Satan’s power over man
Satan’s Power and Influence over Mankind
1. (Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 12.)
First Questioner: Don't people simply make choices rather than always being drawn by the devil? Are there not some ideas and impulses that originate only with man?
The Disciple: Yes. The Lord distinguishes between the "doctrines of devils" and "the commandments of men." (D&C 46:7.) One may be more sinister than the other or more invidious in its motivation, but the consequences of following an incorrect principle are the same, regardless of its source.
Presumably, Satan expends himself when a real issue or principle is involved, not just in matters involving preferences, although we must be careful even there. He is so subtle that he might try to get one to opt for a flashy car if that would reinforce one's vanity on which he'd like to rely later on when it really matters. He clearly seeks to get us attached to ideas that are pleasing to the carnal mind—as Korihor admitted just before his death in a haunting, terminal burst of truth. Satan will insinuate himself and his ideas into our thoughts and life-style if we will let him. But one of the grand rules even he must obey is that he may not tempt us above that which we are able to bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13.) (“able to bear” should be translated “able to resist”)
The only way we can bind him is through personal righteousness.
2. (Randy L. Bott, Prepare with Honor: Helps for Future Missionaries [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 34.)
What is so bad about watching a few R-rated movies or looking at bad magazines? No one may have told you about the devastating feelings of guilt and worthlessness you feel when you are standing in the waters of baptism or laying your hands on a sick person's head and a "flashback" from a movie or magazine centerfold appears before your eyes. In the very minute when you want the Spirit more than anything else, Satan brings back your past behavior to plague you. I have tried to comfort weeping elders who wanted to know if they would ever be able to rid themselves of the bad thoughts and vivid pictures they participated in before they became serious about life. I genuinely hurt with them, but all I could say was that the Lord in his own time would help them erase the memories.
President David O. McKay gave us this counsel: "Tell me what you think about when you do not have to think, and I will tell you what you are. Temptation does not come to those who have not thought of it before. Keep your thoughts clean, and it will be easy to resist temptations as they come" (Gospel Ideals [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1953], p. 401). You are fooling yourself to believe you can watch pornography and, with a wave of the hand, erase those images from your mind. The price you will pay will be far greater than the money you spent buying those materials. Do yourself a favor and avoid like a plague any movie, magazine, video, or song that causes your mind to take a low, dirty trail.
3. (John Bytheway, What I Wish I'd Known in High School: A Crash Course in Teenage Survival [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994], 53.)
Satan fights this battle on many fronts—he finds many ways to disrupt The Plan. For example, besides being addictive and destructive, pornography exploits and demeans people (mostly women and children). It sends the message that people are to be valued only as objects—not as spirit individuals, each with a mind and a heart. It also sends the false message that "looks" are more important than anything else, and that we don't have to control our thoughts. (See For the Strength of Youth, p. 11.)
(Randal A. Wright, comp., Why Say No When the World Says Yes? Resisting Temptation in an Immoral World [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 36.)
With all this in mind, can you imagine what you, as one of the youth of Zion, can accomplish for your Father in Heaven and for yourself if you learn to control your thoughts? You can be free from sexual immorality of any kind. You can be free to go on a mission, marry in the temple, and raise a good family. You can also be free to enjoy peace of conscience, revelation, and happiness. But perhaps more than anything else, you can be free to enjoy this wonderful promise made to us by the Lord: "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. . . . The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth" (D&C 121:45-46).
(Randal A. Wright, comp., Why Say No When the World Says Yes? Resisting Temptation in an Immoral World [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 34.)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie recommends that we preach a little sermon to ourselves when Satan attempts to plant evil in our minds. Whatever the technique, the important thing is that we have committed ourselves to our Heavenly Father in our morning prayer, that we have pleaded with him for his power and blessing, and that we do everything we can to keep our thoughts pure.
The technique that we use to rid ourselves of evil thoughts is up to us and our own creativity. The Lord has said, "Look unto me in every thought" (D&C 6:36). We can do that. The more fully we learn to control our thoughts, the more capable we will be of doing what Alma counseled us to do—to lift up our thoughts to our Heavenly Father all the day long (see Alma 34).
The Savior's instruction to us is very simple. Speaking of evil things, he said, "Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart" (3 Nephi 12:29). Can you imagine how world history might have been changed if men and women had just lived by this principle and had stopped their evil thoughts before they became evil acts?
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 791.)
Thoughts
See DESIRES, IDLE WORDS, JUDGMENT DAY, LIGHTMINDEDNESS. Thoughts are the ideas, concepts, judgments, imaginations, fancies, opinions, dispositions, and intentions that arise in the hearts and minds of men. The power to think is an inheritance which all men receive because they are the spirit children of an Omnipotent Father. It is the spirit that thinks, not the mortal tabernacle. The manner in which this power is used (including the thoughts that come into their minds) depends on the manner in which men exercise the agency with which they have been endowed by their Creator.
The thoughts of the Lord are infinite, eternal, and perfect, for he knows all things and has all power. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:8-9; Ps. 33:11; 92:5.) Man's thoughts are open to the view and knowledge of the Lord. (D&C 6:16D. & C. 6:16; 33:1; Mosiah 24:12; Alma 18:32; Job 42:2; Ps. 94:11; 139:2; Heb. 4:12.) To his prophets also this power is given as occasion requires. (Jac. 2:5; Alma 10:17; 12:3, 7; 18:16, 18, 20; Hela. 9:41.) Christ frequently exercised his power to read the thoughts of those among whom he ministered. (Matt. 9:4; 12:25; Luke 5:22; 6:8; 9:47; 11:17; 3 Ne. 28:6.)
Evil thoughts are sinful. (Prov. 15:26; 24:9.) They are an abomination in themselves, and they lead to further wickedness. Evils are not committed until they have been thought out in the heart. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." (Mark 7:21-22; Matt. 15:19; Luke 6:45.) "Behold, I will bring evil upon this people," saith the Lord, "even the fruit of their thoughts." (Jer. 6:19.) It was only after "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5), that he sent the flood of Noah to cleanse the earth.
On the other hand, "The thoughts of the righteous are right." (Prov. 12:5.) They are at the root of all righteous action; wise words and deeds flow from them; and a righteous judgment will be given because of them. Men are what their thoughts make them. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Prov. 23:7.) Our thoughts will reward or condemn us before the judgment bar. (Alma 12:12-14.) The righteous and the wicked are divided by their thoughts, and the secret thoughts of men will be revealed in the judgment. (D. & C. 88:109.) Righteous thoughts lead to salvation, wicked thoughts to damnation.
"A fanciful and flowery and heated imagination beware of," the Prophet said, "because the things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out." (Teachings, p. 137.)
Part of man's mortal probation is to see if he can control his thoughts in accordance with righteous principles. The saints are commanded, "Cast away your idle thoughts" (D. & C. 88:69), which obviously includes all evil thoughts, all those that do not edify, and all that are unproductive. Thoughts are idle if they do not work to further man's peace in this life and eternal reward in the next.
King Benjamin counseled his people: "If ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish." (Mosiah 4:30.) Paul taught that the saints must bring "into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5.) To be saved men must repent of their evil thoughts. (Acts 8:18-24.) "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isa. 55:7.)
Men should think on the things of righteousness. They should meditate upon the great truths which the Lord has revealed. "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly." (D. & C. 121:45.) Above all, men should think of the Lord and his infinite goodness. "Look unto me in every thought" (D. & C. 6:36), is his plea. (Alma 37:36.) "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:13.)
Those who "commit" their "works unto the Lord," have power to control and establish their thoughts. (Prov. 16:3.) They have power to gain new thoughts by revelation from the Holy Ghost. When they speak about the Lord and his laws, they are enabled to do so without reading a prepared essay. "Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man." (D. & C. 84:85; 100:5-6; Matt. 10:19; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11.)
(Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-1973], 1: 179.)
4. Knowing their thoughts] Jesus frequently exercised the prophetic gift of reading the thoughts of others. Except by revelation from the Spirit, the thoughts of men cannot be known to other men. (D&C 6:16D. & C. 6:16; Jac. 2:5; Alma 10:17.)
(Dallin H. Oaks, Pure in Heart [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 10.)
The Savior told the Pharisees, "God knoweth your hearts" (Luke 16:15). Paul warned the Hebrews that God "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," and that "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:12-13 ;see also 1 Corinthians 4:5). Ammon taught his people that God "knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning" (Alma 18:32; also see Mosiah 24:12; D&C 6:16D&C 6:16). And Mormon wrote, "for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart" (Moroni 7:44).
In this dispensation, the Lord has reaffirmed that God "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (D&C 33:1). Elder John Taylor said:
He knows our thoughts and comprehends our desires and feelings; he knows our acts and the motives which prompt us to perform them. He is acquainted with all the doings and operations of the human family, and all the secret thoughts and acts of the children of men are open and naked before him, and for them he will bring them to judgment. (Journal of Discourses 16:301-2.)
In other words, God knows who is pure in heart. He can and will judge us not only for our actions but also for our motives, desires, and attitudes. This reality is challenging, not surprising.
We have flee agency. We exercise that free agency not only by what we do but also by what we decide—what we choose to will or desire. Restrictions on freedom can deprive us of the power or freedom to act, but no one can deprive us of the power to will or desire. Free agency is an eternal principle. So is accountability for its exercise. Accountability must reach and attach consequences to our motives, desires, and attitudes.
This accountability will punish us for sinful thoughts and reward us for righteous ones. As we learn in modern scripture, during the events connected with the Second Coming, God will "reveal the secret acts of men, and the thoughts and intents of their hearts" (D&C 88:109).
Brigham Young taught: "We shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body and according to the thoughts and intents of the heart" (John A. Widtsoe, ed., Discourses of Brigham Young [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1941], p. 382).
Karl G. Maeser, the great leader of Brigham Young Academy, told his students: "Not only will you be held accountable for the things you do, but you will be held responsible for the very thoughts you think." For a time that teaching troubled his young student George Albert Smith. Then he understood. As he said later :
Why, of course you will be held accountable for your thoughts, because when your life is completed in mortality, it will be the sum of your thoughts. That one suggestion has been a great blessing to me all my life, and it has enabled me upon many occasions to avoid thinking improperly, because I realize that I will be, when my life's labor is complete, the product of my thoughts. (George Albert Smith, Sharing the Gospel with Others [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1948], pp. 62—63, quoted by Ezra Taft Benson in "Think on Christ," Ensign, April 1984, p. 10.)
This accountability is clearly taught in the scriptures. In modern revelation the Lord has declared: "I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts" (D&C 137:9). Alma declared:
[God] granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; . . . according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. Yea, . . . he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires (Alma 29:45; see also D&C 7:8; 11:8).
The capacity to reward for righteous motives, desires, and attitudes illustrates another contrast between the laws of God and the laws of man. It is entirely impractical to grant a legal advantage on the basis of an intent or desire not translated into action. "I intended to sign that contract" or "We intended to get married" cannot substitute for the act required by law. If the laws of man gave effect to intentions or desires in place of required acts, it would open the door for too much abuse, since these laws and those who enforce them have no reliable means of determining our innermost thoughts or desires.
In contrast, the laws of God can reward a righteous desire or attitude because an omniscient God can determine it. If a person does not perform a particular commandment because he is genuinely unable to do so, but would if he could, our Heavenly Father will know and will reward that person accordingly.
Upon the same principle, evil thoughts or desires are sinful under the laws of God even though not translated into the actions that would make them punishable under the laws of man. Similarly, if a person performs a seemingly righteous act but does so for the wrong reasons, such as to achieve a selfish purpose, his hands may be clean but his heart is not "pure." His act will not be counted for righteousness.
Subsequent chapters will discuss and provide the scriptural authority for these assertions. The motives or states of mind with which we act are explored in chapters 2 and 3. The effects of desires that are not accompanied by actions are discussed in chapter 4. The succeeding three chapters examine different mental attitudes or priorities by which we evaluate our life's experiences: materialism, pride, and spirituality. Chapter 8 describes the condition of mind that constitutes the attitude of worship. Chapter 9 suggests things we can do to become pure in heart.
(Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the New Testament: The Four Gospels [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982], 303.)
Thoughts
"none else save God knowest thy thoughts"
Thoughts have a profound influence on the character, personality, and eventual actions of man. The Lord is concerned with our thoughts and warns us that we will be held accountable for them.
Evil thoughts are a sin (Prov. 15:26; 24:9), and they frequently lead to further sinful action: "Out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within." (Mark 7:21-23.)
Good thoughts can lead one to God by building faith and confidence in the individual as he learns to master his thoughts and increases his confidence in God, who can know the thoughts of man. Thus "let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God." (121:45.)
Selected Quotations
"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. . . .
"Not only does a person become what he thinks, but often he comes to look like it. If he worships the God of War, hard lines tend to develop on his countenance. If he worships the God of Lust, dissipation will mark his features. If he worships the God of Peace and Truth, serenity will crown his visage. . . .
"Inescapably we reap what we sow. If a farmer wants to raise wheat he must sow wheat, if he wishes fruit he must plant fruit trees, and so with any other crop. The principle is equally binding in the mental and spiritual spheres. . . .
"This relationship of character to thought cannot be too strongly emphasized. How could a person possibly become what he is not thinking? Nor is any thought, when persistently entertained, too small to have its effect. The 'divinity that shapes our ends' is indeed in ourselves. It is one's very self." (Spencer W. Kimball, MF, p. 103.)
"We may succeed in hiding our affairs from men; but it is written that for every word and every secret thought we shall have to give an account in the day when accounts have to be rendered before God, when hypocrisy and fraud of any kind will not avail us; for by our words and by our works we shall be justified, or by them we shall be condemned." (John Taylor, JD 24:232.)
"William James, the great Harvard psychologist, once asked this question, how would you like to create your own mind? But isn't that about what usually happens? Professor James explains that the mind is made up by what it feeds upon. He said that the mind, like the dyer's hand, is colored by what it holds. If I hold in my hand a sponge full of purple dye, my hand becomes purple. And if I hold in my mind and heart great ideas of faith and enthusiasm, my whole personality is changed accordingly.
"If we think negative thoughts, we develop negative minds. If we think depraved thoughts, we develop depraved minds. On the other hand, if we think celestial thoughts, which are the kind of thoughts that God thinks, then we develop celestial minds." (Sterling W. Sill, Ensign, May 1978, p. 66.)
"As I have flown over the beautiful land of South America, time and time again I have been impressed with the aerial view of the mighty Amazon River. Not only is this Amazon the greatest river in the world, but even many of its tributaries are great rivers in their own right and are navigable for many miles.
"One interesting feature about these rivers is their different colors. The Madeira, for example, is called a white river because its waters carry fine clay particles along its course. The black color of the Rio Negro comes from decaying organic materials picked up in the forests through which it passes. Still other rivers flow over white sands and often appear emerald green or turquoise blue.
"Just as these rivers are colored by the substances picked up as they flow along, so the streams of our thoughts are colored by the material through which they are channeled. The scriptures indicate that as a man 'thinketh in his heart, so is he.' (Prov. 23:7.) The material we read has a great effect on the nature of our thoughts. We therefore need to be concerned not only with avoiding unwholesome literature, but we must fill our minds with pure knowledge, and we must see that our children do the same." (J. Thomas Fyans, Ensign, May 1975, p. 88.)
"Choose from among the sacred music of the Church a favorite hymn, one with words that are uplifting and music that is reverent, one that makes you feel something akin to inspiration. . . . Perhaps 'I am a Child of God' would do. Go over it in your mind carefully. Memorize it. Even though you have had no musical training, you can think through a hymn.
"Now, use this hymn as the place for your thoughts to go. Make it your emergency channel. Whenever you find these shady actors have slipped from the sidelines of your thinking onto the stage of your mind, put on this record, as it were. As the music begins and as the words form in your thoughts, the unworthy ones will slip shamefully away. It will change the whole mood on the stage of your mind. Because it is uplifting and clean, the baser thoughts will disappear. For while virtue, by choice, will not associate with filth, evil cannot tolerate the presence of light.
"In due time you will find yourself, on occasion, humming the music inwardly. As you retrace your thoughts, you discover some influence from the world about you encouraged an unworthy thought to move on stage in your mind, and the music almost automatically began." (Boyd K. Packer, CR, October 1973, pp. 24-25.)
Scriptural References:
D&C 6:16D&C 6:16; 33:1; 88:109; Ps. 94:11; Matt. 9:4; 12:25; Luke 5:22; 6:8; 11:17; 1 Cor. 3:20; Jacob 2:5; Alma 12:3-14.
(Serving with Strength Throughout the World [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994], 64.)
Most of the input from the world makes it hard to keep our thoughts on a higher plane. Is it important to control our thoughts? Are we accountable for our thoughts? Oh yes. "For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God" (Alma 12:14).
(Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 26.)
"Agency" refers both to the capacity of beings "to act for themselves" (2 Ne. 2:26) and their accountability for those actions. Exercising agency is a spiritual matter (D&C 29:35); it consists in either receiving the enlightenment and commandments that come from God or resisting and rejecting them by yielding to the devil's temptations (D&C 93:31). Without awareness of alternatives an individual could not choose, and that is why being tempted by evil is as essential to agency as being enticed by the Spirit of God (D&C 29:39). Furthermore, no one is forced either to act virtuously or to sin. "The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was voluntary…. God would not exert any compulsory means, and the devil could not" (TPJS, p. 187).
Agency is an essential ingredient of being human, "inherent in the spirit of man" (McKay, p. 366) both in the premortal spirit existence (D&C 29:36) and in mortality. No being can possess sensibility, rationality, and a capacity for happiness without it (2 Ne. 2:11-13, 23; D&C 93:30). Moreover, it is the specific gift by which God made his children in his image and empowered them to grow to become like him through their own progression of choices (L. Snow, JD 20:367). It was because Satan "sought to destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3) that the war was fought in heaven before earth life (cf. Rev. 12:7). What was then, and is now, at stake in the battle to preserve agency is nothing less than the possibility of both the continued existence and the divine destiny of every human being. This principle helps explain the Church's strong position against political systems and addictive practices that inhibit the free exercise of agency.
Agency is such that men and women not only can choose obedience or rebellion but must (B. Young, JD 13:282). They cannot avoid being both free and responsible for their choices. Individuals capable of acting for themselves cannot remain on neutral ground, abstaining from both receiving and rejecting light from God. To be an agent means both being able to choose and having to choose either "liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator" or "captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Ne. 2:27-29; 10:23). A being who is "an agent unto himself" is continually committing to be either an agent and servant of God or an agent and servant of Satan. If this consequence of choosing could be overridden or ignored, men and women would not determine their own destiny by their choices and agency would be void.
The captivity resulting from sin is also called "the bondage of sin" (D&C 84:49-51). Sin sets up dispositions in the sinner that empower Satan to control the sinner's thoughts and behavior by means of temptation. As this happens, the individual still possesses agency in name, but his capacity to exercise it is abridged. In this sense, to misuse one's agency is to lose that agency: "Evil, when listened to, begins to rule and overrule the spirit [that] God has placed within man" (B. Young, JD 6:332). Conversely, using agency to receive and obey the influence of the spirit of Christ liberates one from this bondage. Thus, though agency, in the sense of the capacity to choose life or death, is a kind of freedom, it differs in quality from the liberty that is inherent in obedience to Christ. Jesus said, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). When King Benjamin's people in the Book of Mormon received a remission of sins and were spiritually born again, they attested that their affections and desires had been so changed that they had "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2). Obedience expands agency, and the alternative to obedience is bondage.
Thus, in the LDS concept of agency, obedience and agency are not antithetical. On the one hand, Church leaders consistently stand against all coercion of conscience ("We are not disposed, had we the power, to deprive anyone of exercising…free independence of mind" [TPJS, p. 49]) and counsel Church members to depend first of all on themselves for decisions about the application of gospel principles. On the other hand, obedience-willing and energetic submission to the will of God even at personal sacrifice-is a central gospel tenet. Far from contradicting freedom, obedience is its highest expression. "But in rendering…strict obedience, are we made slaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me to become free…. The man who yields strict obedience to the requirements of Heaven, acts upon the volition of his own will and exercises his freedom" (B. Young, JD 18:246).
Church leaders consistently call agency a gift of God. Sin abridges the agency of sinners to the point that unless some power releases them from this bondage, they will be "lost and fallen" (Mosiah 16:4). That power is Christ's Atonement, which overcomes the effects of sin, not arbitrarily, but on condition of wholehearted repentance. "Because…they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever…to act for themselves" (2 Ne. 2:26). Thus, human agency was purchased with the price of Christ's suffering. This means that to those who blame God for allowing human suffering, Latter-day Saints can respond that suffering is less important than the gift of agency, upon which everything else depends, and that none of us has paid a greater price for this gift than Christ.
Bibliography
Madsen, Truman G. Eternal Man, pp. 63-70. Salt Lake City, 1966.
McKay, David O. IE 53 (May 1950):366.
Packer, Boyd K. "Atonement, Agency, Accountability." Ensign 18 (May 1988):69-72.
Romney, Marion G. "Decisions and Free Agency." IE 71 (Dec. 1968):73-76.
Stapley, Delbert L. "Using Our Free Agency." Ensign 5 (May 1975):21-23.
C. TERRY WARNER
Delbert L. Stapley, “Using Our Free Agency,” Ensign, May 1975, 21
Elder Bruce R. McConkie made this statement about free agency:
“Four great principles must be in force if there is to be agency: 1. Laws must exist, laws ordained by an Omnipotent power, laws which can be obeyed or disobeyed; 2. Opposites must exist—good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong—that is, there must be an opposition, one force pulling … the other. 3. A knowledge of good and evil must be had by those who are to enjoy the agency, that is, they must know the difference between the opposites; and 4. An unfettered power of choice must prevail.
“Agency is given to man as an essential part of the great plan of redemption.” (Mormon Doctrine, Bookcraft, Inc., 1966 ed., p. 26.)
All things good come from God. All things evil come from Satan. Brigham Young explained it this way:
“There are but two parties on the earth, one for God and the other for the world or the Evil One. No matter how many names the Christian or heathen world bear, or how many sects and creeds may exist, there are but two parties, one for heaven and God, and the other will go to some other kingdom than the celestial kingdom of God.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, comp. John A. Widtsoe, 1966 ed., Deseret Book Co., p. 70.)
Free agency is an everlasting principle which has existed with God from all eternity. It is a gift from him given with the hope that we will apply it wisely in the conduct of our personal lives. Freedom of choice is a moral agency which we should keep uppermost in our minds in all our activities and decisions. “By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body.” (Wilford Woodruff, Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, Bookcraft, Inc., 1969, pp. 8-9.)
We cannot use our free agency as a justification to do evil. Man is free to choose the good or the evil in life, and to obey or disobey the Lord’s commands as he may elect. He can choose to act without compulsion or restraint.
(Joseph B. Wirthlin, Finding Peace in Our Lives [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 163.)
We are commanded to pray (Alma 34:17-27) both vocally and in secret. Secret prayer is a personal, private communication that God has provided between us. Elder Francis M. Gibbons wrote: "Satan and his followers, who have been cast out of God's presence and are dead to His spirit, are excluded from those who, by the spirit of prophecy and revelation, may know the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. So, in his wisdom and mercy, God has provided a channel of communication between him and his children on earth that Satan, our common enemy, cannot invade. This is the channel of secret prayer. The significance of this to the Latter-day Saint is profound, for by this means we are able to communicate with our Heavenly Father in secrecy, confident that the adversary cannot intrude." fn
(Spencer W. Kimball, January 5, 1965, BYU Speeches of the Year, 1965 24.)
