What is the divine motive that would drive a celestial economy? In our worldly economy we can find nothing better than competition, which makes a market honest and lets self-interest drive action, when Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand comes into play.

Pr. Benson stated that competitiveness is an aspect of pride.

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philip. 2:21.)

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The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C. S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.” (/Mere Christianity,/ New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.) - Ezra Taft Benson

Competition is not an attribute of God’s character; He has no desire to prove Himself greater than us, although we must recognize this. His greatest motive is Charity; it is this that drives him to seek the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39).

How does charity, which is love, motivate? The meaning of love is “oneness” – it seeks to consider self as others and others as self. It loves the neighbor as itself. It seeks to “be one, even as we are one.”

It seems that the reason competition is so effective is that it urges the competitors to do give all their efforts and it “keeps them honest” when it is true preference that will determine what someone can get away with. Competition has proven the inspiration for art in sports, chess, and cinema. The line blurs as we look at Self Interest, because competition and Self Interest are espoused.

Competition and Self Interest

Does the church utilize competition in its management? Its primary funds are firstly tithes, donated by the faithful in full voluntarity, and then investments, such as cattle.

Charity as a Motive

Charity must seek to do good because it desires the greatest oneness. It wants someone to succeed because it considers it the same as its own success; in turn, it seeks to do its best in order to contribute the the success of others. It views the family as a whole, rather than breaking it down into competing elements. Is the human capable of this, and what would it mean?

There are righteous desires. Consider the church education fund.

It is not Charity to give things away for free.

What did Christ ask for His blessings? Belief. He was willing to make what might be considered “bad investments” that never paid for the blessing given (lepers that walked away, those who couldn’t keep their mouth shut). Why? What is the place of “mercy” in celestial economics?

It seems that Christ, and perhaps this entire plan of salvation, are not interested in exchange. Fair exchange has never been a part of the workings of the Atonement; fairness, which is justice, is what we are being saved from. Instead, a gift is granted; the giver makes known what he desires but does not make that desire any sort of requisite for the gift (such as Christ’s healings).

There is law, cause, and effect; there is a law upon which every blessing is predicated. These can be viewed as exchanges. However, it is not a matter of worth for worth.

Posit: the honest soul refuses to accept anything for free, recognizing that as a violation of principle. Only the Devil offers “free” things. True?