We are to build Zion, characterized by love and peace and unity.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1978/04/becoming-the-pure-in-heart?lang=eng#listen=audio
This is just a portion of the speech below. Click on the link above to hear the whole audio.
“The responsibility for each member’s spiritual, social, emotional, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second, upon his family, and third, upon the Church. Members of the Church are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent to the extent of their ability. (See D&C 78:13–14.)
“No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family’s well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will work to the extent of his ability to supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life. (See Gen. 3:19; 1 Tim. 5:8; and Philip. 2:12.)
“As guided by the spirit of the Lord and through applying these principles, each member of the Church should make his own decisions as to what assistance he accepts, be it from governmental or other sources. In this way, independence, self-respect, dignity, and self-reliance will be fostered, and free agency maintained.” (Statement of the Presiding Bishopric, as quoted in Ensign, March 1978, p. 20.)
Underlying this statement is the recurring theme of self-reliance. No amount of philosophizing, excuses, or rationalizing will ever change the fundamental need for self-reliance. This is so because:
“All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, … as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.” (D&C 93:30.) The Lord declares that herein lies “the agency of man” (see D&C 93:31), and with this agency comes the responsibility for self. With this agency we can rise to glory or fall to condemnation. May we individually and collectively be ever self-reliant. This is our heritage and our obligation.
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