Tithing. What are first fruits in a non agrarian society?

DaveHTexas said:

I have been unemployed for a long time now (19 months) due to the AI dessimation of the IT job market. Honestly nobody really saw that coming nor prepared for it. But not the point I need to make.

To make ends meet I am driving ride share, doesn't matter which one, but I am hustling my tail off, working 12 hour days to make less than 1/4 of what I was earning before just so I don't have to end up on the streets.

I know I should tithe, but on what amount?

Let's assume I earned $5,000.00 in fares, and tips last month. That number is high, but let's go with it anyway.
Now let's assume that I spend $250.00 each week on gas and toll road tolls to do this, so my net is $4,000.00, and the weekly spend on fuel and tolls is likely LOW...
Now assume further in doing this I needed $3,000.00 in vehicle repairs to keep my car SAFE to operate for myself and my riders. Now my net is $1,000.00

Do I tithe on the $5,000.00 GROSS, or the $1,000.00 NET?

For anyone paying attention, that is 288 hours to get $1,000.00 net income and a car with an added 10K miles on it. That works out to $3.47 per hour.

If you rideshare and don't tip. You may want to look at those numbers again. Would you work for $3.47 / hour and wear out a valuable asset like a car?

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If you run a business (ride sharing is that) you should look at your net business income if you want to tithe, but are you a Jew observing the Law of Moses? There is no tithing law for Gentile believers although it's still a wonderful principle and basically all our assets belong to Him.

DaveHTexas said:

I have been unemployed for a long time now (19 months) due to the AI dessimation of the IT job market. Honestly nobody really saw that coming nor prepared for it. But not the point I need to make.

To make ends meet I am driving ride share, doesn't matter which one, but I am hustling my tail off, working 12 hour days to make less than 1/4 of what I was earning before just so I don't have to end up on the streets.

I know I should tithe, but on what amount?

Let's assume I earned $5,000.00 in fares, and tips last month. That number is high, but let's go with it anyway.
Now let's assume that I spend $250.00 each week on gas and toll road tolls to do this, so my net is $4,000.00, and the weekly spend on fuel and tolls is likely LOW...
Now assume further in doing this I needed $3,000.00 in vehicle repairs to keep my car SAFE to operate for myself and my riders. Now my net is $1,000.00

Do I tithe on the $5,000.00 GROSS, or the $1,000.00 NET?

For anyone paying attention, that is 288 hours to get $1,000.00 net income and a car with an added 10K miles on it. That works out to $3.47 per hour.

If you rideshare and don't tip. You may want to look at those numbers again. Would you work for $3.47 / hour and wear out a valuable asset like a car?

Click to expand...

Tithing in the NT is just a number not a command. The NT way is give liberally and get liberally, give sparingly and get sparingly. Cut yourself some slack. If you add in depreciation for the vehicle it sounds like you are losing money. For an early agrarian society, the farmers did not have much expenses. I imagine they kept seeds from their older crops and did not tithe that portion. Tithing too is over 20% because there were special tithes in the OT. I hope you are not under the law or condemn yourself. Jesus loves you, give what you can but expect God to give you a better job. I pray its above your expectations.

it does not matter what someone say. tithing is not valid for NT christians anymore. we are told to give of a happy heart as each decide. and given a paralell about the widow who only gave a penny. that God loves a happy giver. we are to decide. the amount does not matter. but our HEART. that is the spirit of it.

God does not want you to suffer because of giving. He does not want you to give what you should have for food. THINK

DaveHTexas said:

No, just wondering if there were any real guidelines I was missing... And in many ways yes I am going backwards considering depreciation of the car...

I knew the repairs were coming for a while, CV halfshaft had a torn boot, nobody does just the boots anymore they do the whole shaft, control arms since the bushings and ball joints are now part of the control arm instead of replaceable components. and rear brakes plus a 4 wheel alignment hit me for 3K... This is in 4 weeks of working basically 12 hour days when the car is not in the shop...

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I have to say that is rough. Are there no other jobs in your area? Any chances to move if there are not? It is good to be faithful in what you do now, but if it is turning out to be low income, then keep praying and expect God to bring something else.

Maybe look for online jobs? some upgrading?course? apprentice?

DaveHTexas said:

I have been unemployed for a long time now (19 months) due to the AI dessimation of the IT job market. Honestly nobody really saw that coming nor prepared for it. But not the point I need to make.

To make ends meet I am driving ride share, doesn't matter which one, but I am hustling my tail off, working 12 hour days to make less than 1/4 of what I was earning before just so I don't have to end up on the streets.

I know I should tithe, but on what amount?

Let's assume I earned $5,000.00 in fares, and tips last month. That number is high, but let's go with it anyway.
Now let's assume that I spend $250.00 each week on gas and toll road tolls to do this, so my net is $4,000.00, and the weekly spend on fuel and tolls is likely LOW...
Now assume further in doing this I needed $3,000.00 in vehicle repairs to keep my car SAFE to operate for myself and my riders. Now my net is $1,000.00

Do I tithe on the $5,000.00 GROSS, or the $1,000.00 NET?

For anyone paying attention, that is 288 hours to get $1,000.00 net income and a car with an added 10K miles on it. That works out to $3.47 per hour.

If you rideshare and don't tip. You may want to look at those numbers again. Would you work for $3.47 / hour and wear out a valuable asset like a car?

Click to expand...

In the Eastern Orthodox Church tithing is not required, nor is it required by most traditional liturgical churches in the US such as the various Anglican churches, and its fairly obvious you are not in a position to give alms.

The system of tithes, church taxes and in the UK certain landowners having maintenance responsibilities for the local parish, imposed in Western Europe was and is used used by established churches like the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the various Lutheran churches of Germany, the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia, the Continental Reformed churches in Prussia, the Netherlands and so on, and these churches historically provided much of what is now provided by the welfare state in those countries, and in some cases still acts as an agent of it, for example with state-funded parochial schools paid for by a church tax in countries like Germany.

By the way, in the IT industry there is strong demand for skilled cloud, AI and security professionals; the main hit has been on software development and certain types of traditional systems administration and engineering. If you can develop your skillset towards these areas you might well be able to regain employment. Also freelancers in various IT related specialties ranging from web development to systems programming can leverage AI to greatly improve productivity.

I do understand this is not the main topic of your thread, but I would be very happy to provide some specific reccommendations for professional development in another thread or privately via a conversation.

I would also be very happy to pray for you.

God bless you!