BLOG von mir

Agency is one of the oldest institutions in the history of our eternity: it was before the world, as we know from various scriptures such as Moses 4:3. We also know it is one of our most precious gifts, one that cannot be revoked by God. It’s the only one that we alone can surrender to the adversary (by addiction, etc). Because it was decided in the council in heaven before the Creation, agency is one of the fundamental laws of our universe, even as gravity and relativity are. Unfortunately scientists don’t talk about it too much.

Too often we throw around the term “free agency” as if prepending the “free” implies freedom. This is a false charge, as agency itself is the definition of the freedom we have to make a choice (D&C 29:36). “Free agency” then is like saying “Free freedom” or likewise “Free lemonade” — costing nothing. Agency was certainly earned both by us and paid for by our Savior, Jesus Christ. We fought for God’s plan in the life before this one, with “one third part” cast down without agency in a body as a consequence of the war of ideas. And the Atonement works to compensate the flaws in ourselves because of our agency: for without the Atonement, our agency would be cause to destroy us in the eternities, because our natural selves are not able to become clean and perfect before God.

Another facet of agency that’s interesting to look at is governance – perhaps another law of the universe, ordained to man before the world was. We know the idea of government is God-given too, as Adam was charged with “having dominion over all the land,” and the Constitution of the USA arose from inspired men as stated in D&C 101:80. He gave us government to allow our agency to prevail in an organized society.

I don’t intend this blog to be political, but may I interject that while both [US parties] have pros and cons, there are “right and correct” values in the way of thinking that offers to the citizens more control than the other, because of agency’s sacred role. For example, we ought to be wary of petitions and policies that provide more power to the government, for that limits what the citizens have control over: a concept that is contrary to what God intended. Ever wonder why all three pillars of eternity (Creation, Fall, Atonement) revolve around agency?

“When we allow the State to replace the Creator in our minds as the source of our freedoms, we invite the government to treat our liberties as temporary favors, rather than irrevocable properties of our human existence. To seek for prosperity at the hands of government is a mockery of our most sacred and solemn virtues. To attempt to delegate authority that is not ours to give is neither just nor sensible.”

- Brian Ensign

We know also in 1 Nephi 13:12-19 that this country, the United States, was founded for the allowance of man’s agency and freedom in the world, a land where Christ’s Gospel could be restored because of the agency allotted to man by government.

Agency is also our power against the devil. We can choose to not follow him and instead follow the one and only true God who knows us better than we know ourselves. That is what makes our judgment fair. It is not an accident we have it. I can’t imagine a world without it. These things, along with what was mentioned in the last post, are what make agency so sacred and important.