LDS Humanitarian Services

I received a comment this evening from YouTube user JAMaddict on my video Inside the LDS (Mormon) Twin Falls Temple.  This is what she said:

It makes me physically ill to think about the “hand selected” granite flooring. What a waste, when so many millions of people need various types of aid.

Before you start going on and on about LDS’s humanitarian efforts, don’t bother! Since LDS refuses to release their financial records, no one knows for sure, but the best guess is that they give 2% of their total income to aid. That’s sickening.

This was my reply message back to her:

The LDS Church has given over $1.1158 billion dollars in humanitarian aid in 167 countries worldwide since 1985. You can see the breakdown per year here:
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,4606-1-2329-1,00.html

If you want to get more specific, you can see the 2008 Welfare Services Fact Sheet here:
http://www.providentliving.org/welfare/pdf/WelfareFactSheet.pdf

$282.2 million in cash donations
$833.6 million in material assistance

That includes:

• 61,308 tons of Food
• 12,829 tons of Medical supplies
• 84,681 tons of Clothing
• 5,965 tons of Educational supplies
• 8.6 million of Hygiene, newborn, and school kits
• 1,100,059 days of labor donated to welfare facilities

What is sick about that?

I might have also mentioned that anciently only the very finest materials were used to construct the House of the Lord, including gold, silver, iron, copper, timber, and stone (see this description of Solomon’s temple), and the Lord has revealed that they are to be built to the same standards today.  It is God’s House, not ours, and He will have it built the way He reveals to His prophets.

If we had spent the humanitarian aid money we have since 1985 instead on temple construction, we could easily have over 100-200+ more temples throughout the world than we have now, essentially doubling the number we have taken 179 years to build, and providing the blessings of temple worship to many more of our members.  But our goal is not to just build temples, but to do what the Lord has commanded, “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all”.

Temple Construction Costs vs. Humanitarian Aid?

“Some day we will live the law of consecration again, but until then we must be ‘willing’ to live it.”

“It is Church doctrine that the full Law of Consecration was suspended by the Lord through the Prophet in 1834.”

“My belief is that things will get progressively worse until the actual Second Coming when Christ will institute the law of consecration.”

Have you ever heard these types of statements before?  Each one comes from active, church-going, temple-attending, members of the Church.  Each of them was said to me in conversation over the past two weeks.  Each one is also, unfortunately, untrue. 

We have some common myths in the Church, and one of the biggest surrounds the law of consecration.  I was taught the same sort of thing above growing up in Sandy, Utah, and believed it for a long time.  Whenever we spoke about the law of consecration in our church meetings the discussion usually surrounded some common points.  See if these sound familiar:

• The law of consecration/United Order was implemented by Joseph Smith in the early church.
• It involved the Saints giving everything they had over to the church, including all their possessions.
• Members failed to live the law (the higher law) so the Lord withdrew it and gave the law of tithing (the lower law) in its stead.
• In a future day the prophet will require us to live the law of consecration again.

There are many misunderstandings and fallacies in these statements that I’ve learned over the years, particularly reading Hugh Nibley’s many comments on the subject.  Prophets and apostles have also debunked these, yet somehow the myths continue to be perpetuated, much to our own spiritual detriment in building up Zion.

Most recently I attended the 37th annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium at BYU on October 24-25, where there was some excellent presentations on different aspects of “the Law.”  One of the best presentations I’ve ever heard on the law of consecration was given by Steven C. Harper entitled “All Things are the Lord’s: The Law of Consecration in the Doctrine and Covenants.”  Br. Harper is an associate professor of Church History and doctrine at Brigham Young University and an editor of the Joseph Smith Papers.  His presentation was so clear and well-stated on the subject that I immediately went and purchased the book compiled from the presentations called The Doctrine and Covenants: Revelations in Context.

In the next few posts I hope to be able to draw from Br. Harper’s paper on the subject, as well as other statements from apostles and prophets, so that we may come to a better understanding of what the law of consecration is, and what it is not.  Elder Maxwell noted in his April 2002 Conference address that “many ignore consecration . . . the conscientious among us, however, experience divine discontent”.  The word discontent means a restless longing for something better than the present situation.  That feeling surely comes because we know there is something more we could do with regard to consecration, yet we don’t know what it is or how to do it.  Br. Harper writes his purpose, and mine, “to help conscientious Saints understand and live the law of consecration as it is embodied in present-day Church practices”.

Br. Harper and other historians have classified the quotations and the common points at the beginning of this post a “folk memory”.  According to my wife who is a folklorist, a folk memory is a communal belief passed on through generations, usually orally, and because of this longevity the truth of the idea may not be questioned.  As Harper, Nibley, and many others have noted about the folk memory of the law of consecration, “No matter how widely believed it is, that is not the law of consecration contained in the Doctrine and Covenants”.

