You and Your Free Agency ~ Part One

  Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, 

this post should take approximately five minutes to read from start to finish.

What is your definition of the word agency? What does agency means to a immediate relative? 

What does agency means to a friend? How do you apply agency in your life? 

This post focuses on a BYU (Brigham Young University) Devotional in June 1984 and it is called "You and Your Free Agency" by Elder Angel Abrea. This post is part one, and I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the Devotional. 

Elder Abrea has mentioned the following; "... A Good Moral

There’s a story told to the children in Argentina that will serve to introduce the theme I wish to present. ... A pack of dogs was gathered on a street corner. The dogs were telling each other the woes and troubles they had suffered in their lives. There was a large number of them and the conversation became very loud. 

Suddenly the most observant one let out a loud cry, “The dog-catcher!” Immediately animals scattered in every direction as fast as they could go. About one or two blocks away one of them stopped and asked, “Why am I running? I’m a cat.” It’s a story for children, but it has a good moral, don’t you think?

Many times we act like that cat of that group that are swept along with the current, as the style may be, and, because of what others do, we lose our individuality and don’t exercise one of the greatest gifts God has given to man, that of making choices the gift of free agency, or standing on one’s own feet.

We all have our free agency and we will each be responsible before our Heavenly Father for what we gain from it, since our exaltation depends on it. Let us see if with the help of some good examples, some reasoning, and a few passages and comments from the scriptures, we can stop for a few moments and ask ourselves, “Why am I running?” and analyze the use we are making of our free agency.

We Are Constantly Faced with Decisions

Concerning the misuse of free agency, I have observed many times that the error is not necessarily what others do to limit our free agency, but rather our lack of making the correct decisions; it is the lack of courage to exercise this agency.

From the time the power of reasoning first begins in the early stages of the journey through life, men are continually faced with decisions, with the constant challenge of choosing, of determining which of two roads to take the right one leading to progress and happiness or the wrong one leading to frustration and unhappiness.

Man determines his own destiny by the decisions and choices he makes, which is definitely an eternal law. Our success or our failure, our peace of mind or our anxiety, all depend upon the choices we make day by day.

Certainly Samuel the Lamanite expressed emphatically and clearly that same concept:

... He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you. [Helaman 14:30–31]

President Wilford Woodruff emphasized the responsibility that each individual assumes when he exercises his right of free agency: This agency has always been the heritage of man under the rule and government of God. ... By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body. [Millennial Star 51:642]

President David O. McKay said, “So fundamental in man’s eternal progress is his inherent right to choose, that the Lord would defend it even at the price of war” (CR, April 1942, p. 73). The reason is that without this gift the responsibilities of men having to answer for their own acts would be totally invalid. 

"As precious as life itself is our heritage of individual
freedom; for man's free agency is a God given gift."
- David O McKay."

No one can be judged for acts committed under circumstances and conditions which deprive the individual from exercising completely his ability to choose, in determining the direction to follow.

President John Taylor explained this idea in the following manner: If man be not a moral agent, he cannot be responsible for the present position of the world; and it would be unjust in God to punish him for acts that were not his and for circumstances over which he had no control. [Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Latter-day Prophets Speak (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1977), p. 157]

So free agency then makes it possible to exercise justice to the fullest extent, and this results in what James E. Talmage explains: Man’s accountability for his individual acts is as complete as is his agency to elect for himself. 

The ultimate result of good deeds is happiness, the consequence of evil is misery; these follow in every man’s life by inviolable laws. ... [The Articles of Faith, 12th ed. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1924), p. 55]

Through Our Choices We Determine Our Future

We need to remember when we make decisions that as we sow, so shall we reap. ... We cannot sow seeds of the slothful and of less effort and expect to receive the blessings of dedication and diligent effort. By our daily decisions we determine whether we will live according to God’s commandments or whether we will just follow along with, as Paul said, “commandments of men, that turn from the truth” (Titus 1:14).

Each day of our life, through the choices we make, we determine whether we will augment the building of our eternal dwelling with Heavenly Father or whether we want to slide along on a path which deprives us of the blessings of life eternal.

As everyone knows, frequently it is easier to go along with the current than to row upstream toward the mountain. However, once recognizing the importance of free agency, we come to the conclusion that self-discipline is fundamentally important in the task of making decisions.

We often see examples of how free agency is inhibited. For instance, sometimes we slip backward, instead of going forward, by letting others make decisions for us. We follow the decisions and goals of others and do not appreciate the blessings of free agency.

We Have All the Time There Is

Let us consider first those who go along with commonly used phrases, those who use them without reasoning through their meaning phrases which become popular, and in many cases determine one’s manner of action.

Let’s talk a few minutes about those who say, “There is not time for anything,” and see if they are not a typical example of those who unthinkingly leave it to others to make their decisions for them. ... Many persons declare daily that they do not have sufficient time. Nevertheless, each one has all that there is.

Others say that time flies when actually it moves at a set rate. Or they speak of saving time, but time cannot be saved, lost, or borrowed. How many times have you heard someone say that they want to make up for lost time? Once time has passed it cannot be replaced. Still others say, “The time just goes.” The truth is that we are the ones who go, and time remains the same.

... The fact is that time is on our side the very minute we have it organized. You have heard it said, “There is not sufficient time.” We have all the time that there is; it all depends on how we distribute it. All of these erroneous ideas lead to wrong actions, and if we think about that for a moment, we realize they are commonly used in some cases we ourselves use them unthinkingly. 

What we need to ask ourselves is this: “Is the problem with the time or is it with myself?” ... Unless we use our head and are not fooled by these meaningless phrases, we will be caught in the current with those who do not make decisions, but allow others to make them for them; we will not be standing on our own feet. ..."

Stay Tuned until next time.