This revelation was addressed to people who had just moved to, what was to them, the edge of the inhabited world to create the ideal society. They had high hopes for the sort of life they’d build and the Lord gave them instructions on what that life should look like. First (vv. 1-15), He exhorted them to treat each other well and keep the Sabbath, which is an important cornerstone of holy living, then (vv. 16-24), in discussing the blessings of Sabbath observance, He transitioned to beautiful words on how to engage with the resources of the land.
God told them (and all of us who seek the Good Society) to use the land’s resources and live abundantly. He tells us to use animals and plants for food, raiment, shelter, and aesthetic enjoyment but He also puts an important condition on this use—it must be done with gratitude and judgment, without “excess, neither by extortion” (vv. 20-21).
Let’s take a look at that word “extortion”. In the modern and 1828 Webster dictionaries, the definition of the word refers to taking something by force or abuse of power. The Lord is telling us we can’t be taking resources that way. But there’s more. The modern definition also cross-references us to the word “wring”. This is natural because the Latin roots or “extortion” (ex = “out” and tort = “twist”) originate “from the wine and olive presses... meaning to squeeze out the last drop, another way to make a margin of profit—putting the squeeze on, wringing out the last drop” (1).
One can imagine wringing the last drop out of the grapes or wringing a rag and getting every drop out of it until it’s dry. I propose that the Creator is telling us that extortion, wringing every last drop out of the resources He’s provided, is wrong and forbidden. We are to partake of the things of the earth with gratitude and wisdom but never with excess nor extortion, i.e. never taking everything that we could.
And this brings me to the title of this article: “The Bottom Line”. Always expanding one’s bottom line is a natural and normal thing to do in business. It’s a measure of success and something the stock market demands. But in order to continually maximize profits and minimize expenses, one must be continually squeezing out more and more.
This leads to all sorts of behaviors that just aren’t good for the beautiful people, animals, and earth which God created. In order to continuously expand the bottom line, people are asked to work excessive hours for less and less compensation in less and less safe conditions which makes it hard for them to live after the manner of happiness (or live at all) and devote time to their families and the Lord’s work. Animals are treated horribly to produce food that is of lower and lower quality. The earth is plundered for metals and other resources to make gadgets that are built to break or become inadequate in a short time so people will buy the next model, always with the intent not to do what is best for people or Creation or God’s work but to look out for today’s and tomorrow’s bottom line.
Instead, God has taught a more excellent way. He encourages us to live with gratitude and charity, content with having the essentials we need today (see 1 Timothy 6:8; Matthew 6:11; Luke 12:22-34) and focused on giving to others (see Acts 20:35; Luke 18:22; D&C 4:5-6). This might not be the natural way of doing business but the Lord expects much more of us than to be natural (see Mosiah 3:19). He wants us to stop wasting our time and energy on things that aren’t really important (see 2 Nephi 26:31 and 9:51) and devote ourselves to making a better kind of culture, the Good Society: Zion.
This might seem a bold thing to say. I know it is. It is because it goes against our current culture. But the Gospel always leads people to do things that are opposed to what the world’s custom. Jesus said in the Old and New Worlds that we cannot serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; and 3 Nephi 13:24). The word “Mammon” does not just mean general worldliness but refers specifically to everyday business practice. Again from Hugh Nibley, “The Hebrew word for financial activity of any kind is mamonut, and the financier is a mamonai; that is, financing is, quite frankly, in that honest language, the business of Mammon” (2). We can’t live in the Zion way that God wants us to live and abide by the common sense rules of business.
The Law of Moses, albeit a “lower law”, used the letter to train people to do all sorts of things that go against the principle of the bottom line. The Book of Deuteronomy is full of directives that, like modern tithing, prescribe a specific action that people are to do that gets in the way of them advancing their bottom line (3). For example, within the Law of Moses, if you have a vineyard or field, you are not allowed to prevent passerbys by from taking some food nor is the passerby allowed to make a profit by taking more than is needed in the moment (see Deuteronomy 23:24-25). And there’s the law of gleaning (made famous by the story of Ruth) which says that after one’s first pass at harvesting, one cannot go back and get any fruit that was missed—it must be left for the less fortunate (see Deuteronomy 24:19-21). Every seven years, all debts are to be forgiven (see Deuteronomy 15:1-2) and all slaves/servants are to be released and given the resources they need to be successful freemen (see Deuteronomy 15:12-14). None of these practices make good business sense. None of them increase the bottom line. All of them require the practitioner to intentionally do something less economically efficient in order to help others. They are meant to condition the Lord’s people to avoid excess and extortion and practice charity.
