Some who leave the Church or drop into inactivity may complain of all the sacrifices the Church had demanded, both in time for service as well as money such as tithing and fast offerings. Yes, Latter-day Saints are asked to be a giving people, freely giving of our time for service and our money for charitable purposes, including building up the kingdom of God and helping others in need. Utah, a heavy LDS state, is the most charitable state in the nation by far in term of percentage of income given. For members who abandon the Church, I hope they find happiness elsewhere, but if their idea of happiness is being free from all the opportunities for service and charitable giving that the Church provides, they may not find the happiness they seek. This is my extrapolation, anyway, from an insightful speech given by a Roman Catholic speaker at BYU recently.
Arthur C. Brooks is President of the American Enterprise Institute. His speech, "Why Giving Matters," has been printed in the latest BYU Magazine. Terrific read. I'll admit that he almost lost me in the first two paragraphs with his praise of John D. Rockefeller, of whom I'm not terribly fond. Glad I was able to get past that and keep on reading. Please read the whole article, but here is one excerpt that I like. It begins after he discusses his investigation into the link between giving and prosperity, showing from multiple perspectives that that the act of giving or volunteering appears to bring significant financial benefits to the giver. It's not just that rich people have more to give and thus give more - the results are much more suggestive of giving as an apparent cause of increased prosperity. It was counter-intuitive and perplexing.
The more I ran the numbers, the more I kept getting this crazy result. But still I refused to believe it. In desperation I finally went to a colleague who specialized in the psychology of charitable giving. “I’m getting this result I can’t understand,” I told him. “It doesn’t make sense. It’s like the hand of God or something on the economy, and I can’t believe it’s true.”Outsiders frequently comment on the apparent happiness that active Latter-day Saints have, and my admittedly biased observation suggests that those who were active and give up on the Church seem to have lost something. Some stay active in giving and serving, and based on the link between giving and happiness, they may fare well, and I hope they do. Those who give less and serve less may find less happiness, I fear, all else being equal (this neglects the potential role of spiritual gifts and the divine claims of the Gospel).
“Why don’t you believe it’s true?” he asked me. “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?”
This shook me a bit, but just for a second. “Yeah, but I’m also a social scientist,” I shot back. “We’re not supposed to believe those things. I need a more earthbound explanation.”
“Well, I’ll give you one,” he said. “We’ve known this for 30 years in the psychology profession. You economists— you worry about money all the time, and money is boring. We worry about something that people really care about—the currency by which we really spend our days—and that’s happiness. We’ve known for 30 years that people who give get happier as a result.”
Now I knew from teaching at a business school that the best way to run a successful business is to hire happy people. If you want to be a productive person, work on your happiness. Happy people show up for work more, work longer hours, work more joyfully, and are happier with every aspect of their productive lives. Happiness is the secret to success. Charity brings happiness, and happiness brings success.
People who give to charity are 43 percent more likely than people who don’t give to say they’re very happy people. People who give blood are twice as likely to say they’re very happy people as people who don’t. People who volunteer are happier. You simply can’t find any kind of service that won’t make you happier.
Studies show that when people give, it lowers their levels of stress. People who do their jobs with less stress tend to be more productive and successful. Throughout our lives, if we can find ways to relax, we will profit from it.
Bottom line: For your own good, if you choose to be inactive and to leave the Church, don't forget to keep pay tithing and keep up your home or visiting teaching. Or something of the sort.
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