Gospel Doctrine Commentary
Lesson No. Thirty-Four

Lessons Learned from the Modern Pride Cycle of Materialism and Debt

The modern cycle of materialism and debt is similar to the Book of Mormon pride cycle outlined in Helaman 12 – The Lord warned our dispensation: “And if ye seek the riches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity; and it must needs be that the riches of the earth are mine to give; but beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old” (D&C 38:39).   

Materialism, covertness, and greed are the center of the modern pride, materialism, and debt cycle.  This cycle often goes as follows:  

  • Righteousness brings freedom - "For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land (United States), and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father..." (3 Nephi 21:4).  From the founding of this nation most of its people have desired good things and have enjoyed the blessings of freedom. 
  • Freedom promotes prosperity - There is a direct correlation between freedom and prosperity.  The history and prosperity of the United States is a prime example.
  • Prosperity without a righteous purpose often results in pride - Because pride is competitive, people often take on debt in order to have more material possessions than their friends and neighbors.
  • Pride and materialism often results in unmanageable debt - Unmanageable debt causes stress and misery in the lives of individuals and families.  All debt results in a loss of freedom, and unmanageable debt is true bondage. 

The Law of Interest is part of debt – “It is a rule . . . in all the world that interest is to be paid on borrowed money. May I say something about interest? Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels . . . it has no love, no sympathy; it is as hard and soulless as a granite cliff. Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands nor orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you” (President J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1938, p. 103).

An experience with unmanageable debt can compel us to repent and to be forgiven – In his marvelous sermon the Mediator, Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke of how an experience with unmanageable debt can motivate us to keep our spiritual accounts paid up: "Such an experience, however unpleasant, can be, in the eternal scheme of things, very, very, useful....Those who have faced foreclosure know that one looks helplessly around, hoping for someone, anyone, to come to the rescue.  This lesson is so valuable because there is a spiritual account, with a balance kept and a settlement due, that not one of us will escape…Our transgressions are all added to our account, and one day if it is not properly settled, each of us…will be weighed in the balance and found wanting.  There is a Redeemer, a Mediator, who stands both willing and able to appease the demands of justice and extend mercy to those who are penitent…Our burdens of disappointment, sin, and guilt can be laid before Him, and on His generous terms have each item on the account marked, “Paid in Full” (Ensign, May 1977).

Pride is overcome by the power of the atonement – President Ezra Taft Benson in his landmark sermon entitled Beware of Pride, taught: “Pride affects all of us at various times and in various degrees.”  He continued: “Pride is the universal sin, the great vice and the great stumbling block to establishing Zion” (Ensign, May 1989). 

However, through the power of the atonement we can overcome pride and grow “stronger and stronger in our humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling our souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of our hearts, which sanctification cometh because of yielding our hearts unto God” (Helaman 3:35).