List of Doctrines on "Welfare Program: Prevention"
858. Every adult has the responsibility to be self-reliant and independent in caring for his or her own economic needs.
859. Every adult has the responsibility to be self-reliant and independent in caring for his or her own emotional and spiritual needs.
860. Every adult has the responsibility for personal preparedness against emergency.
858. Every adult has the responsibility to be self-reliant and independent in caring for his or her own economic needs.
John A. Widtsoe
Moses
Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney
President Harold B. Lee
Marvin J. Ashton
Related Witnesses
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith
Alma, the younger
Marion G. Romney
John A. Widtsoe
The activities of life center upon the business of making a living. Every man worthy of life desires to be able to sustain himself and a family of his own. This has always been an objective of the Latter-day Saints. In our welfare program the need of caring for the poor, necessary and beautiful as it is, is less important than the attempt to find ways and means to enable the poor to provide for themselves, and to raise the standard of living of all to meet their natural wants properly. Universal self-support will be a mighty defense against any enemy. A contented, self-supporting people will resist the cheap, enslaving offerings of evil. CR1940Oct:64
Moses
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden to experience mortal life) Genesis 3:19
Marion G. Romney
It will require maximum effort for us to bring ourselves within the reach of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ so that we can be saved. There will be no government dole which can get us through the pearly gates. Nor will anyone go through those gates who wants to go through on the efforts of another.
The first principle of action in Church Welfare is, therefore, for us to take care of ourselves as far as is possible. CR1979Apr:134
Marion G. Romney
We should strive to become self-reliant and not depend on others for our existence.
Governments are not the only guilty parties. We fear many parents in the Church are making "gullible gulls" out of their children with their permissiveness and their doling out of family resources. Parents who place their children on the dole are just as guilty as a government which places its citizens on the dole. In fact, the actions of parents in this area can be more devastating than any government program.
Bishops and other priesthood leaders can be guilty of making "gullible gulls" out of their ward members. Some members become financially or emotionally dependent on their bishops. A dole is a dole whatever its source. All of our Church and family actions should be directed toward making our children and members self-reliant. . . .
Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant. Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth. Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well. If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act. . . .
The key to making self-reliance spiritual is in using the freedom to comply with God's commandments. CR1982Oct:133-34
President Harold B. Lee
After giving his law to parents to teach and train their children to walk uprightly before the Lord, he indicated his displeasure relative to those among us who, in his language, "are idlers . . . and [our] children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness." (D&C 68:31)
If these words are clearly understood, we have been told where the roots of all evil are to be found. Our children have not been properly taught by parents in the home. Our communities have adopted policies which encourage idleness instead of work for those who want to work for what they need, and have failed to adopt measures to see that idleness and unemployment are reduced to the absolute minimum. CR1972Oct:61
Marvin J. Ashton
God help us to realize that money management is an important ingredient in proper personal welfare. Learning to live within our means should be a continuing process. We need to work constantly toward keeping ourselves free of financial difficulties. It is a happy day financially when time and interest are working for you and not against you.
Money in the lives of Latter-day Saints should be used as a means of achieving eternal happiness. Careless and selfish uses cause us to live in financial bondage. We can't afford to neglect personal and family involvement in our money management. God will open the windows of heaven to us in these matters if we will but live close to him and keep his commandments. ("One for the Money," EN1975Jul:73) TLDP:731
Related Witnesses:
Joseph Smith
Let every man be diligent in all things. And the idler shall not have place in the church, except he repent and mend his ways. (Revelation received at a Church conference, Jan. 25, 1832) D&C 75:29
Joseph Smith
Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. (Revelation Dec. 27/28, 1832; the "olive leaf message of peace") D&C 88:124
Joseph Smith
And the inhabitants of Zion also shall remember their labors, inasmuch as they are appointed to labor, in all faithfulness; for the idler shall be had in remembrance before the Lord.