Probably the first thing that we must understand about the law of consecration is that it is still binding on the Latter-day Saints today.  For those members who have attended the temple, this should come as no surprise.  One of the covenants that we enter into in that sacred edifice is the law of consecration.  We covenant and promise to live this law – not that it was once lived, not that we are “willing” to live it, or that some day we will live it – but that we will live it, and now.  It is as binding upon us today as every other covenant we enter into in the holy temple.  We can, and should, live the law of consecration today, and I believe that many Saints are living it.  For those who have the “folk memory” belief, like I did, and are erroneously awaiting the prophet to announce something in this regard, hopefully some of these things we’ll share here will allow each of us to better understand this subject and consecrate ourselves to the Lord and his kingdom as we have covenanted to do.

In 1996 President Hinckley taught the following at a Logan Temple Workers Devotional:

Without the spirit of dedication, without the spirit of sacrifice, without the spirit of consecration, temples could not function. That goes without saying. The work in the temple is essential, it is a work of personal sacrifice and individual consecration. . . . the law of sacrifice and the law of consecration were not done away with and are still in effect. 

Br. Harper comments on President Hinckley remarks:

No revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants rescind, suspend, or revoke the law of consecration. . . . The law, in other words, was revealed to Joseph Smith in February 1831, but the law itself simply has been, is, and ever will be.  Consecration is the law of the celestial kingdom, and section 78 teaches that no one will receive an inheritance there who has not obeyed the law (see D&C 78:7). 

At the annual banquet of the FARMS organization at BYU on September 27, 1991, Elder Maxwell taught “a word about consecration”:

You will recall the episode in the fifth chapter of the book of Acts about how Ananias and Sapphira “kept back part” of the monetary proceeds from their possessions (Acts 5:3). . . . there are so many ways of keeping back part, and so many things we can withhold a portion of besides property.  All things really ought to be put on the altar.

This holding back may occur even after one’s having given a great deal, as likely had Ananias and Sapphira.  Having done much, we may mistakenly think that surely it is all right to hold back a remaining part.  Obviously, there can be no total submissiveness when this occurs.

Some are undoubtedly asking, but how do I live the law today? How do I give my all my possessions to the Church?  What program has the Church instituted to allow for the Saints’ consecration?  We’re not living the United Order today, are we?  It is these questions and more that we hope to help answer, including clarifying the mistaken premises upon which they are asked.

In the next part of the series we will define what the law of consecration is, and what the United Order is, for much of the confusion comes by conflating the two.  The law of consecration is not the United Order, and the United Order is not the law of consecration.

(Continued in Part 2)

Living the Law of Consecration – Part 1: The Mythic “Folk Memory”

In the [LDS] service that I attended, the speaker said that service to the Temple is the most important service that we can provide.  Is this opinion common across members of the LDS church?  Why is service to the Temple held in higher regard than, say, service to the poor?

This is how I replied: 

The temple is extremely important to members of the LDS Church.  Like ancient Israel, Judaism, and early Christianity, temples form the center of our religious life.  It is the place where sacred ordinances are performed on our own behalf, and on behalf of the deceased, to redeem us and them from sin and help bring us all back into the presence of God.  Like many ancient civilizations, the temple creates a space that separates the sacred from the profane.  It is literally the “House of the Lord,” where His presence dwells.  It is a mirror of heaven.

We serve there only once performing the ordinances for ourselves, but thereafter each time we go to the temple we perform the ordinances on behalf of someone who has died.  We do this because we believe these ordinances are required for salvation and exaltation, but many people who lived in the past never had the chance to hear and accept these same blessings.  Thus we stand in a vicarious role, making an offering of the blessings of the atonement of Jesus Christ to those who didn’t have the chance to accept them during their mortal life.  Christ began this ministry among the dead after his death (1 Peter 3:18-20; 1 Peter 4:6).  We continue this redemption of the dead since Christ’s organization of it, and through continual revelation to living prophets and apostles.  Consequently, our service in the temple is the pinnacle of service to the poor, indeed, the “poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3; Isa. 61:1-2).  There are many who have passed from this world who are, in a very real way, poor, because they had no chance to partake of the saving ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ in mortality, and cannot return to God’s presence without them.  We serve millions of people in this capacity all around the world in our temples each day.

