Principles of love undergird the church welfare program

In 1936 the First Presidency organized and initiated the welfare program of the church based on the principles that governed the United Order, the program emanating from the Lord's Law of Consecration.Although we do not live the United Order today we are still bound by the Law of Consecration as practiced and expressed in tithing and offerings and the welfare program of the church.Consecration is based on each individual recognizing that everything on the earth is God's — we don't really own anything.We also acknowledge that we are stewards of those things entrusted to us by God.Some day we will give an accounting to God explaining how we managed the talents, opportunities, material resources, etc., that he gave us.Also intrinsic is understanding that it is a privilege to live the law, that for it to be effective we have to think not of ourselves but of the needs of others, and we must reach out and help the less fortunate in society.These and the principles of love, service and self-reliance undergird the Mormon welfare program.Many people over the years, confused in their beliefs, have equated the Law of Consecration with communal and communistic practices.Communism and radical socialism are based on coercion and the denial of agency.They prove to be grossly inequitable and often are founded on revolution and violence.They are, in every way, contrary to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many government welfare programs around the world today are antithetical to the principles enshrined in the Lord's law of welfare. Their tendency is often to harm rather than help the individual. We live in a day and age where governments are intruding more and more into our lives and the opportunity to exercise individual agency in the choices we make is thereby curtailed.Government welfare programs, besides being terribly inefficient and wasteful, also negate the Lord's principles in distributing welfare.The Lord commands bishops and welfare agents, "appoint unto this people (those in need) their portions, every man equal according to his family, according to his needs."While those given responsibility to distribute aid in the church are accountable to carefully administer needed aid — more for some and less for others — governments have neither the ability nor the propensity to equitably distribute aid according to true need.Elder David B. Haight identified another evil associated with extensive government welfare programs — their tendency to support laziness and their failure to require individuals to work and to strive to become self-reliant.He observed: "What has this monstrous thing called government welfare done to the people? Today we have second- and third-generation welfare recipients. Millions have learned how to live off the government. Children are growing up without knowing the value and the dignity of work. The government has succeeded in doing what the church welfare program seeks to prevent."To take from those who work and earn and to redistribute their earnings to others is also a violation of God's law.Those who have more than they need stand condemned before the Lord if they do not act charitably, "Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls."However, the purpose of charity is to bless those in need and to bless those who give.Only a free-will offering allows the giver to earn the blessings and experience the personal moral improvement that comes from sacrifice and charity.When governments intercede and forcibly take from those who have, the opportunity to sacrifice and to develop a charitable nature is lost. Conversely, aid is only to be sought by those who are incapable of providing for themselves.The Lord condemns the avaricious poor, "Wo unto you poor men ... whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men's goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands!"President Spencer W. Kimball stated that individuals "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."Elder Haight noted, "Church members are not immune to the perils of the government dole," and President Kimball warned: "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."There is powerful counsel in these leader's words.First, in times of economic distress seek counsel and direction from the Lord. Too often we rely on our own "worldly wisdom" and fail to turn to or heed the promptings of the Lord when economic downturns come.Second, while we must, "pray as if everything depends on God, we must work as if everything depends on us." The Proclamation on the Family reiterates our dependence on God and our duty to "pray," to "work."Also: "By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation." The Lord's ways are rarely the ways of the world. We must first disabuse ourselves of the notion that we — collectively — know better than God, and then we must follow the Lord's pattern of welfare and charity. Only by doing so can we find the safety and security that we truly seek.