Scientific "proof" of religious teachings

There are plenty of people in the world who deserve more love from me.  My wife and kids top the list.  Extended family members are right up there too.  As are neighbors, co-workers, anyone unfortunate enough to operate a motor vehicle in my vicinity, boy scouts and in short anybody not named Zach Owen.

I've long been taught by my wife and others that the way to increase the amount of love you have towards someone is to serve them.  I could probably work through the scriptures to illustrate the doctrinal background for this, but to save you some reading and me some typing I'll assume you agree with me.  If you don't agree, let me know.

I was listening to the radio earlier this week when this concept was discussed through a social science lens.  The concept is that the more effort one puts towards something, the more one cares about it.  The story on the radio used the concept of the value one puts in a table from Ikea.  The person who assembled the table values it much more than someone who didn't put it together.  As such, if the assembler sells it in a garage sale, they might ask more than a potential buyer would be willing to pay - because the assembler worked so hard on the table.

Correspondingly, if I want to love/cherish/appreciate someone more then I should put more effort into that person.  Funny when NPR's social science stories reinforce my religious views.



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