Debt

Pay the debt thou hast contracted. ... Release thyself from bondage. DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 19:35

Prophets have long counseled the Saints to live within their means and stay out of debt. Materialism and acquisitiveness are slavery; they lead only to disappointment and misery. Crippling debt can destroy a marriage and drain the joys out of family life. President Gordon B. Hinckley has said: “We have been seduced into believing that borrowed money has no penalty that financial bondage is an acceptable way to live. I suggest that it is not. We would do well to be modest and prudent in our expenditures, to discipline our purchasing and avoid debt to the extent possible. to pay off debt quickly, and to free ourselves from the bondage of others” (Stand a Little Taller, 74). Just as we desire to be spiritually free from the bondage of sin. so we must strive to be temporally free from the bondage of debt. We are to be industrious and self reliant, wise stewards of our resources, and humble enough to live prudently. (Robert L. Millet and Lloyd D. Newell. Draw Near Unto Me: Daily Reflections on the Doctrine and Covenants. 60)