Agency

1.  "God gave us the everlasting gospel, the principles of life and salvation, and has left it up to each of us to choose or reject, with the understanding that we become responsible to him for the results of our acts. The Lord does not force anyone to embrace the gospel, and he will not force them to live it if they have embraced it."

Delbert L. Stapley, "Using Our Free Agency", General Conference, April 1975

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2.  "There are great lessons to be learned from the past, and you ought to learn them so that you don’t exhaust your spiritual strength repeating past mistakes and bad choices."

M. Russell Ballard, "Learning the Lessons of the Past", General Conference, April 2009

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3.  "Our Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and He wants them all to have the blessings of the gospel in their lives. Spiritual light is not lost because God turns His back on His children. Rather, spiritual darkness results when His children turn their collective backs on Him. It is a natural consequence of bad choices made by individuals, communities, countries, and entire civilizations. This has been proven again and again throughout the course of time. One of the great lessons of this historical pattern is that our choices, both individually and collectively, do result in spiritual consequences for ourselves and for our posterity."

M. Russell Ballard, "Learning the Lessons of the Past", General Conference, April 2009

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4.  "The blessings we enjoy now are because we made the choice to follow the Savior before this life.  To everyone hearing or reading these words, whoever you are and whatever your past may be, remember this: it is not too late to make that same choice again and follow Him."   

Robert D. Hales, "Preserving Agency, Protecting Religious Freedom", General Conference, April 2015   

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5.  "My beloved brothers and sisters, don't walk!  Run!  Run to receive the blessings of agency by following the Holy Ghost and exercising the freedoms God has given us to do His will."  

Robert D. Hales, "Preserving Agency, Protecting Religious Freedom", General Conference, April 2015

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6.  "Through Adam and Eve's partaking of the forbidden fruit, knowledge of good and evil was introduced into the world.  Their choice made it possible for each of us to come to this earth to be tried and tested.  We are blessed with agency, which is our ability to make decisions and to become accountable for those decisions."  

Richard G. Scott, "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority", General Conference, October 2014

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7.  "Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the right because it is right, even when it is hard. It rejects the self-absorbed life in favor of developing character worthy of respect and true greatness through Christlike service."   

D. Todd Christofferson, "Moral Discipline", General Conference, October 2009

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8.  "It is our freedom, our agency, our inalienable and divine right to choose what we will believe and what we will not believe, and to choose what we want to be and what we want to do."   

Howard W. Hunter, "The Golden Thread of Choice", General Conference, October 1989

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9.  "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."  

Howard W. Hunter, "The Golden Thread of Choice", General Conference, October 1989

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10.  "The proper exercise of moral agency requires faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel.  Because of Him, you have your agency. He must be the very foundation of your faith, and the testing of that faith is a fundamental reason for your freedom to choose."   

Russll M. Nelson, "Choices", General Conference, October 1990

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My Position Statement - Agency

One of the many wonders I discovered when I joined the church was the realization that I had the right to choose for myself exactly what I wanted to do with my life.  Before that, I always felt that my life was a series of events where I was trying to always please someone else and many times, I failed miserably by disappointing someone I loved in one way or another.  But I learned through a lot of deep pondering and much prayer what agency really is.  It is a gift!  Seems simple enough.  This gift, given to us by a loving Heavenly Father, who wants all of us to return home to Him, will not force or manipulate us in any way.  His way is by loving us, by persuasion and patience, forgiving us, comforting us, and showing us the way - all the things that a good parent would do for their children.  

             “Know this, that every soul is free, To choose his life and what he’ll be,

     For this eternal truth is given, That God will force no man to heav’n.  (LDS Hymn Book)

The following words, given to us by Eldred G. Smith at General Conference in Oct., 1971 are perfect to me in explaining our free agency:  "The right to make a decision, then, is now ours, and it is the greatest asset we have on earth. The Lord will not, and cannot, and does not intend to take it away from us. He intends for us to use it. He is constantly advising us and teaching us how to use it for our own good and further growth, even to attain eternal life."