Christ fulfilled Moses’ Law and now we’re to live a higher one; higher because it does not so often spell out exactly what to do but prioritizes principles that we must figure out how to apply. These principles include the exhortation against excess and extortion, Jesus’ statements about serving God and Mammon, and the Law of Consecration which allowed Enoch’s people, the Lehites, and the early Christians to live the model lifestyle with all things in common among them. The specifics of how to apply this lifestyle are spelled out in detail in the Doctrine and Covenants (see Sections 42, 48, 51, 54, 56, 63-64, 72, 78, 82, 85, 92, 96, 104, and 119, among others).
I suggest that we who yearn for Zion can do things as individuals, as families, and as professionals to practice neglecting our bottom lines in favor of consecration. We each need to ponder and council and pray to figure out to do this within our own circumstances but here are a few ideas:
- Consider the real cost of things. If we learn that a product which costs less money actually costs a lot in terms of resources plundered or people exploited, we might choose not to purchase it.
- Similarly, we might choose to spend less time trying to make or save money when that time could be given to helping people and doing the Lord’s work.
- Make business decisions that, while not good for the organization’s bottom line, are the right thing to do.
- Give more fast offerings, humanitarian donations, and contributions to other worthy causes. When deciding how much to give, consider giving until it hurts. Here are some quotes to consider on this topic.
- Prioritize eternal things by making family time paramount. “We might all ask ourselves: do our children receive our best spiritual, intellectual, and creative efforts, or do they receive our leftover time and talents, after we have given our all to our Church calling or professional pursuits?” (Tad R. Callister).
- Make business decisions that allow ourselves and our employees / coworkers to prioritize family time.
- Study consecration and pray to know how to apply what we learn. Here are a few places to start:
- https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/reflections-on-a-consecrated-life?lang=eng
- https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/01/to-prepare-a-people?lang=eng
- https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/02/living-the-principles-of-the-law-of-consecration?lang=eng
- https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1114&index=17
- All of this will be hard because Mammon is built to make these things hard to do. Pray and fast for help.
Some who read this might be thinking, “This is all good for people who have plenty but I have very little. I’m a victim of the Mammon machine! I just need to survive!” I get that. That’s a very understandable way to think. King Benjamin says to such:
And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give. And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received (Mosiah 4:24-25).
This helps us see that the opposing ways of Mammon and Consecration involve actions for sure but, at their core, they are mindsets. If we shun the mindset of Mammon and embrace that of Consecration, we will be OK and we’ll start finding ways to consecrate. And when we do that, we’re saying to God, “I’m not relying on the money the world says I need to get by. Instead, I’m relying on You.” God does not abandon those who rely on Him. I know that His promises to those who take no thought (3 Nephi 13:28-32), yoke themselves with Him (Matthew 11:30), and seek first the kingdom of God (3 Nephi 13:33) are true. He takes care of those who give everything to Him.
I pray that all of us will pray to know if the principles presented here are true and that we’ll pray to know how we should each apply them. I pray we’ll allow the Lord to hasten the time when you and I can live together in Zion that it might be written of us, “Surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God” (4 Nephi 1:16). I testify that prioritizing the bottom line will never bring happiness and that there is one real Way to joy and that Way is Jesus Christ. As we become His disciples and prioritize what He’s taught us to prioritize, we’ll find ourselves doing things differently than most people and that kind of different, like God’s beautiful Creation, is very good.
Footnotes:
- Nibley, Hugh W. “Work We Must, but the Lunch is Free”. Approaching Zion. vol. 9 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989), 203–51. I highly recommend reading the entire article and the entire book. I think I can honestly say that, outside the scriptures, this book has had a more positive effect on my family’s lifestyle than other book I have read.
- Nibley, Hugh W. “Our Glory or Our Condemnation”. Approaching Zion. vol. 9 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989), 20-21.
- Once again, I discovered this concept by reading Hugh Nibley: “How to Get Rich”. Approaching Zion. vol. 9 of The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989).
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