Earlier in our treatise we quoted Peter as having said,
"I beseech you . . . abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." (1 Pet. 2:11.)
And James says:
"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.... Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
"Do not err, my beloved brethren ."(James 1:8, 12-16.)
This is a most unpleasant subject to dwell upon, but I am pressed to speak of it boldly so that no student in this University, nor youth in the Church, will ever have any question in his mind as to the illicit and diabolical nature of this perverse program. Again, Lucifer deceives and prompts logic and rationalization which will destroy men and make them servants of Satan forever.
Remember, Paul told Timothy:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Tim. 4:3-4.)
(Beyond Politics Fn by Hugh Nibley Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 15 (1974-1975), 11.)
True, there is a contest, but it is within the individual, not between ignorant armies--that solution is all too easy. Recall the statement of Joseph Smith that "every candid man" must "draw the conclusion in his own mind whether this [any political system] is the order of heaven or not" (p. 49). Banners, trumpets, and dungeons were early devised to help men make up their minds. But God does not fight Satan: a word from him and Satan is silenced and banished. There is no contest there; in fact we are expressly told that all the power Satan enjoys here on earth is granted him by God. "We will allow Satan, our common enemy, to try Man and to tempt him." It is man's strength that is being tested--not God's. Nay, even in putting us to the test "the devil," to quote Joseph Smith, "has no power over us only as we permit him" (p. 187, italics added). Since, then, "God would not exert any compulsory means, and the devil could not. . ." (p. 187, italics added), it is up to us to decide how much power Satan shall have on this earth, but only in respect to ourselves; the fight is all within us. That is the whole battle. But how much easier to shift the battle to another arena, and externalize the cause of all our misfortune.
(Mosiah 4:29-30.)
29 And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.
(Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 4: .)
You will see a man all at once seized with a spirit of anger; another time you will see a person seized with a spirit of jealousy, or some other evil influence, infuriated sometimes, so much so that he or she is transformed. You have seen people's faces completely changed by the spirit that takes possession of them. They cannot see that power; but it is undoubtedly a spiritual entity. We may not be conscious of it, but it takes possession of us if we yield to it. The Lord our God has sent us here to get experience in these things, so that we may know the good from the evil, and be able to close our hearts against the evil. "But," says one, "I have not power to do that. It takes possession of me and I have not power to resist it." Another says, "I am assailed by doubts and by unbelief, and I cannot help it." Now, this is not so. It is true that some have greater power of resistance than others, but everyone has the power to close his heart against doubt, against darkness, against unbelief, against depression, against anger, against hatred, against jealousy, against malice, against envy. God has given this power unto all of us, and we can gain still greater power by calling upon Him for that which we lack. If it were not so, how could we be condemned for giving way to wrong influences? There could be no condemnation for our doing what we could not help; but we can help doing these things. We can help yielding to wrong influences, and being quarrelsome and selfish. We can help giving way to the spirit of theft, and we can resist the spirit of lust. God has given us power to resist these things, that our hearts may be kept free from them, and also from doubt; and when Satan comes and assails us, it is our privilege to say, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for I have no lot nor portion in you, and you have no part in me. I am in the service of God, and I am going to serve Him, and you can do what you please. It is no use you presenting yourself with your blandishments to me. You come and try to insinuate into my heartevil thoughts about the servants of God or about the work of God, and I will not listen to you; I will close my heart against you."
(James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 427.)
Sin was introduced into the world from without; it was not a natural product of earth. The seed of disobedience was planted in the mind of Eve by Satan; that seed took root; and much fruit, of the nature that we, with unguarded words, call calamity, is the result. From these thorns and thistles of mortality, a Savior has been prepared to deliver us.
(George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, selected, arranged, and edited by Jerreld L. Newquist [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], 15.)
Satan restrained by God. If he had the power, he would sweep this entire people from the face of the earth. If he could, he would destroy us all. . . . It is because he has not the power that he does not do it; it is because our Father and God checkmates him and restrains him and overrules his acts that he does not do this. The disposition is there; the willingness is there; the murderous spirit is there, everything is there that is necessary to accomplish this except the power to do it, which God in His providence withholds or controls, so as to prevent its exercise. We know this. . . . We have this kind of a foe to contend against. (Aug. 23, 1884, JD 25:301-2)
Everyone has power to resist evil. The Lord our God has sent us here to get experience in these things so that we may know the good from the evil and be able to close our hearts against the evil. . . . It is true that some have greater power of resistance than others, but everyone has the power to close his heart against doubt, against darkness, against unbelief, against depression, against anger, against hatred, against jealousy, against malice, against envy. God has given this power unto all of us, and we can gain still greater power by calling upon Him for that which we lack. If it were not so, how could we be condemned for giving way to wrong influences?
There could be no condemnation for our doing what we could not help; but we can help doing these things. We can help yielding to wrong influences and being quarrelsome and selfish. We can help giving way to the spirit of theft, and we can resist the spirit of lust. God has given us power to resist these things, that our hearts may be kept free from them and also from doubt; and when Satan comes and assails us, it is our privilege to say, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for I have no lot nor portion in you, and you have no part in me. I am in the service of God, and I am going to serve Him, and you can do what you please. It is no use you presenting yourself with your blandishments to me. You come and try to insinuate into my heart evil thoughts about the servants of God or about the work of God, and I will not listen to you; I will close my heart against you. . . ."
Whenever darkness fills our minds, we may know that we are not possessed of the Spirit of God, and we must get rid of it. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are filled with joy, with peace and with happiness no matter what our circumstances may be; for it is a spirit of cheerfulness and of happiness. . . .
(Morality [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992], 94.)
Pollution of the Mind
When we were born on the earth, our minds and thoughts were clean and sweet and pure, unpolluted by harmful impurities. In our infancy our minds were free from unrighteous and unwholesome thoughts. We were innocent and untouched by the harmful effects and influences of Satan. But our minds, which are like tremendous reservoirs themselves, are capable of taking in whatever they may be fed, good and bad, righteous thoughts and experiences as well as trash and garbage.
As we go through life, we may be exposed to stories, pictures, books, jokes, and language that are filthy and vulgar, or to television shows, videos, or movies that are not right for us to see or hear. Our minds will take it all in. They have the capacity to store whatever we give them. Unfortunately, what our minds take in they keep, sometimes forever.
It is a long, long process to cleanse a mind that has been polluted by unclean thoughts. Sometimes our minds may be so cluttered with filth and pollution that they are unable to be a spiritual strength to us and to our families, let alone to mankind in general. When in this condition, we find our thinking processes are not clear or correct. Work may be overwhelming. Everyday problems are more difficult to solve. Decisions are often made based on shaky facts. We say and do things we would otherwise never be a part of. We are not at our best.
Cut Off the Flow of Trash
To avoid this impure condition, there are two things we must do. First, we must stop the flow into our minds of these unhealthy and unwholesome streams of experiences and thoughts. Evil acts are preceded by unrighteous thoughts, and unrighteous thoughts are born of vulgar stories, jokes, pictures, conversations, and a myriad other evils or foolish products.
(Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith, compiled by John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939], 454.)
There is only one course that I might pursue which would bring about mistrust and fear, trembling and doubt, in relation to these things. And that would be for me to deny the truth and cut myself loose from the guiding influences of the Holy Spirit, for I do know that so long as a man is under the guiding influence of the Spirit of God be never can deny these truths which God has revealed to him, and in that condition he is not subject to the power of Satan. It is only when he transgresses the law of God, and dismisses these principles from his thoughts, that he becomes subject to the powers of evil, that his mind becomes darkened, and be begins to doubt and fear. But, let a man have the Spirit of God in his heart, that Spirit which reveals the things of God unto men, and makes them to know the truth as God himself knows it, he never can doubt those things which God has revealed. Therefore, I rejoice in these truths, for I know they are true.
(Vaughn J. Featherstone, Commitment [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], 29 .)
Maybe the hardest preparation for walking in high places is this seventh one that I now would like to get you to think about. It is the task of learning to think. Elder Thomas S. Monson said, "Thinking. Thinking is the hardest work we go through." Dr. Hugh Nibley said something like this: "The mind will take a terrible revenge if one does not think on constructive things. It will reach out and grasp anything that is nearby. It is being worked all of the time, twenty-four hours a day. Consciouslyor subconsciously, it is involved." So, controlled thinking is the hardest work we do and it is the very essence of life, the meaning of being.
Thinking is mostly talking to yourself. The better vocabulary you have, the better this thinking can become. That is, it can get into things that are uncommon and things that test your mental strength. When we talk about controlled thinking, we are talking about this business of stretching our thinking capacity by vocabulary improvement. We also-and maybe more importantly-are talking about saying no to Satan when he attempts to invade and take over our minds. We must learn to turn that channel off if we wish to stay in control. That is the very basic meaning of intelligence as it is defined in the Doctrine and Covenants: "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one." (D&C 93:36-37.) Where do we forsake the "evil one"? In the dark recesses of our minds. That is where he lurks and attempts to take control. So flood the light on him and cast him out so that you can maintain control. Now, I am not saying that Satan himself is actually lurking in the dark recesses of your mind. Let me explain it with an analogy. Suppose you were a television set and you were being used to view pornography on some cable service. Then the television set would be invaded by evil. If you pick up negative, evil, or useless thoughts, you are allowing the spirit of the evil one to communicate to you and take control. Weak and ignoble thinking becomes a habit, and bad habits are the chains that are described in Alma 12:9-11. They take away light and truth.
Another important part of the thinking commitment is mental ambition. We would not have a good balance in this life if all of our work were simply physical. I think going out and working on a farm or in the yard until the perspiration just pours off is a great purging experience. The mind needs to go through that same kind of purging. We need to think so seriously sometimes that our heads almost ache when we finish. We haveall been involved in that kind of intensity at some time. When it is over there is a refreshment that comes and a feeling of accomplishment and peace because of the exertion.
(George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, edited and arranged by Philip C. Reynolds, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955-1961], 7: 85.)
Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity. It is true, Satan has power over us only as we do his bidding. Little by little, in doing his will, we grant him sovereignty of our lives, and more and more he asserts dominion over us. In obeying him, honoring him, and sustaining him by our actions, we enter his kingdom and become servants of evil. At first our willingness to serve him may be evidenced by small matters, but in the end the final test is-small matters become large, and soon we excuse our actions, offer pretexts to assuage our remorse, and only apologize when we should wear sackcloth. Pride, we may conceive, is at first a small matter, but as it increases within us, our hearts are hardened, our efforts in establishing God's Kingdom upon the Earth are enfeebled, and our desires for the higher things of life are dulled. Only as we are firm, and steadfast, and immovable, and seek with all diligence to keep the Lord's commandments, can we thwart the plans of the evil one. Satan often begins his campaign of moral and mental, not forgetting physical, destruction by puffing up a people "with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world." And thus, with the Nephites of this period, all thoughts of God were crowded from their hearts, and thus, "Satan did lead away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity..." (verse 16) Mormon comments that "therefore they had enjoyed peace but a few years."
(George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, edited and arranged by Philip C. Reynolds, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955-1961], 7: 273.)
I did repent of the oath which I had made that I would no more assist them. In going forth among his people, no doubt to comfort and give them courage, Mormon observed their pitiable condition. The awful straits they were in appalled him; he perceived that Satan had deceived them. Thoughts of the world and the things of the world had crowded all thoughts of God from their hearts. Their hopes in life had become a fight for survival. Although their condition existed as an occasion of their wickedness, Mormon's heart was full of compassion for them. He relented of the decision he had made to lead them no more to battle, and once more took upon himself command of the Nephite Armies. This change in Mormon's plans pleased them, for they thought there was only one among them who could lead them from their many afflictions which according to Mormon came upon them because of their wickedness.
Delivered by President George Q. Cannon, at the Davis Stake Conference, held in Farmington, Davis County, September 7, 1895.
(Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 4: .)
The Lord himself, by direct revelation, also has spoken concerning it, and has taught His Church in this day that this period will come, and Satan will be bound. But we must understand that we cannot be deprived of our agency. God has given it unto us. We have it just as much as He has it. We have our agency to do right or to do wrong. Therefore, if there be a reign of peace for one thousand years it will be because mankind use their agency in the right direction and in favor of righteousness. What will produce the change at the end of the thousand years, when Satan will be loosed again? The same cause that produced the change among the Nephites of the fourth generation. Satan regained his power over that people because they chose to exercise their agency in listening to him instead of listening to the Son of God.
Delivered by Elder Francis M. Lyman, at the General Conference of the Church,
held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Saturday, October 5, 1895.
(Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 4: .)
I presume that every Latter-day Saint under the sound of my voice to-day has had experience enough to know that the favor of the Lord is not upon us when we do wrong. I take it that we have all done wrong enough to know this. I take it also that we have all done well and wrought righteousness enough to know that the favor of heaven is upon us when we do right. Why shall we do wrong? Why shall we not listen to the counsels of our Heavenly Father and do right all the time? Why is it that we are not doing right constantly? Is there any power given to Satan to compel us to do wrong? Is there any power given to Satan to compel us to break the Sabbath day and not to keep it holy? Is power given to Satan that he can compel us to be unvirtuous, unjust, or untruthful? I have never found it so in my experience. I have never been compelled to do wrong. What wrong I have done I have done with my eyes open. I have known what was right, I have known what was wrong. I have been thoroughly taught by my parents and by my brethren; I have been taught by the conscience that the Lord has placed within me, and when that conscience has been lighted by the spirit and power of God, I have been able to comprehend very easily what was wrong and what was right. I do declare in all soberness before this vast congregation this morning, that every man has been graciously endowed by our Heavenly Father with the power to do His mind and will. Every man in a normal condition has the power to do right.
(Elder Ezra Taft Benson, May 10, 1966, BYU Speeches of the Year, 1966 11.)
There is no guarantee that the devil will not deceive a lot of men who hold the priesthood. "Free agency is the principle against which Satan waged his war in heaven. It is still the front on which he makes his most furious, devious, and persistent attacks. That this would be the case was foreshadowed by the Lord."
When Satan "was cast out of heaven, his objective was (and still is) 'to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will.' This he effectively does to as many as will not hearken unto the voice of God. His main attack is still on free agency. When he can get men to yield their agency, he has them well on the way to captivity.
(John Taylor, The Government of God [Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1852], 54 - 55.)
He has also protected the righteous, and punished, by judgments, the wicked. He has promised to Abraham and others lands and possessions. He has held out promises of eternal life to the faithful; but has never coerced or forced the human mind. He destroyed the inhabitants of the old world because they had corrupted themselves. He did not govern their minds; they might forget God, "and every thought of their hearts be only evil, and that continually;" but the earth was the Lord's, and he was the Father of our spirits; and although man had an agency to propagate his species, it was given him by God; and if he was so blind as to corrupt himself, and entail misery upon millions of unborn beings, the God of the universe, "the Father of Spirits," had a right to prevent him. And if he was prostituting the use of those faculties given him by God, to the service of Satan, and abusing the liberty which his Creator had so liberally given, although the Lord could not control the free action of his will, he could destroy his body, and thus prevent him from cursing posterity.
(If God cannot or will not control our minds would he allow Satan to do this, the very thing which got him cast out of the pre-earth life as “he sought to destroy the agency of man”)
Again: he has offered rewards, and given them to the faithful, such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he protected the Children of Israel, and blessed them with temporal and national prosperity, when they served him, and punished their enemies; and he would have extended his blessings to the world, if they would have been obedient to him. The Lord has used these influences; but never coerced the will. Hence Jesus said to the Jews, "How often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." God would have benefitted them, but they would not be benefitted. Again, the Prophet says, "Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." Proverbs 1:24-26. These things clearly prove that man is a free, moral agent, and that God never has controlled the human mind, and that, consequently, if man is found in a state of wretchedness, degradation, and ruin, he has himself to blame for it, and not the Lord. The Lord would have given him his counsel if he had sought it; for he did instruct men of God formerly, and gave them laws, and ordinances; and he told his people that if they called upon him "in the day of trouble, he would hear them;" and James says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." i. 8.
(Proper Choices Necessary To Happiness , LDS Church News, 1994, 10/08/94 .)
Elder Richard G. Scott at the Saturday evening priesthood session spoke of the importance of making right choices.
"I have felt impressed to treat sensitive yet important matters," said Elder Scott of the Council of the Twelve in soft, earnest tones. "I will speak as though you and I were alone in a private interview and no one else can hear us."
He presented some of the confidential questions most frequently asked by youth he has met across the world and said he would answer them by what he has learned from the scriptures and the prophets.
"Question: How do we keep bad thoughts from entering our minds, and what do we do when they come?"
Noting that the mind can think of only one thing at a time, he urged: "Use that fact to crowd out ugly thoughts. Above all, don't feed thoughts by reading or watching things that are wrong. If you don't control your thoughts, Satan will keep tempting you until you actually act them out."
(Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 224.)
When you tell me that you have practiced an unclean habit and you find yourself powerless to refrain therefrom, you are but bearing testimony that your mind is not clean and that you have found yourself powerless to control your own habits. Could it possibly be that you are shackled as Satan set out to shackle men after he was cast out of heaven for rebellion against the plan of free agency? Read again what the scriptures declared with regard to the mission of Satan: "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" (Moses 4:4).
(Randy L. Bott, Prepare with Honor: Helps for Future Missionaries [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 85 - 86.)
Controlling your mind is another essential trait to learn. Many places in the world have a different standard of modesty than we do in the United States. That doesn't make them either good or bad—just different. If you have not learned to control your eyes and your thoughts, you could be in real trouble. Develop a system for keeping your mind clean. Learn to use Satan against Satan. Whenever you are tempted to entertain bad thoughts, use the temptation as a catalyst to remind you to think and do something righteous: memorize a scripture, read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, say a prayer, sing a favorite hymn, recite an uplifting poem, or do a service project. Any of these things will quickly put you in control of your mind and rescue you from the tempter. You will soon discover that Satan is not stupid; he just isn't intelligent! He will say, "Wait a minute. When I tempt Elder Jones, he is not tempted and actually does something that takes him further away from my kingdom." Satan will then withdraw the temptations in those areas (and hit you from a different direction). You can control your mind if you really try.
(Randal A. Wright, comp., Why Say No When the World Says Yes? Resisting Temptation in an Immoral World [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 37.)
Controlling your thoughts (as you are probably already aware) takes time. Some weaknesses can be controlled quickly, but some take a lifetime to overcome. Perhaps controlling your thoughts seems like it will take you a lifetime. But don't get discouraged! Don't give up! Each day can become better. Each week will bring greater control. Each month will see increased strength. Don't let Satan sell you short. You can learn to control what runs through your mind. Practice does make perfect.
Begin now. Robert Louis Stevenson said something I memorized when I was a teenager. He said, "You cannot run away from weakness. You must sometime fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now and where you stand?" That statement has changed my life. It can change yours, too.
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 5: 120.)
The present turmoil and contention in the world is due to the fact that the leaders of nations are getting their inspiration from Satan and not from the Lord. The Lord's Spirit is withdrawn from them according to his promise; but remember this does not mean that his Spirit has been withdrawn from those who are honestly endeavoring to bring to pass his purposes, and it will lead them to the truth if they will hearken to the voice of the Spirit, but when they fail to hearken to this Spirit they go into darkness. (See D. & C. 84:45-53. ) When a man rejects the light of this Spirit his mind is darkened and the Lord says he will withdraw the inspiration that otherwise would be his, if he is in rebellion.
So we discover that men whose thoughts are evil have the light of truth darkened or withdrawn from them and Satan takes its place.
(Toward a Theory of Human Agency Fn by Allen E. Bergin Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 16 (1975-1976), Number 1 - Autumn 1975 168.)
When self-control is diminished in some measure or in some areas of one's life, one of several specific mechanisms may be the cause. I will mention only three of many, and I will merely name them, since the limitation of time will not permit almple definitions. They are: (1) Conditioning. This occurs most often in childhood when traumatic experiences become paired with certain people, places, or things. Phobias are often products of traumatic emotional conditioning. Conditioned responses are automatic and outside of one's control. (2) Repression. This is a sister mechanism to conditioning and involves the pressing into the unconscious of threatening thoughts, impulses, and feelings, which, however, persist in influencing behavior. Responses elicted by unconscious motives thus often seem to occur autonomously and seem to be irrational even though there is a reason behind them. Unconscious forces are some of the greatest challenges to man's rationality and self-control. (3) Transgression. Willful or conscious disobedience to moral laws is a misuse of agency; for each such act a measure of agency is lost, and one gradually succumbs to the power of habitual sin. The scriptural reference is "being in the bondage of Satan."
It may seem heretical to propose that for some of mankind agency is extremely limited or nonexistent, but I submit that the processes and examples I have given are based upon valid observations of a worsening human condition and that they are scripturally confirmed as well. I have already cited several scriptural references to this effect and add here the following supportung views:
Brigham Young asserted his views on wilful disobedience to God's laws:
A man can dispose of his agency or of his birthright, as did Esau of old, but when disposed of he cannot again obtain it--those who despise the proffered mercies of the Lord . . . have their agency abridged immediately and bounds and limits are set upon their operations . . . evil, when listened to, begins to rule and overule the spirit God has placed within man. (Cited in Widtsoe, 1954, pp. 63, 65).
Talmage noted that in the Judgment the various forces that can limit agency will be taken into account in evaluating one's life on earth:
The inborn tendencies due to heredity, the effect of environment whether conducive to good or evil, the wholesome teaching of youth, the absence of good instruction--these and all other contributory elements must be taken into account in the rendering of a just verdict as to the soul's guilt or innocence. (Talmage, 1915, p. 29).
(President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1957, General Priesthood Meeting 87.)
But we have a few, as Brother Joseph Fielding said today, speaking of the Sabbath, too many-one, said he, is too many-we have a few who are not as we would like, and I blame in part for their views, their habits, their thoughts, their transgressions, the teachings that they receive. And one of the worst of the teachings that come to them is that teaching which is becoming too common, that the sex-urge is a natural urge to be gratified like the urge for drink or for food. Satan has not invented any more unrighteous, hideous doctrine than that, and he knows it, and yet, brought up as some of us are brought up, under environments where we do not hear sufficient antidotes for this poison, we hear it, we listen, we believe, we try, and then comes all the woes that attend to unchastity.
(Russell M. Nelson, The Power within Us [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988], 123.)
A monument in Chicago bears an inscription with a message something like this: "Time flies, you say? Alas, I know. It's Time that stays. It's only we who go."
Each of us enters the scene of mortality for a brief season. We are born. We grow. We encounter tests and trials. We win a few, lose a few, and then we pass on. We came to earth for two reasons: to get a body and to develop faith, which is sometimes best measured as the power of the spirit over the appetites of the body.
The bodies we came to receive have many physical appetites—for food, for drink, for exercise of all living systems. We like to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. We hunger, we thirst, we crave affection, approval, and attention. These appetites are God-given—for our survival, for our protection, and for our joy.
In satisfying these appetites, we make choices. For example, on New Year's Eve, we may indulge in chips and dip, candy and cake, drink and doughnuts, and derive deserved discomfort. On New Year's morn, we resolve to make better selections and be wiser next time.
Our more important choices are those between right and wrong. Inasmuch as good and evil forces do exist in the world, it is not surprising that they compete most keenly in the arena of appetite—yes, in each of our many physical appetites. Many choices have moral implications. There are good and there are evil things that we may see. There are good and there are evil things that we may listen to. There are good and there are evil things that we may feel, eat, drink, or otherwise allow into our bodies. I would define moral in terms of commandments of God. Something is moral if it is in line with direction he has given. Something is immoral if it conflicts with his will.
