Entitlement

1.“He who lives only unto himself withers and dies, while he who forgets himself in the service of others grows and blossoms in this life and in eternity.” Gordon B. Hinckley “Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley”- January 1997, p588

2.    “Entitlement is generally selfish. It demands much, and it gives little or nothing. Its very concept causes us to seek to elevate ourselves above those around us. This separates us from the divine, evenhanded standard of reward that when anyone obtains any blessing from God, it is by obedience to the law on which that blessing is predicated.” Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Unselfish Service, April 2009

3.    “We live in a time when sacrifice is definitely out of fashion, when the outside forces that taught our ancestors the need for unselfish cooperative service have diminished....The values of the world wrongly teach that “it’s all about me.” That corrupting attitude produces no change and no growth. It is contrary to eternal progress toward the destiny God has identified in His great plan for His children. The plan of the gospel of Jesus Christ lifts us above our selfish desires and teaches us that this life is all about what we can become. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Unselfish Service, April 2009

4.     “A few of our wonderful youth and young adults in the Church are unstretched. They have almost a free pass. Perks are provided, including cars complete with fuel and insurance—all paid for by parents who sometimes listen in vain for a few courteous and appreciative words. What is thus taken for granted … tends to underwrite selfishness and a sense of entitlement.” Neil A. Maxwell, BYU devotional, 12 Jan. 1999

5.     When things turn bad, there is a tendency to blame others or even God. Sometimes a sense of entitlement arises, and individuals or groups try to shift responsibility for their welfare to other people or to governments. In spiritual matters some suppose that men and women need not strive for personal righteousness—because God loves and saves us “just as we are.”-Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Free Forever, to Act for Themselves, October 2014

6.     His parable of the vineyard workers, Jesus noted of disciples how those who worked from the first hour, having “borne the burden and heat of the day,” murmured because they received the same wages as those who worked only the last hour. We beggars are so concerned with our entitlements.- Neal A. Maxwell, Murmur Not, General Conference, October 1989

7.     “We surrender to the ‘pleasures of this life’ when we are addicted, which impairs God’s precious gift of agency; when we are beguiled by trivial distractions, which draws away from things of eternal importance; and when we have an entitlement mentality, which impairs the personal growth necessary to qualify us for our eternal destiny,”- Dallin H. Oaks, The Parable of the Sower, April 2015 Church News.

8.      Being provident providers, we must keep that most basic commandment, “Thou shalt not covet”. Our world is fraught with feelings of entitlement. Some of us feel embarrassed, ashamed, less worthwhile if our family does not have everything the neighbors have. As a result, we go into debt to buy things we can’t afford—and things we do not really need. – Robert D. Hales, BECOMING PROVIDENT PROVIDERS TEMPORALLY AND SPIRITUALLY, April 2009

9.     “Forget yourself and go to work.”- Gordon B. Hinckley, New Era, May 1995 SWEET IS THE WORK: GORDON B. HINCKLEY, 15TH PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH

10.     We torture our souls when we focus on getting rather than giving. - James E. Faust Whats’s in it for me?, General Conference, October 2002