Outside of the temple we also do a great humanitarian work.  Members of the Church donate 10% of their gross income in tithing to the Church, and also give other donations in fast offerings, time, talents, skills, and other areas.  The Church uses some of these donations to assist the poor.  Since 1985 the Church has given over $1 billion in cash and material humanitarian assistance, as well as our time and talents, to the poor, disaster areas, hunger and famine areas, disease-stricken areas, and other areas of need all around the world.

Indeed, our service to others is universal, both to those who need it on earth, and to those who have passed to the other side of the veil.  Service to God and our fellow man is one in the same, much more than we realize (Matt. 22:36-40; Matt. 25:40; cf. Mosiah 2:16-19).

Also note Bishop H. David Burton’s remarks in the last General Conference here.

Which is Greater – The Temple or Service to the Poor?

The exhibition attempts to synthesize the literary sources with finds that have been excavated in this country, particularly over the past fifty years: architectural remains, liturgical objects from churches, personal belongings of the Christian inhabitants of this land, and souvenirs made for pilgrims.

They have made an effort to separate the artifacts from the religious doctrines, trying to present the artifacts as they are, objectively.

I found several things interesting as I browsed the website of the exhibition:

1. “His disciples – the Apostles – were twelve in number – a symbolic figure, evoking the Twelve Tribes of Israel.”
2. “This inscribed stone fragment belonged to one of a series of stone slabs that stood in the court of the Temple in Jerusalem and served as a divider between the area permitted to both Jews and Gentiles and the area permitted only to Jews. . . . The existence of such a divider in the Temple court is attested by Josephus: “in this (balustrade) at regular intervals stood slabs giving warning, some in Greek, others in Latin characters, of the law of purification, to wit that no foreigner was permitted to enter the holy place…” (Jewish War, V, 193-198). The actual inscription read thus: “No foreigner shall enter within the balustrade of the Temple, or within the precint, and whosoever shall be caught shall be responsible for (his) death that will follow in consequence (of his trespassing).”
   

   Prohibition of Entry to the Temple

3. Regarding early church buildings, “The structure of the church edifice made it possible to maintain a separation between the members of the congregation and the catechumens, who had not yet been baptized and were therefore only permitted to take part in some of the rites.”
4. “The functionaries of the church included the bishop, the priest, and the deacon, as well as various assistants. One could become a priest from the age of thirty and a deacon from the age of twenty-five. Women could also serve the church, as deaconesses. The large churches were headed by a bishop (episkopos), accompanied by a council of elders (presbyters). The deacons assisted the bishop with the collection of donations and the distribution of charity, and helped him perform the various rites. In the East, married men were not prevented from joining the clergy.”
5. “The apse and the raised platform in front of it – the bema – were surrounded by a low stone partition – the chancel screen – which separated the congregation from the sacred area, where the liturgical rites were performed. The officiating clergy sat on benches built along the walls of the apse, with the bishop in the center. Toward the front of the bema stood the altar, beneath which, in a depression in the floor, a reliquary was hidden. Additional tables, on which the Scriptures and various liturgical objects were placed, also stood on the bema.”
   

   An Early Christian Church

6. “The rite of baptism – symbolizing the purification of sins and rebirth – marks an individual’s acceptance into the Church. In the Byzantine period, this rite was only performed after the candidate for conversion (catechumen) had completed a rigorous course of study. During this lengthy ceremony, the catechumen was immersed in water, anointed with oil, and dressed in a pure white garment. Only then was he or she permitted to enter the church and participate in the Eucharist by partaking of the holy bread and wine.”
   

   Baptismal Font

7. “The most important part of the Christian liturgy was the Eucharist, in which the participants partook of the holy bread and wine – symbols of the body and blood of Jesus serving as a reminder of his sacrifice. The liturgical vessels that were set upon the altar during the ceremony included ewers of wine and water, a strainer, chalices, and patens (plates) for the holy bread.”
8. “The painting depicts three figures wearing halos – apparently representing saints -their arms outstretched in an attitude of prayer. Their manner of dress is characteristic of that of Christian clergymen in the Byzantine period.”
9. “In the rooms adjoining the church, the liturgical items were stored: the vessels used in the Eucharist, the holy books, processional objects, and the liturgical vestments. In addition to these precious objects, funds and gifts acquired by the church through donations, through the leasing of property that had been bequeathed to the church, and through the fulfillment of vows was also stored in the treasury, just as they had been stored in the temples in previous periods. It was forbidden to sell this property, unless this were necessary in order to pay for the release of prisoners or the redemption of captives. The donations of the faithful – both congregants and pilgrims – were the main source of the church’s wealth and were used for its maintenance and renovation.”

There are many more fascinating early Christian artifacts on the website of this exhibition. We thank thee, O God, for a prophet, who has restored these things in the latter-days.

An Early Christian Church Exhibit