Free Agency and Freedom | Dallin H. Oaks | 1987

[Music] my brothers and sisters i appreciate this opportunity to participate in byu's annual symposium on the book of mormon this year you are focusing on the second book of nephi that book provides some of our most important doctrinal insights on the significance of free agency in the gospel plan i have therefore chosen to speak about free agency and freedom the scriptural terms are agency and free when we refer to agency we usually combine the two words and say free agency but we sometimes use this term to refer to freedom as well as agency and the

scriptural term free sometimes means free agency and sometimes means freedom in view of this confusion i need to define the terms i will use when i say free agency i refer to what the scripture calls agency which means an exercise of the will the power to choose in view of the current prominence of this term on the sports pages i must add that this free agency does not refer to the contract status of professional athletes when i say freedom i mean the power and privilege to carry out our choices this includes everything from thoughts such

as hate to actions such as running in the first part of my talk i will speak of the doctrine of the church in the second part i will describe some applications of that doctrine sister oaks is my best critic she tells me that when i speak about doctrine my talks are pretty dry probably more understandable to read than to hear perhaps it would help listeners to this first part if i begin with an outline of the nine points i will make from the scriptures number one before the world was created we existed in the presence

of god number two free agency is a gift of god number three we had free agency in the pre-existence number four there satan presented a plan that would have taken away our free agency number five when god rejected satan's plan he and those who followed him rebelled and were cast out of heaven number six pursuant to god's plan adam and eve made the choice that caused the fall making mankind subject to mortality and sin in the world number seven we are here to be tested and this cannot occur without opposition in all things and number

eight to provide that opposition satan is permitted to try to persuade us to use our free agency to choose evil and number nine if we choose evil and do not repent we can ultimately become captives of satan to appreciate the significance of the added gospel knowledge restored in this dispensation notice how many of these essential gospel truths are revealed or clarified in the book of mormon especially second nephi and in the doctrine and covenants and pearl of great price number one before the world was created we existed in the presence of god abraham saw that

god stood in the midst of these spirits and chose some of them to make his rulers we do not know much about the pre-existence the scriptures sometimes refer to pre-existent intelligences and sometimes to pre-existent spirits for present purposes it is unnecessary to distinguish between the two the important thing is that in the pre-existence we had individual identity and we dwelt in the presence of god number two free agency the power to choose is a gift of god as we read in ii nephi wherefore the lord god gave unto man that he should act for himself

further therefore cheer up your hearts and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life and in modern revelation the lord said behold i gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself the prophet joseph smith described agency as quote that free independence of mind which heaven has so graciously bestowed upon the human family as one of its choicest gifts end of quote the word free is also used to describe free agency in this hymn latter-day saints have been singing since

our first hymn book in 1835 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 heaven he'll call persuade direct a right and bless with wisdom love and light in nameless ways be good and kind but never force the human mind number three we had free agency in the pre-existence this is evident from the fact that more than one plan was put forth in the council in heaven and that a third of the hosts of heaven could choose

to follow satan and rebel against the father number four satan's plan presented in the pre-existence would have taken away our free agency during what we call a council in heaven the father explained the conditions of the next step in the progression of his spirit children they needed to receive a mortal body and it was necessary for god to prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the lord their god shall command them satan came before god with this proposal behold here am i send me i will be thy son and i

will redeem all mankind that one soul shall not be lost and surely i will do it wherefore give me thine honor but the beloved son our savior who was chosen from the beginning said to the father here am i send me and father thy will be done and the glory be thine forever in the book of moses god describes satan's effort wherefore because that satan rebelled against me and sought to destroy the agency of man which i god had given him and also that i should give unto him mine own power by the power of

mine only begotten i caused that he should be cast down and he became satan yea even the devil the father of all lies to deceive and to blind men and to lead them captive at his will even as many as would not hearken unto my voice satan's method of assuring that one soul shall not be lost would be to destroy the agency of man under his plan satan would have been our master and he would have led us captive at his will without the power of choice we would have been mere robots or puppets in

his hands number five when god rejected satan's plan he and those who followed him rebelled and were cast out of heaven the contest the scriptures call the war in heaven concerned satan's attempts to usurp the power of god and to destroy the free agency of his children one third of the hosts of heaven exercised their agency to follow satan the bible describes this in veiled references to lucifer's attempt to exalt himself and to a war in which the dragon and his angels were cast out of heaven the event is described more clearly in modern revelation

