Topic: Uncategorized, Matches 211 quotes.

May the Lord bless this great work in which we are engaged, and fit and prepare us for the great events which I believe are pending in the world, and which are in progress—revolutionary changes, changes all over the world. I have no sympathy with the anti-Christian socialism of Russia, or of Europe, but the time is coming when the Latter-day Saints will have impressed upon them more and more, and we will see more clearly, the beauties of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been revealed in these the last days, and will sense the responsibility that is upon us. May we realize it.

Source: Elder James H. Moyle
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Uncategorized

All Things In Common

There are others who advocate the principle of having all things in common. That is a very fine doctrine. Any group that can subscribe to it wholeheartedly, labor unitedly, wisely and diligently for the welfare of the whole, and maintain loyalty, altruism and kindliness constantly, can doubtless succeed in developing a splendid community. But it requires all of these qualities. There needs to be entire banishment of envy and greed from the hearts of those who would undertake it. How many are able to maintain the unselfishness necessary to bring about such a desirable condition?

Then, there is the doctrine of communism, which is more extreme. Under such a system the properties of others might be forcibly taken for its adherents, and control exercised in all matters pertaining to labor, religion, and social relations. Some English writer, in a satirical mood, has given the following definition of communism in the extreme:

“What is a communist? One who has yearnings For an equal division of unequal earnings; Sluggard or scoundrel, or both, he is willing To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling.”

Such a description may not apply to many people, but it does apply to some who are selfish and covetous in their desires, and are not willing to do their part in helping to earn and to promote the welfare of the entire community.

Source: Elder Sylvester Q. Cannon
General Conference, October 1931

Topics: Uncategorized

Panaceas Suggested

Many panaceas have been suggested to avoid the recurrence of such conditions as prevail at present. Some are constructive; others are destructive. Some proposals are altruistic in nature; others are utterly selfish. There are those who would forcibly and unlawfully take the property of others in violation of the rights guaranteed to all citizens under the Constitution. Naturally, the representatives of the people in Congress can, with the approval of the President, proceed to change the laws wherever necessary to protect the citizens as a whole from improper aggrandizement of property by a few, and to promote the general welfare. You cannot legislate righteousness into people, but you can and should bring about, through the law-enforcing agencies general respect for and observance of law.

Source: Elder Sylvester Q. Cannon
General Conference, October 1931

Topics: Uncategorized

I remember hearing a story told of a brother down in St. George, when they tried, in a small way, the United Order there. Some of the people had taken care of their grapes and made a little home made wine; but this brother had not. He had been careless and negligent. When the Order came, the wine was shared out, passed around, and each one took his share; and I remember the story of him saying: “Hey! This order is a fine thing”—he was an English brother; he says, “I tell you, I could wish this were come twenty years since.” Of course he would have been drinking somebody else’s wine and living off of somebody else’s labor twenty years before that, if it had come. Salvation does not come that way. The United Order will not bring things that way. It does not mean a long table and every one eating the same kind of food, and every one living in the same kind of house. The United Order when it does come, I think, will mean individuality, personal effort, personal salvation, with you in your stewardship, me in mine, every man appointed in his place to work in his stewardship. Then the surplus will go for those who are not so well situated, and who need help. They will be taken and directed, “Here, my brother, you take this little plot of ground,” or “You take this little part of business. Here is means enough for you and you develop it, make it grow, keep it out of debt, and work at it.” And then he will develop it, don’t you see? But if, according to the idea of some of our friends, that all you need to do is to divide and to keep on dividing, why of course they could wish that kind of a thing were here a long while before.

Source: Bishop Charles W. Nibley
General Conference, April 1914

Topics: Uncategorized

The voices I hear are persuasive, seductive, fascinating, and confusing. Speaking across the earth, they are part of a mighty battle that is being waged for the minds of men. They are aimed at persuasion in political philosophy. There are voices of democracy competing with voices of communism, and each is winning converts according to the discernment and the judgment of listeners. The stakes are high, the weapons are sophisticated, the methods are clever.

Source: Gordon B. Hinckley
Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 407

Topics: Uncategorized

Your constitution guarantees to every citizen, even the humblest, the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. It promises to all, religious freedom, the right to all to worship God beneath their own vine and fig tree, according to the dictates of their conscience. It guarantees to all the citizens of the several states the right to become citizens of any one of the states, and to enjoy all the rights and immunities of the citizens of the state of his adoption.

Source: Joseph Smith
History of the Church, 4:37

Topics: Uncategorized

The constitution expects every man to do his duty; and when he fails the law urges him; or should he do too much; the same master rebukes him.

Source: Joseph Smith
HC 6:220

Topics: Uncategorized

Sustain the government of the nation wherever you are, and speak well of it, for this is right, and the government has a right to expect it of you, so long as that government sustains you in your civil and religious liberty, in those rights which inherently belong to every person born on the earth and if you are persecuted in your native land, and denied the privilege of worshipping the true God in spirit and in truth, flee to the land of Zion, to America—to the United States, where constitutional rights and freedoms are not surpassed by any nation—where God saw fit, in these last days, to renew the dispensation of salvation, by revelations from the heavens, and where all, by the constitution and laws of the land, when executed in righteousness, are protected in all the civil and religious freedom that man is capable of enjoying on earth; and our national institutions will never fail, unless it be through the wickedness of the people, and the designs of evil men in brief authority; for those rights were ordained of God on this land; for the establishment of the principles of truth on the earth; and our national organization originated in the heavens.

Source: Brigham Young
Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2:98

Topics: Uncategorized

And here is the difference between the Libertarians and the Authoritarians: the latter have no confidence in liberty; they believe in compelling people to be good, assuming that people are totally depraved; the former believe in letting people be good, and maintain that humanity grows better and better as it gains more and more liberty. If Libertarians were merely to ask that liberty be tried in any one of the other fields of human expression they would meet the same opposition as their pioneer predecessors; but such is their confidence in the advantages of liberty that they demand, not that it be tried in one more instance only, but that it be universally adopted.

Source: Charles T. Sprading

Topics: Uncategorized

•  ⟨⟨ 
•  ⟨ 
•   |  
•  ⟩ 
•  ⟩⟩