"The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team’s jersey we want to wear! "
( Elder Jeffrey R. Holland )
"Generally our Heavenly Father will not interfere with the agency of another person unless He has a greater purpose for that individual. Two examples come to mind: Saul, who became the Apostle Paul, and Alma the Younger. Both these men were deterred from their unrighteous objective of persecuting and trying to destroy the church of God. Both became great missionaries for the Church. But even as the Lord intervened, they were given choices. Alma, for example, was told, “If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God.” (Alma 36:11.) "
( Elder Marvin J. Ashton)
"Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God’s greatest gift to man. . . . Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being. . . . Everyone has this most precious of all life’s endowments – the gift of free agency – man’s inherited and inalienable right."
( President David O. McKay )
"What a perilous time [the war in heaven] must have been. The Almighty Himself was pitted against the son of the morning. We were there while that was going on. That must have been a desperately difficult struggle, with a grand, triumphal victory. . . .Why were we then happy? I think it was because good had triumphed over evil and the whole human family was on the Lord’s side. We turned our backs on the adversary and aligned ourselves with the forces of God, and those forces were victorious."
( President Gordon B. Hinckley)
"We tend to think of agency as a personal matter. If we ask someone to define “moral agency,” the answer will probably be something like this: “Moral agency means I am free to make choices for myself.” Often overlooked is the fact that choices have consequences; we forget also that agency offers the same privilege of choice to others. At times we will be affected adversely by the way other people choose to exercise their agency. Our Heavenly Father feels so strongly about protecting our agency that he allows his children to exercise it, either for good or for evil."
( Elder M. Russell Ballard )
"The spirits of men had their free agency, some were greater than others, and from among them the Father called and foreordained his prophets and rulers. Jeremiah and Abraham were two of them. . . . The spirits of men were not equal. They may have had an equal start, and we know they were all innocent in the beginning; but the right of free agency which was given to them enabled some to outstrip others, and thus, through the eons of immortal existence, to become more intelligent, more faithful, for they were free to act for themselves, to think for themselves, to receive the truth or rebel against it. "
( President Joseph Fielding Smith)
"God has given us our agency. He will not take it from us, and if I do that which is wrong and get into the devil’s territory, I do it because I have the will and power to do it. I cannot blame anybody else."
( George Albert Smith )
"The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely, personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give” are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then, we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!"
( Neal A. Maxwell )
"To countermand and ultimately forbid our choices was Satan’s way, not God’s, and the Father of us all simply never will do that. He will, however, stand by us forever to help us see the right path, find the right choice, respond to the true voice, and feel the influence of his undeniable Spirit. His gentle, peaceful, powerful persuasion to do right and find joy will be with us “so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved” (Moroni 7:36)."
( President Howard W. Hunter )
"Free agency is the impelling source of the soul’s progress. It is the purpose of the Lord that man become like him. In order for man to achieve this it was necessary for the Creator first to make him free. “Personal liberty,” says Bulwer-Lytton, “is the paramount essential to human dignity and human happiness.”
( President David O. McKay )
Position: I find our agency that is provided by God to be a beautiful thing. At times I have hard times making choices. I often times would like to find someone I trust and then have them make the choice for me. I have learned over the years why this does not work in my personal growth. Of those times that I let someone else decide what I was going to do, I was not able to fully grow because later when I would suffer consequences, I thought to myself, " well, this was not my choice anyways." This prohibited growth for me because I was not fully able to own up to all of my choices. Had I experienced being responsible for my choices at a younger age, I believe that I would have learned to be more careful about my choices at a younger age.
Application: One way I have been working on the concept of agency is realizing that each and everyone of God's children has their own agency. Often times I would pray to my Father in Heaven for a person, and His response to me in the thoughts that came to my mind were, " This is that person's choice, and that is part of My plan." Then I would see things in a brighter light and understanding of God, His ways, and the pattern after which He works.
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