If you haven’t read Joe Spencer’s book, “For Zion, a Mormon Theology of Hope” yet, you need to.  In the meantime, Adam S Miller is discussing each chapter (one per week) over at Times and Seasons.  You can read parts One and Two over there.

One concept currently being discussed is the idea that God has created all things as a gift for us. The sun shines on the good and bad. His gifts are ubiquitous. It is when we sin that we usurp God’s gifts for our own purposes, similar to how Satan wished to be the Savior of mankind for his own glory and purpose.

The idea that our political and economic systems tend to twist God’s gifts and blessings totally out of whack. For example, our current economic system is based on people buying tons of stuff on credit, in order to find happiness.  However, the sin we incur causes us to pretend God is far away from us and can’t see we are usurping His gifts.

Anyway, go read Adam’s reviews and definitely read the book.