I have a question...

This last Sunday, June 10, at Sunday School the question of fairness come up. The topic was on Welfare and Compensation, and the class was asked to put forth ideas about each subject.

For compensation one idea was put forth that I think I have touched on in some previous post, but mention again here. The idea that was brought up was said as "Getting the maximum amount of profit for the minimum amount of work."

In 1983, Prof. Hugh Nibley gave a commencement address at BYU where he addressed this issue as follows:

In my latest class, a graduating honors student in business management (who is here today) wrote this—the assignment was to compare one's self with some character in the Pearl of Great Price, and he quite seriously chose Cain:

Many times I wonder if many of my desires are too self-centered. Cain was after personal gain. He knew the impact of his decision to kill Abel. Now, I do not ignore God and make murderous pacts with Satan; however, I desire to get gain. Unfortunately, my desire to succeed in business is not necessarily to help the Lord's kingdom grow [now there's a refreshing bit of honesty]. Maybe I am pessimistic, but I feel that few businessmen have actually dedicated themselves to the furthering of the Church without first desiring personal gratification. As a business major, I wonder about the ethics of business—"charge as much as possible for a product which was made by someone else who was paid as little as possible." You live on the difference. As a businessman will I be living on someone else's industry and not my own? Will I be contributing to society or will I receive something for nothing, as did Cain? While being honest, these are difficult questions for me.

They have been made difficult by the rhetoric of our times. The Church was full of men in Paul's day teaching that gain is godliness and making others believe it. Today the black robe puts the official stamp of approval on that very proposition. But don't blame the College of Commerce! The Sophists, those shrewd business- and showmen, started that game 2,500 years ago, and you can't blame others for wanting to get in on something so profitable. The learned doctors and masters have always known which side their bread was buttered on and have taken their place in the line. Business and "Independent Studies," the latest of the late-comers, have filled the last gaps; and today, no matter what your bag, you can put in for a cap and gown. And be not alarmed that management is running the show—they always have.

I invite the reader to peruse the full text of the address through the above link.

From The Pearl of Great Price, some of the versus dealing with Cain, as revealed to Joseph Smith, the prophet in 1830.

Pearl of Great Price, Moses, Chapter 5

 22 And the Lord said unto Cain: Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen?

 23 If thou doest well, thou shalt be ^aaccepted. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and Satan ^bdesireth to have thee; and except thou shalt hearken unto my commandments, I will ^cdeliver thee up, and it shall be unto thee according to his desire. And thou shalt ^drule over him;

 24 For from this time forth thou shalt be the father of his ^alies; thou shalt be called ^bPerdition; for thou wast also ^cbefore the world.

 25 And it shall be said in time to come—That these abominations were had from ^aCain; for he rejected the greater counsel which was had from God; and this is a ^bcursing which I will put upon thee, except thou repent.

 26 And Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Abel, his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord.

 27 And Adam and his wife ^amourned before the Lord, because of Cain and his brethren.

 28 And it came to pass that Cain took one of his brothers’ daughters to ^awife, and they ^bloved Satan more than God.

 29 And Satan said unto Cain: ^aSwear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands.

 30 And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his ^acommands. And all these things were done in secret.

 31 And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great ^asecret, that I may ^bmurder and get ^cgain. Wherefore Cain was called Master ^dMahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.

 32 And Cain went into the field, and Cain talked with Abel, his brother. And it came to pass that while they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.

 33 And Cain ^agloried in that which he had done, saying: I am free; surely the ^bflocks of my brother falleth into my hands.

 34 And the Lord said unto Cain: Where is Abel, thy brother? And he said: I know not. Am I my brother’s ^akeeper?

 Or the source passage from Genesis 4

 6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

 8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

 9 ¶And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

The Mahan Principle: that one can murder and get gain.
Or said differently: "I will eat my bread by the sweat of another brow, instead of my own."
Some will try to say that this is an idea centered in one political ideology or another. I will not. I Say it is in the ideology of selfishness, not politics.

As the discussion continued, we turned to welfare, and I spoke up mentioning a phrase out of the following passage from The Doctrine and Covenants.

Doctrine and Covenants, Section 104

 11 It is wisdom in me; therefore, a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall organize yourselves and appoint every man his ^astewardship;

 12 That every man may give an account unto me of the stewardship which is appointed unto him.

 13 For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man ^aaccountable, as a ^bsteward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.

 14 I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and ^abuilt the earth, my very ^bhandiwork; and all things therein are mine.

 15 And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.

 16 But it must needs be done in mine own ^away; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the ^bpoor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.

 17 For the ^aearth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be ^bagents unto themselves.

 18 Therefore, if any man shall take of the ^aabundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the ^blaw of my gospel, unto the ^cpoor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in ^dhell, being in torment.

"...that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low."

In context I believe that 'the rich,' by whatever gauge, are those who have enough and to spare of a given noun, and by the principle of stewardship are to give of their excess in humility, whereby they are made low, unto those who do not have enough. (Whether through an organization, or individually, is not part of this discussion.)

To cite some parables and events: the Loaves and Fishes, the rich man who built a barn to keep his goods then died, and so forth.

Another person in the class balked at this, saying that he had always understood this particular saying in context of equality, as I understand his thinking, that the rich are to be made low and therefore somehow equal to the poor.

I find little in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as I comprehend it, that is interested in 'equality' or 'fairness,' SAVE FOR making and keeping all men equal before The Law. The Gospel is based on Faith in Jesus as the Savior, Repentance, and interested in Justice, Mercy, and so forth through many other principles. All men are to be equal before those. "Love god and love your neighbor, on all these hang the law and the prophets."

The only other places I find 'equality' dealt with is where God promises to make man equal to the challenges he faces, Individually. Nothing at all about making one man equal with another.

Paul comes to mind in his discussion about about the gifts of the spirit and his metaphor about the parts of the body. There is nothing about equality, but rather about each having their own abilities and challenges to overcome.

Therefore it is to my understanding, an abject waste of time to worry about whether I am equal to others by this measure or that. Yes, God created all men equal, but He also foresaw the challenges and trials of each one, and equipped each one of us with access to the best tools He could to face and overcome the challenges. None of us have the same challenges, or therefor the same abilities. Further none of us will receive the exact same rewards. We will all receive "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" for our works. Yes we will all receive our penny for our days hire, but God's pennies vary as much as the level of difficulty for each of us, individually.

If I am missing something, I would like to be enlightened to it. What have I moved past too quickly? What experience have you had that would shed a different understanding on the principles I have addressed, that you are willing to share? Have I even said enough to make my puzzlement plain?

In closing I diverge from my subject some to a joke that amuses me.

A group of technicians and scientists and other learned men assemble and go before The Throne of God.
"God, we challenge you to a contest. We believe we can make a better Man than you can."
1. God smiled.
2. God spoke: O.K. Find your own dirt, and we will start.