Quotes
1) “Agency is the source of that risk. It is so priceless a gift from our Heavenly Father that a war in heaven was fought to defend it. Lucifer sought to take it from us and to take for himself the honor and glory of our Father. The teenager you love may well have been one of the valiant warriors on the side of agency and truth. Satan seems to feel he can win a double victory by drawing teenagers into sin. He can destroy one of his antagonists and in the process try to prove the Father wrong, prove that the risk of agency was too great.” (Eyring, Henry B. “A Life Founded in Light and Truth.” Devotional Address, Ensign. Jul 2001.)2) “A cunning part of (Satan’s) strategy is to dissociate anger from agency, making us believe that we are victims of an emotion we cannot control…Anger is a yielding to Satan’s influence by surrendering our self-control. It is the thought-sin that leads to hostile feelings or behavior. It is the detonator of road rage on the freeway, flare-ups in the sports arena, and domestic violence in homes.” (Robbins, Lynn G. “Anger and Agency.” General Conference. April 1998.)
3) “Jesus, who exercised His agency to sustain Heavenly Father’s plan was identified and appointed by the Father as our Savior, foreordained to perform the atoning sacrifice for all. Similarly our exercise of agency to keep the commandments enables us to fully understand who we are and receive all of the blessings our Heavenly Father has—including the opportunity to have a body, to progress, to experience joy, to have a family, and to inherit eternal life.” (Hales, Robert D. “Preserving Agency, Protecting Religious Freedom.” April 2015. General Conference.)
4) “As we walk the path of spiritual liberty in these last days, we must understand that the faithful use of our agency depends upon our having religious freedom. We already know that Satan does not want this freedom to be ours. He attempted to destroy moral agency heaven, and now on earth he is fiercely undermining, opposing, and spreading confusion about religious freedom—what it is and why it is essential to our spiritual life and our very salvation.” (Hales, Robert D. “Preserving Agency, Protecting Religious Freedom.” April 2015. General Conference.)
5) “In spiritual matters some suppose that men and women need not strive for personal righteousness—because God loves and saves us ‘just as we are.’ But God intends that His children should act according to the moral agency He has given them…It is His plan and His will that we have the principal decision-making role in our own life’s drama. God will not live our lives for us nor control us as if we were His puppets, as Lucifer once proposed.” (Christofferson, D. Todd. “Free Forever, to Act for Themselves.” General Conference. October 2014.)
6) “God will not act to make us something we do not choose by our actions to become. Truly He loves us, and because He loves us, He neither compels nor abandons us. Rather He helps and guides us. Indeed, the real manifestation of God’s love is His commandments.” (Christofferson, D. Todd. “Free Forever, to Act for Themselves.” General Conference. October 2014.)
7) “Initial foundations of faith, even with spiritual confirmation, do not mean that we will not face challenges. Conversion to the gospel does not mean all our problems will be solved…Adversity should not be viewed as either disfavor from the Lord or a withdrawal of His blessings. Opposition in all things is part of the refiner’s fire to prepare us for an eternal celestial destiny.” (Cook, Quentin L. “Foundations of Faith.” General Conference. April 2017.)
8) “As we press forward, choosing to follow the counsel and the warnings of our leaders, we choose to follow the Lord while the world is going in another direction. We choose to hold fast to the iron rod, to be Latter-day Saints, to be on the Lord’s errand, and to be filled with exceedingly great joy.” (Rasband, Ronald A. “Standing with the Leaders of the Church.” General Conference. April 2016.)
9) “Too many believe that love is a condition, a feeling that involves 100 percent of the heart, something that happens to you. They disassociate love from the mind and, therefore, from agency. In commanding us to love, the Lord refers to something much deeper than romance—a love that is the most profound form of loyalty. He is teaching us that love is something more than feelings of the heart; it is also a covenant we keep with soul and mind…Agency plays a fundamental role in our relationships with one another. This being true, we must make the conscious decision that we will love our spouse and family with all our heart, soul, and mind; that we will build, not ‘fall into,’ strong, loving marriages and families.” (Robbins, Lynn G. “Agency and Love in Marriage.” Ensign. October 2000.)
10) "All of our choices have consequences, some of which have little or nothing to do with our eternal salvation and others of which have everything to do with it….No temptation, no pressure, no enticing can overcome us unless we allow such. If we make the wrong choice, we have no one to blame but ourselves." (Monson, Thomas S. "The Three Rs of Choice." General Conference. October 2010.)
Position Statement
I loved researching agency. Initially, before I found out the four required topics, I really wanted to do some research on agency to see what the apostles have said. I'm really glad that I was able to for this assignment. Overall, the biggest thing that I learned was that agency is a gift from our Heavenly Father to help us get back to Him. The decision for us to have agency has been there since the war in heaven. Satan, since then, has had time to learn and adapt our culture so that we dissociate emotion from our agency. Being angry or being in love is our choice. We are not acted upon, like Satan's plan suggests. We are free to choose, and whatever we choose, God will not interfere and instead, let the consequences pan out. I feel so loved when I think of agency now. It's a precious gift from our Heavenly Father designed as a compass to get us on the right path.
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