we're addicted to spending more than we have, both as individuals and as a society (see our Federal Budget and the mounting national debt). Eventually it all catches up with us, our personal circumstances change, we lose a job, we have another child, our mortgage adjusts and then we can no longer make the payments on our excessive debt as well as meet our monthly living expenses. Or in the case of the Federal Government, tax receipts go down due to the economy and/or any number of factors or the yearly budget grows more than projected tax receipts. As a nation we're facing both of these challenges, right now. Our economy is faltering, our ATMs [Houses] are empty, unemployment is up, mortgages are adjusting, tax receipts are projected to be down for the Feds, what a mess and what in the world does this have to do with tithing or ninjas?

The situation that I laid out has everything to do with tithing or personal giving in general and a tenuous connection to ninjas. You see, when our personal circumstances change and our spending is out of balance with our income we do one or a combination of three things, get a better job, cut spending, or declare bankruptcy. When our Federal Government's spending gets out of control they do one or a combination of three things, raise taxes, cut spending, or borrow (whether it be from other countries, lock boxes, etc.). Unfortunately for a lot of Americans and our government, cutting spending does not seem to be an option. Instead, heavy borrowing, bankruptcy (Vallejo, CA), or in the government's case, taxation, seem to be the options of choice. Personal borrowing or bankruptcy does not equate to raising or maintaining a healthy level of charitable giving. Furthermore, increased taxation has been shown to directly correlate to decreased charitable giving1. We Americans are some of the most generous people on the face of the planet, for a number of reasons, but our Federal Government is not. It gives limited amounts of our tax dollars to many causes, some we know and agree with, many we do not. Those in positions of power in this country want us to believe, because we tend to be a merciful culture, that extra taxation is required to help those in need (Social Security, Medicaid, Welfare Programs, etc.) I agree with the premise that we should help those in need, but I completely disagree with the methodology. I equate trusting our government with more of our money to trusting a ninja. Ninjas are powerful, organized, committed to pursuing their agenda, deadly to their enemies, but would you trust them to take care of your grandmother? I think that the person best able to decide how much to give of your money is YOU. We all believe in different things, but maybe we can all agree that helping our fellow man is a priority and there are thousands of good charities that do just that. I read recently that if the mainline denominational Christians were all to give a 10% tithe, it would equate to 164 Billion dollars per year2. Our 2007 federally budgeted amount for Social Security, Medicaid, Welfare, and other health related programs was 964.9 Billion dollars3. If Christians gave as expected, they alone could take care of 17% of that need without the Federal Government's involvement. I propose that the 164 Billion would go a lot farther privately, if the government wasn't involved, giving rise to a greater impact than just 17% of the budgeted need.

I think it's inherently dangerous to let our government be the entity tasked with taking care of our family, friends, and loved ones. That should be our personal responsibility. Statistics show that heavier taxation equates to less per capita charitable giving and I for one do not trust that the government can efficiently handle the welfare of our entire population (Google the Soviet Union for example). Accepting higher taxes in the name of the welfare of our population and turning a blind eye toward personal responsibility to the needy is not the answer. I'll end with something I heard the other day: It's not charity if it's not your money. Think about it!

1 http://www.cafonline.org/pdf/International%20%20Giving%20highlights.pdf
2 http://www.generousgiving.org/page.asp?sec=48&page=161
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget,_2007