The Mormon Wealth Attribution

Wheat and Tares.org ^ | Oct. 27, 2010 | Troth Everyman

[Colofornian]

Do we really believe that just because one is rich one is blessed by God? According to a study published in 2004 which researched the Mormon Wealth Attribution (MWA), we do. The MWA can be defined as the tendency of LDS individuals to perceive those who are wealthy as more righteous or pious than their less wealthy neighbors. The randomized empirical study reported that “Church members are more likely to attribute righteousness to a wealthy church member than to a poor one” and that (in general) wealthy members of the church are seen as being better people, both secularly and spiritually than poor people.

I have seen many LDS individuals (including priesthood leaders) apply negative attributions and stereotypes toward those who are poor or lacking resources. They implied that these poor individuals need to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and either work harder or be more righteous. To me, making these kinds of attributions based on wealth alone (or at all) seems to be dangerous and hurtful.

What about environmental influences? Take the example of someone who has worked diligently to obtain training in a tech position. Then abruptly all of those tech jobs are shifted out of country. Did that person sin? Is s/he somehow less righteous than the wealthy person whose job was not shipped overseas? What about the person who invested all their savings in the housing market?

Wealth does not equal righteousness. There are many wealthy people within the LDS church (more per capita than most religions). However, just because one is LDS and rich does not mean one is righteous. I have known many wealthy LDS members who ran pyramid schemes, sold faulty merchandise, and were certainly not kind to their fellow-man. And yet at Church they were given a level of respect and positive regard simply because they made more than six figures. It has always struck me as odd that individuals who ruin other peoples financial stability can be perceived as somehow more righteous simply because they figured out how to make money and keep it. Does the value of the almighty dollar outweigh other values?

Poverty does not equal unrighteousness. I have known many people who had difficulty making ends meet. To me, these people seemed to be righteous and pious people who had deep and abiding faith in God. And yet these people were slighted, marginalized, and given menial callings at church. I also once had a close relative (who had experienced several financial setbacks in a row) ask me “why is it that this keeps happening to us? We pray, we go to church, we pay our tithing, we budget, we work hard, we do everything we are supposed to, why can’t we seem to get ahead?” Should I tell her she simply isn’t righteous enough?

While I disagree with people within the church that apply the MWA, I can understand why they apply it. Many LDS members buy into the concept of individualism as an explanation of poverty, if someone is lazy (an ungodly trait) then they are simply earning their just rewards. If they would pray more, be more obedient and work hard they would earn money. Individualism as an explanation of poverty asserts that poverty is always within ones control (based on secular conduct or spiritual conduct).

Mormons are also encouraged to believe in the MWA because of scriptures in the Book of Mormon which state that blessings (including worldly ones) are predicated upon righteousness; the more righteous the more blessings. At least until an individual becomes prideful (an unrighteous state) which is followed by a fall (which could mean they lose their money). It’s not a big leap to see why many members view those who are wealthy as somehow more righteous (They have earned their blessings by piety!). Those who are poor may have been prideful, or were guilty of some other sin which caused their fall.

The full reference for the study is: Rector, J. M. (2004). The Symbolic Universe of Latter-day Saints: Do We Believe The Wealthy Are More Righteous? AMCAP Journal, 29, 102-112. And can be read here:

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/IssuesInReligionAndPsychotherapy/article/viewFile/494/469

Do you believe wealth and righteousness are relate? What do you think about the MWA? What are the implications of such beliefs?

[Colofornian]

From the article: Mormons are also encouraged to believe in the MWA because of scriptures in the Book of Mormon which state that blessings (including worldly ones) are predicated upon righteousness; the more righteous the more blessings. At least until an individual becomes prideful (an unrighteous state) which is followed by a fall (which could mean they lose their money). It’s not a big leap to see why many members view those who are wealthy as somehow more righteous (They have earned their blessings by piety!). Those who are poor may have been prideful, or were guilty of some other sin which caused their fall.

There. Proof that the "prosperity gospel" didn't start with a few TV preachers! It goes back at least 180 years to Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon!

From the article: I have known many people who had difficulty making ends meet. To me, these people seemed to be righteous and pious people who had deep and abiding faith in God. And yet these people were slighted, marginalized, and given menial callings at [the Lds] church.

Hmm...I wonder how many "poor" general authorities there are in the Lds church were picked as paycheck-worthy general authorities?

From the article: Do we really believe that just because one is rich one is blessed by God? According to a study published in 2004 which researched the Mormon Wealth Attribution (MWA), we do. The MWA can be defined as the tendency of LDS individuals to perceive those who are wealthy as more righteous or pious than their less wealthy neighbors. The randomized empirical study reported that “Church members are more likely to attribute righteousness to a wealthy church member than to a poor one” and that (in general) wealthy members of the church are seen as being better people, both secularly and spiritually than poor people.

Well. How would movies like A Christmas Carol and the Utah-based movie, The Ghosts of Dickens Past go over in Mormonland based upon the MWA?

[irishtenor]

What about George Bailey vs Mr Potter in “It’s A Wonderful Life.”?

[Yet_Again]

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[a] 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[b] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised...