31. Now, I, the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them. . . . (Revelation received at the request of several elders, Nov. 1831) D&C 68:30-31
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
receiving the Word of the Lord
Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer. (Revelation "embracing the law of the Church," received Feb. 9, 1831; "Although this revelation was given in connection with the law of consecration, the principles it teaches are consistent with the Church welfare plan," MPSG1988:102) D&C 42:42
Joseph Smith
Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite . . . who will not labor with your own hands (Revelation at Kirtland, June 1831) D&C 56:17
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
quoted by Mormon
[S]ee that ye refrain from idleness. (Alma to his son Shiblon) Alma 38:12
Marion G. Romney
The first principle of action in Church Welfare is, therefore, for us to take care of ourselves as far as is possible.
The second principle is that we should be so bound together as families that we shall sustain each other. Fathers and mothers are under a divine command to care for their children, and children have the responsibility to care for their parents. CR1979Apr:134
Author's Note: This principle of economic independence does not negate the appropriate partnership relationship in marriage where the breadwinner is usually the husband.
859. Every adult has the responsibility to be self-reliant and independent in caring for his or her own emotional and spiritual needs.
Boyd K. Packer
President Spencer W. Kimball
Howard W. Hunter
Related Witnesses
Albert E. Bowen
President Brigham Young
Marion G. Romney
Boyd K. Packer
I have been concerned that we may be on the verge of doing to ourselves emotionally (and therefore spiritually) what we have been working so hard for generations to avoid materially. If we lose our emotional and spiritual self-reliance, we can be weakened quite as much, perhaps even more, than when we become dependent materially. On one hand, we counsel bishops to avoid abuses in the Church welfare program. On the other hand, we seem to dole out counsel and advice without the slightest thought that the member should solve the problem himself or turn to his family. Only when those resources are inadequate should he turn to the Church.
We recognize at once that it would be folly to develop welfare production projects to totally sustain all of the members of the Church in every material need. We ought likewise to be very thoughtful before we develop a vast network of counseling programs with all of the bishops and branch presidents and everyone else doling out counsel in an effort to totally sustain our members in every emotional need.
If we are not careful we can lose the power of individual revelation. . . .
Has it occurred to you that many problems can be solved by reading the scriptures? We should all personally be familiar with the revelations. As part of your emotional self-reliance, read the scriptures. . . .
I think an emotional dole system can be as dangerous as a material dole system, and we can become so dependent that we stand around waiting for the Church to do everything for us. ("Self-reliance," EN1975Aug:86) TLDP:724-25
President Spencer W. Kimball
Work brings happiness, self-esteem, and prosperity. It is the means of all accomplishment; it is the opposite of idleness. . . .
. . . . The Church and its members are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent.
The responsibility for each person's social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof.
No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life.
. . . . Because all things belong to the Lord, we are stewards over our bodies, minds, families, and properties. (General conference, welfare session, Oct. 1977) (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 366) TLDP:718-19
Howard W. Hunter,
also quoting Joseph Smith
There are some who ask why the Church is concerned with temporal affairs. The Church is interested in the welfare of each of its members. This interest therefore cannot be limited to man's spiritual needs alone but extends to every phase of his life. Social and economic needs are important to everyone. Man also has need for physical, mental, and moral guidance. Our lives cannot be one-sided, nor can we separate the spiritual from the temporal. The Lord has said:
"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.
"Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal neither carnal nor sensual." (D&C 29:34-35)
The Lord makes no distinction between temporal and spiritual commandments, for he has said that all of his commandments are spiritual. When we understand the plan of life and salvation, this becomes evident to us. Mortality is just one part of our eternal life.
We know where we came from. Holy writ tells us that we were born the spiritual children of our Heavenly Father, that we dwelt with him in a spiritual existence before our birth into mortality. The divine object of our coming to earth is to obtain a body of flesh and bones, to learn by the experiences which come to us in this mortal life the difference between good and evil, and to accomplish those things which the Lord commanded. Thus this life is the schoolroom of our journey through eternity. There is work to do and lessons to learn that we might prepare and qualify ourselves to go into the spiritual existence to follow.
Man distinguishes between the temporal and the spiritual, probably because living in mortality between the spiritual pre-existence and the spiritual life hereafter, he fails to recognize the full significance of his activities during the years he spends on earth. To the Lord everything is both spiritual and temporal, and the laws he gives are consequently spiritual, because they concern spiritual beings.