It is important to know who we are, why we are here, and where we want to go. We must remember that we are sons and daughters of God. He created us; we did not create ourselves. And he didn't leave us alone. As a loving Creator, he gave us a book of instructions. We call that book scripture. We pluralize the word and call it scriptures because his commandments have been recorded in different volumes, many times and in many places. But the message of morality has always been the same.
The Ten Commandments comprise the great moral code of our society. They have been repeated over and over again. They were cited more than once in the Old Testament (see Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5), reiterated in the New Testament (see Romans 13:9), written in the Book of Mormon (see Mosiah 13:12-24), and recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants (see D&C 42:18-28). We had better memorize them, just as we have learned the alphabet and multiplication tables.
The first four commandments pertain to our relationship with God, the remaining six to our relationships with fellow human beings. As we consider each of them, we might reflect not only on God the Giver, but also on Satan the opposer. All good in the world comes from God; all evil stems from Satan. As the evil one, Satan fights against each commandment and creates conflict in the minds of mortals on each of the ten. He further hopes that conflicting thoughts will be followed by deeds counter to divine commandments, thereby enslaving our souls and denying us blessings from heaven.
(Hugh Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1989], 454.)
What could be more unhealthy than to have all one's thoughts and actions dictated and conditioned by the policy of another, waiting for him to act so that we can react, noting what he does so that we can do the same, watching his career to know how to plan and direct our own? Well is Satan called the Adversary, the Destroyer, the Accuser, the Contender. All of his titles describe one who must wait for another to act before he can move. Nothing is more crippling to creative thinking than obsession with an enemy. The person who can think of only one solution to a given problem is mentally bankrupt; the person who can think of only one solution to every problem is doomed.
(Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 214.)
"Thou shalt not kill! Thou shalt not commit adultery!" (See Exodus 20:13-14.) Satan in his diabolical cunning would have the girl in her youth, by scanty or improper dress or by wanton look, fan the flame of passion of her youthful boy companion to unholy bounds and likewise would prompt the lips of the young man to speak suggestive words or obscene tales and to take liberties with his girl companion that encourage the defiling of themselves before God by breaking His divine commandment. To the end that youth may not fall into the ways of unwisdom and thus become a prey to evil impulses, the Church counsels you to be modest in your dress and manner and to forbid the evil thoughts that would prompt your lips to obscenity and your conduct to be base and unseemly.
(Rulon T.Burton, We Believe [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1994], .)
Thoughts and Intentions
820. Our minds should be occupied with virtuous and righteous thoughts.
President Joseph F. Smith
I wish to say to all who read these lines that the key to purity is found in chaste thoughts, and the young man who obtains it will be able to unlock a rich storehouse of cleanliness enabling his life to be as the fresh morning. ("Three Threatening Dangers," IE1914Mar:478) TLDP:690
Paul
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Paul writes from Rome to the Church at Philippi in Macedonia) Philip.4:8
Joseph Smith
[L]et virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. (Revelation received while in Liberty Jail, March 20, 1839; the priesthood should be used only in righteousness) D&C 121:45
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.
68. Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.
69. Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you. (Revelation received Dec. 27/28, 1832; the "olive leaf message of peace") D&C 88:67-69
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
[L]et all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord. . . . (Alma instructs his son Helaman, about 73 B.C.) Alma 37:36
Related Witnesses:
Recorded in Proverbs
The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. Prov.12:5
821. We are to abstain from impure thoughts.
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
And he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out. (Revelation "embracing the law of the Church," Feb. 9, 1831) D&C 42:23
Jesus,
quoted by Mormon
Behold, it is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not commit adultery;
28. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart.
29. Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart;
30. For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell. (The resurrected Jesus Christ teaches the Nephite people, A.D. 34) 3Ne.12:27-30
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence. (Alma contends with the wicked Zeezrom, about 82 B.C.) Alma 12:14
Jesus,
recorded in Mark
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
16. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
17. And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
18. And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
19. Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
20. And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22. Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Jesus instructs the people) Mark 7:15-23
President David O. McKay
"Tell me what you think about when you do not have to think, and I will tell you what you are."
Temptation does not come to those who have not thought of it before. Keep your thoughts clean, and it will be easy to resist temptations as they come. (Gospel Ideals, p. 401) TLDP:690
Isaiah
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (740-659 B.C.) Isa.55:7
King Benjamin,
quoted by Mormon
[I]f ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts . . . ye must perish. . . . (King Benjamin addresses his people, about 124 B.C.) Mosiah 4:30
Paul
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; . . . (Paul writes about charity to the Church at Corinth, Greece, about A.D. 55) 1Cor.13:5
Related Witnesses:
Boyd K. Packer
Choose . . . a favorite hymn . . . one that makes you feel something akin to inspiration. Go over it in your mind carefully. Memorize it. . . .
Now, use this hymn as the place for your thoughts to go. . . . Whenever you find these shady actors [shady thoughts] have slipped from the sidelines of your thinking onto the stage of your mind, put on this record, as it were. As the music begins and as the words form in your thoughts, the unworthy ones will slip shamefully away. It will change the whole mood on the stage of your mind. Because it is uplifting and clean, the baser thoughts will disappear. For, while virtue, by choice, will not associate with filth, evil cannot tolerate the presence of light. CR1986Oct:100
Authors Note: Elder Ezra Taft Benson said: "Sometimes we may have difficulty driving off the stage of our minds a certain evil thought. To drive it off, Elder Boyd K. Packer suggested that we sing an inspirational song of Zion, or think on its words." (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 382)
Moses
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (The people are ripe in iniquity; the Lord prepares the great flood) Gen.6:5-6
Recorded in Proverbs
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words. Prov.15:26
822. Our thoughts are to be directed unto the Lord.
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
37. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. (Alma instructs his son Helaman, about 73 B.C.) Alma 37:36-37
Marion G. Romney
If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with, and call them back to, the things of the spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by reading the Book of Mormon. . . .
I am persuaded that it is irrational to hope to escape the lusts of the world without substituting for them as the subjects of our thoughts the things of the spirit. (Learning for the Eternities, pp. 83-84) TLDP:691
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. (Revelation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, April 1829) D&C 6:36
Recorded in Psalms
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. Ps.10:4
Related Witnesses:
Recorded in Psalms
In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Ps.94:19
Mormon
And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God. (King Mosiah reads to his people the account of Alma and his brethren and their afflictions; the people respond, about 120 B.C.) Mosiah 25:10
823. The Lord knows our thoughts and the intents of our hearts.
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart. (Revelation for Oliver Cowdery, April 1829) D&C 6:16
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
Behold, I say unto you, my servants Ezra and Northrop, open your ears and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Revelation for Ezra Thayre and Northrop Sweet, Oct. 1830) D&C 33:1
Recorded in 1 Samuel
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. (The Lord through Samuel chooses David to be king) 1Sam.16:7
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
Now Zeezrom, seeing that thou hast been taken in thy lying and craftiness, for thou hast not lied unto men only but thou hast lied unto God; for behold, he knows all thy thoughts, and thou seest that thy thoughts are made known unto us by his spirit; . . . (Alma contends with the wicked Zeezrom, about 82 B.C.) Alma 12:3
Recorded in Matthew
And Jesus knew their thoughts. . . . (The Pharisees said that Jesus cast out devils by the power of the devil) Matt.12:25
Recorded in 1 Chronicles
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searchest all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. (Solomon has been told by King David that he has been chosen by the Lord to build a house unto the Lord) 1Chr.28:9
Isaiah
For I know their works and their thoughts. . . . (The word of the Lord to Isaiah; the wicked shall be destroyed) Isa.66:18
Jesus,
recorded in Matthew
And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? (The scribes call it blasphemy when Jesus, healing a man with palsy, says, "thy sins be forgiven thee") Matt.9:4
Paul
For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Paul writes to the Jewish members of the Church, about A.D. 60) Heb.4:12
Recorded in 1 Kings
Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) . . . (King Solomon calls upon the Lord) 1Kgs.8:39
Related Witnesses:
Joseph Smith
After we had received this revelation, Oliver Cowdery stated to me that after he had gone to my father's to board, and after the family had communicated to him concerning my having obtained the plates, that one night after he had retired to bed he called upon the Lord to know if these things were so, and the Lord manifested to him that they were true, but he had kept the circumstance entirely secret, and had mentioned it to no one; so that after this revelation was given, he knew that the work was true, because no being living knew of the thing alluded to in the revelation, but God and himself. (Entry in Joseph's journal, April 1829) HC1:35
Joseph Smith,
translating the Book of Moses
And Satan . . . knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world. (The Lord instructs Moses about the devil, the father of lies) Moses 4:6
Author's Note: Only the Lord-and, at times and in part, his righteous servants-can know our thoughts and intents: "there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart." (D&C 6:16) Satan does not have this ability.
824. The Lord judges us by what we are in our minds and hearts, not by how we may appear to others.
Recorded in 1 Samuel
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. (The Lord through Samuel chooses David to be king; Samuel examines Eliab, son of Jesse) 1Sam.16:7
President George Albert Smith
All at once there came to me this interpretation of what he [Karl Maeser] had said: Why of course you will be held accountable for your thoughts, because when your life is completed in mortality, it will be the sum of your thoughts. That one suggestion has been a great blessing to me all my life, and it has enabled me upon many occasions to avoid thinking improperly, because I realize that I will be when my life's labor is complete, the product of my thoughts. (Sharing the Gospel with Others, p. 63) TLDP:691
Elder John Taylor
We may deceive one another, and, in some circumstances, as counterfeit coin passes for that which is considered true and valuable among men. But God searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men. He knows our thoughts and comprehends our desires and feelings; he knows our acts and the motives which prompt us to perform them. He is acquainted with all the doings and operations of the human family, and all the secret thoughts and acts of the children of men are open and naked before him, and for them he will bring them to judgment. (In Fourteenth Ward, Nov. 16, 1873, JD16:301-02) TLDP:691
President John Taylor
We may succeed in hiding our affairs from men; but it is written that for every word and every secret thought we shall have to give an account in the day when accounts have to be rendered before God, when hypocrisy and fraud of any kind will not avail us; for by our words and by our works we shall be justified, or by them we shall be condemned. (To some settlements on a trip to Bear Lake, JD24:232) TLDP:691
Related Witnesses:
Mormon
Now when Alma saw this his heart was grieved; for he saw that they were a wicked and a perverse people; yea, he saw that their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods. . . .
28. Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented with; and behold, their hearts are set upon them, and yet they cry unto thee and say-We thank thee, O God, for we are a chosen people unto thee, while others shall perish. (Alma heads a mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites and observes their customs, about 74 B.C.) Alma 31:24,28
825. We are what we think and what we feel in our hearts-and we generally act accordingly.
George Q. Cannon
It is very true that "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Prov.23:7) Words and actions are but the external fruits of the inward thoughts of the soul; they must be conceived there before they find their birth from the lips or the hands of the corporeal frame. Hence, we can see the necessity of properly governing our thoughts and of cultivating a habit of pure and correct thinking. (Gospel Truth, 2:200) TLDP:690
Recorded in Proverbs
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. . . . (Proverbial literature) Prov.23:7
Marion G. Romney
The great overall struggle in the world today is, as it has always been, for the souls of men. Every soul is personally engaged in the struggle, and he makes his fight with what is in his mind. In the final analysis the battleground is, for each individual, within himself. Inevitably he gravitates toward the subjects of his thoughts. Ages ago the wise man thus succinctly states this great truth: "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov.23:7). CR1980Apr:88
Elder Harold B. Lee
Thought is the father of an act. No man ever committed murder who did not first become angry. No one ever committed adultery without a preceding immoral thought. The thief did not steal except he first coveted that which was his neighbor's. (Church News, Nov. 6, 1943; Stand Ye in Holy Places, p. 370) TLDP:690
President David O. McKay
Thoughts are the seeds of acts and precede them. Mere compliance with the word of the Lord, without a corresponding inward desire, will avail but little. Indeed, such outward actions and pretending phrases may be vehemently condemned. . . .
. . . . What a man continually thinks about determines his actions in times of opportunity and stress. A man's reaction to his appetites and impulses when they are aroused gives the measure of that man's character. In these reactions are revealed the man's power to govern or his forced servility to yield. CR1951Oct:6,8
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Every thought that one permits through his mind leaves its trace. Thoughts are things. Our lives are governed a great deal by our thoughts. (Brisbane, Australia Area Conference, March 1, 1976) (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 154) TLDP:690
Related Witnesses:
Jesus,
recorded in Matthew
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Jesus Christ to the multitude, about A.D. 30) Matt.5:27-28
Jesus,
recorded in Matthew
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount) Matt.6:21
Paul
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. (Paul writes to his companion Titus, about A.D. 64) Titus 1:15
826. Our evil thoughts will condemn us.
Alma, the younger,
quoted by Mormon
For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence. (Alma contends with the wicked Zeezrom, about 82 B.C.) Alma 12:14
Elder David O. McKay
Actions in harmony with divine law and the laws of nature will bring happiness and those in opposition to divine truth, misery. Man is responsible not only for every deed, but also for every idle word and thought.
"We are spinning our own fates good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its ever so little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, 'I won't count this time.' Well, he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among the nerve-cells and fibers the molecules are counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes." (William James) CR1950Apr:33-34
King Benjamin,
quoted by Mormon
But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not. (King Benjamin addresses his people, about 124 B.C.) Mosiah 4:30
President Spencer W. Kimball
If we think that [poem] through, we will realize that it is very true, that the things we tolerate in our lives finally become a part of us. [See Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man, lines 217-20.] It means that all of the teachings that are given to us are fundamental and true and need to be followed. Ugly things, evil thoughts, and evil doings will take place in our lives if we think about them and tolerate them in our minds, and then we will suffer. Eventually we will pay for that which we have done.
["Vice is a monster of so frightful mein,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."] ACR(Manilla)1975:5
Related Witnesses:
Moses
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (The people are ripe in iniquity; the Lord prepares the great flood) Gen.6:5-7
(Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, 2 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], 1: 78.)
6:16
"none else save God knowest thy thoughts"
Although Lucifer has a great deal of power, which he uses to tempt, deceive, and entice men, he does not have the power to read thoughts, as "there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart." The writings of Moses also indicate that Satan does not know the mind of God: "And Satan . . . knew not the mind of God, therefore he sought to destroy the world." (Moses 4:6.)
(Doctrine and Covenants 6:16.)
16 Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.
(Alma 12:12-14.)
12 And Amulek hath spoken plainly concerning death, and being raised from this mortality to a state of immortality, and being brought before the bar of God, to be judged according to our works.
13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.
14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
(Moses 4:4.)
4 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.
There is no guarantee that the devil will not deceive a lot of men who hold the priesthood. "Free agency is the principle against which Satan waged his war in heaven. It is still the front on which he makes his most furious, devious, and persistent attacks. That this would be the case was foreshadowed by the Lord."
When Satan "was cast out of heaven, his objective was (and still is) 'to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will.' This he effectively does to as many as will not hearken unto the voice of God. His main attack is still on free agency. When he can get men to yield their agency, he has them well on the way to captivity.
(Elder Ezra Taft Benson, May 10, 1966, BYU Speeches of the Year, 1966 11.)
May I suggest three short tests to avoid being deceived, both pertaining to this freedom struggle and all other matters:
(1) What do the Standard Works have to say about it? Isaiah said,
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isa. 8:20.)
And Hosea said, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. . . ." (Hosea 4: 6.)
We must diligently study the scriptures. Of special importance to us are the Book of Mormon and the D&C. Joseph Smith said,
. . . that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book. (History of the Church 1:461.)
The Book of Mormon, Brigham Young said, was written on the tablets of his heart and no doubt helped save him from being deceived. The Book of Mormon has a lot to say about America, freedom and secret combinations.]
The D&C is important because it contains the revelations which helped lay the foundation of this great latter-day work. It speaks of many things. In D&C 134:2, it states that government should hold inviolate the right and control of property. This makes reading important in a day when government controls are increasing and people are losing the right to control their own property.
(2) The second guide is, What do the Latter-day Presidents of the Church have to say on the subject-particularly the living President?
President Wilford Woodruff related an incident in Church history when Brigham Young was addressing a congregation in the presence of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon and laid it down; and he took the Book of D&C and laid it down before him, and he said: "There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day. And now," said he, "when compared with the living oracles, those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books." That was the course he pursued.
When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation: "Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth." . . .(Conference Report, October 1897, pages 18-19.)
There is only one man on the earth today who speaks for the Church. (See D&C 132:7, 21:4.) That man is President David O. McKay. Because he gives the word of the Lord for us today, his words have an even more immediate importance than those of the dead prophets. When speaking under the influence of the Holy Ghost, his words are scripture. (See D&C 68:4.) I commend also for your reading the masterful discourse of President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., in the "Church News Section" of the Deseret News, July 31, 1954, entitled: "When Are Church Leader's Words Entitled to Claim of Scripture?"
The President can speak on any subject he feels is needful for the Saints. As Brigham Young stated:
I defy any man on earth to point out the path a Prophet of God should walk in, or point out his duty, and just how far he must go, in dictating temporal or spiritual things. Temporal and spiritual things are inseparably connected, and ever will be. Journal of Discourses 10:364.)
Other officers in the kingdom have fallen, but never the Presidents. "Keep your eye on the Captain" is still good counsel. The words of a living prophet must and ever will take precedence.
President McKay has said a lot about our tragic trends toward socialism and communism and the responsibilities liberty-loving people have in defending and preserving our Constitution. Have we read these words from God's mouthpiece and pondered on them?
(3) The third and final test is the Holy Ghost-the test of the Spirit. By the Spirit we "may know the truth of all things." (Moro. 10:5.) This test can only be fully effective if one's channels of communication with God are clean and virtuous and uncluttered with sin.
Said Brigham Young:
You may know whether you are led right or wrong, as well as you know the way home; for every principle God has revealed carries its own convictions of its truth to the human mind. . . . Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates or not. This has been my exhortation continually. What a pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter destruction! Are you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are being led in the right way. (Journal of Discourses 9:149-150.)
Heber C. Kimball stated: "The time will come when no man or woman will be able to endure on borrowed light."
How, then, can we know if a man is speaking by the Spirit? The Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the D&C give us the key. (See D&C 50:17-23; 100:5; 1 Cor. 2:10-11.)
President Clark summarized them well when he said:
We can tell when the speakers are moved upon by the Holy Ghost only when we, ourselves, are moved upon by the Holy Ghost. In a way, this completely shifts the responsibility from them to us to determine when they so speak. . . .
The Church will know by the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the body of the members whether the brethren in voicing their views are moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and in due time that knowledge will be made manifest. ("Church News Section," Deseret News, July 31, 1954.)
Will this Spirit be needed to check actions in other situations? Yes, and it could be used as a guide and a protector for the faithful in many situations.
These, then, are the three tests: the Standard Works; the inspired words of the Presidents of the Church, particularly the living President; and the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
(Elder Ezra Taft Benson, May 10, 1966, BYU Speeches of the Year, 1966 11.)
Answer: In the beginning our Eternal Father gave to man his agency. This great gift permits every soul to act on his own judgment or desire. He may be obedient to law and order, righteousness and truth, or he may take the opposite course without interference from our Father in heaven. Because of this agency, and the activity of Satan, (Moses 5:13.) wickedness has prevailed in the world from the beginning. Contrary to the commandments of the Lord that men should live in peace and righteousness and respect the rights of others, they have used this agency to rebel against God and commit all manner of sin. The mission of Lucifer, as we all should know, is to fight truth and destroy the works of the Lord and the salvation of mankind if he can.
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 3: 73.)
In answer to the second question the simple answer is that if our Eternal Father refused to permit evil to exist in the world, he would destroy one of the greatest gifts ever given to man—the gift of free agency. Take this great gift away and there could be no rewards or punishments; no exaltation and no condemnation. The result would be chaos, confusion. This is indeed the very plan that Lucifer presented in the great council in heaven. It is absolutely necessary to permit evil as well as it is necessary to reward good. Without the great gift of free agency, heaven would be destroyed and hell and Satan would gain the victory. There is a divine law that will bring rewards and punishment.
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 3: 125.)
But Lucifer is trying to run up as high a score as he can, and he does this by trying to keep us individually from achieving the great divine purposes for which we came here upon this earth, including the exercise of our free agency. He can do it by denying us any one of the four essential qualities of moral free agency. He can do it by denying us the opportunity of choice, and he tries to do this through governments, dictatorships, through anarchy, and so on. He tries to do this by destroying, in our minds at least, the idea that there is a necessity of opposition, and therefore he tries to teach us, "There is no sin. It mattereth not what a man does; whatsoever a man doeth is not sin. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Thus he destroys the role of opposition in our lives, or at least he attempts to do so.
He can also do it by destroying our freedom of choice by enticing us to give up our right of free agency to other persons or to other institutions and allow them to make our choices for us, resulting in the evil that presidents of the Church have seen in communism and socialism and other orders of this type.
He also does it by trying to encourage us not to come to a knowledge of our Heavenly Father by not listening to the prophets, by not studying the scriptures, and therefore not knowing of the consequences of our choices: "The scriptures are irrelevant today. They were written a long time ago. Don't pay any attention to them," he says. "There are no such thing as prophets upon the earth; they ceased at the time of Christ." Or he says that the heavens are sealed; there is no revelation today. He even says that God is dead!
(Moral Free Agency Fn by Daniel H. Ludlow Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 15 (1974-1975), Number 3 - Spring 1975 317.)
(1) If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)
(2) Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. (Heb. 5:8-9)
(3) Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Gal. 5:1)
(4) Men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward (D&C 58:27-28)
(5) And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet. (D&C 29:39. Italics added)
(6) Whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; 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.
He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have which is evil restored unto you (Hel. 14:30-31. Italics added)
(7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Gal. 6:7)
(8) To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)
(9) The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23)
(10) This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
(Moral Free Agency Fn by Daniel H. Ludlow Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 15 (1974-1975), Number 3 - Spring 1975 319.)
I am grateful for this opportunity to share my thoughts on science and faith, and I am particularly appreciative of Commissioner Maxwell's suggestion that this occasion also be used as a forum for presenting my own work.
It would be pretentious to attempt a definitive analysis of human agency in a single lecture, for the topic touches every aspect of human experience and, in addition to its breadth, does not lend itself to simple interpretations. One is easily intimidated by the complexity and mystery that infect this domain of inquiry, for agency is not only the key characteristic of human beings but may well be the supreme quality of God himself.
The concept of agency may be subdivided into numerous dimensions such as:
1.The initiation of behavior or the originating of ideas. This may be termed the domain of creation.
2.The processes of decision-making or choosing, that is, the domain of reason.
3.The processes of self-regulation or the domain of will.
These and related topics provide enough substance for several books. For today's purpose, I will simplify and examine only self-regulation. Because this is a complicated topic in itself, I have subdivided further and will propose interpretations primarily of self-control, which is but one aspect of self-regulation.
Self-Control
Self-control would not be a matter for scrutiny if it were not for the pervasiveness of its opposite, namely, a lack or loss of self-control. Today, we are often taught and we too often act as though everything controls our behavior except the self or the conscious will. Within the LDS Church this is less often so, but then we are too often guilty of the reverse error, that is, assuming that people are always 100 percent responsible for their own acts.
I thus find myself the man in the middle--trying to persuade my professional colleagues that there is such a thing as self-control while at the same time attempting to convince my fellow Saints that human agency has limitations and, in some cases, is nonexistent.
Determiners of Behavior at a Choice Point
All human acts are determined by multiple influences. We may identify six broad classes of influence as: (1) cultural, social or environmental controls; (2) biological factors; (3) habits of response that have been conditioned, especially by childhood experiences; (4) feelings or emotions; (5) thoughts, ideas, or beliefs; and (6) spiritual inspiration.
