Consecration, Opportunity Cost and Zion

It is with a little trepidation that I approach this subject. But it has been on my mind lately so I will attempt to share my views. The subject is wealth and money. Before I really get going I would like to add a disclaimer that many of the views expressed in this post will be particularly from LDS doctrine and scripture, however, most of these things are also reaffirmed in the New Testament and so are applicable to any Bible believing Christian.

In the New Testament, a young man approached Jesus and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered that the man should obey the commandments. The man answered honestly that he had kept the commandments from his youth. He then asked "what lack I yet?" It is that question that begins a consecrated life. And so often, the reply is what ends that consecrated life. Jesus answered in effect "sell everything you own, give it to the poor and follow me." And the man went away sorrowing because the price for eternal life was more than he wanted to pay. Consecration to me is simply giving everything to our Heavenly Father. It includes money and worldly possessions and also time, energy and commitment. The law of consecration as given to the old world apostles as well as the prophet Joseph Smith involved the members of the church of Christ giving everything to the church and getting a portion back according to their needs. In the olden day and latter day churches the law of consecration was withdrawn because of the selfishness and the greed of the members (Acts 5:1-10, D&C 119)

. This selfishness and greed is what led the Savior to say that it is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:25)." Now, there are different interpretations of this statement. Whether the eye of the needle is the small walking gate in the walls of Jerusalem, or a metaphoric example of something impossible... either way, the imagery is striking. There is another parable that Jesus told about "a certain rich man" who had a surplus harvest. When he saw that surplus, instead of giving it to somebody else he decided to build bigger warehouses in order to hold his goods for himself. Then he says to himself that he is doing that so that he can live comfortably for the rest of his life. The catch is that the man dies that night. All of those riches that he was hoarding were useless to him (Luke 12:15-21). His great wealth and his "comfortable" life died with him, and all he had left was what he had consecrated. Joseph Smith said "the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, Lecture 6)." We cannot inherit Eternal Life if we are not willing to sacrifice all earthly things. That's an incredible statement, but it is also incredibly intense. Are we all willing to sacrifice the cars, the houses, the TVs, and any other comforts for our place in God's kingdom? If not, then we are like the young man who walked away from Jesus sorrowing.

This leads me to a principle of economics that I have been thinking about lately. In economics, the cost of something is what is given up in order to get that something. If a manufacturing plant can produce 20 pens and 20 pencils an hour, then in order to make more pens, they would have to take production from the pencils. So, assuming that it takes the same amount of effort/supplies to manufacture both pens and pencils, the opportunity cost of a pen is a pencil. Sometimes we associate cost with money, but this is not always the case. If you have to wait for 6 hours outside a store in the snow for $50 off a TV on black friday, you'll know what I'm talking about. Those 6 hours are more cost than the $50 for most people. So... the moral of the story is that sometimes the cost for something is more than we can afford to pay. Unfortunately, so often the cost of becoming rich and successful is time and energy taken from family and God. The justification is so often "I have to put in the time now, so that I can spend more (or better) time later." What a tragedy it is to think like that! Those precious moments with young children, or the opportunities to lift another of Father's children to a better place are perishable. No matter how much time we spend later, it will never replace the time we could have spent now. Especially if "later" never comes. What if, like the man in the Savior's parable, our souls are required of us before "later." It is sadly also often the case that those who have grand ambitions to give later end up coveting their own goods when they obtain them. If we take advantage of those opportunities that we have to improve our relationships with God and our family now, then we are more likely to continue that when we have riches. In that case, the opportunity cost of being rich, is Eternal Life.

When the law of consecration was withdrawn and the law of tithing was put into place, it was a rebuke, much the same as when the Lord gave the Israelites the law of Moses as a lesser law. It seems that as we have become more affluent, we have accepted this as fine. Now there may be some people who think that they are poor and that none of this applies to you. Until I thought about it, I considered myself poor as well. But the fact that you are reading this means that you have a computer. That means that you also have electricity, and I am guessing indoor plumbing. More than likely you have a car, but if not then you have buses or a bicycle. You have a grocery store down the street where you can buy bananas from South America, olive oil from the Mediterranean, wheat from Iowa and tuna from Japan. Even the very destitute in our society live better than most upper class people in the history of the world. And as a poor college kid, I live better than almost every king in every age of the world. And yet, I want more. And I know that I am not alone in that. What a tragedy that I give my 10% and pat myself on the back when I can afford to give so much more. I am perfectly satisfied with this lesser law because it means that I don't really have to forgo anything in order to feel good about myself. C.S. Lewis said that if we are not giving enough to affect our lifestyle then we are not giving enough. He says that "the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charity expenditure excludes them (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 86)." This quote always reminds me about the story of the widow's mite. When Jesus saw the Sadducees giving their gifts and giving their abundance, he was less than impressed, but when he saw a widow giving her last mite (equivalent of about 5 cents) to charity, he said that she had given more than anyone else. The difference was that their lifestyle was not affected at all. With all that they gave, they still had much more. The widow may have been facing starvation in order to give her contribution. This percentage is what matters. Now, that's where people who are completely satisfied with the lesser law of tithing will say that we're equal. If everyone gives 10% then we all give the same. Recently many of the billionaires of the world gave half of their fortunes to charity. Some would say that their 50% was much more than the 10% that others give. However, these people could still buy a small island with what they have left, whereas some people can't pay their rent after giving their 10%. The saduccees and the widow may have both paid 10% but the Savior said that the widow gave more. I am sure that He recognized that the rich contributions could help more of the poor, but in the long run that wasn't the point.

The Book of Mormon is about a society of people who were destroyed because of pride. Because of their particular culture, this pride was often manifest in them wearing "costly apparel." For some reason, rich clothing was their status symbol. What are our status symbols? That mansion on the hill, or that extremely expensive car like Rolls Royce or Bentley. Now I have heard countless justifications from those who have those or who want them. They most often go something like this: "I can afford it, so what's wrong with it?", or "I like nice things. If I give to charity then I can reward myself right?" What is the difference between a Bentley and a Toyota except that most people can have a Toyota, but only a select few people can have a Bentley?What is the difference between a comfortable home with enough space for a family and a huge mansion on the hill? Many people can have a comfortable home, and only a select few people can have a mansion on a hill. Now, it is not my place to judge those who have these luxury items, but it begs the question of why? What is the difference between the costly apparel of the Nephites and the Bentleys and mansions and yachts of our day?

This brings me to the idea of Zion. Now this is not official doctrine, but it is my opinion after reading the Doctrine and Covenants that Zion, like exaltation is not a toy that can be just given to us. I believe that we must first start living like we want Zion to be here, and then it will come. So how would people in a Zion society act? What if, instead of buying the $60,000 BMW, we buy a $30,000 Toyota, and give the rest of the money to help others in some way. There are thousands of different charities and ways to break out of selfishness. I am not going to go through what the best ways are to help others. The point is that we should be much less concerned about getting things and be more concerned with how we can give. What if instead of that mansion, we buy something that is comfortable and give all the money we would have spent to charity. Why should we be satisfied with the lesser law when we can choose to live the higher? When we quote Jacob saying "After ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches if ye seek them" we often miss the next sentence which says in essence that you will be given the riches because you will use them to help other people. It doesn't say that you will get them to lavishly spend on yourself, and then spend a lot on charity too. The purpose of those riches is not the boats or the cars or the toys. The only purpose is to give. So let's start today. Let's not wait until we have more to give more. Let's start now and give as much as we can, and then if our circumstances improve then we will already be in the habit of giving the right percentage, and the only thing that will change is the amount. And may we bring Zion, rather than waiting for her to come to us.