- D&C 44:6…Visit the poor and needy and administer to their relief
- Mosiah 18:29…Members should impart to one another spiritually & temporally according to needs & wants
- Mosiah 18:27…Church members should give substance according to their abundance, and of their own free will & desires
- Mosiah 21:17…Church welfare Program, every man imparting to the support of the widows and their children
- Mosiah 4:26…The welfare Program: (1) Impart of your substance to the poor according to what you have (2) Feed the hungry (3) Cloth the naked (4) Visiting the sick & administrating to their relief(spiritually & temporally)
- “The government will take from the ‘haves’ and give to the ‘have nots.’ Both have lost their freedom. Those who ‘have,’ lost their freedom to give voluntarily of their own free will and in the way they desire. Those who ‘have not lost their freedom because they did not earn what they received. They got ‘something for nothing,’ and they will neither appreciate the gift nor the giver of the gift.” Howard W. Hunter, former President and Prophet of the LDS Church.
- “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”– Thomas Jefferson
- “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”– Thomas Jefferson
- “When I was a child I recognized or thought I did, that the commandments of the Lord were His laws and regulations for my guidance. I thought I recognized in the disobedience to those laws that punishment would follow, and as a child, I presume I may have felt that the Lord had so arranged affairs and so ordained matters in this life that I must obey certain laws or swift retribution would follow. But as I grew older I have learned the lesson from another viewpoint, and now to me the laws of the Lord, so-called, the counsels contained in the Holy Scriptures, the revelations of the Lord to us in this day and age of the world, are but the sweet music of the voice of our Father in heaven in His mercy to us. They are but the advice and counsel of a loving parent, who is more concerned in our welfare than earthly parents can be, and consequently, that which at one time seemed to bear the harsh name of the law to me is now the loving and tender advice of an all-wise Heavenly Father. And so I say it is not hard for me to believe that it is best for me to keep the commandments of God.” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith, 2010, Page 6
- “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson
- “As we administer any aspect of the welfare program, the primary purpose for which it was established must be kept before us. That stated purpose is to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift, and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.” Manual, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Gordon B Hinkley, Chapter 21, Principles of Temporal and Spiritual Warfare
- “Welfare recipients should work to the extent of their ability to earn commodity or fast offering assistance. When meaningful jobs are not provided, when people are not encouraged to work, a demoralizing Church dole would develop, and the purpose for which the welfare program was established would be undermined. It is a law of heaven, and one we haven’t learned fully here on earth, that you cannot help people permanently by doing for them what they can do, and should do, for themselves.” Manual, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 21, Principles of Temporal and Spiritual Welfare