Is the best example of Mormon fraud their Law of Consecration as ordered by God to give all that you own to the church and you are given back according to your needs and wants?

Answer 1

No. In fraud, someone is tricked or cheated into giving their money/belongings to someone else. The Law of Consecration is entered into by choice, after it has been fully explained to the person. It is voluntary and is fully explained to the person beforehand - therefore it is certainly not fraud. In addition, the person is not giving their belongings to someone else, but rather entering them into a sort of pool - they retain ownership of the item but agree that it may be used by others if needed.

The Law of Consecration within the Mormon Church today is entered into by a voluntary Temple covenant. It is explained that the person entering into that covenant is willing to give of their time and talents, as well as any material possessions that God may bless them with, to the church as a whole (not to church leaders or to the church as an institution, but to the body of believers). It simply means that the person may be called on to donate their time, talents, or belongings to assist others in the church. For example, a nurse in the congregation may be asked to share her talents by giving a presentation on First Aid to the women's group, or a musician may be asked to perform a musical arrangement during a worship service. A congregation member with a van may be asked to drive the youth to a service project, or a family may be called on to deliver a meal to a congregation member who is sick. The Law of Consecration also applies when Mormons are asked teach a Sunday School class or serve in a leadership position - they are expected to donate their time and talents to this position without expectation of compensation. This is nothing extreme or unusual, but is found in many Christian congregations, regardless of denomination. This is because the idea of having all things in common is found in the New Testament. (see Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; and 2 Corinthians 8:8-15)

The Law of Consecration is not practiced the way that you are describing. There were a few experimental Mormon groups in the 1800's who practiced what was called the "United Order", which was an extreme form of the Law of Consecration in which you literally turned over all you possessed to the Bishop's Storehouse, where supplies would be distributed according to individual need. As you may expect, greed and corruption crept in and the United Order groups disbanded after only a few years. The United Order was only practiced by a few small groups and was something entered into voluntarily; it was never a common practice within the Mormon Church.