RE: Faith, Poltitics, Socialism-Lost Faith.

I had one Bishop say it is not the Church’s job to help you get a job, it is a struggle you must do alone, like Jesus in Gethsemane. I have gone to LDS employment services and they help a bit and at least give me a semblance of hope.

I can only begin to understand your pain and frustration. I went through a period of unemployment last year. Every Sunday for 8 months my Bishop asked me how work was going and every Sunday I had to explain to him that I was unemployed. I would of thought the lack of tithing coming from me would have helped him remember.

Anyway, for what it’s worth stay strong and I hope things work out.

Cadence wrote:

We glorify spending untold millions on fretting over dead people and watch our neighbor go unemployed for months. I could give crap about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin or any other lame doctrine that has no real substance. It is all just speculation anyway. My church would use all that business prowess to uplift and edify the members temporally above all else and I am convinced the spiritual part would automatically follow. It is hard for a man or woman to be spiritually edified when they are living under the stress of financial instability always.

I say if you are the one true church prove it and alter the lives of your members with more than just talk and speculation about how wonderful everything is going to be if you just believe. Uplift your members and make their lives more than all other churches combined have ever done. Call on God to end the suffering and anxiety. Ask him for real direction on how to get us moving towards a real self sufficient society of equals.

Thanks with the quote, I totally needed this. I like the speculation part. I use a similar line when people get off topic about stuff that doesn’t matter. I sometimes wonder how Zion will be “with no poor among them.” Will the poor somehow become rich because of the law of consecration, or will the poor be exiled and cast out as sinners. We never get the message on how Zion is to be accomplished. Whenever the law of consecration, or the United Order is mentioned, you always have the line that we are living it partially by 10% of tithing, and fast offerings that people pay. Yet, how many people that truly are suffering are helped. Working at DI or welfare square may help alleviate some need, but it still doesn’t get me to the place of self-sufficiency. One prophet even speaks out against self-sufficiency, but then we are told to be self-sufficient. Go figure.

I actually had an okay day today at church. It’s probably because I didn’t stay in charge beyond two hours, and I avoided all speculation and called an old friend on the phone that I haven’t spoken to for months. Oh well, I guess carpe diem, when it comes to my life. Something will happen, it always does. Sorry for my rants, but it helped me to blow off some steam.

Fwiw, I don’t pay tithing for financial blessings – mostly because life has taught me that it’s not a cause and effect correlation. On the other hand, I don’t fault or criticize people whose lives have taught them it is such a correlation.

I have often thought that the true church would have somehow figured out how to manage the temporal affairs of its members by now. It would have instituted job training, built industry to employ its many members, and become a business yes but one that caters to the needs of its members by providing quality employment. This would be the true church to me.

Makes me think of the historical Catholic church. While the masses did get proselytized, missionaries would focus on the kings, lords, ruling classes, etc., expecting (which bore out historically) that if the rulers converted, the people would too. The rulers would want to demonstrate their grandness and piety by building cathedrals and churches and lavishing riches on them, while the poor and destitute all around the sites would carry on with their downtrodden lives. This continued for centuries from the early 2nd century on.

Churches always benefit most (financially) by the wealthy who can afford to support their causes with their riches. Be it Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc., you will find gold, jewels and incense to show the grandeur of the religion and its worth to the faithful and to those who see it, but I always wonder how such great displays of wealth on BEHALF of a god could have done for the CHILDREN or creations of that god if it had been spent on them instead. Yes, we would have fewer statues, temples, churches, sacred buildings, but at certain times of history, how much suffering could have been otherwise alleviated?

Why? Is it easier to build a grand monument than to take care of others? Certainly, people believe they are venerating their god or religion by focusing on making THINGS rather than improving people, but would not true religion want to build its testament to their beliefs in the lives they improved rather than the gold they contributed?

On the other hand, human nature being what it is, wouldn’t all needy people see a church lifting people up and everyone scramble to get “in on the action” while it was still available? When does the religion stop being about helping raise other people and become a welfare state/dole that doesn’t do much to actually change the lives of the people it is attempting to reach?

[/endmusing] Sorry. I don’t really have an answer to the OP’s problem. Being out of work, especially as a guy, brings about all kinds of self-worth issues in addition to the practical day-to-day ones. Whether the Church is involved or the focus or not, it is hard for anyone to go through without trying to pick apart both the cause (initial) and the lack of relief (long term). Millions in all countries around the world are facing the issue and not finding a lot of solutions (not just the US. Think of Greece and Spain and elsewhere where unemployment is even greater). Each case is a study in personal suffering and emotional and physical loss – both of income and self worth. My only suggestion is to separate your sense of self-worth from your current lack of ability to provide for your family. You are still of worth irrespective of your paycheck. You have talents, skills, and experiences that no one else in the world has. There WILL come a time when someone will recognize your value to their endeavor and will offer you a job. That doesn’t help while you are going through it, but it HAS to change and will if you can just last long enough. The wait can seem interminable, but if you can find a way to believe in yourself, something WILL turn around. If you want to believe that God is responsible for that, good. If it is nature, fate, luck or chance, good too as long as it helps you get through to the light at the end of the current tunnel.

As someone who has long wrestled with issues of depression and self worth, I hope something of what I have said can help in some way. We are pulling for you!