for the devil rebelled against me saying give me thine honor which is my power and also a third part of the host of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency and they were thrust down and thus became the devil and his angels in his great poem emmanuel orson f whitney describes this event in the council of the gods when the destiny of worlds unborn hung trembling in the scale one arose a stature mingling strength and grace of meek though godlike mean the luster of whose countenance outshone the noonday sheen the hair was

white as purest foam or frost of alpine hill he spake attention grew more grave the stillness in more still father the voice like music fell clear as the murmuring flow of mountain streamlet trickling down from heights of virgin snow father it said since one must die thy children to redeem whilst earth as yet unformed and void with pulsing life shall team and thou great great michael foremost fall that mortal man may be and chosen savior yet must send lo here am i send me i ask i seek no recompense save that which then were mine

mine be the willing sacrifice the endless glory thine he ceased and sat when sudden rose aloft a towering form proudly erect as towering peak that looms above the storm a presence bright and beautiful with eye of flashing fire a lip whose haughty curl bespoke a sense of inward ire give me to go he boldly cried with scarce concealed disdain and none shall hence from heaven to earth that shall not rise again my saving plan exception scorns man's agency unknown as recompense i claim the right to sit on yonder throne ceased lucifer the breathless hush resumed

and denser grew all eyes were turned the general gaze one common magnet drew a moment there was solemn pause then like the thunder burst rolled forth from lips omnipotent the words i'll send the first it was done from congregation vast tumultuous murmurs rose waves of conflicting sound as when two meeting seas oppose it was finished but the heavens wept and still their annals tell how god's elect was chosen christ or one who fighting fell number six pursuant to god's plan adam and eve made the choice that caused the fall making mankind subject to mortality and

sin in the world of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it the lord told adam and eve nevertheless thou mayest choose for thyself for it is given unto thee but remember that i forbid it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die adam and eve were able to bring about the fall by choice because they had alternatives and they had free agency whose essence is described in these words thou mayest choose for thyself for it is given unto thee thus we see that what we

call the fall and the transgression of adam was a necessary step that resulted from our first parents exercise of their gift of free agency as we read in second nephi lehi explained behold all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy with the fall came mortality and an opportunity to be tested the lord told adam that his children were given to know good from evil wherefore they are agents unto themselves alma taught that with the fall man

became as gods knowing good from evil placing themselves in a state to act or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures whether to do evil or to do good similarly the prophet samuel taught for behold ye are free ye are permitted to act for yourselves for behold god hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free note that in this teaching the word free means free agency number seven we are here to be tested and this cannot occur without opposition in all things on this subject second

nephi enlarges our understanding father lehi taught his son jacob it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things if not so my firstborn in the wilderness righteousness could not be brought to pass neither wickedness neither holiness nor misery neither good nor bad wherefore all things must needs be a compound in one in other words if we did not have opposition we could not exercise our free agency by making choices wherefore father lehi explained the lord god gave unto man that he should act for himself wherefore man could not act for himself save

it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other without opposition in all things we could not achieve righteousness all things would be a compound in one a mixture no distinction between wickedness and holiness in that state of innocence mankind would be having no joy for they knew no misery doing no good for they knew no sin as we read in modern revelation and it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of man or they could not be agents unto themselves for if they never should have bitter they could

not know the sweet eight to provide the needed opposition satan is permitted to try to persuade us to use our free agency to choose evil in second nephi lehi declares that the messiah will come in the fullness of time that he may redeem the children of men from the fall then he gives us this important explanation and because they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever knowing good from evil to act for themselves and not to be acted upon save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last

day according to the commandments which god hath given wherefore men are free according to the flesh and all things are given unto them which are expedient unto man and they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great mediator of all men or to choose captivity and death according to the captivity and power of the devil for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself free to act for themselves and free to choose refer to free agency free according to the flesh refers to freedom as i will illustrate later nine

if we choose evil and do not repent we can ultimately become captives of satan lehi's assurance that we are free to act for ourselves and not to be acted upon has this exception save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day if we have chosen captivity and death according to the captivity and power of the devil he then pleads with his sons not to choose eternal death according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate to

bring you down to hell that he may reign over you in his kingdom similarly amulek taught for behold if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death behold ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil and he doth seal you his therefore the spirit of the lord hath withdrawn from you and hath no place in you and the devil hath all power over you and this is the final state of the wicked in summary free agency the power to choose is a gift of god conferred on his children and exercised

by them in the pre-existence it is an essential precondition of the further progression we seek in mortality but free agency cannot be exercised unless there is opposition in all things that opposition is provided by satan who once sought to destroy our free agency his effort continues he tries to persuade us to do evil and to make those choices that will finally give him the mastery he was denied in the pre-existence to have all power over us to lead us captive at his will now i will discuss some applications of these scriptural principles first because free

