Archive for the ‘Religion & Spirituality’ Category

Mormons/LDS: Have you thought about what Pres. Monson said during the financial insanity this past week?

Posted in Religion & Spirituality on 10/22/2009 02:28 pm by admin
Raising Three Ducklings! asked:


At the April 2006 Conference, Pres. Monson gave a talk with the following quote:
“The final maka-feke I wish to mention today is one which can crush our self-esteem, ruin relationships, and leave us in desperate circumstances. It is the maka-feke of excessive debt. It is a human tendency to want the things which will give us prominence and prestige. We live in a time when borrowing is easy. We can purchase almost anything we could ever want just by using a credit card or obtaining a loan. Extremely popular are home equity loans, where one can borrow an amount of money equal to the equity he has in his home. What we may not realize is that a home equity loan is equivalent to a second mortgage. The day of reckoning will come if we have continually lived beyond our means.

My brothers and sisters, avoid the philosophy that yesterday’s luxuries have become today’s necessities. They aren’t necessities unless we make them so. Many enter into long-term debt only to find that changes occur: people become ill or incapacitated, companies fail or downsize, jobs are lost, natural disasters befall us. For many reasons, payments on large amounts of debt can no longer be made. Our debt becomes as a Damocles sword hanging over our heads and threatening to destroy us.

I urge you to live within your means. One cannot spend more than one earns and remain solvent. I promise you that you will then be happier than you would be if you were constantly worrying about how to make the next payment on nonessential debt. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read: “Pay the debt thou hast contracted. … Release thyself from bondage.”

You can read the talk in it’s entirety here:

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=d358e2270ed6c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

I was reminded of this talk today in Relief Society and thought about how relevant it was after the last week’s financial crisis that will continue into next week.

Any thoughts?

*NOTE* This is a fairly specific question directed to a specific group of people. Do not use this as an opportunity to attack a faith, or you will be in violation of Y!A Community Guidelines.

CARLOS