The world’s standard of personal conduct seems to be drafting further and further from the basic commandments of God. If we have had any religious education or training, we know right from wrong. Cheating can be another form of stealing and we should know it is wrong. If we know right from wrong and we choose wrong that is sin. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4: 17 in the Bible)
“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good.”. (Ephesians 4: 28 in the Bible)
“Thou shalt not steal; and he that stealeth and will not repent shall be cast out.” (Doctrine and Covenants 42: 20)
Cheating at Work
Kenneth Hurst writes about his experience with cheating at work.
“One morning at work the factory bosses told all employees that in addition to our hourly wage, we would begin receiving piecework incentive pay. The more we produced, the more we would earn.
Production went up significantly, and so did our pay. I worked on a three-man rubber-curing press, and every time I saw a mold come out of the incubator and trip the automatic counter, I imagined my bank account balance increasing. The new pay incentive, however, created an incentive to cheat. A co-worker would often sneak beside the automatic counter, give its trip lever a few extra yanks, and return to his workstation. I grinned when I saw this happen, shook my head, and continued my work. I felt that as long as I wasn’t messing with the counter myself, then my integrity was still intact. But before long I realized that because I got paid the same amount as the other men on my team, then it didn’t really matter who pulled on the counter. I was just as guilty of stealing from the company as the others were. I agonized over what to do. The extra money in our paychecks wasn’t much. A lot of people would say it wasn’t worth troubling over, but I was troubled. I knew I had to confront my co-workers.
‘Are you kidding me?’ asked Bob (names have been changed), the senior team member. ‘Everybody cheats. Even the management. They expect it.’
When You Cannot Change a Cheating Situation, Try to Get Out
“He saw no need to change. What else could I do? Even without inflating our production numbers, our press was the most productive on our shift. I often heard workers on other presses say they wished they worked on our team. ‘I could trade places with Jack at the other press,’ I suggested to Bob. ‘I think you’re being stupid,” he told me, “but I can work with Jack.’ After Jack and I switched teams, Bob often reminded me how much more money he was making than I was. Lyrics from ‘How Firm a Foundation’ came to mind: ‘Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed.’ Those words helped me shrug off Bob’s taunts. Not long afterward, Bob approached me. He said Jack was not working out, and my team wanted me back. I was surprised. I told Bob that I would return but there couldn’t be any cheating. He agreed. My old team welcomed me back warmly, and the cheating stopped. I had no idea that my honesty and courage would be tried. I am grateful that when I needed strength to do what was right, the Lord upheld me with His righteous, ” (Quote from a article by Kenneth Hurst printed in the March 2011 Liahona magazine)
Benefits of Keeping the Commandments of Our Savior
We grow closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior. (see Jeremiah 7:23–24 in the Bible).
The Lord counsels us, “If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (Doctrine & Covenants 14:7 p. 25).
The apostle Paul declared “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2: 9 in the Bible)