Every phase of our life, therefore becomes the concern of the Church. The great welfare program of the Church demonstrates this principle. The Church is interested in our social and our recreational needs, educational, family life, our business affairs, and all that we do.
There is no way we can separate the activities of worship on the Sabbath day from the many pursuits of the weekday by calling one religious and the other temporal. Both are spiritual. God has ordained them thus, for they consist of our thoughts and actions as we wend our way through this part of eternity. Thus our business transactions, our daily labors, our trade or profession, or whatever we do become part of living the gospel.
This imposes upon us a high duty and a high responsibility. If all men would live in obedience to these principles in their daily lives and in their dealings with each other, and if this same code would prevail among those who are in leadership among the peoples and nations of the world, righteousness would prevail, peace would return, and the blessings of the Lord would be showered down upon his children.
Righteous living must start in the lives of individuals. Each of us has the duty. [Italics added] It must be incorporated into family living. Parents have the responsibility to live these principles and teach them to their children. Religion must be part of our living. The gospel of Jesus Christ must become the motivating influence in all that we do. There must be more striving within in order to follow the great example set by the Savior if we are to become more like him. This becomes our great challenge. CR1961Oct:108
Related Witnesses:
Albert E. Bowen
We have a very practical religion. It pertains to our lives now. And the reward of observance of the law is not altogether postponed to a future on the other side of the grave. Building up the kingdom involves some very practical things. It is not altogether concerned with the non-material lying out in the ethereal realm. The building of meetinghouses, places of worship, schools, temples, for example, clearly is for spiritual purposes. But they involve a large element of the material. They are essential to the building up of the kingdom of God. And where would you classify the beautifying of your home; the making of refined surroundings? It is necessary to provide the things that sustain life, to master the arts and crafts and trades that meet the needs of progress and improvement. I do not think I can find the line that divides the spiritual from the temporal. CR1951Apr:124
President Brigham Young,
quoted by John A. Widtsoe
quoted by John A. Widtsoe
If we could only learn enough to be self-preserving and self-sustaining, we should then have learned what the Gods have learned before us, and what we must eventually learn before we can be exalted. (In Tabernacle, Jan. 26, 1862, JD9:169) DBY:255
Marion G. Romney
The first principle of action in Church Welfare is, therefore, for us to take care of ourselves as far as is possible.
The second principle is that we should be so bound together as families that we shall sustain each other. Fathers and mothers are under a divine command to care for their children, and children have the responsibility to care for their parents. CR1979Apr:134
860. Every adult has the responsibility for personal preparedness against emergency.
President Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,David O. McKay
President Spencer W. Kimball
President Spencer W. Kimball
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
President Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,David O. McKay
(First Presidency)
We renew the counsel given to the Saints from the days of Brigham Young until now—be honest, truthful, industrious, frugal, thrifty. In the day of plenty, prepare for the day of scarcity. The principle of the fat and lean kine is as applicable today as it was in the days when, on the banks of the Nile, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream. Officials now warn us, and warn again, that scant days are coming. CR1942Apr:89
President Spencer W. Kimball
The principle of self-reliance stands behind the Church's emphasis on personal and family preparedness. Our progress in implementing the various facets of this personal and family preparedness is impressive, but there are still far too many families who have yet to heed the counsel to live providently. CR1978Apr:120
President Spencer W. Kimball
Some have become casual about keeping up their year's supply of commodities. . . .
Should evil times come, many might wish they had filled all their fruit bottles and cultivated a garden in their backyards and planted a few trees and berry bushes and provided for their own commodity needs.
The Lord planned that we would be independent of every creature. CR1974Oct:6
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Our bishops storehouses are not intended to stock enough commodities to care for all the members of the Church. Storehouses are only established to care for the poor and the needy. For this reason, members of the Church have been instructed to personally store a year's supply of food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel. By following this counsel, most members will be prepared and able to care for themselves and their family members, and be able to share with others as may be needed. ("Ministering to Needs through the Lord's Storehouse System," EN1977May:82) TLDP:730