It would be preferable if human beings acted upon the latter three factors primarily, but unfortunately their behavior is too often dominated by influences outside of their control. If we are to be wise, receive the truth, and take the Holy Spirit for our guide as suggested in D&C 45:57, we must learn to optimize the influence of higher processes in our actions. Otherwise, we lose our power of independent action and are "encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell" (Alma 5:7) and then "are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction." (Alma 12:11.) We shall deal first with the latter state--a loss of power to act independently.
Absence of Control
As we consider the absence of control, it must be noted that this is a relative statement. Rarely does self-control descend to a zero point; on the other hand, instances of complete self-control are rare. Our degree of control varies between 0 and 100 percent. Some people have much more control than others. Within the same person, the degree of control also varies in different situations. In one area, say eating, one may have low control while in another, say anger, he may have high control.
Loss of control has become a pervasive problem of the modern world. It may be observed in violence, drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual excesses and deviations, obesity, indolence, crime, neuroses, insanity, and myriads of other manifestations, most of which have been clearly described or condemned and foretold in the scriptures. (2 Tim. 3:1-7) Each of these excesses has its more moderate forms, and they are common among us--surprising as this may seem.
Inhabitants of nineteenth-century western culture were dominated by the problem of overcontrol, as Sigmund Freud so brilliantly perceived; whereas modern culture is plagued by under-control, as we see every day in our prisons, hospitals, clinics, and streets.
Under-control may follow from cultural norms such as are found in some tribal customs and in the codes of slum street gangs. It may arise from biological defects such as brain damage or hormonal disorders; it may emerge from a particularly traumatic childhood; or it may derive from the consistently bad choices made by otherwise normal individuals. The degree of personal responsibility for actions thus varies in terms of internal and external conditions impinging upon the person.
The most obvious cases of loss of control are found among psychologically disturbed persons. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of psychopathology is that the person reports being out control. This may take several forms, and I shall describe two of the most common types. One consists of impulse disorders, of which excessive or deviant sexual behavior would be an example. Such behaviour is often propelled by strong inner drives such as the need for affection, a feeling of dependency, or biological tension. This is an instance of powerful internal stimulation overwhelming the person's consious controls and dominating his behavior. Some homosexuals, for example, seem to be compulsively driven to frequent and sometimes bizarre sexual acts which they report as occurring without the mediation of conscious intent. The act once repeated, the motivation behind it can become so powerful that one is literally in bondage to the demands of biological impulses and related stimuli. The "chains of hell" is an apt metaphor for such cases.
Another cause of loss of control involves the influence of external stimuli. A phobia is a good example. Persons with classical phobias experience from specific sources a degree of dread and an anticipation of harm that are incomprehensible to normal individuals. Such avoidance reactions may occur in response to stimuli as simple as the sight of a spider or as complex as proximity to members of the opposite sex. In these cases, external stimuli have gained control over behavior and evoke automatic fear and avoidance reactions. In such cases there is a good deal of control over behavior, but it is external control; the person feels "out of control" in the sense that withdrawal occurs whether he perfers it or not. This is a classic illustration of how psychopathology reduces freedom by eliminating the possibility of alternative courses of action; in other words, choice is absent. If you have extreme claustrophobia, you have no choice. A closet is such a threatening stimulus that you cannot enter. If you do not have claustrophobia, you may choose to enter or not, as reason and circumstances require. Your range of available alternatives at a choice point is greater, and in that sense you are freer; you have more self-control, or a greater degree of agency.
When self-control is diminished in some measure or in some areas of one's life, one of several specific mechanisms may be the cause. I will mention only three of many, and I will merely name them, since the limitation of time will not permit almple definitions. They are: (1) Conditioning. This occurs most often in childhood when traumatic experiences become paired with certain people, places, or things. Phobias are often products of traumatic emotional conditioning. Conditioned responses are automatic and outside of one's control. (2) Repression. This is a sister mechanism to conditioning and involves the pressing into the unconscious of threatening thoughts, impulses, and feelings, which, however, persist in influencing behavior. Responses elicted by unconscious motives thus often seem to occur autonomously and seem to be irrational even though there is a reason behind them. Unconscious forces are some of the greatest challenges to man's rationality and self-control. (3) Transgression. Willful or conscious disobedience to moral laws is a misuse of agency; for each such act a measure of agency is lost, and one gradually succumbs to the power of habitual sin. The scriptural reference is "being in the bondage of Satan."
It may seem heretical to propose that for some of mankind agency is extremely limited or nonexistent, but I submit that the processes and examples I have given are based upon valid observations of a worsening human condition and that they are scripturally confirmed as well. I have already cited several scriptural references to this effect and add here the following supportung views:
Brigham Young asserted his views on wilful disobedience to God's laws:
A man can dispose of his agency or of his birthright, as did Esau of old, but when disposed of he cannot again obtain it--those who despise the proffered mercies of the Lord . . . have their agency abridged immediately and bounds and limits are set upon their operations . . . evil, when listened to, begins to rule and overule the spirit God has placed within man. (Cited in Widtsoe, 1954, pp. 63, 65).
Talmage noted that in the Judgment the various forces that can limit agency will be taken into account in evaluating one's life on earth:
The inborn tendencies due to heredity, the effect of environment whether conducive to good or evil, the wholesome teaching of youth, the absence of good instruction--these and all other contributory elements must be taken into account in the rendering of a just verdict as to the soul's guilt or innocence. (Talmage, 1915, p. 29).
In reply to the question of why God has caused civilizations to be destroyed, it may be asserted that the Lord's actions were acts of mercy in that these nations or peoples had become so wicked that the children growing up among them had no possibility of developing true agency. Their only opportunity was to choose evil and perpetuate it; therefore, they were destroyed. In support of this Joseph Fielding Smith (1960, p.55) cites the following comment by John Taylor in his book, The Government of God (p.53):
Hence it was better to destroy a few individuals, than to entail misery on many. And hence the inhabitants of the old world and of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, because it was better for them to die, and thus be deprived of their agency, which they abused, than entail so much misery on their posterity, and bring ruin upon millions of unborn persons.
Further evidence that agency can theoretically be entirely lost is that Satan's plan was a real possibility. This must mean that under the right conditions it is possible to totally control human behavior. We know that men can come under the bondage of sin if they choose evil. To the extent that they do they are under Satan's power, and his plan is implemented to that degree, albeit in the opposite direction of his original proposal. It should be noted here that when we speak of Satan's control we do not necessarily mean that he or his assistants are personally present or directly involved, for he must operate through lawful processes just as the Lord himself does. The loss of one's agency may thus mean that Satan has obtained control over a person by the management of natural processes which the person willfully permitted himself to get hooked into, or which he was conditioned into during childhood.
A final evidence that agency can be severely limited and that this can occur without the person himself making wrong choices is indicated by our knowledge that child-rearing events can shape future responses so powerfully as to virtually eliminate personal responsibility. This is supported by scriptures which declare that small children are not responsible for their acts and cannot be held accountable for them and that if parents do not properly teach them, the eventual sin is put upon the heads of the parents. If the parents are responsible, they must have instituted negative control over the child's behaviour--control with long-lasting effects. It is interesting that no such parental control is implied in relation to positive behavior. This is logical in that positive child rearing induces agency, that is, self-control in the child; whereas negative child rearing induces the bondage of Satan which eliminates choice unless there is outside intervention. There are numerous scriptures supporting this view. (D&C 29:47; D&C 68:25; D&C 74:4; D&C 93:39.) One of the more interesting is Deut. 5:9: ". . . for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." Joseph Fielding Smith interpreted this as follows: "The real meaning of this visiting of the iniquity is that when a man transgresses he teaches his children to transgress, and they follow his teachings. It is natural for children to follow in the practices of their fathers and by doing so suffer from the parents' iniquity. . . . (1957, p.83) The term natural in the foregoing sentence probably can be interpreted as natural psychological processes, such as imitative learning, conditioning, and repression.
The existence of such losses of control or agency has been brought forcefully to my awareness during long hours of counseling as a psychotherapist and as a bishop. I have been convinced by many years of experience that every human being suffers defects of agency and control to some degree and that in a minority of cases the level of control has been so seriously reduced by biological defects or malignant childhood training that they are, in effect, not responsible for their behavior. I am not speaking here of the normal cross-section of human weaknesses, even though they limit agency to some degree; because if we had perfect agency, it is doubtful that this life would be a test for us. Certainly, no one should be encouraged by these remarks to justify his misdeeds on the grounds that he is not responsible for his behavior. Our goal should be to resist the history of evil, to reverse the sins of our fathers, and to initiate a benign cycle that will traverse the generations and help people establish new levels of self-regulation. There is nothing more pitful than the person who wants to control his behavior but is unable to do so. Such individuals are buffeted by their own fears and impulses; their behavior is dominated by Satan. In such instances self-effort alone will not suffice.
I would like to share with you two examples from my own experience. In both cases the presenting problem was compulsive or uncontrollable homosexuality.
I found that a complex set of factors was operating in each of these cases. Not only was there a compulsive symptom but there were common underlying predispositions. Of great importance was the fact that each suffered from a phobia--an intense fear of the opposite sex. As personal involvement with a member of the opposite sex increased, anxiety increased until feelings of panic ensued and the relationship was disrupted. In addition, each of these persons lacked an adequate repertoire of social skills appropriate for engaging in normal male-female contacts and for deeping such relationships. And finally, each person had made the error of seeking warmth, security, and intimacy exclusively with members of the same sex and had permitted this pattern to develop into a powerfully reinforcing biological relationship. In doing so, their behavior became dominated by the immediacy of needs for affection and bodily satisfaction to the point that the ability to consciously choose was virtually obliterated. We thus had three factors contributing to a serious diminution of agency: a phobia, a deficient social repertoire, and weakened impulse control.
Our treatment of these cases cannot be documented in detail here, but it consisted first of reducing fears of the opposite sex by means of a technique called systematic desensitization. This consists of reversing the old childhood conditioning of avoidance responses to heterosexual stimuli by manipulating the client's feeling states so that positive responses are repeatedly paired with and associated with the feared object. This gradually increases control, in that panic is no longer the invariable and automatic, response to the formerly phobic events. Secondly, we trained these persons by means of role playing or behavioral rehearsal in appropriate social skills because we soon learned that the removal of the phobic symtoms merely brought about the possibility of heterosexual adequacy. That is, systematic desensitization reduced an inhibition but did not provide a program of positive approach behavior. Once the new skills were learned, a third problem remained, namely, that there was still a compelling sexual impulse that persisted due to a lack of self-control and the strong biological reinforcement inherent in the act that made the arousal of control difficult. We therefore instituted a self-control training procedure to assist in the agonizing struggle with the impulses which these clients had determined to overcome. Everything we had done up to this point prepared the way by gradually developing new controls and effectiveness in previously weak areas, but the critical difficulty still lay before us.
Before proceeding, I should parenthetically point out that if attempts as self-control of impulses had been initiated without these other changes, they probably would have failed; failure is the usual result when self-effort responses alone are implemented. Self-effort is admirable but ineffective in severe cases where so much control has been lost. In these instances it is essential to reduce the strength of factors maintaining the undesirable behavior before proceeding directly to enhancing will power. This usually requires the assistance of others who temporarily aid the person in establishing new levels of control that could not be achieved by self-effort alone. At the same time, it is equally important to build up positive behaviors that can provide prosocial satisfactions as alternatives to the negative behavior that is being inhibited. Simply telling such a person to "go control himself" will not do.
We next proceeded to develop and apply a method of direct training in control (Bergin, 1969). This technique involved, first, a careful asssessment of the events immediately preceding the arousal and consummation of a sexual impulse. This detailed, point-by-point analysis revealed that a consistent pattern of events led to each occasion where impulse control had been lost. The sequence of behaviors thus indentified was initially unnoticed and unattended to by the client. Persistent focusing upon this preimpulsive time period was necessary before these events became clear and a logical interpretation of the disturbing behavior became possible.
This diagnostic analysis of impulse-related events yielded a striking view of what was happening during these periods of compulsive, unwanted consummation. Clearly evident was a spiraling sequence of stimuli and reactions which, as they mounted in intensity, became impossible to control. I have described this phenomenon as an impulse-response chain.
An illustration of how the chain proceeded is given as follows in terms of Stimuli (S) and Responses (R): S (male person in public place) R (Glance toward person) ------- S (return of glance) R (mild emotion and fantasy plus additional glance) ---------- S (establishment of visual contact) ----------- R (intensified emotion and fantasy plus movement toward person) --------- S (physical proximity) R (heightened desire) S (heightened desire) R (verbal exchange) --------- S (verbal exchange) R (interpersonal engagment) ---------- S (interpersonal engagement) R (intense feelings, memories and fantasies) ------------- S (feelings, memories and fantasies) R (physical involvement) ---------- S (body contact) R (consummatory behavior).
After laborious efforts had indentified a number of sequences of this type, the client was encouraged to interrupt any impulse-response chain as soon as he became conscious of its presence. It was explained that failures in self-control often occurred because the effort to control was applied late in the sequence when the impulsive pattern had already reached a high level of intensity. Thus, the unexercised and undeveloped control ability was weak compared to the strength of the impulse, and it had to be applied early in the sequence to insure success.
The client was then instructed to pay close attention to environmental situations and to personal reactions that might set off the undesired chain of events. It was evident that in the past he had not been aware of these events until they had reached an intermediate or high intensity; therefore two or three therapy sessions were devoted to repeatedly going over the chains and making them as explicit as possible.
Techniques for interrupting responses to stimuli early in the chains were discussed and, in imagination, practiced during the sessions. These included methods such as immediately switching to thoughts or activities unrelated to the chain, but it was always emphasized that this be done promptly so as to apply the greatest strength of control to the weakest strength impulse. This procedure of shutting off impulse-related reactions and immediately engaging in another activity (reading, walking, thinking) was very much a simple act of will motivated by the client's desire for change and by the hope and compliance engenedered by the therapist's instructions.
Following this procedure was difficult for the client at first, presumbly because it totally reversed a strongly reinforced habit, but by persistence and encouragement he was soon able to practice it regularly. The client reported his experience in much the same terms in which addicts do. He described it as a feeling of climbing a very steep hill with a large pack on his back. Each effort at control was like another step up this impossible incline; but almost unexpectedly he seemed to reach a crest and the effort was then downhill and easy the rest of the way.
The potency of this technique seems to lie in applying it to a specific problem which arises from an inadequately developed self-regulatory system. The emphasis here is on the assumption that there are such things as primary developmental defects in self-control which are responsive chiefly to techniques that emphasize the self in self-control, namely that the defect lies in the unpracticed will, in the self that does not consciously and vigorously regulate.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these cases is the phenomenon of impulse weakening as a direct result of consistent exercise in self-regulation. The result of this effort was that the clients soon gained control of their behavior in the presence of formerly compeling stimuli.
It appears that active resistance to the undesirable response to a stimulus tends to break the stimulus-response chain and the stimuli lose their power to compel or control the individual's behavior. It also appears that the feelings and fantasies formerly associated with this range of stimuli actually disappeared as responses to them.
Another way to describe the results of the self-control method is nicely exemplified by President McKay's advice: "Resist temptation and Satan will flee from you." He declared that this is ecactly what happened during the Savior's three great temptations. According to President McKay, because of the Savior's resistance Satan's power had been broken by the time of the final temptation, and he was merely pleading. Then the Savior turned his back on Satan with finality and commanded him to get hence.
Such insight led the Prophet to declare eloquently: "The greatest battles of life are fought within the silent clambers of our own souls." This is the battle for self-control, and there is nothing more majestic than the quiet confidence of one who has achieved it.
The management of self-effort responses has been applied in a number of additional cases, both normal and pathological, with relative success. The process seems to follow a regular pattern which permit theoretical interpretation, although the notions I will now offer should not be dignified by the term theory. Minitheory will suffice.
Toward a Theory of Self-Control
Our thesis is that when a person consciously selects a behavioral goal and then finds his pathway to that goal obstructed by habits, impulses, or feelings over which he has little control, he can overcome these obstacles by the exercise of self-effort. Technically it may be stated thus: The power of a consciously perceived stimulus to evoke an undesired response is directly proportional to the frequency with which the undesired response occurs. Decline in the power of such a stimulus complex is a direct function of the frequency with which the individual consciously and effectively resists acting out the usual response. A corollary hypothesis is that stimuli early in the chain of behavior will evoke a weaker response and that responses of that order will be more readily inhibited than those of a higher order. If inhibition occurs more frequently at that level, breaking of the main, over-arching stimulus-response connection will be more frequent and more successful.
The essence of these propositions may be described schematically, but that is not our purpose here. For the mathematically inclined, we briefly suggest the following possibilities:
(1) If we place on the abscissa of a graph % of successful resistances from 0 to 100 and place on the ordinate the power of the stimulus to evoke an undesirable response, we should obtain a monotonically decreasing curve having a quadratic mathematical fuction.
(2) A similar function will occur when the time of resistance is placed on the ordinate and is estimated from early to late, while maintaining the % resistance variable on the abscissa.
(3) A montonically increasing curve should appear when % of resistances early in the impulse-response sequence is placed on the ordinate with % successful resistances of the abscissa.
A number of experimental designs follow naturally from the statement of the preceding views. Here are two of the more central ones:
1. Given a group of persons attempting to overcome a habit, those who exercise maximal effort early in the response chain will be more successful than those who do not. Two or more experimental groups could be set up, each of them being instructed to exercise effort at different points in the response sequence. A good example would be a weight-watchers group, some of whom would be couseled to inhibit at the first thought of food, others after a snack was spread, and still others after having infested the first morsel of some delicacy such as the first piece in a box of chocolates.
2. Groups might be compared which differ not in the timing of inhibition in the response chain but in the proportion of times resistance is exercised in relation to the number of occasions on which the stimulus appears. The hypothesis would be that success would be a direct function of the size of this proportion and that as the proportion of resistances rose, the strength of the evoking stimulus would geometrically declain. It is also probable that a critical ratio or proposition exists and that it may vary for different control problems; therefore, the concept does imply that the description of self-control processes will be ultimately quantifiable to at least a crude degree.
It is of special importance to emphasize that the self-effort or self-control responses alluded to here must occur in a context that optimizes the probabilities for success. This is based on the previous assumption that behaviors at a choice point are multiply determined. If the theorized effects are to occur, other factors must be controlled or minimized, such as biological defects, environmental pathology, conditioned anxiety responses, rewards for undesirable behavior, and incorrect beliefs. There are a number of therapeutic techniques available for achieving such behavioral management, although we cannot discuss them today.
Characteristics of Positive Self-Control
A growing substantive literature provides us with an increasingly useful picture of what it means to possess and maintain positive self-control wiithin the context of an effective life style. This moves us beyond the specific details of clinical pathology into the broad sweep of everyday life where control rsponses are harmoniously blended with expressive behavior into a balanced, self-regulated life.
The first quality of self-control is that it consists of voluntary action, and voluntary behavior require a choice situation in which at least two incompatible acts are possible. The scriptures tell us that if there were no opposition, no law of opposites, there could be no agency. "And it must needs be that the devil tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves." (D&C 29:39.)
A second quality is the prominence of awareness or conciousness in self-control and the mediation of this control by language or other symbolic processes. "An action is truly voluntary only when it can be begun or can be checked by verbal cues." (Guthrie, 1938, p.174.) A person is responsible when his behavior can thus be guided by symbols. Children, for example, acquire responsibility as they acquire control of action through language. A similar process occurs in all forms of psychotherapy. Freud stated this succinctly in his epigram, "Where Id is, there shall Ego be." In other words, in the course of therapy the ego gains control over the passions of the id by making the unconscious conscious. (Parenthetically, it is important for students to know that Freud stood for such ideas rather than the libertinism with which his name is associated. He was a great man and one not to be ignored by LDS scholars.)
The aspect of self-control next in importance is the role of beliefs or convictions. Terry has said that "character is the ability to inhibit instinctive impulses in accordance with a regulative principle." That is, there is a time and place for expressiveness, but it must be regulated in terms of internal guides such as goals and ideas. Convictions imply a concept of something beyond self, beyond individual need which regulates processes of goal direction, achievement, and management of a positive life style. Convictions differentiate those who will behave in the "natural" way from those who aspire to the higher planes of civilization and righteousness.
A large number of research studies permits us to outline additional specific dimensions of self-control and self-regulation. These include:
(1) The ability to delay gratification, to resist the temptation of immediate rewards or pleasures in favor of more distant and often higher satisfactions, in accordance with abstract principles of right and wrong. This includes the ability to tolerate tension, discomfort, and frustration.
(2) The ability to discern clearly the connections between means and ends, between behaviors and their immediate and ultimate consequences. It is the inability to maintain awareness of means-ends sequences, that is, to anticipate consequences, that commonly characterizes the impulsive behavior of delinquents and criminals.
(3) The ability to frame one's life and behavior within a future time perspective. The briefer one's time span, the greater is the difficulty with self-control. The more one is capable of long-range planning, the better is his control.
(4) An internal locus of control. Self-regulatory deficiencies often arise in persons who feel that they are the passive subjects of the forces surrounding them. Their external locus of control leads them to behave in ways that only reinforce their belief in fate.
(5) A sensitive guilt response. Guilt is a signal to us that something is wrong and, in that sense, it is friendly. Guilt aids us in preserving the integrity of our controls just as pain assists us in preserving the integrity of our bodies. If pain did not alert us to physical dangers and diseases, we would soon die. If our guilt mechanisms are not alert to moral dangers, we die just as certainly in a spiritual sense. While it is possible to overdo guilt and become neurotically obsessed with seeming misdeeds, this is not usually the case. Cultivating a positive guilt response is therefore adaptively in the service of effective self-regulation.
A number of additional factors influence degree of control, and I will merely list some of those that my students and I discovered in a study conducted at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Combined Concept List (N=20)
1. Mood or affective tone and its intensity affect degree of control.
2. Regulation is influenced by the subjectively evaluated importance of the task.
3. Subjectively evaluated liking or disliking for task influences regulation.
4. Existence of external deadlines or other concrete demands affects regulation. Formally structured role requirements are similar and affect self-regulation.
5. Self-imposed plans and structure affect control:
(A) Short-range schedules, lists, goals, deadlines, routines. This can yield over-control and eventual loss of control due to unadaptive rigidity.
(B) Long-range planning which imposes structure on the general course of life and task behavior.
6. Overcoming inertia to perform a task diminishes difficulty in performing or resisting the task on later trials.
7. Positive or negative social reinforcement influences control in either direction, depending on whether approval or disapproval is involved and which behavior it is contingent upon. (Control or expression may be involved.) How important the social evaluator is influences the potency of this variable.
8. A sense of responsibility and obligation to others influences self control.
9. Feeling loved, accepted, and nurtured by significant others influences degree of regulation.
10. Material reward versus deprivation influences regulation.
11. The degree of confidence, competence, self-esteem, assurance, and security with regard to tasks and decisions influences regulation.
12. Organismic variables influence degree of regulation.
(A) Fatigue lessens control.
(B) Physiological withdrawal symptoms lessen control.
(C) Degree of sickness-health or good-bad physical feeling influences control.
13. Interludes of diversion, relaxation, self-expression, or gratification during periods requiring regulation may facilitate or restrict self-regulation, depending on circumstances.
14. Feeling in control and being able to control seem to increase with age (although there appear to be individual developmental fluctuations).
15. Withdrawing or escaping from the situation may increase control or affect control in a difficult situation.
16. The length of delay of gratification is a function of:
(A) the subjective importance or magnitude of the situation;
(B) the amount or power of immediate gratification;
(C) greater gain or sense of challenge by the delay.
