To fully understand this gift of agency and its inestimable worth, it is imperative that we understand that God's chief way of acting is by persuasion and patience and long-suffering, not by coercion and stark confrontation. He acts by gentle solicitation and by sweet enticement. He always acts with unfailing respect for the freedom and independence that we possess. He wants to help us and pleads for the chance to assist us, but he will not do so in violation of our agency. He loves us too much to do that, and doing so would run counter to his divine character.
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' (Moro. 7:36)."
President Howard W. Hunter
4 comments:
Hi Honey,
Thank you for YOUR example of patience and long suffering with all of us. I do think coersion was effective when the kids were young, but now I get to be patient while they figure things out for themselves. It's hard to watch and not interfere (agency-choices-consequences). Heavenly Father probably feels the same way.
Love you.
True, it is hard to watch and see where they are heading. However, blogs like this are important because those kidos still need a constant example, a true North. We as adults need to figure out how lives our lives in happiness and peace, then they will follow. Christ's Gospel is that North.
Consider this comment:
Moral Discipline
Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Ensign - Nov. 2009
"I have heard a few parents state that they don’t want to impose the gospel on their children but want them to make up their own minds about what they will believe and follow. They think that in this way they are allowing children to exercise their agency. What they forget is that the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the truth, of things as they really are (see D&C 93:24). Without that, young people can hardly be expected to understand and evaluate the alternatives that come before them. Parents should consider how the adversary approaches their children. He and his followers are not promoting objectivity but are vigorous, multimedia advocates of sin and selfishness.
Seeking to be neutral about the gospel is, in reality, to reject the existence of God and His authority. We must, rather, acknowledge Him and His omniscience if we want our children to see life’s choices clearly and be able to think for themselves. They should not have to learn by sad experience that “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10)."
Here's my take on this amazingly refreshing truth. It is only until you understand that you are learning to be like God and that your spirit cannot die, it is not only until then, that you will find true freedom and joy in your life experience. God is a creator of things. He created this planet along with Christ (and others). He created man and woman, He created the universe and many things we still don't understand. In like manner we came here to learn how to be the creators of our own life experience. Didn't we? Aren't we here to learn how to become Gods ourselves? Isn't that part of the plan and blessing of the Temple? If you still believe that you are subjected to outside events out of your control then remember that Adam was given dominion over all things on the face of the Earth. That means he could be effecting, impacting, doing, changing the surroundings according to his desires. He was King over the whole Earth. We all have that power, we are (including me) still learning how to use it. Does that mean that you can control people's lives? Far from it, we can only control our own thoughts and feelings, then the effects will be visible in our own lives. You cannot feel and think for anyone, only for yourself. Therefore, you cannot create in the lives of others. Your only choice is to find your own way to Christ so that the kidos can follow. Try it to see if you can feel what others are exactly feeling at any given time. You'll see what I mean when you try it.
Finally, prayer is just but one example of what to do to use this creative power. Right? Things change when you pray, don't they? Answers come permanently, si o no?
All Is Well, All Is Well... and should we die....All Is Well... Oh.. All Is Well.
I love to know that All Is Well in our lives. It was for the pioneers.
PS1: My "All Is Well" assertion does not rule out the existence of problems...;-)
PS2: Agency is not free. There is no reference to free agency in the scriptures nor anywhere else. I try to make this clear because kidos use this term to fool themselves to believe that they can do anything thing they want. Agency is the power to choose. You are free to choose but agency is not free. It is a gift from God but the use of the word free makes it confusing for those that are trying to learn. You can choose bondage or you can choose freedom. Agency or the power it gives you are not free because there are laws that we all agreed to follow when we came here. You break those laws, you pay the price. You adhere to those laws you get the blessings. You see, free implies that no matter your choice everything is just fine but that is not true according to Gospel principles. This is where the deceiver takes away our kids, into fooling them to believe that they are suddenly free just by oppossing parental teachings and leaving home. What a mistake! You see, clarity of thought is power. They need this knowledge to really be free to choose what is good according to the laws of the Gospel and of this time-space reality we all accepted prior to being here. They need to know who they really are: eternal beings with the promise of unlimited power in the next life. That's big, isn't it? We are only free when we choose the right, that's my point. Think about it, ask, you'l receive the same answer I have.
Wow Efren! These are very good comments. I hope that other readers take the time read them. The words of Elder Christofferson really resonate with me. I have heard this argument many times by others that they prefer to let their children make their own choice as far as religion is concerned. I think that children fail to gain perspective about God with this pattern.
I find your comments about free agency not being free very interesting! Bad choices are not free are they. They all come with a price. Good choices on the other hand are accompanied with rewards. Thanks for your insights.
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