Agency: I have always known that we have our agency and we are free to choose whether we want to obey or go astray. After reading these talks I now feel a deeper connection to the Lord. I used to think that it would have been so much easier to follow Satan’s way and have things chosen for us. I now know that had we followed this path that we would not have the joy and necessary sorrow in our lives. I am glad for my trials and how by going the wrong way sometimes can help me really appreciate the good and joy in choosing the right. I will always be grateful for the chance to learn for myself the joys and pit falls in life so I can continue to grow.
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"Finally, remember our agency is not only for us. We have the responsibility to use it in behalf of others, to lift and strengthen others in their trials and tribulations. Some of our brothers and sisters have lost the full use of their agency through unrighteous choices...Through friendship and love, we may lead them along the path of obedience and encourage them to use their agency to make the right choices once again."
Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference
Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference
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"Agency allows us to be tested and tried to see whether or not we will endure to the end and return to our Heavenly Father with honor. Agency is the catalyst that leads us to express our inward spiritual desires in outward Christ like behavior. "
Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference
Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference
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"The battle over man’s God-given agency continues today. Satan and his minions have their lures all around us, hoping that we will falter and take his flies so he can reel us in with counterfeit means. He uses addiction to steal away agency. According to the dictionary, addiction of any kind means to surrender to something, thus relinquishing agency and becoming dependent on some life-destroying substance or behavior."
M. Russel Ballard, O That Cunning Plan of the Evil One, October 2010 General Conference
M. Russel Ballard, O That Cunning Plan of the Evil One, October 2010 General Conference
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"You may be tired of others trying to run your life—always telling you what to do. After all, you have the right to make your own choices. That is correct. You have that right. It is your agency. The secret to solve problems in your life will be found in understanding and using the eternally beneficial interaction of your agency and His truth."
Richard G. Scott, Healing Your Damaged Life, November 1992 Ensign
Richard G. Scott, Healing Your Damaged Life, November 1992 Ensign
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" The promptings that come to us to flee evil reflect our Heavenly Father’s understanding of our particular strengths and weaknesses and His awareness of the unforeseen circumstances of our lives. When these promptings come, they will not generally stop us in our tracks, for the Spirit of God does not speak with a voice of thunder. The voice will be as soft as a whisper, coming as a thought to our minds or a feeling in our hearts. By heeding its gentle promptings, we will be protected from the destructive consequences of sin.
But if we ignore those promptings, the light of the Spirit will fade. Our agency will be limited or lost, and we will lose the confidence and ability to act."
Robert D. Hales, To Act Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference
But if we ignore those promptings, the light of the Spirit will fade. Our agency will be limited or lost, and we will lose the confidence and ability to act."
Robert D. Hales, To Act Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006 General Conference
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"The general quickly understood a truth that is missed even by some in the Church. Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God."
Boyd K. Packer, Agency and Control, April 1983 General Conference
Boyd K. Packer, Agency and Control, April 1983 General Conference
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"President Faust recognized that we all possess the God-given gift of moral agency—the right to make choices and the obligation to account for those choices (see D&C 101:78). He also understood and demonstrated that, for positive outcomes, moral agency must be accompanied by moral discipline."
D. Todd Christofferson, Moral Discipline, October 2009 General Conference
D. Todd Christofferson, Moral Discipline, October 2009 General Conference
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"The proper exercise of moral agency requires faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. (See A of F 1:4.) 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."
Russell M. Nelson, Choices, October 1990 General Conference
Russell M. Nelson, Choices, October 1990 General Conference
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"As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."
David A. Bednar, And Nothing Shall Offend Them, October 2006 General Conference
David A. Bednar, And Nothing Shall Offend Them, October 2006 General Conference
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"I have been thinking recently about choices and their consequences. It has been said that the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. The choices we make determine our destiny.
Joshua of old declared, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Thomas S. Monson, Choose You This Day, October 2004 General Conference
Joshua of old declared, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Thomas S. Monson, Choose You This Day, October 2004 General Conference