17. The degree of awareness of emotion or impulse influences ability to control.
18. Awareness of a tendency to lose control or of having lost control leads to greater ability to regain control.
19. Understanding the realities of the situation enhances ability to control. Cognitive belief that the situation can be changed is a factor here.
20. Knowledge and understanding of oneself is a factor in regulation.
21. The effect of perceiving others out of control may increase one's own ability to control.
22. Repetition of irritating, frustrating stimuli may lead to loss of control.
23. Experience and practice in control may enhance degree of control.
24. Undesirable or inappropriate impulses may be channelled by means of substitution, displacement, or fantasy.
25. Awareness of legal sanctions can be an incentive to control.
Subjects of Study
1. office worker 2. college undergraduate 3. alcoholic 4. commercial artist 5. neurotic 6. policeman 7. female graduate student 8. housewife 9. male graduate student 10. female mental patient 11. male mental patient 12. small proprietor 13. singer-actor 14. artist 15. dancer 16. secretary 17. male homosexual 18. weight watcher 19. assaultive prisoner 20. addicted prostitute.
To summarize the characteristics, we may phrase self-control as the ability to direct one's behavior toward general, satisfying goals rather than to be pushed by needs (Murray, Freud, Hull) or pulled by stimuli. One may define self-regulation by stating what it is not. It is not a push-pull theory. One regulates his own behavior; his behavior is not regulated for him by social reinfocement, parental conditioning, authoritarian power, libidinal instincts, or hormonal cycles.
Moral Agency is:
It is the ability, first, to make a choice, to evaluate the consequences of that chosen course of action, and to prize the outcomes, and then it is the capacity to marshal one's energy in effective pursuit of the consequences or goals subtended by that choice.
It is the ability to reflect when the impulse is to act, especially when the impulse to act runs counter to valued habits or when it presents a new course of behavior. It is the ability to act effectively when the course is clear, the ability to force upon oneself consciousness of consequences and the facing of reality when the inclination is to submerge awareness and give the self immediate gratification, that is, the ability to widen perception when the tendency is to narrow it. It is to resist persuasion and to judge for oneself in the sense of Emerson's "Self Reliance."
It is the ability to modulate, to rule feeling, passion, habit, and inclination, not with an iron hand, but rather with a sense of timing and regulation which maximized outcomes for oneself and others. It is the ability to submerge oneself in feeling when it is useful, appropriate, or right, thus to enrich one's existence. It is thus the ability to delay gratification, but not to avoid it entirely. Like the steam regulator, it permits expression, but only in useful or safe channels.
In general, it is the ability to increase one's freedom in terms of the valued alternatives available, and it merges into the subjective experience of feeling free and self-determined.
Self-Control Agency, and Theories of Man
Today's most prominent academic psychologist, B.F. Skinner of Harvard, has declared that "behavior is determined not from within but from without." He argues that all human behavior is controlled by external contingencies of reward and punishment, and that the goals of psychology are (a) to understand how the mechanisms of external control operate and (b) to manage these mechanisms so as to obtain maximum control over human behavior in the service of creating a benign society. While much of Skinner's experimental work must be considered of great value, his philosophical pronouncements regarding the nature of man are offensive and, fortunately, unsubstantiated.
Unfortunately, his views epitomize a dominant theme of twentieth-century psychology, which is the embracing of psychological phenomena within a schema of laws, statistical and mechanical, having the purpose of achieving the goal of controlling and predicting human behavior. The primary scientific paradigm for psychology has thus been that of the biological physical sciences.
My own counterthesis is that human behavior cannot be accounted for within the framework of physicalistic natural laws, even statistical ones, and that the main premises upon which these views are based are false. This may appear to be a dramatic apostasy by a person so deeply involved with and committed to the field of psychology; however, I see it more as a call to reform than as a rejection.
It is my thesis that human behavior may be and often is controlled by the individual himself and that any hypothetical "mechanisms" that enter into this behavior process are self-regulatory mechanisms.
The idea of self-regulation necessarily carries with it a rejection of the usual psychological theorizing as to the "lawful determination" of behavior. It does not, however, preclude the possibility of establishing verbal or mathematical descriptions of behavioral regularities. It only assumes that the individual's habitual manner of making choices and of regulating his behavior must be a crucial ingredient of these formulae. This commitment to the notion of self-generated behavior means that while understanding and prediction may be possible, control of behavior is not possible except in extreme cases of pathology, such as those described, or in unusual instances of environmental control, such as concentration camps or prisons. Thus, while the individual may assist the scientist's theorizing by reporting his style of choosing and self-regulating, this does not give the scientists control of that style.
None of the foregoing should be construed as a repudiation of the field of psychology; many of its observations and techniques are of great value, and I personally make my living promoting and implementing them. I am instead calling for a radical reform of the ideological assumptions that lie behind much of this work. I hope that I and many of you will be allied with all of those who are calling for the infusion of a new spirit into this field and for the formulation of new theories that square more precisely with our perceptions of human nature as distinct from physical and animal nature. This paper is one step in that direction, and hopefully it is consonant with the following, slightly paraphrased, revelation: "Intelligence or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be . . . all intelligence is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself; otherwise there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man. . . ." (D&C 93:29-31.)
In conclusion, I have three brief messages for those of you who are students. First, let me say that while I do not look to psychology for my salvation or that of mankind, I do view it (together with the related behavioral sciences) as one of the most exciting and potentially useful fields of inquiry that exists. While some of its practitioners promote bizarre theories and engage in unethical behavior, the major thrust of the field is a positive and progressive one. I suggest in all candor and sincerity that psychology is as fundamental to the implementation of the principles of gospel living (the Christian life style) as medical science is to the implementation of the Word of Wisdom. Just as biomedical research reveals to us the mechanisms underlying the principles of the Lord's code of physical health and thereby provides us with a more positive control over the health of our bodies so also, behavioral science informs us of the processes underlying revealed principles of living and provides us with improved power to promote the health of mind and spirit. Psychology is thus as basic to the study of living as biochemistry is to the study of life. It is, in my estimation, the most important secular subject matter for Latter-day Saints to know.
Second, some personal advice. The ideal of self-control is supreme. This life is test--is a test--is a test. You have not passed until you have endured to the end and are dead. You will be tried every day of your life, whether you know it or not.
Today we are all bombarded by stimuli toward the loosening of moral controls. The provocation is enormous. You must practice self-control and have a strong repertoire of such abilities so that when stress comes, you can cope. Mercifully, the Lord permits us small doses of evil to practice our control on before we are hit with real temptation, but then it comes. We must all be tried, and led me assure you that means a real trial, before we are fit for his Kingdom.
If you are to err, do it on the side of overcontrol--that can be redeemed--but the excesses of undercontrol can have fatal, irredeemable consequences. Therefore, stay close to the Church, follow its leaders, and seek the guidance of the spirit.
As for me, you may wish to know where I stand with respect to the gospel. I believe it is especially important for those of us in psychology to declare ourselves on this matter because we have too often been the pariahs of our own subculture.
I am a thoroughly converted, 100 percent supporter of the doctrines and principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe completely in the spiritual realities and divine manifestations that undergird and reinforce the sweeping fabric of Mormon culture and commitment. I have experienced the indescribable, witnessing communication of divine knowledge, and it has transformed me from humanist to disiple. I do not apologize for nor equivocate in my conviction that the God of heaven is a living, personal reality and that I have an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ upon whom I am dependent for salvation and exaltation. I know that he lives, and I declare in all solemnity as a witness to all men that I know he walked and talked with the Prophet Joseph Smith, that through the Prophet he reestablished the Kingdom of God on earth, and that he presides today over this great Church, inspiring our modern prophet and all associated with him. All this I declare in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
References
Bergin A.E. "A self-regulation Technique for Impulse-control Disorders." Psychotherapy: Theory Research, and Practice 6 (1969):113-118.
Guthrie E.R. The Psychology of Human Conflict. New York: Harper, 1938.
Smith, Joseph Fielding. Answers to Gospel Questions. Vols. 1, 3. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957, 1960.
Talmage, J.E. Jesus the Christ, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1915.
Widtsoe, J.A. ed. Discourses of Brigham Young. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954.
Volume 16
Originally published as part of the Commissioner's Lecture Series, reprinted by permission of Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Commissioner of Church Education, and by permission of the New Era.
Allen E. Bergin is professor of psychology at Brigham Young University.
Next 4
(Toward a Theory of Human Agency Fn by Allen E. Bergin Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 16 (1975-1976), Number 1 - Autumn 1975 .)
The next question concerns how Satan could obtain such a claim that would entitle him to payment in order for that claim to be relinquished. Its answer relates to still other fundamental concepts: free agency and the nature of sin.
Choosing good indicates voluntarily subjecting oneself to God's will in return for the opportunity of eternal life, while choosing to sin means rejecting God's will by voluntarily accepting Satan's authority in return for the favors he has to offer. Joy and happiness are intended for those who are obedient to God's commandments, while, in contrast, misery is intended for those who choose Satan's authority (see Alma 12:4-6; 30:60; 34:35, 39; and Hel. 7:15-16). Obviously, Satan must somehow deceive persons about his ultimate objective in order to get them to sin voluntarily (see 2 Corinthians 11: 3; James 4:17; Moses 4:16; and Moro. 7:12).
Nevertheless, because every responsible individual has not only the ability to discern good from evil (Moro. 7:16) but also the agency (Hel. 14:30-31) to make his own free choice, choosing to sin implies that one is voluntarily rejecting God's will in favor of subjecting himself to Satan's authority (see 2 Ne. 2:27; Mosiah 16:3-4; and Alma 5:18-20).
(The Necessity of a Sinless Messiah by Ronald A. Heiner Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 22 (1982), Number 1 - Fall 1982 .)
President Joseph F. Smith is regarded by some as one of the seminal minds of Mormon theology, having defined some of the major areas of twentieth-century LDS theology. The letters in this book provide some glimpses of the strength and range of his mind, especially pertaining to theological matters. Some of the doctrinal subjects contained in his letters include Jesus Christ, the spirit world, guardian angels, the Holy Ghost, free agency, the Book of Mormon, Satan, the sacrament, death, seeking the Spirit, sacrifice, tithing, and the power of the gospel. The scope of this review will permit only two examples of his theological insights:
No man can aim higher than to seek to possess himself of the characteristics of Jesus of Nazareth. He was and is the grandest type of Man-hood who was ever clothed in flesh and blood on this earth. The man who succeeds in reaching nearest to his attributes and perfection will get nearest to God! (Pp. 35-36)
You ask, Can a man do any wrong without first being tempted of Satan? All men have their agency, the spirit of Satan leads to error and darkness and wrong doing. If a man does wrong, it is because he yields to the spirit of evil, thereby exercising his agency. If he does good, it is in accordance with the spirit that is of God, and he uses his agency in that as well. (P. 70)
(Book Reviews, BYU Studies, vol. 23 (1983), Number 1 - Winter 1983 .)
The Duration of Punishment—As to the duration of punishment, we may take assurance that it will be graded according to the sin; and that the conception of every sentence for misdeeds being interminable is false. fn Great as is the effect of this life upon the hereafter, and certain as is the responsibility of opportunities lost for repentance, God holds the power to pardon beyond the grave. Yet the scriptures speak of eternal and endless punishment. Any punishment ordained of God is eternal, for He is eternal. fn His is a system of endless punishment, for it will always exist as a place or condition prepared for disobedient spirits; yet the infliction of the penalty will have an end in every case of acceptable repentance and reparation. And repentance is not impossible in the spirit world. fn However, as seen, there are some sins so great that their consequent punishments are not made known to man; fn these extreme penalties are reserved for the sons of Perdition.
Punishment/The false doctrine that the punishment to be visited upon erring souls is endless, that every sentence for sin is of interminable duration, must be regarded as one of the most pernicious results of misapprehension of scripture. It is but a dogma of unauthorized and erring sectaries, at once unscriptural, unreasonable, and revolting to one who loves mercy and honors justice. True, the scriptures speak of everlasting burnings, eternal damnation, and the vengeance of eternal fire, fn as characteristics of the judgment provided for the wicked; yet in no instance is there justification for the inference that the individual sinner will have to suffer the wrath of offended justice forever and ever. The punishment in any case is sufficiently severe without the added and supreme horror of unending continuation. Justice must have her due; but when "the uttermost farthing" is paid, the prison doors shall open and the captive be free. But the prison remains, and the law prescribing punishment for offenses is not to be repealed.
Punishment/So general were the ill effects of the commonly accepted doctrine, unscriptural and untrue though it was, regarding the endless torment awaiting every sinner, that even before the Church had been formally organized in the present dispensation, the Lord gave a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith touching this matter, in which we read: "And surely every man must repent or suffer; for I, God, am endless. Wherefore, I revoke not the judgments which I shall pass, but woes shall go forth, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yea, to those who are found on my left hand. Nevertheless, it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment. Again, it is written eternal damnation. * * * For behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore, Eternal punishment is God's punishment. Endless punishment is God's punishment." fn
(James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 55.)
These rebellious spirits were expelled from heaven, and have since followed the impulses of their wicked natures by seeking to lead human souls into their own condition of darkness. They are the devil and his angels. The right of free agency, maintained and vindicated by the war in heaven, prevents the possibility of compulsion being employed in this fiendish work of degradation; but the powers of these malignant spirits to tempt and persuade are used to the utmost. Satan tempted Eve to transgress the law of God; fn it was he who imparted the secret of murder for gain to the fratricide, Cain. fn
Punishment/Satan exerts a mastery over the spirits that have been corrupted by his practises; he is the foremost of the angels who were thrust down, and the instigator of the ruin of those who fall in this life; he seeks to molest and hinder mankind in good efforts, by tempting to sin; or it may be by imposing sickness, fn or possibly death. Yet in all these malignant doings, he can go no farther than the transgressions of the victim may enable him, or the wisdom of God may permit; and at any time he may be checked by the superior power. Indeed, even the operations of his utmost malice may be turned to the accomplishment of divine purposes. The scriptures prove to us that the days of Satan's power are numbered; fn his doom has been pronounced, and in the Lord's own time he will be completely overcome. He is to be bound during the millennial reign, fn and after that thousand years of peace he will be loosed for a little season; then his defeat will be made complete, and his power over the children of God will be destroyed.
(James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 56.)
Leadership—Our Challenge Today
We are the sons and daughters of Almighty God. We have a destiny to fulfill, a life to live, a contribution to make, a goal to achieve. The future of our country in these rapidly changing times awaits our mark of influence. The growth of the kingdom of God upon the earth will, in part, be aided by our devotion.
We have been provided the God-given blessing of free agency. The pathway is marked. The blessings and penalties are shown clearly. But the choice is up to us. Of course there will be opposition. There always has been and always will be. That evil one, even Satan, desires that we become his followers, rather than leaders in our own right. He has evil and designing men as his agents. Together they conspire to make evil appear to be good. In a most enticing manner he cunningly invites: "This is the way to happiness—come." Yet, that still, small voice within us cautions: "Not so. This doesn't seem right."
A choice has to be made. There are no minor or insignificant decisions in our lives. Decisions determine destiny. Whether we like it or not, we are engaged in the race of our lives. At stake is eternal life—yours and mine. What will be the outcome? Will we be servants of God? Or will we be servants of sin?
(Thomas S. Monson, Be Your Best Self [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 119.)
Brigham Young held some determinist views in that he acknowledged that man is conditioned by his environment, traditions, teachings, and laws which circumscribe and limit, to a degree, his free agency. fn He also felt that man can dispose of his agency through iniquity; when man arrives at a position of total subjection to Satan, he cannot regain his independence. fn Complete independence of action is an attribute of diety, and only those most valiant during their probation on earth who will be crowned as gods in the Celestial Kingdom will be unfettered. fn
(The Reflections of Brigham Young on the Nature of Man and the State by J. Keith Melville, BYU Studies, vol. 4 (1961-1962), Num. 3 and 4 - Spring and Summer 1962 258.)
Nephi now favors us with another of his remarkable teachings. In verse 26, he makes an allusion to the Millennial Era when Satan has no power. Other scriptures speak of Satan as being bound in the Millennium, with no power to tempt any man (see D&C 43:31; D&C 88:110; D&C 101:28). But if Satan has no power to tempt men during that peaceful era, how can they exercise their free agency? If there is no "opposition in all things" as taught by Father Lehi (2 Nephi 2:11), how can men be "enticed" by good or evil (2 Nephi 2:16)? Apparently, even during the Millennium it would seem logical to expect that men would need to have opposition and have the privilege of choosing either good or evil. We should remember that when Adam and Eve fell they became as the Gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:22); hence men inevitably have to make a choice between them (i.e., good or evil). Now Nephi suggests that the reason Satan will have no power during the Millennium is "because of the righteousness of his [God's] people." His words may suggest that Satan will be present to tempt men, but their righteousness will prevent him from achieving the powers and influence he so much desires. What will happen during the Millennial Era should be compared to that which was obtained among the Nephites after the coming of Christ (see 4 Nephi 2, 3, 15-18), except that the period of peace and righteousness will for a thousand years instead of roughly two hundred. It is possible, in view of the passages cited above from the Doctrine and Covenants, that more severe restrictions may be placed upon Satan during the Millennium than were placed upon him during the Nephite golden era of righteousness.
(Sidney B. Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], 143.)
Some of the best examples of connections between these two texts are more complex, involving teachings and ways of thinking about something without exact replication of words or phrases. The doctrine of divinely given free agency is implicit in all of scripture, but is only taught explicitly as a fundamental concept in the book of Moses and the Book of Mormon. In Moses we learn that "Satan . . . sought to destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3), that God "gave unto man his agency" (Moses 7:32; 4:3), and that men are therefore "agents unto themselves" (Moses 6:56). Lehi picks up these same themes in a major discourse on freedom of choice or agency and teaches that "God gave unto man that he should act for himself" (2 Nephi 2:16); that by the redemption "they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:26); and that men "are free to choose liberty and eternal life, . . . or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Nephi 2:27).
Moses points out to Satan that because the Lord's "spirit hath not altogether withdrawn" from him he can distinguish between God and Satan (Moses 1:15). The Book of Mormon writers frequently used this same language when warning people not to sin lest the Lord's Spirit be withdrawn from them, too. Alma specifically cites this explanation to show why the devil has successfully gained power over certain people (Alma 34:35). Mormon borrows Alma's language several times to explain the weakness of the Nephites, saying that "the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples" (Helaman 5:24). fn Here we see a string of passages in which the Book of Mormon writers follow one another in a particular application of a phrase from Moses' account, using it to explain a withdrawal of the Lord's Spirit and a corresponding expansion of Satan's power (which Moses had successfully resisted). There is some complexity introduced in this variation, but the concept remains the same and takes on an independent life in the tradition of the Nephites.
(John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also by Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 27 March 1990, 2 vols. [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1990], 2: 141.)
And yet with all this how far we are ourselves from being what we should be! We have constantly to be battling against selfishness, and many of our people almost fear lest we shall be overcome by these evil influences that are surging around us and are washing, as it were, against our very thresholds. There is danger to be feared from this spirit of evil, of selfishness, of "devil-take-the-hindmost," of every man for himself, and many in our midst succumb to these influences after all that has been done to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. They forget the lessons that God has taught and is teaching, and they yield themselves to the spirit of the world, from which we have been gathered. I suppose this will continue to be the case until Satan is bound. God will not take away our agency. He has given you and me our agency to do as we please. I will not say that He cannot take away our agency; that would be irreverent; but it is not consistent with His plan to take away anybody's agency. Every human being has his agency. We can serve God or we can serve the devil. We can listen to the voice of the Spirit of God and the entreaties that we hear from it, or we can reject them and listen to evil blandishments and allurements. There is a percentage, perhaps,—I trust it is very small, and I am led to believe it is—of the Latter-day Saints who forget the lessons God is teaching, and who yield to sin and seek to build themselves up instead of the Zion of God.
Delivered by President George Q. Cannon, at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, March 26th, 1893.
(Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 3: .)
We have been sent here with our agency, for the express purpose of being tested and proved. We have had this second estate granted unto us that it may be ascertained whether we shall keep it or not. A veil has been drawn between us and our Father in heaven. That which pertains to our pre-existent life is concealed from us, though there is scarcely a person of mature years perhaps who has not had come across his mind a shadow of something that has occurred at some previous time which he could not recall; but our pre-existent state has been concealed from us, and wisely so, no doubt; for if it had not been, we should become so tired of this existence and its trials that we could not be contented here. We are left to exercise our agency, just as we did in our first estate at the time of our trial, to see whether we will be faithful to God in this second estate. We are shut out, as I have said, but God points out to us the way in which we should walk. He tells us what to do, and entreats us to be obedient to Him. He asks us to cultivate His Spirit, to seek
Delivered by President George Q. Cannon, at Salt Lake City, Utah, February 27, 1898.
(Brian H. Stuy, ed., Collected Discourses, 5 vols. [Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992], 5: .)
Captivity and Liberty
Lehi taught Jacob that there are "both things to act and things to be acted upon" (2 Ne. 2:14). "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" (2 Ne. 2:16). The atonement ensures that mankind retains its free agency:
And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good and 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. (2 Ne. 2:26)
Jacob spoke of "the foolishness of men," which makes them think "they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God" (2 Ne. 9:28). Those who misuse their free agency, after being exposed to the truth, will have an eternal state that is "awful" (2 Ne. 9:27). His reference to the captivity of hell (2 Ne. 9:12) apparently derives from some of Lehi's comments to the rest of the family (2 Ne. 1:13, 18, 21;3:5).
Lehi noted that "Men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life . . . or to choose captivity and death" (2 Ne. 2:27). "Eternal death . . . giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom" (2 Ne. 2:29; cf. 2:18, 21).
Jacob instructed, "Remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-free to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life" (2 Ne. 10:23). He evidently had his father's teachings in mind when he wrote, "Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal" (2 Ne. 9:39). Like his father, he spoke of the captivity that comes from surrendering one's agency to Satan:
If the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil. . . . O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful mon ster. (2 Ne. 9:8-10; cf. verse 46)fn
But, he noted, "the God . . . of Israel . . . delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil" (2 Ne. 9:19; cf. verse 26), while the wicked "shall be thrust down to hell" (2 Ne. 9:34, 36; cf. verse 37). He further declared that one can be "freed from sin" (2 Ne. 9:47) and exhorted his audience to "shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast" (2 Ne. 9:45). These are the same words addressed by Lehi to his family just before he turned to admonish Jacob (2 1 Ne. 1:13, 23).
(The Influence of Lehi's Admonitions on the Teachings of His Son Jacob John A. Tvedtnes, FARMS Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 1994), 45.)
PRESENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL
8173Joy comes as a result of progress, as a result of accomplishment for good. That is why we all shouted for joy when the opportunity was given to us to come to this earth and partake of the blessings through obedience, made possible to us through exercising free agency. For man to exercise free agency he must have both sides to choose from. In every decision made there must be both a good and an evil influence; for if we had all of the good or all of the evil we would be right in the same path which Satan tried to establish in the first place, that of predestination. And so there must be both sides to choose from in every case.
8173As the Lord said in the Doctrine and Covenants in the verse from which I previously read:
8173And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet. (D. & C. 29:39.)
8173Therefore, in all that we do we must be tempted. Then our growth depends upon our obedience. The first step in our progress for the eternities is accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not convert others; missionaries do not convert others. We teach them to think for themselves; and when they have a desire within themselves to receive knowledge and express that desire in action, by being obedient to the desires of God, then they have fulfilled that law upon which that blessing is predicated, which brings a knowledge of the gospel to them through the Holy Ghost.
