Entitlement Is Dangerous On So Many Levels. Entitled Individuals Become A Leech To Society

Unselfish Service

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Dallin H. Oaks

"The worldly aspirations of our day is to get something for nothing. The ancient evil of greed shows its face in the assertion of entitlement: I am entitled to this or that because of who I am- a son or daughter, a citizen, a victim, or a member of some other group. Entitlement is generally selfish. It demands much, and it gives little or nothing. Its very concept causes us to seek to elevate ourselves above those around us. This separates us from the divine, evenhanded standard of reward that when anyone obtains any blessing from God, it is by obedience to the law on which that blessing is predicated." (See D&C 130: 21)

Entitlement is the big idea of this quote. Elder Oaks said entitlement demands much and is selfish. Not even Jesus Christ felt entitled, and He was the literal son of God. He came to earth with skills that we do not have because He was the most faithful there. We also come to earth with the skills that we developed in the pre-earth life. Some exercised their agency to be more faithful and diligent there thus giving them greater spiritual gifts here. It is the same in the next life, those who take spiritual things serious here will be giants in the next life.

John 21: 25 says, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

I guarantee you Christ couldn't have accomplished so much if He felt entitled.

Christ easily had the most difficult life of any mortal. We cannot comprehend the pain Christ felt in Gethsemane when He literally bled from every poor. I would argue that Christ's life was more challenging than any other mortal even before the atonement. He faced great challenges from birth. Elder Maxwell gave a powerful talk about this idea in his talk Irony: The Crust On The Bread of Adversity. Christ was technically entitled to many things (worldly) that He did not receive.

I also think of the book titled the Satan's War on Free Agency by Greg Wright who describes Satan's plan was not to force you to be righteous which is what I believed and understood all of my life. It is commonly taught that Satan's plan was to force you into heaven.

His main idea is that Satan's plan was not to force you to be righteous and therefore return to Heavenly Father. Satan's plan was one of entitlement. Satan's arguments were probably something similar to, "Surely God's complete love will overlook your sins because you are a son or daughter of God. Satan would have taught false ideas that you could make it back to Heavenly Father regardless of what you do."

We know that one third of all Heavenly Father's children followed Satan in the preexistence, not because they believed in being forced to be right but believing in a free ride and believing that they should be able to do whatever they want and still make it. The one third and all of us would have known that a plan of force would not work. Nobody would be stupid enough to freely support such a proposal.

Many falsely believe that God's commandments are restrictive and hinder your freedoms. The opposite is true. The more commandments God establishes only opens more doors for your happiness and success in this life and the next. Personal righteousness is how you secure for yourself God's grace (enabling power).

If you want His help, you must be obedient. The scriptures say the wicked will never know God.

Elder Oaks in his October 2009 General Conference talk Love And Law, debunked this lie from Satan and confirms that we are saved by the laws we obey and not because of God's perfect love.

Entitlement is a Satanic doctrine.

Socialism and Communism is fundamentally evil. Heavy reliance on welfare is also wrong. There needs to be programs in place to help the poor and needy but that is meant to be temporary.

The LDS Church has a welfare program but it does not come close to resembling in socialism. First, the church expects you to provide for yourself as much as possible. Then they expect you to get help from your family. If your family cannot help then the church will help. The help is only meant to be temporary until you can get on your feet.

Socialism has the attitude that says, "take care of me so I don't have to."