agency is a god-given precondition to the purpose of mortal life no person or organization can take away our free agency immortality second what can be taken away or reduced by the conditions of mortality is our freedom the power to act upon our choices free agency is absolute but in the circumstances of mortality freedom is always qualified freedom may be qualified or taken away first by physical laws including the physical limitations with which we are born second by our own action and third by the action of others including governments first lehi taught his son jacob that

men are free meaning have freedom according to the flesh for example in the flesh we are subject to the physical law of gravity if i should hang from the catwalk here in the marriott center and release my grip i would not be free to will myself into a soft landing and i cannot choose to run through a brick wall a loss of freedom reduces the extent to which we can act upon our choices but it does not deprive us of our god-given free agency a woman who has spent much of her life confined to a

wheelchair expressed that thought in verse annie johnson flint writes i cannot walk but i can fly no roof can house me from the stars no dwelling pen me in its bounds nor keep me fast with locks and bars no narrow room my thoughts can cage nor fetters hold my roving mind from these four walls that shut me in my soaring soul away can find and when the long long day is done i clasp the dearest book of all and through the dim sweet silences i hear my father's accents fall then though in chains yet i

am free beyond the pressure of my care above earth's night my spirit mounts on eagle wings of faith and prayer second other limitations on freedom are self-imposed such as the immobility we impose when we buckle our seat belt or the commitments we make when we sign a contract in these examples we limit our freedom we limit one freedom in order to achieve a larger and more important one third many losses of freedom are imposed by others the science of government is a consideration of the procedures and extent to which the official representatives of one group

of citizens can impose restrictions on the freedom of another group decisions on the extent to which government power should restrict the freedom of individuals are among the most difficult decisions we face in an organized society how much should zoning laws restrict a person's right to use his own property how many taxes should we extract and what compulsory function should government perform with them how much harm can society allow a person to do to himself such as by self mutilation or drug use these are all questions of freedom we have to accept some government limitations on

freedom if we who live in communities are to have life liberty and the pursuit of happiness a condition of uninhibited individual freedom would allow the strong to oppress the weak it would allow the eccentric desires of one person to restrict the freedom of many interferences with our freedom do not deprive us of our free agency when pharaoh put joseph in prison he restricted joseph's freedom but he did not take away his free agency when jesus drove the money changers out of the temple he interfered with their freedom to engage in a particular activity at a

particular time in a particular place but he did not take away their free agency during my nine years at byu i read many letters to the editor in the universe that protested various rules as infringements of free agency i'm glad i don't see those funny arguments anymore probably because i no longer have to read the letters to the editor in the universe the lord has told us in modern revelation that he established the constitution of the united states to assure that every man may act according to the moral agency which i have given unto him

in other words god established our constitution to give us the vital political freedom necessary for us to act upon our personal choices in civil government this revelation shows the distinction between agency the power of choice which is god-given and freedom the right to act upon our choices which is protected by the constitution and laws of the land freedom is obviously of great importance but as these examples illustrate freedom is always qualified in mortality consequently when we oppose a loss of freedom it would be better if we did not conduct our debate in terms of a

loss of our free agency which is impossible under our doctrine we ought to focus on the legality or the wisdom of the proposed restriction of our freedom a third application we receive assurance from our doctrine that satan who sought to take away our free agency in the pre-existence is not permitted to take it away from us in this life the prophet joseph smith taught that the devil cannot compel man to do evil he has power over us only as we permit him elder james e faust elaborated this in our last conference when he said certainly

he can tempt and he can deceive but he has no authority over us which we do not give him fourth as suggested by these teachings satan is still trying to take away our free agency by persuading us to surrender our will to his this subject has a morbid fascination for mankind the long-lived german legend of faust concerns a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power this is also the theme of stephen vincent bernays the devil and daniel webster a variety of modern practices tend toward this surrender and they

carry eternal dangers as elder faust warned us at conference the mischief of devil worship sorcery casting spells witchcraft voodooism black magic and all other forms of demonism should be avoided like the plague fifth we should also avoid any practices in which one person attempts to surrender even part of his will to another person or another person attempts to take it whether the means are chemical behavioral electronic or others not yet dreamed of such attempts run counter to the heavenly plan and further the adversaries free agency the power to choose and direct our thoughts and our