8173Baptism is the fulfilling of an ordinance which is an act of testifying that we will be obedient in keeping the commandments of God.
(81728173elder Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, April 1951, First Day—Morning Meeting 25.)
I realize that through the ages there has been a tendency for truth to be pretty much on the scaffold and error n the throne. I recognize that there as been a tendency to revere prophets dead and to persecute the living oracles. I recognize that there are two great forces in the world. And as the Book of Mormon prophet said,
8832For it must needs he, that there is an opposition in all things. (2 Nephi 2:11.)
8832I am grateful that we have our free agency which to me is an eternal blessing, an eternal principle. I recognize that today Satan, the adversary, is still alert. He is not using the means of persecution towards this people which he once used, but he is still the enemy of truth, and he is using other methods today. He is probably using the method of encouraging complacency. He is probably making an effort to lull us away into a false security because things seem well in Zion. One of the Book of Mormon prophets said this would be the case in the last days. You remember Nephi's prediction when he said:
8832For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.
8832And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
8832Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!
8832Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well! (Ibid., 28:20-21,24-25.)
(8832elder Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1955, Afternoon Meeting 47.)
This mortal life is just an essential part of our eternal existence. We came here to be tested and proved by coming in contact with evil as well as the good. It is necessary that we be tempted and tried, but the Eternal Father did not leave us helpless in the midst of evil. From the very beginning the plan of salvation was presented to our first parents. They taught these principles to their children. It is necessary, however, that we have trials and temptations as well as the divine commandments. Therefore the Father has permitted Satan and his hosts to tempt us, but by the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord and the commandments given through revelation, we are prepared to make our choice. If we do evil, we have been promised that we will be punished, if we do good, we will receive the eternal reward of righteousness. Every soul has been given the gift of free agency. It is essential that we learn both good and evil and thus resist and overcome the evil. If we live righteously there will come eternal salvatin and exaltation in the kingdom of God.
(President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1964, Third Day—Morning Meeting 107 - 108.)
Mortal man is a dual being, a spirit child of God tabernacled in a physical body. Endowed with agency, he is placed here in mortality between opposing forces. The influence of God on the one hand inspires, pleads, and urges him to follow the way of life. On the other hand is the power of Satan tempting him to disbelieve and disregard God's commandments. The consequences of his choices are of the all-or-nothing sort. There is no way for him to escape the influence of these opposing powers. Inevitably he is led by one or the other. His God-given free agency gives him the power and option to choose. But choose he must. Nor can he serve both of them at the same time, for, as Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters: . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24.)
10301"To every man there openeth
10301A way, and ways, and a way,
10301The high soul climbs the high way
10301The low soul gropes the low.
10301And in between, on the misty flats
10301The rest drift to and fro.
10301And every man decideth
10301The way his soul shall go."
10301(John Openham)
10301All men may, if they will, choose the way, the high way, for God endows every man that cometh into the world with agency and a sure guide—a guide which will lead him unerringly through the world if he will but hearken to it. Listen to this sublime assurance:
10301". . . the Spirit," meaning the Spirit of Christ, "giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.
10301"And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.
"And the Father teacheth him of the covenant, . . ." (See D&C 84:46-48) that is, of the gospel of Jesus Christ which he has restored to the earth in these last days for the salvation of the whole world.
10301You see, my beloved brethren and sisters, whoever you are, wherever you are, into whatever circumstances you are born, the Spirit of Christ attends us and, until we reject it, prompts us and encourages us to noble and high endeavor.
10301The covenant, the gospel, which you will learn through the servants of God, tells us how to look to God. There are three requisites:
10301A true concept and knowledge of God;
10301A knowledge of his commands; and third, obedience to those commands.
10301That man might have this true concept and knowledge of him, God has, through the ages, repeatedly revealed himself. He revealed himself to Adam, to Abraham, to Moses. Christ was God's revelation of himself to men in the Meridian of Time. For the benefit of us who live in this day he revealed himself to the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun., in the spring of 1820 in Palmyra, New York.
10301Just as he revealed himself anew in each dispensation, so has he as often restated his commandments. He restated them for us of this day also through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
(10301elder Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1962, Third Day—Morning Meeting 94 - 95.)
Latter-day Saints not only believe that freedom to make one's own choices is an inalienable divine right; they also know that the exercise of it is essential to man's growth and development. Deprived of it, men would be but puppets in the hands of fate.
11446The preservation of free agency is more important than the preservation of life itself. As a matter of fact, without it, there would be no existence.
11446"All truth [says the Lord] is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.
11446"Behold, here is the agency of man. . . ." (D&C 93:30-31.)
11446The foregoing are but samples of the scriptures which set forth the principle of free agency accepted and implemented by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Neither the Church, its officers, nor any of its responsible representatives ever seek to abridge one's freedom to make his own decisions—be it in the voting booth or elsewhere. Representations to the contrary are either ignorantly or maliciously made. Usually such representations are calculated to influence people in the exercise of their agency—the very objective they impute to and so condemn in others. Only Satan and wicked men seek to abridge men's agency. The Lord never does. Neither do his servants. The divine gift of free agency, however, is not a self-perpetuating endowment.
11446Men abridge own agency
11446Men themselves can, and most of them do, abridge their own agency by the decisions they themselves voluntarily make.
11446Every choice one makes either expands or contracts the area in which he can make and implement future decisions. When one makes a choice, he irrevocably binds himself to accept the consequences of that choice.
11446Jesus, in his Prodigal Son parable, gives a classic illustration of this truth. You will remember that in it a young man, exercising his inherent right of choice, makes a decision to take his portion of his father's estate and go and see the world. This he does, whereupon nature follows its uniform course. When the prodigal's substance is squandered, he makes another choice, which takes him back home where he meets "the ring, and the robe, and the fatted calf." His felicitous father gives him a welcome. But the consequence of his earlier decision "is following him up, for the farm is gone. The `father' himself cannot undo the effect of the foregone choice." (Collins, Such Is Life, pp. 85-88.)
11446Freedom to choose
11446From the very beginning God has, through his prophets, made it clear that expanded freedom follows wise choices, and that freedom is restricted by unwise decisions.
11446"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse," said Moses to the children of Israel. "A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, . . . And a curse, if ye will not obey [them]. . . ." (Deut. 11:26-28.)
Lehi said that "men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life . . . or to choose captivity and death." (2 Ne. 2:27.)
(11446elder Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1968, Afternoon Meeting 65.)
Right to Choose
But, you ask, Why does God, if he truly loves his children, permit Satan to tempt us and thereby jeopardize our chances to gain the experiences of mortality and return back to enjoy eternal life in his presence? The answer is given by a great prophet-teacher: "Wherefore, 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 (which is evil) or the other (which is good)." (II Nephi 2:16.) You think about that for a moment. If there were no opposition to good, would there be any chance to exercise your agency or right to choose? To deny you that privilege would be to deny you the opportunity to grow in knowledge, experience and power. God has given laws with penalties affixed so that man might be made afraid of sin and guided into paths of truth and duty. (Alma 42:20.)
Good timber does not grow in ease,
The stronger the wind, the tougher the trees;
The farther the sky, the greater the length;
The more the storm, the more the strength
By sun and cold, by rains and snows,
In tree or man good timber grows.
When you see a person so overpowered by evil habits that his passion is the master, there you are beholding one over whom Satan has dominion, who thus seeks to destroy in him his individual agency. Satan's forces are most powerful. I fancy as I grow in experience that I can see his methods in his relentless warfare, with the damnation of the human soul as his stake. He has effective secret agents organized and always at work behind our defenses, putting doubts into our minds by the medium of false philosophies; bringing discouragement when we lose the perspective of faith; and sowing seeds of gloom and despondency that give vent in the dangerous expression of youth, "Oh, what's the use!"
Besides these saboteurs Satan has a spy system that has discovered the weakest places in our defenses and has ports marked for invasion carefully charted in each one of us. The D-Day of your invasion is that day when you lower your defenses. Those ports, through which you are most likely to be "invaded," are declared by inspired men to be your virtue, your conduct, your ideals or objectives in life, and your thinking. Let the defenses of those ports be weakened by carelessness or negligence and the enemy has taken you into his captivity.
(Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1973], 95.)
The Nature of Man in Mortality
It has been shown that because of Adam's transgression man became a fallen being, with the seeds of corruption and death planted within his physical body exerting their influence upon him in his fallen state. Although this is true, it should be remembered that man in mortality is a dual being, composed of an organized spirit tabernacled in a body of flesh and bones. To see man's true nature in mortality it is necessary to ask: (1) What is the nature of man's spirit as it enters mortality? (2) What is the nature of his flesh in mortality? (3) What influence can the Adversary have over man in mortality? (4) What influence can the atonement and power of God have upon man in mortality? These points will be considered below in this order.
Question one: What is the nature of man's spirit as it enters mortality? The Lord has said that every spirit was innocent in the beginning (that is, when it was first organized in its pre-earth state) and because "God redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God." fn From this statement it is apparent that the atonement acts to make man innocent before God as he enters mortality. As man comes to earth, his basic desire is also to do good. Otherwise he would not have kept his first estate against the opposing influence of Lucifer and his hosts. It is because man, as he enters mortality, is innocent and desires to do good that Brigham Young said: "When the spirit enters the body, it is pure and holy from the heavens; and could it reign predominantly in the tabernacle, ruling, dictating, and directing its actions without an opposing force, man never would commit a sin." fn Nevertheless, the spirits that enter mortality differ from each other in that they possess varying degrees of intelligence. fn They therefore have different capacities and interests; they also differ in the degree to which they possess the desire to do good and in the way they are inclined to express that desire. Finally, it should be observed that the spirit of man becomes a fallen being as it comes to earth, in that it leaves the presence of God and enters this temporal state. This, however, is a voluntary fall for the sons and daughters of Adam for which there is no condemnation under the law of God.
Question two: What is the nature of man's flesh in mortality? The endowments of the flesh are good and are designed in the plan of life to exalt man and add scope and purpose to his existence. The Lord declared that those who kept their first estate would be "added upon." fn To be added upon meant, among other things, that they would be given the endowments that pertain to the physical body. In receiving a physical body, the spirit of man is given additional avenues through which to express the intelligence and power it possesses. For this reason, the physical body is more than a tabernacle in which to house the spirit. It is also an organism that adds to the spirit's ability to express itself and to develop its potential powers.
But as a result of the fall, corrupt elements have become associated with the flesh in its mortal organization; and unless checked, mortal corruption tends to alter and divert the pure and innocent expressions of the flesh into vain and unlawful paths. As was indicated earlier in this chapter, this is the meaning of man being conceived in sin in his mortal state. For this reason the Lord declared to Adam that when children "begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good." fn Because of the influence of corruption in the flesh, sin conceives in the hearts of men as they begin to grow up; and if they yield to its suggestive influence, sin establishes its power within them. Thus it is by the nature of man's mortal organization that he is brought to learn the difference between good and evil; and by direct contact with the corruption within his physical body and as a result of its adverse influence upon him, man may learn to prize that which is good.
Question three: What influence can the Adversary have over man in mortality? Though the spirits of all men who come to mortality overcame the enticements of Satan and his followers when they resided in the presence of God in their first estate, they are required also to meet the opposition of the Adversary in a fallen state, away from the direct truth and power of God's presence, where corruption and the seeds of death are associated with the endowments of the flesh. This is necessary in order that they might overcome all things and triumph over evil in the physical as well as in the pre-earth spirit realm of life. Little wonder that many in the pre-earth state wavered and sought for security in coming to this mortal state at the expense of free agency. Those who kept their first estate and overcame evil and its opposition as spirits are now approached by Satan through the flesh and the corruption that is part of man's physical body in mortality. The patriarch Lehi thus warned his sons against yielding to the "will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, and bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom." fn
Question four: What influence can the atonement and power of God have upon men in mortality? To counterbalance the influence of the corruption within the flesh, the enticements of Satan, and adverse influences in the world, certain factors operate in behalf of man. As has been indicated above, the atonement acts to make man innocent in his infant state, and children are therefore alive in Christ until they reach the time when they are made accountable before God. fn Until then, the scriptures state that "power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children." fn Even though they become fallen creatures as they come to earth and acquire a physical body in which elements of mortal corruption exist, by the power of the atonement they are made innocent before God and His law, the tempting powers of the Adversary are curtailed until they begin to be accountable before God, and they are absolved from responsibility to the law of God until they are capable of learning the difference between good and evil. Furthermore, the Light of Christ is given to influence all men who are born into this world, to guide them back into the presence of God. fn By relying upon its divine influence and power, mortal man can attain unto righteousness, because the Light of Christ leads man upward to God, even the Father, who teaches him of the covenant of the Gospel fn by which he may be sanctified and endowed with the powers and attributes of immortal glory.
Here is the real issue of human agency in mortality—the basis upon which all other forms of freedom are founded. Because the Messiah came and fulfilled His atoning mission, Lehi taught that men "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 of God." fn Continuing, he said:
Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great meditation 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. fn
Of the moral and spiritual agency of man in mortality, Joseph Smith also said: "There are three independent principles; the Spirit of God, the spirit of man, and the spirit of the devil. All men have power to resist the devil." fn This means that though God casts His vote for man and the devil casts his vote against him, man is the one who casts the deciding vote. It is man who determines which way he will go.
An important point for man to consider is that he must choose to do that which is right. He cannot be negative or nonchalant in his attitude. Though he is given certain benefits of the atonement of Christ as he enters mortality, the corruption within his flesh and the influences he encounters in the world are such that the spirit of man alone, unaided by divine mercy and power, cannot cope with the fallen condition of mortality and the enticing influence of the Adversary. And though the spirit of man may desire to do good while clothed in its mortal tabernacle, it must receive assistance from God in order to meet successfully the challenge of the flesh and the world. Here is the basis of man's mortal dilemma. And here is its solution. Man alone cannot achieve all the good that he may desire to achieve. And unless he expresses the kind of faith required to obtain the grace of Christ and the blessings of the Holy Spirit in his life, he must sink rather than rise in his efforts to achieve righteousness. Dependence upon Christ is therefore an absolute necessity. Consequently an angel admonished King Benjamin to teach his people the all-important fact that "men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." fn
(Hyrum L. Andrus, Doctrinal Commentary on the Pearl of Great Price [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1967], 207.)
6. In overcoming the adversary we must remember that we are free to choose our own course of life. Samuel the Lamanite declared: "And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; 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. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death" (Hel. 14:30-31).
The old ideas that "the devil made me do it" or "I couldn't help myself" are simply false notions. "The devil has no power over us only as we permit him," the Prophet Joseph Smith taught. "The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power."fn
7. Finally, it is possible to bind Satan in our lives now. Many have thought that Satan could be bound only by chains or by being cast into outer darkness; however, in the Book of Mormon Nephi teaches that Satan will be bound in a different way during the Millennium. "And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth" (1 Ne. 22:26). "What does it mean to bind Satan? How is he bound?" asked Elder Bruce R. McConkie. "Our revelation says: `And in that day Satan shall not have power to tempt any man' (D&C 101:28). Does this mean that power is withdrawn from Satan so that he can no longer entice men to do evil? Or does it mean that men no longer succumb to his enticements because their hearts are so set on righteousness that they refuse to forsake that which is good to follow him who is evil? Clearly it means the latter. Satan was not bound in heaven, in the very presence of God, in the sense that he was denied the right and power to preach false doctrine and to invite men to walk away from that God whose children they were; nay, in this sense, he could not have been bound in heaven, for even he must have his agency.
"How, then, will Satan be bound during the Millennium? It will be by the righteousness of the people . . . It is not that men cannot sin, for the power is in them to do so—they have their agency—but it is that they do not sin because Satan is subject to them, and they are not enticed by his evil whisperings."fn
It is a change of heart and a will to live righteously that can bind Satan. Thus, in the Book of Mormon we find accounts of those who had received a mighty change in their hearts and could say, "We have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2; see also Alma 19:33).
The Book of Mormon provides a classic example of one who in large part bound Satan in his life. In Alma 48:11-13 we read:
"And Moroni was a [1] strong and a mighty man; he was a man of [2] a perfect understanding; yea, a man that [3] did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did [4] joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; yea, a man whose [5] heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did [6] labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people. Yea, and he was a man who was [7] firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an [8] oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood."
The qualities of Captain Moroni, identified by number in the verses above, all contributed to his ability to bind Satan in his life. Mormon, who abridged this record, was so impressed he wrote: "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men" (Alma 48:17).
This brief tribute to Captain Moroni seems to include all that we could hope for or desire in our quest to overcome Satan. Moroni obviously understood Satan, his characteristics, and his goals. He recognized the means by which Satan was gaining power over his people. Finally, and most important, he understood the things that he and his people must do to overcome the adversary in their lives, and he led out by example, binding Satan in his own life.
The Book of Mormon is here to help us overcome Satan as Moroni and others have done. The Book of Mormon stands as a witness to us that we can bind Satan in our lives. In the words of President Spencer W. Kimball, "When Satan is bound in a single home—when Satan is bound in a single life—the Millennium has already begun in that home, in that life."fn It is my sincere desire that we will use the Book of Mormon to help us bind Satan in our lives.
(Sperry Symposium Doctrines of the Book of Mormon: 1991 Sperry Symposium on the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992], 253.)
Agency
"Agency" refers both to the capacity of beings "to act for themselves" (2 Ne. 2:26) and their accountability for those actions. Exercising agency is a spiritual matter (D&C 29:35); it consists in either receiving the enlightenment and commandments that come from God or resisting and rejecting them by yielding to the devil's temptations (D&C 93:31). Without awareness of alternatives an individual could not choose, and that is why being tempted by evil is as essential to agency as being enticed by the Spirit of God (D&C 29:39). Furthermore, no one is forced either to act virtuously or to sin. "The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was voluntary…. God would not exert any compulsory means, and the devil could not" (TPJS, p. 187).
Agency is an essential ingredient of being human, "inherent in the spirit of man" (McKay, p. 366) both in the premortal spirit existence (D&C 29:36) and in mortality. No being can possess sensibility, rationality, and a capacity for happiness without it (2 Ne. 2:11-13, 23; D&C 93:30). Moreover, it is the specific gift by which God made his children in his image and empowered them to grow to become like him through their own progression of choices (L. Snow, JD 20:367). It was because Satan "sought to destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3) that the war was fought in heaven before earth life (cf. Rev. 12:7). What was then, and is now, at stake in the battle to preserve agency is nothing less than the possibility of both the continued existence and the divine destiny of every human being. This principle helps explain the Church's strong position against political systems and addictive practices that inhibit the free exercise of agency.
Agency is such that men and women not only can choose obedience or rebellion but must (B. Young, JD 13:282). They cannot avoid being both free and responsible for their choices. Individuals capable of acting for themselves cannot remain on neutral ground, abstaining from both receiving and rejecting light from God. To be an agent means both being able to choose and having to choose either "liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator" or "captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil" (2 Ne. 2:27-29; 10:23). A being who is "an agent unto himself" is continually committing to be either an agent and servant of God or an agent and servant of Satan. If this consequence of choosing could be overridden or ignored, men and women would not determine their own destiny by their choices and agency would be void.
The captivity resulting from sin is also called "the bondage of sin" (D&C 84:49-51). Sin sets up dispositions in the sinner that empower Satan to control the sinner's thoughts and behavior by means of temptation. As this happens, the individual still possesses agency in name, but his capacity to exercise it is abridged. In this sense, to misuse one's agency is to lose that agency: "Evil, when listened to, begins to rule and overrule the spirit [that] God has placed within man" (B. Young, JD 6:332). Conversely, using agency to receive and obey the influence of the spirit of Christ liberates one from this bondage. Thus, though agency, in the sense of the capacity to choose life or death, is a kind of freedom, it differs in quality from the liberty that is inherent in obedience to Christ. Jesus said, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). When King Benjamin's people in the Book of Mormon received a remission of sins and were spiritually born again, they attested that their affections and desires had been so changed that they had "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2). Obedience expands agency, and the alternative to obedience is bondage.
Thus, in the LDS concept of agency, obedience and agency are not antithetical. On the one hand, Church leaders consistently stand against all coercion of conscience ("We are not disposed, had we the power, to deprive anyone of exercising…free independence of mind" [TPJS, p. 49]) and counsel Church members to depend first of all on themselves for decisions about the application of gospel principles. On the other hand, obedience-willing and energetic submission to the will of God even at personal sacrifice-is a central gospel tenet. Far from contradicting freedom, obedience is its highest expression. "But in rendering…strict obedience, are we made slaves? No, it is the only way on the face of the earth for you and me to become free…. The man who yields strict obedience to the requirements of Heaven, acts upon the volition of his own will and exercises his freedom" (B. Young, JD 18:246).
Church leaders consistently call agency a gift of God. Sin abridges the agency of sinners to the point that unless some power releases them from this bondage, they will be "lost and fallen" (Mosiah 16:4). That power is Christ's Atonement, which overcomes the effects of sin, not arbitrarily, but on condition of wholehearted repentance. "Because…they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever…to act for themselves" (2 Ne. 2:26). Thus, human agency was purchased with the price of Christ's suffering. This means that to those who blame God for allowing human suffering, Latter-day Saints can respond that suffering is less important than the gift of agency, upon which everything else depends, and that none of us has paid a greater price for this gift than Christ.
Bibliography
Madsen, Truman G. Eternal Man, pp. 63-70. Salt Lake City, 1966.
McKay, David O. IE 53 (May 1950):366.
Packer, Boyd K. "Atonement, Agency, Accountability." Ensign 18 (May 1988):69-72.
Romney, Marion G. "Decisions and Free Agency." IE 71 (Dec. 1968):73-76.
Stapley, Delbert L. "Using Our Free Agency." Ensign 5 (May 1975):21-23.
C. TERRY WARNER
(Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 26.)
When Satan tempts a person to do evil, there are limits to what Satan can accomplish. He can put before a person any kind of evil opportunity, but that evil is enticing only if the person tempted already desires that thing. When people are tempted, it is actually by their own lusts (James 1:12-15).
Satan has power on earth only as individual persons give it to him by succumbing to his temptations (TPJS, p. 187). The agency of human beings is to choose righteousness through the Holy Spirit of God or to choose selfishness through the flesh by succumbing to Satan's temptations (2 Ne. 2:26-29). (Human flesh is not evil, but Satan may tempt humans through their flesh.) Individuals who repent in this life are nevertheless tempted by Satan until their death; then Satan has no power over them ever again. Those who die unrepentant are still in Satan's power in the spirit prison (Alma 34:34-35). All except the sons of perdition will eventually accept Christ and obey him, and thereby escape the dominion of Satan (D&C 76:110). Thus is the Father's plan of agency fulfilled.
Satan's three temptations of the Savior may be seen as paradigmatic of all human temptation (see David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, p. 154, Salt Lake City, 1953). The temptation to create bread and eat it when he should not represents the human temptation of the flesh, to sate the senses unrighteously. The temptation to cast himself down from the temple and to be saved by angels when he should not represents the human temptation of social acclaim. The temptation to receive the kingdoms of this world when he should not represents the temptation to have unrighteous dominion or power over others. The Savior did not yield to any of these temptations because his heart was pure and he knew that the way of righteousness lay only in doing the Father's will in all things.
All accountable mortals are tempted, even as our Savior was tempted. As mortals succumb, Satan gains power and earth life becomes a hell. Every person may resist temptation by choosing good over evil. But misinformation, evil cultural traditions (D&C 93:39), despair, and desperate human need all make the choosing of good difficult, even if the person does not particularly desire a given evil (cf. 2 Ne. 28 for an extensive description of the ploys of Satan).
