Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing that. There is the spirit behind helping those in need! I love your story.

Amen to your comments! The whole LDS Church Welfare System is centered around not only helping people get help, but helping them become self-sufficient. In fact, there is a great article by Thomas S Monson called “A Provident Plan–A Precious Promise.” He talks about how Ronald Reagan approached the LDS Church to learn about how to help people get back on their feet again without using the system. You should check it out here:

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=27deef960417b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Should say for one DAY

Before beginning my job I was a supporter, if not vocally at least mentally, of the government run programs. However since being in the employ of the “system” I have had a change of heart. So many of those who use the system are cheating it and thereby the helpless taxpayers. Also the private run (and mostly religious) organizations who help the homeless in my area are bilking my county for hundreds of $ a day for the homeless people they shelter – to place one person in emergency housing for one in my county cost the taxpayer anywhere from $500-$800 in one of these shelters.

So what am I saying? We do need to be wary of whom we help and how we help. I am touched by the passage from the NT in the post, equally so by the BoM quote and I am all for helping those in need, but ultimately helping those in need should lead to self-sufficiency for those being helped somewhere down the road, and we must prayerfully discern as Christian when we should be giving the full amount of assistance we can or when we are helping those who either have alterior motives (to do us or someone harm) or who can rightfully help themselves but choose not to

I like your attitude and approach to giving. You’re right that God has given us everything and we have agency to do what we want. The scriptures tell us to give so we should do just that.

I think you have very good goals and really it doesn’t matter if we have a lot to give or a little because none of it is ours anyways. God has loaned it to us to see what we’ll do with it. If we are practiced in giving when we’re poor then we’ll have the habit (hopefully) when we’re rich too.

I think we need to give reasonably, but remember that sometimes there are extreme cases that no one could predict. Nothing is 100% safe, and depending on individual circumstances, different people will need to make different decisions about giving.

Choice and the freedom to choose are the greatest gifts we can give another person. If we choose to give money or education in an effort to help another, we are also giving the gift of choice.

I hear people say ‘I don’t give money to beggars because they will use it for drugs.’ We don’t know for sure what the money will be used for – and we prevent another person from choosing (for good or bad) when we withhold what is not ours to begin with.

It works out that giving choice to another person helps us maintain our own safety. By giving money, we are not putting others in a situation where they can hurt us or take advantage. By seeking opportunities to volunteer our time at shelters or as a teacher/educator, we are giving back in a mutually beneficial way.

Safety and choice go hand in hand.