actions is a gift of god and we should resist any means that would compromise it sixth we should avoid any behavior that is addictive whatever is addictive compromises our will subjecting our will to the overbearing impulses imposed by any form of addiction serves satan's purposes and subverts our heavenly fathers this applies to addictions to drugs such as narcotics alcohol nicotine or caffeine addiction to practices such as gambling and any other addictive behavior we can avoid addictions by keeping the commandments of god seventh we should be aware that some people are more susceptible to some addictions

than others perhaps such susceptibility is inborn like the unnamed ailment the apostle paul called a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me lest i should be exalted above measure one person has a taste for nicotine and is easily addicted to smoking another person cannot take an occasional drink without being propelled into alcoholism another person samples gambling and soon becomes a compulsive gambler perhaps these persons as the saying goes were born that way but what does this mean does it mean that persons with susceptibilities or strong tendencies have no choice no free

agency in these matters our doctrine teaches otherwise regardless of a person's susceptibility or tendency his will is unfettered his free agency is unqualified it is his freedom that is impaired other persons are more free though they unwisely sample the temptations they seem immune to the addiction but regardless of the extent of our freedom we are all responsible for the exercise of our free agency as lehi taught in mortality we are only free according to the flesh most of us are born with thorns in the flesh some more visible some more serious than others we all

seem to have susceptibilities to one disorder or another but whatever our susceptibilities we have the will and the power to control our thoughts and our actions this must be so god has said that he holds us accountable for what we do and what we think so these must be controllable by our agency once we have reached the age or condition of accountability i was born that way does not excuse actions or thoughts that fail to conform to the commandments of god we need to learn how to live so that a weakness that is mortal will

not prevent us from achieving the goal that is eternal god has promised that he will consecrate our afflictions for our gain that's another choice promise in second nephi the efforts we expend in overcoming an inherited weakness build spiritual strength that will serve us throughout eternity thus when paul prayed thrice that his thorn in the flesh would depart from him the lord replied my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness obedient paul concluded most gladly therefore will i rather glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon

me therefore i take pleasure in the infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distress for christ's sake for when i am weak then am i strong whatever our susceptibilities or tendencies they cannot subject us to eternal consequences unless we exercise our free agency to do or think the things that are forbidden by the commandments of god for example a susceptibility to alcoholism impairs its victims freedom to partake without addiction but his free agency allows him to abstain and thus escape the physical debilitation of alcohol and the spiritual deterioration of addiction eight beware the argument

that because a person has strong drives toward a particular act that he has no power of choice and therefore no responsibility for his actions this contention runs counter to the most fundamental premises of the gospel of jesus christ satan would like us to believe that we are not responsible in this life that is the result he tried to achieve by his contest in the pre-existence a person who insists that he is not responsible for the exercise of his free agency because he was born that way is trying to ignore the outcome of the war in

heaven we are responsible and if we argue otherwise our efforts become part of the propaganda effort of the adversary individual responsibility is a law of life it applies in the law of man and the law of god society holds people responsible to control their impulses so we can live in a civilized society god holds his children responsible to control their impulses in order that they can keep his commandments and realize their eternal destiny the law does not excuse the short-tempered man who surrenders to his impulse to pull a trigger on his tormentor or the greedy

man who surrenders to his impulse to steal or the pedophile who surrenders to his impulse to satisfy his sexual desires with children i suppose it is inevitable that those who have surrendered to impulse would try to use the defense of irresistible impulse but in the courts on high this defense will be transparent to the great judge who sees all our actions and knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart there is much we do not know about the extent of freedom we have in view of the various thorns in the flesh that afflict us

in mortality but this much we do know we all have our free agency and god holds us accountable for the way we use it in thought and deed that is fundamental god has commanded us not to become entangled in sin in modern revelation he said go ye out from among the wicked save yourselves be ye clean that bear the vessels of the lord this principle of individual responsibility and these commands to go out from among the wicked and to be clean apply to a multitude of circumstances in terms of free agency and freedom i urge

you to apply these commands in this way if you have a weakness or a susceptibility to some particular transgression especially one that can be addictive use your free agency and your freedom to steer a course far from the circumstances of that particular transgression may god bless us to live our lives so as to avoid entangling ourselves in sin and compromising our precious and unique gift of free agency may we accept responsibility for our thoughts and our actions may we use our free agency to make righteous choices and to act upon them as we have the

freedom to do so for my conclusion i come back to the words of nephi in the concluding chapter of second nephi i nephi have written what i have written and i esteem it as of great worth and especially unto my people and it speaketh harshly against sin according to the plainness of the truth and if ye shall believe in christ ye will believe in these words for they are the words of christ and he hath given them unto me and they teach all men that they should do good and i pray the father in the

name of christ that many of us if not all may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day in the name of jesus christ amen you