Through Jesus Christ and the partaking of his new and everlasting covenant, mortals have the opportunity to gain power to choose good over evil unerringly and always. As they do so, they are able to establish the righteousness of God and thus heaven on earth (Moses 7:18; D&C 50:34-35; see also Zion).
Human beings resist Satan and evil by controlling their desires-that is, (1) by not desiring the evil that Satan proffers; (2) by gaining more knowledge so that they will be able to see that Satan's temptations are not what they really want; and (3) by having their hearts purified by Jesus Christ so that they will no longer desire any evil but desire instead to do the Father's will in all things (Moro. 7:48; cf. the Savior's answers in Matt. 4:1-10).
The great help in resisting temptation is the Holy Spirit. It is Satan's business to dwell in and with all individuals who do not have the Holy Spirit with them, sometimes even gaining total possession of a person's body, so that he or she loses agency for a time. Partial possession may also occur, for whenever a human being becomes angry, he or she is at least partially possessed by Satan (James 1:20).
In his role as the destroyer, Satan can cause illness and death, but only with permission from God. He cannot take people before their time unless they disobey God and thus forfeit their mission (Job 1:6-12).
As the father of lies, Satan has a disinformation campaign. He spreads false notions about himself, about God, about people, about salvation-all for the purpose of defeating acts of faith in Jesus Christ. Mortals believe his lies because the lies are pleasing to the carnal mind and because they promote or support the selfish desires of the individual who believes them. About himself, Satan tells people that there is no devil, that such an idea is wild imagination (2 Ne. 28:22). About God, Satan desires human beings to believe either that he does not exist or that he is some distant, unknowable, or forbidding being. He tells people that they are to conquer in this world according to their strength and that whatever anyone does is no crime (Alma 30:17). Favorite lies about salvation are either that it comes to everyone in spite of anything one does (Alma 21:6) or that it is reserved only for a special few insiders (Alma 31:17). These erroneous creeds of the fathers, fastened upon their children in the form of false creeds, are called in the scriptures "the chains of hell" (Alma 12:11; D&C 123:7-8).
Secret combinations are another devilish device for spreading misery and obstructing the cause of righteousness (Ether 8:16-26; Hel. 6:16-32). Satan tempts selfish individuals to use others to their own oppressive advantage. Secrecy is essential to prevent retaliation by the victims and just execution of the laws against such combinations. Secret combinations involve personal, economic, educational, political, or military power that controls or enslaves some persons for the pleasure and profit of others.
Satan also has influence over the spirits of wicked persons who have passed from mortality by death and who inhabit the spirit prison (sometimes called Hades). The inhabitants of this prison do not yet suffer cleansing pain, which will later come, but continue to be subject to Satan's lies and temptations (Alma 40- 41). They also have the opportunity to hear the servants of Christ (D&C 138:28-37), and if they did not have the opportunity on earth, they now may repent unto exaltation. If they did have the opportunity on earth but did not use it, the spirit prison opportunity again allows them to reject Satan and his lies and temptations, but with the reward of a lesser glory (D&C 76:71-79).
During the Millennium, Satan will be bound (Rev. 20:2). He will still be on earth, attempting to tempt every person, as he has since the Fall of Adam, but he will be bound because no one will hearken to his temptations (1 Ne. 22:26).
Toward the end of the Millennium, Satan will be loosed (D&C 88:110-115) because people will again hearken to him. But he will be vanquished and sent from this earth to outer darkness, where he and his followers, both spirits and resurrected sons of perdition (Satan is Perdition, "the lost one"), will dwell in the misery and darkness of selfishness and isolation forever.
Bibliography
For a more complete treatment of the concept of the devil from an LDS point of view, see LaMar E. Garrard, "A Study of the Problem of a Personal Devil and Its Relationship to Latter-day Saint Beliefs" (Master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1955). Especially valuable is his compilation of quotations from early General Authorities of the LDS Church concerning the topic. Jeffrey Burton Russell's four companion works The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity (Ithaca, N.Y., 1977), Satan: The Early Christian Tradition (Ithaca, N.Y., 1981), Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, N.Y., 1984), and Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World (Ithaca, N.Y., 1986) constitute a comprehensive history of the concept of the devil traced through literature, art, and philosophy from ancient times to the modern day. The presentation is a thorough and scholarly treatment but does not derive from an LDS frame of thought.
CHAUNCEY C. RIDDLE
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(Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 380.)
(Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York:
Macmillan, 1992), 380.)
Inherent in the makeup of their intelligent nature, spirits have agency and are able to make choices. The scriptures teach that spirits are capable of all the emotions, passions, and intellectual experiences exhibited by mortals, including love, anger, hate, envy, knowledge, obedience, rebellion, jealousy, repentance, loyalty, activity, thought, and comprehension. Using their agency, some of God's children rebelled in the premortal life, and war in heaven ensued. The rebellious spirits followed Lucifer and with him were cast down to the earth and became devils or evil spirits, never to receive physical bodies on earth (Moses 4:1-4; D&C 76:25-27; cf. Rev. 12:4, 7-9; D&C 29:36). Satan and his followers remain spirit beings made in the image of God but are still rebellious and evil. They are desirous of having a mortal body. The Prophet Joseph Smith explained, "The great principle of happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Savior he asked to go into the herd of swine, showing that he would prefer a swine's body to having none" (TPJS, p. 181; cf. pp. 297-98).
(Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), .)
Let him who has evil tendencies be honest and acknowledge his weakness. I tell you the Lord places no sin in our lives. He has made no man wicked. We are sons and daughters of God, possessing seeds of godhood. We are not limited by instinct as are the beasts. We have godly power to grow and to overcome and become perfect. Sin was permitted in the world, and Satan was permitted to tempt us, but we have our free agency. We may sin or live righteously, but we cannot escape responsibility. To blame our sins upon the Lord, saying they are inherent and cannot be controlled, is cheap and cowardly. To blame our sins upon our parents and our upbringing is the way of the escapist. One's parents may have failed; our own backgrounds may have been frustrating, but as sons and daughters of a living God we have within ourselves the power to rise above our circumstances, to change our lives. Man can change human nature. Man must transform his life. We will be punished for our sins. We must accept responsibility for our sins. We can overcome. We must control and master ourselves.
(Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972], 175.)
Satan and Human Weakness
As he observed human behavior, Joseph Fielding wondered about the nature of evil and its source. He asked his father whether Satan was the sole source of evil and to what extent Satan was restricted from sacred places, such as the temple. An avid student of Church history, even at this early age, Joseph Fielding knew that once, during the apostasy at Kirtland, a number of disgruntled members tried to take over the Church. In a meeting at the Kirtland Temple in late 1837, Brigham Young vigorously defended Joseph Smith. A scuffle ensued, during which some minor damage was done to the temple. Joseph Fielding cited the incident in his question regarding Satan's influence and human agency.
April 3, 1900
You ask, Can a man do any wrong without first being tempted of Satan? All men have their agency, the spirit of Satan leads to error and darkness and wrong doing. If a man does wrong, it is because he yields to the spirit of evil, thereby exercising his agency. If he does good, it is in accordance with the spirit that is of God, and he uses his agency in that as well. Those who overcome evil in this life will be beyond the power of Satan in the life to come. In other words, Satan's power ends in this world so far as the righteous are concerned, for they arise above him and above his influence; and power is not given to him to tempt them in the spirit world, they having overcome him in this. So far then as the righteous are concerned, Satan is effectually bound, whether it is in this life or in the life to come. But as mortality is never free from its own weaknesses there is no perfect safety in this sphere without the presence continually of the influence of the Holy Spirit. Satan can enter any place where he is invited or permitted to enter by man. If wicked men enter the house of God or have dominion in it, Satan will have access there, but where the righteous rule and the righteousness of God prevails, there Satan cannot come, at least with power.
You ask the question, Can a man do wrong in the temple if Satan is not there to urge him on? In the case you cite with reference to the Kirtland Temple it would seem that Satan himself had taken possession of the minds of those men, and if not in the temple in person, his power was certainly manifested through his agents there, who were apostates. I repeat, Satan, by his presence or power, can go anywhere that man can go who invites him or yields to him and his influence. The prevalence of the spirit of apostasy on the occasion you refer to gave the adversary almost full control at that time in the temple, and it is only by the power of righteousness that Satan and his influence was expelled therefrom. As to whether the binding of Satan is a literal binding as with a chain or not, it matters not. I am inclined to believe that the chain spoken of in the Bible, with which Satan is to be bound, is more figurative than real. He will be bound both by the faith of the righteous and the decrees of the Almighty during the Millennial reign and will be cast down into hell, as the prophets have said, and shall not be at liberty to molest the children of men until the end of the thousand years. . . .
As to the agency of man, it is by the light of Christ and the power of God that man by his agency can become exalted through obedience to the laws of God. It is by his agency that he becomes a son of perdition after having received the truth, by yielding again himself to the power of Satan. A man who by his agency conquers Satan, subdues the evil that is in him, and rises above the power of temptation and of all evil, is still as much a free agent as he was when he was subject to temptation, but then he is like God or Christ, beyond the power of evil.
(Joseph F. Smith, From Prophet to Son: Advice of Joseph F. Smith to His Missionary Sons, compiled by Hyrum M. Smith III and Scott G. Kenney [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 70.)
I know, as I know that I live, that there is a God in heaven; that he is perfect and all powerful; that we are his children; that he loves us; and that we are eternal beings. I also know that life is a testing time in man's eternal existence, during which he is given his free agency—the right to choose between right and wrong—and that on those choices hang great consequences, not only in this life, but, even more important, in the life to come. There are boundaries beyond which Satan cannot go. Within those bounds, he is presently being permitted to offer an unrighteous alternative to God's righteous principles, thus allowing men to choose between good and evil and thereby determine the station they shall occupy in the next life. Said the poet:
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 aright,
Bless with wisdom, love, and light;
In nameless ways be good and kind,
But never force the human mind.
(Ezra Taft Benson, God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974], 402.)
Man's Physical Body Corrupted by the Fall
Though the physical body is designed to increase man's power and ascendancy in the scale of life, by the fall of Adam and through the subsequent transgressions of men, corrupt elements have become identified with the flesh. The mortal body is therefore designated scripturally as a "corrupt body." fn Lehi spoke of "the evil" which is in the flesh; fn and his son, Jacob, warned his brethren against yielding to "the will of the devil and the flesh." fn By revelation, Joseph Smith corrected some important items in the Apostle Paul's noted statement on the condition of mortal flesh. But the revised statement still reports Paul as speaking of "that sin which dwelleth in me," and it has the Apostle explain: "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." fn
In the Book of Mormon, the Lord stated to Moroni that He had given "unto men weakness" in their mortal organization. fn The weak and corrupt elements that are associated with man's mortal body have a definite influence upon him in his temporal state, as will be shown later in this chapter.
Man Conceived on Earth in Sin
Man enters this fallen state through birth, through which mortal corruption and its attending seeds of weakness and death are transmitted to each new physical embryo at conception. Mortal corruption tends to alter and divert the pure and innocent expressions of the flesh into vain and unlawful paths so that, unless it is checked, selfishness, greed, vanity, hatred, animosity, lust and a multitude of like perversions begin to creep into man's life. Hence God explained to Adam: "Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good." fn This statement plainly indicates that because mortal man is conceived in sin, sin commences to conceive in his heart when his physical body begins to mature, and he tastes the bitter that he may know to prize that which is good. The bitterness of hell serves to teach man of the goodness of heaven and of the virtues that lead to the presence of God.
The statement that man is conceived in sin does not carry the same connotation in Latter-day Saint thought that it does in traditional Christianity. As indicated in the preceding chapter, Joseph Smith held that the legal effects of original sin are not visited in condemnation upon Adam's posterity. For this reason, the Prophet wrote: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." fn Joseph Smith also taught that the sex act through which conception results, when participated in lawfully within the marriage covenant, is not sinful. To be conceived in sin therefore has reference to the state of mortal corruption into which man is conceived in the flesh, and to the fact that the mortal elements of corruption are transmitted to each new physical embryo at conception.
The point should be made that God said to Adam that his children were conceived in sin, not born in sin. For man to be born in sin implies that each new physical embryo partakes of mortal corruption as it enters this fallen state by birth. But the elements of mortal corruption are planted within the physical body and made part of its organization at conception, not at birth or after birth. It is also true that man is born into a sinful world, but it is in conception that mortal corruption is transmitted to each new physical embryo that is thereby formed.
It should also be noted that the fact that man is innocent at birth through the power of Christ's atonement has nothing to do with the inclination of his flesh. To be innocent merely means that man is free of obligation to divine law, and that he has not yet succumbed to the influence of mortal corruption in the flesh.
(Hyrum L. Andrus, God, Man, and the Universe [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], 463.)
The Natural Man not Inherently Depraved
Though the scriptural works brought forth through Joseph Smith refer to man as being in a fallen and carnal state on earth, they do not sanction the view that he is by nature a depraved being. Brigham Young reasoned: "When our spirits took possession of these tabernacles, they were as pure as the angels of God, wherefore total depravity cannot be a true doctrine." fn Again, he explained:
The spirits that live in these tabernacles were as pure as the heavens, when they entered them. They came to tabernacles that are contaminated, pertaining to the flesh, by the Fall of man. The Psalmist says, "Behold, I was shapened in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalms 51:5.) This Scripture has established in the minds of some the doctrine of total depravity—that it is impossible for them to have one good thought, that they are altogether sinful, that there is no good, no soundness, and no spiritual health in them. This is not correct, yet we have a warfare within us. We have to contend against evil passions, or the seeds of iniquity that are sown in the flesh through the fall. The pure spirits that occupy these tabernacles are operated upon [by the Spirit of God], and it is the right of Him that sent them into these tabernacles to hold the pre-eminence [by virtue of the power of the atonement], and to always give the Spirit of Truth to influence the spirits of men, that it [i.e., the Holy Spirit] may triumph and reign predominantly in our tabernacles the God and Lord of every motion. fn
All Men Succumb in Some Degree to Mortal Corruption
Mortality is a probationary state. In receiving a physical body, man is designed to be proven in his new endowments of life by opposing forces of mortal corruption that are associated with the flesh in this fallen state. Of the effect of the fall of Adam upon man, Brigham Young said: "The fall of man . . . has particularly affected the body but not the spirit." fn In this way, opposition and challenge are made to confront man. Continuing, President Young observed: "The tabernacle has to suffer the effects of the fall, of that sin which Satan has introduced into the world, and hence the spirit does not bear rule all the time." fn
The promise is made that during the millennium children will "grow up without sin unto salvation." fn But this promise will be realized only after "every corruptible thing" has been consumed by the manifestation of Christ's glory, when He comes to cleanse and renew the earth. fn Until then, the forces of mortal corruption will no doubt be manifest in the lives of men, so that even those who genuinely desire to do good may, by the influence of the fallen nature of man, fail to comply with the law of God in every detail. Joseph Smith observed:
All are subject to vanity while they travel through the crooked paths and difficulties which surround them [in this mortal state]. Where is the man that is free from vanity? fn
Brigham Young also said:
There are no persons without evil passions to embitter their lives. Mankind are revengeful, passionate, hateful, and devilish in their dispositions. This we inherit through the fall, and the grace of God is designated to enable us to overcome it. fn
When mortal man is measured by pure standards of virtue and innocence, it appears that the baneful effects of earth's fallen state have had a significant influence upon him. Alma referred to man in general as having "become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature." fn And Amulek declared in positive terms: "All are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made." fn
Carnal, Sensual, And Devilish Man
Though the natural man is in a corrupt and carnal state, there is a difference between a natural man and a carnal man. This distinction is implied in a revelation which promised the Saints that, inasmuch as they stripped themselves of their jealousies and fears and humbled themselves before God, the veil would be rent and they would see God—"not with the carnal neither the natural mind, but with the spiritual." fn Again the revelation declared:
. . . no man has seen God at any time in the flesh, except quickened by the spirit of God.
Neither can any natural man abide the presence of God, neither after the carnal mind. fn
The natural man is not necessarily carnal, sensual, or devilish in his desires. A carnal man places emphasis upon fleshly or bodily appetites and excludes the influence of true spiritual values and powers in his life. He is worldly, and very often sexually perverse. Likewise, a sensual man is unduly indulgent to bodily appetites and sexual pleasures, and he exhibits a predominance of the animal nature, being lewd and brutish in his actions. To be devilish is to possess the characteristics of Satan—to become diabolical and malicious in nature. To be devilish is also to be miserable and to be critically devoid even of those enlightening and quickening powers of life that are given initially to man in his natural mortal state. fn
Although the fall of Adam opened the way for man to become carnal, sensual, and devilish, fn such tendencies did not prevail in the lives of men until Adam's posterity yielded to the further enticements of the Tempter and "loved Satan more than God." When this occurred, a revelation stated: "And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish." fn The same principle applies to all men; man's original innocence is destroyed only by his wilful transgression of the laws of God. It is only when men embrace the ways of the world that they become "carnal, sensual, and devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil." fn In a revelation, Joseph Smith wrote that by the transgression of God's holy "laws [not merely the law of Eden] man became sensual and devilish, and became fallen man." fn More than one broken law has contributed to the nature of those who are carnal and sensual.
Carnality and sensuality having been manifest in the world are perpetuated by the darkening influences of spiritual death and by false traditions and practices. Of opposition to righteousness and the means by which it is perpetuated, a revelation said: "That wicked one [i.e., Satan] cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the traditions of their fathers." fn Thus perverse and darkening influences are passed on to each new generation, making mortality a carnal state where man is challenged to rise above the influence of soul destroying forces within him and about him. In speaking of those who fail to meet this challenge, Abinadi warned: "Remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him." fn
(Hyrum L. Andrus, God, Man, and the Universe [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], 469.)
RESPONSIBILITY ATTACHES TO FREE AGENCY. With free agency there comes responsibility. If a man is to be rewarded for righteousness and punished for evil, then common justice demands that he be given the power of independent action. A knowledge of good and evil is essential to man's progress on earth. If he were coerced to do right at all times or were helplessly enticed to commit sin, he would merit neither a blessing for the first nor punishment for the second.
Thus we see that man's responsibility is correspondingly operative with his free agency.—CR, April 1950, p. 33.
Agencya-McKay, David O.TPFreedom of the will and the responsibility associated with it are fundamental aspects of Jesus' teachings. Throughout his ministry he emphasized the worth of the individual and exemplified what is now expressed in modern revelation as the work and glory of God. Only through the divine gift of soul freedom is such progress possible.
Agencya-McKay, David O.TPForce, on the other hand, emanates from Lucifer himself. Even in man's pre-existent state, Satan sought power to compel the human family to do his will by suggesting that the free agency of man be inoperative. If his plan had been accepted, human beings would have become mere puppets in the hands of a dictator, and the purpose of man's coming to earth would have been frustrated. Satan's proposed system of government, therefore, was rejected, and the principle of free agency established in its place.—CR, April 1950, pp. 34-35.
THE INTERACTION OF FREE AGENTS SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES. There is another responsibility correlated and even coexistent with free agency, which is to infrequently emphasized, and that is the effect not only of a person's actions but also of his thoughts upon others. Man radiates what he is, and that radiation affects to a greater or lesser degree every person who comes within that radiation.—CR, April 1950, p. 34.
(David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals: Selections from the Discourses of David O. McKay [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953], 302.)
Man's agency to bind Satan. Satan only gains power over man through man's exercise of his own agency; and when Satan shall be bound, as the Lord says he will be for a thousand years, one of the great powers that will help bring this to pass will be man's agency. The Lord has never forced men against their will to obey Him. He never will do so. If Satan, therefore, has power with man, it is because man yields to his influence.
Children can resist Satan. They can obey the Lord. They can be righteous. They can take a course which will give them power over Satan. And every child which takes this course helps bring to pass the fulfillment of the words of the Lord concerning the binding of Satan.
Satan loosed at end of Millennium. When Satan will be bound, he will have no power to tempt the children of men. This happy period will cover one thousand years. Then Satan will be loosed again. Why will he be loosed again? Because a generation will arise, some of which in the exercise of their agency will listen and yield to him. Thus he will have power over them. They will become his willing servants. In this way wickedness and all the evils under which the earth now groans will be introduced among men; for whenever men will listen to Satan and exercise their agency in that direction, wickedness flourishes and righteousness lessens.
(George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, selected, arranged, and edited by Jerreld L. Newquist [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1987], 68.)
It would be contrary to both the letter and spirit of the revealed word to say that the wretched Iscariot was in the least degree deprived of freedom or agency in the course he followed to so execrable an end. His was the opportunity and privilege common to the Twelve, to live in the light of the Lord's immediate presence, and to receive from the source divine the revelation of God's purposes. Judas Iscariot was no victim of circumstances, no insensate tool guided by a superhuman power, except as he by personal volition gave himself up to Satan, and accepted a wage in the devil's employ.
(James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ: A Study of the Messiah and His Mission According to Holy Scriptures Both Ancient and Modern [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 602.)
It all depends upon us, brethren, whether Satan shall gain dominion over us in this kingdom God has set up, or whether he shall not. My faith is, and my prayers day by day are, that the Lord will reign in the midst of his Saints. The inquiry may rise, "Does the Lord reign upon the earth?" We could answer, "Yes; for it is his earth, and he controlleth according to his pleasure, and it will yet be devoted to those who serve him. But, in consequence of the agency that is given to the intelligent children of our Father and God, it is contrary to his laws, government, and character for him to dictate us in our actions any further than we prefer. If we cleave to him and enjoy the light of his Spirit, he will lead us day by day; but it is left to our agency—is in our option, whether we seek the counsel that comes from heaven, or take the counsel suggested to us by our common foe. This is an act of our own responsibility, independent of God or the Devil.
(Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1854-1886], 8: 292.)
So it is with human sin-self-control, self-mastery, can be substituted for the dominion of sin, and the sinner can move by his own agency toward God rather than under the control of sin toward Satan.
The term may not be popular in this age of license and lack of restraint, but what is needed is self-discipline. Can we imagine the angels or the gods not being in control of themselves in any particular? The question is of course ludicrous. Equally ridiculous is the idea that any of us can rise to the eternal heights without disciplining ourselves and being disciplined by the circumstances of life. The purity and perfection we seek is unattainable without this subjection of unworthy, ungodlike urges and the corresponding encouragement of their opposites. We certainly cannot expect the rules to be easier for us than for the Son of God, of whom it is recorded:
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. (Heb. 5:8-9.)
"Unto all them that obey him"-these are the operative words for us. And obedience always involves self-discipline. So does repentance, which is the way to annul the effects of a previous lack of obedience in one's life. The dividends from both obedience and repentance amply repay the effort.
(Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], .)
Compulsion
See AGENCY, FREEDOM, INALIENABLE RIGHTS, SALVATION. Compulsion involves the use of coercion or force. It is the opposite of free agency. Neither salvation, the attainment of godly virtues, nor eternal progression can be forced upon an individual. In the pre-existent counsels, Lucifer sought to deny men their agency and compel them to be saved, a proposal that would not and could not work. God deals in agency, Lucifer in compulsion. To the extent that men are not free to choose their own governments, beliefs, faiths, associates, employment, and the like, the will of Satan is overruling the will of Deity in the world.
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 153.)
