Topic: Self-Reliance, Matches 2 quotes.

Self-Reliance

This great principle does not deny to the needy nor to the poor the I assistance they should have. The wholly incapacitated, the aged, the sickly are cared for with all tenderness, but every able-bodied person is enjoined to do his utmost for himself to avoid dependence, if his own efforts can make such a course possible; to look upon adversity as temporary; to combine his faith in his own ability with honest toil; to rehabilitate himself and his family to a position of independence; in every case to minimize the need for help and to supplement any help given with his own best efforts.

We believe [that] seldom [do circumstances arise in which] men of rigorous faith, genuine courage, and unfaltering determination, with the love of independence burning in their hearts, and pride in their own accomplishments, cannot surmount the obstacles that lie in their paths.

We know that through humble, prayerful, industrious, God-fearing lives, a faith can be developed within us by the strength of which we can call down the blessings of a kind and merciful Heavenly Father and literally see our handicaps vanish and our independence and freedom established and maintained.

Source: Henry D. Moyle
Conference Report, Apr. 1948, p. 5.

Topics: Self-Reliance; Welfare

Security never granted

To “subdue the earth,” a person must look mainly to himself and not to others, except as others might offer good counsel or set a good example Most persons are striving to find what they consider security. It has been pointed out:

“People who look to government for ‘security’ are seeking that which has never been granted to human kind. Man was promised his living by the sweat of his brow, and where he wastes his substance he will want in spite of all human devices to render it otherwise. Nowhere in her system does nature offer security to anyone or anything. Nature’s way is the law of change and succession, or replacement and fulfillment; but never the unalterable, the fixed or the guaranteed. It is defeatism in the individuals to seek security in living, a misunderstanding of the function of life itself. It was not so that the pioneers of this land lived, when there were few governments to do things for them. They met the wilderness on its own terms, and pushed it back. Men and women worked together to found their homes, raise their children, and wrest a competence from what the land had to offer them. They helped one another. They had time for worship, and they knew that over man there was God. Our age is a pioneering one, and to eac are offered widening chances of development. It is a neglect of self-improvement to seek security without having earned it, to attempt to reap without having sown. No government can produce what people don’t in themselves create.” (“Security—A Mirage!” Life Line, October 31, 1964.)

A prominent American, in contemplating the subject, gave this advice to young people: “Don’t dream about security; make it for yourself, out of yourself.” He then concluded his thoughts on self-reliance with these words: “Dare to believe in yourself . . . and act accordingly. If you do, both your present and your future are secure.”

Source: Elder Henry D. Taylor
General Conference, April 1968

Topics: Responsibility; Security; Self-Reliance

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