Property is a concept that is learned at an early age. In fact, before children can learn what it means to share something, they must first learn what is theirs. Parents, including myself, frequently define objects by their owners from clothes to shoes to rooms and especially more fragile and valuable belongings such as smartphones, computers, and tablets.
It is no wonder that the concepts of property and ownership seem so important in our culture. Our laws protect property owners from warrantless searches and seizures. Stealing or vandalizing property is illegal in every state. Corporations invest substantially in protecting their ideas, creations, and inventions, labeling these things intellectual property.
In political circles, heated debates arise from laws that may affect health or even life. Defenders of abortion have been known to argue their case using slogans such as "my body, my choice." (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/29/codepink-protesters-heckle-paul-ryan-my-body-my-choice/)
On the other side of the political spectrum, members of the Mormon church differentiate the concept of the law of consecration with socialism or communism principally by pointing out that the law of consecration embraced private ownership. For those unfamiliar with this concept, the idea is largely based on the Utopian society that existed in America based on the account in the Book of Mormon. "And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." (4 Nephi 1:2-3) The concept of giving all ones belongings to the church is not unique to the Book of Mormon, the Apostles of Christ in the New Testament also practiced a form of this united order. "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." (Acts 4:33-35)
This law as was once practiced by Mormon communities involved giving all property to a church leader, and then claiming back only what was needed. The need of the individual was determined largely based on the claims of the individual, and in this sense differed from Communism or socialism where need is determined by the governing entity. Church leaders have spoken passionately regarding the position of the LDS church on these other practices: Communism and all other similar isms bear no relationship whatever to the united order. They are merely the clumsy counterfeits which Satan always devises of the gospel plan. Communism debases the individual and makes him the enslaved tool of the state to whom he must look for sustenance and religion; the united order exalts the individual, leaves him his property, "according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and his needs," (D&C 51:3) and provides a system by which he helps care for his less fortunate brethren; the united order leaves every man free to choose his own religion as his conscience directs. Communism destroys man's God-given free agency; the united order glorifies it. Latter-day Saints cannot be true to their faith and lend aid, encouragement, or sympathy to any of these false philosophies. They will prove snares to their feet." (Conference Report April 1942, emphasis added)
The problem with any of these philosophies is this: Ownership is an illusion.
No man owns anything. While people can argue "it's more mine than yours" regarding a great many things, the ultimate truth for nearly all objects is that do not belong to any man.
Certainly objects may be in the possession of men temporarily, and it is true that men may be responsible for certain things temporarily... They may even be entitled to be responsible for certain things, but the temporary nature of this responsibility prevents true ownership.
If an individual gains possessions throughout their life, they cannot retain them after death. Even the treasures the Pharaohs hoarded for the afterlife have been claimed by thieves and archaeologists. While some control may be carried out by means of a will, typically, a will only reinforces how all of ones possessions will belong to someone else.
Land that may have been occupied by a family for generations was there before any family was. Homes, vehicles, and furnishings were constructed using resources that have been on and/or nurtured by the earth for ages... and in the beginning, God created the earth.
Even more than things around us, our bodies are not our own. The effort that mothers invest in bearing and delivering children is difficult to fathom. The care of many parents for young children to help them is vital, especially since humans are unable to care for themselves in their early years. In having a body, each person also has a debt to those that helped them obtain and maintain it.
More than this, each human being can find themselves owing far more when they realize the magnitude of the sacrifice that Christ himself offered to purchase immortality and eternal life for the children of men. The Apostle Paul observed: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Another way to put this is instead of "my body, my choice" it is "not your body, so be careful with your choice."
After considering all things, no one really owns possessions, they simply borrow and modify them during their brief lives. No one really owns their body, they are occupying it temporarily. Those that have gone before to develop tools and technologies, or those that have nourished and nurtured people in their youth have laid the foundation for any accomplishment or acquisition later in life.
God's role in the foundation of all property or his investment in humanity is impossible to quantify. The amount of effort in making a world as complex and beautiful as the earth and setting in motion all the natural processes that have sustained humanity from the days of Adam and Eve represents more than a whim. Even Christ who seemed to restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead with ease asked for some other way than to face the suffering that he inevitably endured. (Luke 22:42) In the end, he not only suffered for sin, but he single-handedly broke death. Leaving his tomb not only brought life to him, but promises permanent life, peace, and healing to all those who have had cause to suffer in mortality.
The question then becomes, if God sacrificed so much and invested so much in humanity, why does he hide himself? Why does he not plainly walk among men exclaiming his love personally? Why create the illusion that man owns anything, body or property, if he does not? If God was always capable of immediately saving us, why create such an elaborate façade in which some men who are good are made to suffer and some who do evil appear to triumph?
The truth is that God is an engineer. He is like a computer programmer. Frequently, the purpose for writing a program is to assist in solving a problem or finding the answer to a challenging question. A program is particularly useful for repeating similar steps with variable input. Even God, who knows everything, invested to find the answer to a difficult question and to repeat the general algorithm for each human being that ever has or ever will live.
The question is "what do you want?"
This may seem like a simple question. Why not simply ask it?
Of course the question is more complicated than the possible answers one might receive. For a hungry man, food might be the answer. The man that is lonely might answer companionship. The man that is bored might answer entertainment. Perhaps every man has wanted each of these things at different times.
How do we know what we really want?
Living in a world with an illusion that possessions are long-lasting if not permanent, or that the satisfaction of appetites and passions are the only source of positive feelings allows people to pursue these things without needing to consider what lies outside the illusion. A truth that cannot be clearly seen and that demands investment of those who seek it is less desirable when the promised positive outcomes are not verifiable. Consequently, spiritual truths are only sought after by those that truly want them, not by those that have a casual curiosity, or that wait for proof instead of leaping in faith.
This is not to say that life is completely artificial, or that those who work hard in professions which may be temporary or of little spiritual significance are misplacing their effort. In the life to come for example, we will not have need of doctors, but those that ease the suffering of the sick provide important and real service here and now.
Principles of religious piety such as chastity, honesty, benevolence, and the desire to learn are not backward ideas from spiritual nuts. These principles represent the pursuit of God himself... the quest to find the truth beyond the illusion of mortality. Those that embrace these principles reject the illusion of ownership.... or at least ownership here. They believe that Christ was literal when he taught "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
There will come a time when God's program reaches a conclusion for each of us. There will be a day when life on earth has manipulated us into revealing what we really want. Fortunately, desires are malleable. There is time for everyone to learn to see through the illusion. The end is not yet here.
Whether or not you accept the principles of Christianity, realize that it is worth the investment to find the truth, even if it means experimenting with less scientific principles such as faith. Illusions may have their purposes, but ultimately, the truth shall make us free.