Hebrews 11:30-39 puts such notions to rest. But it's in the Holy Bible, not that novel by Joe Smith.

[doc1019]

Do we really believe that just because one is rich one is blessed by God?

Consider that many wealthy are agnostic, atheist or ambivalent to all things religious, the blessings of G-d ... no. G-D may bless with wealth, poverty or something in between. All conditions are G-d's will.

[Vendome]

Stoopid premise and a warped view of “worthiness” which doesn’t exist:

There is none worthy, no not one.

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

[Tennessee Nana]

George Soros is a mormon ???

Who nu ???

[Elsie]

Well, even though this article was written by MORMONs about MORMONs; it's my feeling that this attitude is found in ALL types of churches and religions: something bound up in the soul of the natural man.

The survey needs be taken that would corelate ALL types of individuals - unchurched, churched, how LONG they've been a believer in that church, etc.

It would be almost a 3D matrix of data to be mined.

[Elsie]

It goes back at least 180 years to Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon!

At least; but it is found in the BIBLE as well: Jesus pointing out the widow and her two mites, Job's 'friends' lamenting how he MUST be unrighteous for all these bad things to have happened to him...

[Elsie]

Go to wheat and tares.org and read the comments folks have left....

---

 

We're providing a kind of spiritual kindergarten where bewildered infants can attempt to spell "God" with the wrong blocks.

 

 

 

  

[aMorePerfectUnion]

placemarker

[Paragon Defender]

Seekers of truth,

If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.

They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.  

They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.

Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.

You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.

Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.

After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.

The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.

Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:

http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/

Now you will likely notice the "you never address our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.

Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you?

Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.

I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

[svcw]

lds must have been the original “name it and claim it” group.
Stuff does not make one wealthy.

[greyfoxx39]

From the article: I have known many people who had difficulty making ends meet. To me, these people seemed to be righteous and pious people who had deep and abiding faith in God. And yet these people were slighted, marginalized, and given menial callings at [the Lds] church.

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It's time for tithing settlement in the mormon church. Once a year mormons are called in to report to their bishop whether they have "paid an honest tithe".

Tithing Settlement Experience - OK, it was only a dream

After making an appointment, and getting dressed up again in suit and tie (and a white shirt), my wife and I drove over to the church to meet with the Bishop for Tithing Settlement. After the requisite review of membership records to ensure accuracy we waited patiently for our time with the Bishop. I kept expecting to be hit up for Friends of Scouting, but was informed by the clerk that they were no longer doing that, since FOS was an external, non church group, and the bishop did not wish to associate his sacred mantle of authority and role as a judge with an external organization.

After waiting only a few minutes, we were ushered in and warmly greeted by our bishop, who is an all around good guy. After a bit of chit chat, we got down to business.

He pulled out a fairly large stack of papers and pushed them across the desk for our review. Included was a statement of income and expenses, a balance sheet, and a statement of cashflow. These were then broken down in greater detail showing what the church had done with our hard earned, donated money. We saw a review by country, state, stake and ward, including a summary of what had been contributed by our ward and stake, and what had come back to us, including costs of running the buildings, materials, and activities. We spent a few minutes looking at the detail, at which point the bishop told us that he had decided to not spend the money making a copy for all ward families, due to the cost, and had instead, donated the money saved to the homeless shelter and food bank. He also told us that all statements, including subsidiary ledgers and supporting documentation was available on the church website.

We thanked him for his time, wished him a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and departed.

It's great to be a part of an organization that is open and honest about it's resources and especially, what it does with members' contributions.

Oops.. Damn it. I just woke up

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[Godzilla]

Seekers of truth

[greyfoxx39]

Seekers of truth.....

 

You will see a post beginning with that phrase posted over and over on these threads. 

Feel free to investigate the links provided therein, but....

Are you willing to do for the truth what the cults do for a lie? If you REALLY want to know about mormonism..click here

 

 

[svcw]

Is that letter a joke?

[SZonian]

No, it’s not a joke.

I’ll take it one step further. The church doesn’t provide the bread they use for sacrament either. One of the boys is tasked with bringing the bread each week. Out of their family’s own pocket.

Now some will argue, “what’s the big deal”? Well, if the family is scraping the barrel, every dime and every slice matters to that family, that’s the “big deal”.

How’s that for “cutting expenses”?

I wonder how that $4B mall in SLC is coming along. That’s worth a couple of billion loaves of bread.

[svcw]

It boggles the mind, the letter is only speaking of outward appearances......God does not care about the outward only the heart. My lds cousin tells me that they are expected to act and look perfect for the outside world to see, yet he further adds that lds will stab you in the back at the first chance in oder to further their own progression. (He has since left lds, when he left home. It took years before his family had anything to do with him.)

[Reeses]

This reads like an envy pity party. Much of the hate towards Mormons and Jews comes from envy about their ambition, wealth, and success. While the Mormon religious beliefs can't be proven, the Mormon advantage is scientifically real. Mormon churches can be ostentatious but they advertise not just religion but success. Maybe we should spend some time studying why many Mormons do succeed in life rather than trying to bring them down a notch or two.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Much of the hate towards Mormons”

Which statement, specifically, is hateful?