Agency
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“Agency is to act with accountability and responsibility for our actions. Our agency is essential to the plan of salvation. With it we are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.”…Our agency—our ability to choose and act for ourselves—was an essential element of this plan. Without agency we would be unable to make right choices and progress. Yet with agency we could make wrong choices, commit sin, and lose the opportunity to be with Heavenly Father again. For this reason a Savior would be provided to suffer for our sins and redeem us if we would repent. By His infinite Atonement, He brought about “the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice.””
(Elder Robert D Hales, Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life, October 2010 General Conference)
(Elder Robert D Hales, Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life, October 2010 General Conference)
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“It may seem unusual at first to foster self-control by centering on freedom of choice, but it is a very sound doctrinal approach. While either subject may be taught separately, and though they may appear at first to be opposites, they are in fact parts of the same subject. Some who do not understand the doctrinal part do not readily see the relationship between obedience and agency. And they miss one vital connection and see obedience only as restraint. They then resist the very thing that will give them true freedom. There is no true freedom without responsibility, and there is no enduring freedom without a knowledge of the truth. The Lord said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31–32.)…Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God.”
(Elder Boyd K Packer, Agency and Control, April 1983 General Conference)
(Elder Boyd K Packer, Agency and Control, April 1983 General Conference)
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“The beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it pours knowledge into our souls and shows things in their true light. With that enhanced perspective, we can discern more clearly the choices before us and their consequences. We can, therefore, make more intelligent use of our agency.”
(Elder D Todd Christofferson, Moral Agency, June 2009 Ensign)
(Elder D Todd Christofferson, Moral Agency, June 2009 Ensign)
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“He has given us commandments. They guide our lives to happiness. He also gave us agency, which allows us to choose among alternate paths. Whichever path we choose, we are bound to the consequence God has decreed. Heavenly Father wants you to succeed. Where there is purity of heart and real intent, it is known by Him. Your obedience to truth and proper use of agency open the door to His divine help. If you have chosen the wrong path, the only way out is through repentance.”
(Elder Richard G Scott, Agency and Choosing the Right, January 1997 The Friend)
(Elder Richard G Scott, Agency and Choosing the Right, January 1997 The Friend)
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“Agency allows us to be tested and tried to see whether or not we will endure to the end and return to our Heavenly Father with honor. Agency is the catalyst that leads us to express our inward spiritual desires in outward Christlike behavior. Agency permits us to make faithful, obedient choices that strengthen us so that we can lift and strengthen others. Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness in the present, look with faith to the future, even into the eternities, and not dwell on the things of the past. Our use of agency determines who we are and what we will be.”
(Elder Robert D Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference)
(Elder Robert D Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference)
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“An atonement was made. Ever and always it offers amnesty from transgression and from death if we will but repent. Repentance is the escape clause in it all. Repentance is the key with which we can unlock the prison from inside. We hold that key within our hands, and agency is ours to use it.”
(Elder Boyd K Packer, Atonement, Agency, Accountability, May 1988 Ensign)
(Elder Boyd K Packer, Atonement, Agency, Accountability, May 1988 Ensign)
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“When we came into this world, we brought with us from our heavenly home this God-given gift and privilege which we call our agency. It gives us the right and power to make decisions and to choose. Agency is an eternal law. President Brigham Young, speaking of our agency, taught: “This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice.””
(Elder Wolfgang H. Paul, The Gift of Agency, May 2006 Liahona)
(Elder Wolfgang H. Paul, The Gift of Agency, May 2006 Liahona)
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“When we dwelt in the presence of God our Heavenly Father, we were endowed with agency. This gave us the opportunity, the privilege, to choose what we would do—to make a free, untrammeled choice…And so we’re faced with two propositions. One is that we ought to be guided by the spirit of inspiration, the spirit of revelation. The other is that we’re here under a direction to use our agency, to determine what we ought to do on our own; and we need to strike a fine balance between these two, if we’re going to pursue a course that will give us joy, satisfaction, and peace in this life and lead to eternal reward in our Father’s kingdom.”
(Elder Bruce R Mcconkie, Agency or Inspiration? January 1975 Liahona)
(Elder Bruce R Mcconkie, Agency or Inspiration? January 1975 Liahona)
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“The lesson of God’s great love and wisdom seems lost on many who are on this earth because of their choice but we do not understand. Our responsibility is to help them. But we must ourselves pray and strive earnestly that we do not obscure its meaning. If we do not really love and really believe in free agency, we may be inclined to impose our will on others for what we think is their best good. If we love enough, we will not do that, even at the risk of failure…From our Father’s example of godly love and patience, we should be motivated to stretch to any lengths to teach, to persuade, to encourage, to help.”
(Elder Marion D. Hanks, Agency and Love, November 1983 Ensign)
(Elder Marion D. Hanks, Agency and Love, November 1983 Ensign)
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“My brothers, sisters, and friends, one of God’s most precious gifts to man is the principle of free agency—the privilege of choice which was introduced by God the Eternal Father to all of his spirit children in the premortal state…The divine plan provided that they be freeborn in the flesh and become heirs to the inalienable birthright of liberty to choose and act for themselves in mortality. It was essential for their eternal progression that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil.”
(Elder Delbert L. Stapley, Using our Free Agency, May 1975 Ensign)
(Elder Delbert L. Stapley, Using our Free Agency, May 1975 Ensign)
My Personal Position Statement on Agency
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we need stop using the phrase ‘free agency’ when teaching this doctrine. Agency is far from being free. Whatever we choose to do whether good or bad there will always be a consequence. When we choose to sin and marvel in wrong doings we will greatly suffer. Agency is a gift that is too often abused. We should cherish the fact that we have the ability to choose right from wrong and with it find great joy in knowing we decided to walk in the path of righteousness instead of the easier path of sin. Do not abuse this gift or take it for granted , use it for good; benefit the lives of those around you and by doing so, yourself.