2. Latter-day Saints do not believe in the depravity of men and women. They believe men and women have the power to choose good. But they do believe in the effects of the Fall. That is, though they do not believe children are "born in sin"—that sin entails upon children because of what Adam and Eve did or what the children's parents did—LDS scripture does suggest that children are "conceived in sin." (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 6:55.) First, we are conceived into a world of sin. Second, conception becomes the vehicle, the means whereby a fallen nature—mortality, "the flesh," as described by the Apostle Paul—is transmitted to the descendants of Adam and Eve. To say this another way, Latter-day Saint scripture teaches that the seeds of death and sin are present in conception. A child is neither sinful nor dead when born, but the seeds of both are present. Just as one moves toward death each day he or she lives, so also the capacity to sin is present from the time one arrives at the age of accountability. One aspect of the atonement of Jesus is thus redemption from a nature that longs to sin, a nature that tends toward spiritual dissolution.
3. Men and women have the choice, the moral agency, to yield either to the persuasions of the world or to the enticings of the Holy Spirit. Those who choose the former enter the realm of sin and, without repentance, in time surrender their will to that of Satan. Those who choose the latter, who decide to put off the "natural man" (see 1 Cor. 2:11-14) and put on Christ through the Atonement, open themselves to change and renewal. Through repentance—through turning away from their old ways and surrendering to the mind of God through the Holy Spirit—these become "new creatures in Christ," men and women who die to the old ways of sin and are born again to the ways of righteousness. This is a prominent teaching in the Book of Mormon: "The Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that 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. . . . Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given 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." (Book of Mormon, 2 Ne. 2:26-27.) Or, as another passage explains: "And now remember, remember, . . . that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves." (Book of Mormon, Hel. 14:30.)
(Robert L. Millet, The Mormon Faith: Understanding Restored Christianity [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1998], 33.)
The Natural Man
Some believe the natural man is identical to the physical body and thus falsely condemn our earthly tabernacles. It is important to distinguish between the two. At the end of the Creation, God declared, "All things which I had made were very good" (Moses 2:31). Our physical body was included in that declaration. The Lord has also taught that "the elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy" (D&C 93:33-34). Since we cannot obtain this fulness of joy without the physical element, that element is not evil. It is the carnal, untamed desires of the natural man that bring evil.
King Benjamin stated that "the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam" (Mosiah 3:19). Because the Fall introduced good and evil into the world, we are able to exercise free agency in partaking of either good or evil (Mosiah 16:3). Recognizing this fact, the Lord explained to Adam, "Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves" (Moses 6:55-56). The Pearl of Great Price teaches that after the Fall some of Adam and Eve's children did indeed "[love] Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish" (Moses 5:13).
If the natural man continually yields to worldly enticings, he will continually be an enemy to God. As already indicated, we are all conceived in sin, and, therefore, as we grow up, sin is conceived in our hearts (Moses 6:55). From this we learn that the natural man is partially centered in the heart. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul states that humanity fulfills "the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (2:2-3), thereby indicating that the natural man is also closely associated with the mind. In truth, the heart and mind are in all probability the real seat of the natural man. Do not the scriptures testify that "as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov 23:7)?
If we do not "put off" the natural man, we become "carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature" (Alma 42:10). Alma taught that "all men that are in a state of nature . . . are in the gall of bitterness, . . . [and are] contrary to the nature of God" (Alma 41:11; see also Hel 13:38). Those who remain in a natural or carnal state degenerate until they reach a state called the "fulness of iniquity" (Ether 2:10) and consequently suffer final captivity by the devil. It was this thought that caused Lehi to exhort Laman and Lemuel to choose righteousness and its resulting liberty, rather than choose evil with its resulting captivity. He pleaded 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 own kingdom" (2 Nephi 2:29). Abinadi spoke to the wicked priests of king Noah and warned them of their own "carnal and devilish" nature (Mosiah 16:3). He then warned the priests of the consequences of having a carnal nature: "Remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God" (Mosiah 16:5).
A few illustrations will give us insight into the natural man. Many people do not perceive the beginnings of a carnal nature. Almost any action which is rationalized by the phrase, "Oh, that's natural," will find its true source in the natural man. If a novel or a movie portrays a suggestive scene, is it not the natural reaction to dwell on it and feed the lust? If one person has more material possessions than another, is it not natural for one to be proud and the other envious? When one is injured by another, is it not the natural reaction to seek revenge? Illustrations could be given of anger, sloth, gluttony, violence, selfishness, profanity, and other natural behavior. Even the Lord warns men who hold the priesthood that it is "the nature of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, . . . to exercise unrighteous dominion" (D&C 121:39).
We often personify our natures as entities which are separate from ourselves. "It's not my nature to be patient." We say, "I naturally tend to fly off the handle at times," or, "I'm overly aggressive by nature." We cannot justify these statements; our goal is not to maintain our own carnal nature. It is the Savior's nature the Book of Mormon prophets declare all must seek. King Benjamin states that if one "yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit," one will be able to "[put] off the natural man and [become] a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord." He then defines a saint as someone who is "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19).
Through the Holy Spirit we can develop the qualities of a saint. Paul taught the Galatians to "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other" (5:16-17). Through the Spirit, we must seek to conform our natures to the Savior's nature. This requires us to experience a mighty change, a spiritual rebirth (Alma 5:14).
(Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds., Mosiah: Salvation Only through Christ [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1991], 247.)
Agency—An Eternal Principle
Agency/Agency is an eternal principle and has existed with God from eternity to eternity. When the Father presented the plan of salvation in the councils of eternity; when all his spirit children had been taught that through a mortal probation they could gain immortality and eternal life; when they all knew that to gain salvation they must choose good rather than evil while in mortality—then the Lord asked whom he should send to earth to be his Son and to put all the terms and conditions of his plan into operation. Lucifer, who is Satan, offered his services, but he did so on his own terms. "Behold, here am I, send me," he said. "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." As we have seen, this would have been a philosophical impossibility. Opposites must exist in every department of creation and in all phases of life. There could be no salvation unless there was also damnation.
Agency/After rejecting Lucifer's offer to deny men their agency and thus to save them without reference to any choice of either good or evil on their part, the Lord said: "Because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord 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." (Moses 4:1-3.) That is the day when there was war in heaven—a war fought to preserve the agency of man, a war in which one-third of the spirit host followed Lucifer "because of their agency."
Agency/And thus it is that the Lord God "gave unto" Adam "that he should be an agent unto himself," while he yet dwelt in the garden of Eden. Thus it is that the devil and his angels came out in opposition to all righteousness and were cast out of heaven. "And it must needs be," the Lord says, "that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet—wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation. Wherefore, I, the Lord God, caused that he should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead." Thus was the scene set for repentance, for choosing good rather than evil while in mortality, and for all of the trials and tests needed to qualify a human soul for eternal life.
Agency/"But . . . I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son. And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe; and they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not." (D&C 29:35-44.)
(Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 91.)
"In a Pleasing Way"
Among the especially powerful, restored doctrines of the kingdom, and one worthy of much more of our pondering and praise, is God's deep commitment to our moral agency. Its place in His plan is fundamental, especially in the face of restored truths that bring a knowledge of key things, past, present, and future. Such restored truths include "things as they really are" (Jacob 4:13).
The verse to follow bears upon many fundamental things: "All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligencealso; otherwise there is no existence" (D&C 93:30; emphasis added). Furthermore, the scriptures declare without elaboration: "here is the agency of man" (verse 31).
Elder Steven L Richards declared of this glorious truth of the Restoration:
I set forth as the first aspect of this new interpretation the doctrine of the dominance of intelligence. I believe I am correct in the assertion that in all Christian literature prior to the advent of our Church there were to be found no such concepts of the origin, function, and place of intelligence in the universe as come from our modern scripture. Here are some excerpts:
Intelligence or the light of truth was not created or made, neither indeed can be.
All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also. Otherwise, there is no existence. (D&C 93:29, 30.)
The glory of God is intelligence—or in other words, light and truth.
Light and truth forsake that evil one. (D&C 93:36, 37.)
Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. (D&C 130:18, 19.)
Now, since intelligence is co-eternal with God and is the very glory of God, it follows logically that it is the chief investiture of man. Indeed, it is man, for it is that part of his constituency that persists, that is eternal. This knowing, conceiving, illuminating principle of existence lies at the base of all our powers and potentialities. Without it there would be no virtue and no sin. It alone gives to man his free agency, the power to choose, to will, and to act, conscious of the effects of his decisions and his deeds. (In Conference Report, April 1938, p. 22.)
Writing on this same, vital subject, President Joseph Fielding Smith, then of the Twelve, added:
Some of our writers have endeavored to explain what an intelligence is, but to do so is futile, for we have never been given any insight into this matter beyond what the Lord has fragmentarily revealed. We know, however, that there is something called intelligence which always existed. It is the real eternal part of man, which was not created or made. This intelligence combined with the spirit constitutes a spiritual identity or individual. (The Progress of Man [Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1936], p. 11.)
Therefore, since some things are yet unrevealed, we do not know with any precision exactly what was "brought with us" as, later on, we become spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven. It is clear, however, that God did not fashion us ex nihilo, out of nothing. Our intrinsic makeup is not somehow all His responsibility; there is no "easy out" as to our individual accountability in the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
President Marion G. Romney, then in the Twelve, said of our freedom to choose, "Abridge man's agency, and the whole purpose of his mortality is thwarted. Without it, the Lord says, there is no existence." (In Conference Report, April 1966, p. 99.)
Indeed, without the existence of choices, without our freedom to choose and without opposition, there would be no real existence. This is so much like Lehi's metaphor of how, in the absence of agency and opposites, things would have resulted in a meaningless, undifferentiated "compound in one" (2 Ne. 2:11). In such a situation the earth would actually have "no purpose in the end of its creation" (2 Ne. 2:12). It is a fact that we can neither grow spiritually nor thereby be truly happy unless and until we make wise use of our moral agency. Yet God will not "force the human mind" even in order to cause us to serve and worship Him. (See D&C 29:36.)
Instead, as between good or evil (even with all of their profound and attendant consequences), the scriptures emphasize: "Nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself" (JST, Gen. 2:21; Moses 3:17). Of this fundamental reality the Lord has said, "Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light" (D&C 93:31). Father Lehi gave further expression, saying: "Because that 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" (2 Ne. 2:26). Clearly, Jesus' declaration about how the truth can make us free is part of this spiritual equation (see John 8:32).
As with other key, doctrinal scriptures, those verses associated with moral agency are densely packed with meaning at several different levels. Such is surely the case with Lehi's great sermon on agency. Therein he speaks of man's need to choose amid the reality that "there must needs be an opposition in all things" (2 Ne. 2:11). Lehi tells us that this principle operated "even [in] the forbidden fruit" (2 Ne. 2:15). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has described life's ongoing "opposition" as presenting us with "contending enticements" (Christ and the New Covenant [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1997], p. 202).
This "competition" is real, but without such alternatives our agency would be meaningless. In fact, without agency there could be no felicity or happiness. Hence, man really remains "free to choose liberty and eternal life . . . or . . . captivity and death" (2 Ne. 2:27). Thus the availability of "contending enticements" is necessary in order that man can truly act for himself, while being "enticed by the one or the other" (2 Ne. 2:16).
Granted, we usually think of enticements as being associated with evil, but there can be enticing desires for righteousness, too. Therefore, King Benjamin pleads for us to follow "the enticings of the Holy Spirit" (Mosiah 3:19). Of course, the adversary has totally different motives when he entices us, striving to have us become "miserable like unto himself." (2 Ne. 2:27).
Without any real choices and without the capacity for differentiation along with "opposition," things would form, just as Lehi said, an undifferentiated "compound in one" (2 Ne. 2:11). If this had been the result, the earth would have "no purpose in the end of its creation" (2 Ne. 2:12) there would be no real existence (see D&C 93:30).
Perhaps the imagery of a "compound in one" is intended to connote a hypothetical blending that loses any distinctiveness. In any case, the scriptural phrase "compound in one," with its litany of opposites, makes clear all that would thereby be lost; we would get nothing! In effect, things would "remain as dead" (2 Ne. 2:11).
So there is a clear friction between agency and opposition, but it is a necessary friction, if we are to progress. Hence knowing the truth about divine standards and then choosing aright is essential to our growth and happiness and freedom, but we will feel the friction! Moreover, if things were in a "compound in one," we could not learn from our mortal experiences, because we would not experience the opposites. Furthermore, we could not be held accountable either, because no real and clear choices would be before us, given the "compound" circumstance. Individuality would be inert!
In the family tree of doctrines pertaining to the plan of salvation, therefore, moral agency is root and branch. If things had formed a "compound in one," as Lehi further declared, we could not really "act for [ourselves]" but we would inertly be "acted upon."
It is ironic that those who wrongly choose to celebrate their capacity to feel grossly—slavish sensation seekers—eventually become "past feeling" anyway, producing an outcome of insensibility; the very outcome so much to be avoided in Father's plan (1 Ne. 17:45; Moro. 9:20; 2 Ne. 2:11). Yet some end up doing indirectly what the Lord's plan forbade directly!
Without the plan's saving arrangement there could be no righteousness, no wickedness, no holiness, no misery, no good, and no bad. Indeed, there could be no plan of happiness, because full happiness depends upon our deliberate choosing of individual righteousness. This primacy of agency in the plan["answer[s] the ends of the atonement," which mercifully permits us to choose to repent (2 Ne. 2:10). In God's plan, formed before the world was, the terms of specific punishment are "affixed," and likewise are the conditions of happiness (2 Ne. 2:10; Alma 42:18; 22).
As BYU professor David Paulsen has thoughtfully written of the mortal experience: "Without moral righteousness, there is no happiness; without significant moral freedom, there is no moral righteousness; without an opposition (opposing possibilities to choose between), there is no significant moral freedom. Thus, happiness and opposition are essentially related." (November 1994 letter.)
Since it is only out of righteous choices that character and happiness come, Samuel, the Lamanite, speaks of the futility of happiness being sought by "doing iniquity." He declares such an approach is not only spiritually wrong but also intellectually naive, being "contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head." (Helaman. 13:38.) Therefore, happiness is actually not obtainable in doing iniquity any more than it is obtainable without agency. In fact, the "carnal state" is one in which some individuals live "without God in the world"; they have, alas, gone "contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness" (Alma 41:11).
The "nature of happiness" requires us to know about "things as they really are, and . . . things as they really will be" (Jacob 4:13). To be ignorant of the soaring realities of God's plan is, in one degree or another, to "live without God in the world," which lifestyle is so desensitizing and depriving (Eph. 2:12; Mosiah 27:31). No wonder the scriptures, instead, speak of our need to become "alive in Christ" (2 Ne. 25:25).
As to our so savoring of life, several scriptures use the word taste, as when some did "taste of exceeding joy" (Alma 36:24). Other and almost exclamatory words appear elsewhere involving both taste and sight:
And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. (1 Ne. 8:11.)
Alma even blends the senses, speaking of having "tasted" light, meaning to have "experienced" light (Alma 32:35). Mormon speaks of having "tasted of the goodness of Jesus" (Morm. 1:15; Alma 36:26). "Taste," in the spiritual sense, involves the capacity to savor joy, sweetness, goodness, and light, for they are "discernible." But such would simply not be possible if things were in a "compound in one" (Alma 32:35; 2 Ne. 2:11).
Even so, we are not only to possess the capacity to discern and distinguish thusly; we are also to use our agency so that we come to prefer, and even strongly desire, the taste of gospel goodness, sweetness, and joy. This is part of educating the tastebuds of the soul. And we happily note that what is discernible by one individual is also verifiable in the very same ways by another, as is well described in Alma chapter 32.
Thus the correct use of agency empowers as well as enlivens us spiritually! In contrast, how does one "taste" or draw nourishment from a tasteless "compound in one"?
Furthermore, only those who have significantly developed the tastebuds of the soul will be even partially prepared for the incredible beauties of the world ahead, one in which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, . . . the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:9).
Meanwhile, so many fail to connect the joyless sameness of sinners that results in the very joyless insensibility spoken of by Father Lehi. In contrast, the more saintly become ever more tastefully discerning and sensitive; they are filled with more joy. In fact, the very concept of a "compound in one" rejects the discerning differentiation made possible by increasing saintliness.
For instance, if in daily life we assault our ears with sounds that are not truly music, we may lose our capacity to distinguish beautiful music from mere noise, another type of "compound in one." One note does not a symphony make!
So it is that the wise use of agency is linked not only with accountability but also with beauty and felicity. Without developing that distinguishing capacity that goes with wisely used agency, we would be like the undiscerning who anciently heard "the voice of God," but thought it was merely thunder (John 12:29). How sad not to even recognize His voice, let alone not to hear what God had to say! Clearly those who "know not the mind of God" have not only failed to develop the "mind of Christ" but they also lack the ears to hear! (See 1 Cor. 2:16.)
In the mortal process of choosing, we ourselves determine what our own prevailing desires are. No wonder, therefore, President Joseph F. Smith spoke about the need for us to engage in "the education of our desires" (see Gospel Doctrine [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939], p.297). In the use of our agency we are fundamentally sovereign. Given the constant and basic role of our desires, a significant portion of real discipleship consists of the "education of our desires." If we are meek, our capacity to learn from our experiences will reflect how we educate our desires, even in the hard experiences. After all, it is we, individually, who shape our desires and determine to which of the "contending enticements" we will finally respond and from which we will experience happiness.
Thus, given God's plan and agency's vital role in it, we must ever be on guard against today's trends and patterns, however carefully they are camouflaged, in which operative agency is severely diminished, such as when some seek to avoid or to deny personal accountability or to say there are really no fixed values. Ethical relativism can thereby lead to a type of a "compound in one" by an undifferentiated life or simply by ruling out moral absolutes and thereby encouraging every man to walk in his own way (D&C 1:16; see also Judg. 21:25; 2:10).
There is a deep irony in the sameness of sinners who think they are individualistic. They have given away, at least temporarily, their agency and their capacity for joy, living life on a single plane; or, more descriptive still, some march like lemmings down the slope to the gulf of misery.
The ultimate consequences will be real and harsh, because
That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still. (D&C 88:35.)
A powerful magnetism is thus quietly at work in what at first may seem to be mere philosophical differences. Nevertheless, these result in converging and sad consequences: "And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin" (2 Ne. 2:13). Those who deny the existence of any absolutes in their own ways fulfill this scripture, as situational ethics prevail.
Yet with all that has just been said, it is easy for us to agree to the vital role of agency in the abstract but much harder to be fully appreciative of agency in the rough and tumble of life. For example, some struggle and even despair over the human consequences of misused agency, because of the global and individual suffering it causes. Some even try to push away all they can of the burdens of choosing, giving away all of the proxies they can. Some demand as evidence of His existence that God intervene to stop the terrible consequences of our bad choices.
Once again, the wisdom of President Joseph F. Smith comes to the fore. He observed of human suffering that nevertheless God "permits" choices to be made by humans of which He clearly doesn't approve (see Improvement Era 20 [July 1917]: 821).
Besides, without an "opposition in all things," where are the isometrics required for individual development, such as when the new self is pitted against the old? Consider this simple illustration by scientist Alan Hayward of behavior when forced by "compulsory means":
Suppose for a moment that God made His presence felt all the time—that every action of ours, good or bad, brought an immediate response from Him in the form of reward or punishment. What sort of a world would this be then?
It would resemble, on a grander scale, the dining room of a hotel . . . where I once stayed for a few days. The European owner evidently did not trust his . . . waiters. He would sit on a raised platform at one end of the room, constantly watching every movement. Goods that might possibly be pilfered, such as tea bags, sugar knobs and even pats of butter or margarine, were doled out by him in quantities just sufficient for the needs of the moment. He would scrutinize every bill like Sherlock Holmes looking for signs of foul play.
The results of all this supervision were painfully obvious. I have stayed in many hotels around the world . . . but never have I met such an unpleasant bunch of waiters as in that hotel. Their master's total lack of trust in them had warped their personalities. As long as he was watching they acted discreetly, but the moment they thought his guard was down they would seize the opportunity to misbehave.
In much the same way, it would ruin our own characters if God's presence were as obvious as that of the [hotel owner]. This would then be a world without trust, without faith, without unselfishness, without love—a world where everybody obeyed God because it paid them to do so. Horrors! (God Is [New York: Thomas Nelson, 1978], p. 134.)
If instead, speaking hypothetically, the Lord were to show His power constantly, as some mortals wrongfully wish Him to do, our lot would be one of prompt punishment rather than divine love and long-suffering. God would then silence all opposition, but He would not be an all-loving God. He would have destroyed His own plan of happiness! Such enforced cooperation would not produce a society of illuminated individuality but, rather, an indistinguishable "compound in one" (2 Ne. 2:11). We would then have an enforced and an undifferentiated "salvation," an outcome rejected so long ago (Moses 4:1). People might even think they were "saved," just as murdering Cain thought he was "free"!
No wonder that for a host of reasons Satan seeks to "destroy the agency of man"! (Moses 4:3.)
While God has yet to tell us all the implications, if things were to be in a "compound in one" we can be certain that in such blobbishness and lumpiness there would be no prospect that "men . . . might have joy" (2 Ne. 2:25).
Meanwhile, therefore, we are left to "do according to [our] own will" (Mosiah 2:21), so "that every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment" (D&C 101:78). Hence fairness, as well as happiness, is deeply involved!
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has observed insightfully that "the word probation is found only ten times in the Standard Works, and nine of those references are in the Book of Mormon" (Christ and the New Covenant, p. 209). We can't get very far in understanding life and God's purposes without our understanding this "probation" portion of God's plan of happiness. Advocacy and judging by Jesus are thus implicit! Probation is clearly linked to our using mortal time well by becoming wisely experienced in the use of our agency. Clearly these immense truths about agency are among the "plain and precious things" restored (see 1 Ne. 13:26-29).
Each mortal, at least initially, has "the light of Christ" to guide (Alma 29:14; Moro. 7:19; D&C 88:7). This light can prompt us, if we will, in the wise use of our agency. If, however, it is extinguished or severely diminished, we are at risk. Thus, to help us with our agency, God gives us our consciences and, for some, the great gift of the Holy Ghost. Furthermore, God is long-suffering and redemptive as He works with us. But we are personally and finally accountable for our wrong choices, which, alas, bring misery not only to ourselves, but to others as well.
Thus, in His plan of happiness the love of God meets the agency of man in so many ways. These touching points we cannot now fully diagram; we cannot yet connect all the dots all of the time! But the outline is clearly there!
The comforting key to dealing with our mistakes is Jesus' great atonement, by means of which, if we repent, we can achieve the needed reconciliation and emancipation. Even though we may not now fully comprehend the marvelous and glorious atonement, we can, nevertheless, experience it in goodly measure. We can do this while simultaneously educating our desires and experiencing and succeeding against opposition, as we strive "to apply the atoning blood of Christ" (Mosiah 4:2).
In any case, the deeper our understanding of the role of agency becomes, the deeper our gratitude will be for it, including our much greater appreciation for the tremendous and redeeming restraint exercised by our loving Father as He watches His erring children.
Of course our individual patterns of genes, circumstances, and environments matter very much, for these do impinge upon us and do shape us and our choices significantly. Yet there remains an inner zone in which we are accountably sovereign. In this zone lies the essence of our individuality. Furthermore, we have been developing, as ourselves, for a long, long time. Though we do not have all the revealed details, the intimations are there in the revelations and are also there in such instructive words as these from President Joseph Fielding Smith:
If the Lord declares that intelligence, something which we do not fully understand, was co-eternal with him and always existed, there is no argument that we can or should present to contradict it. Why he cannot create intelligence is simply because intelligence, like time and space, always existed. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co. 1957-66], 3:125.)
In fact, we were with God in the beginning (D&C 93:29). In contrast, there is the widely held concept of an "out of nothing" creation—with all of its agency-reducing implications. This errant teaching confronts its adherents with a severe dilemma about human suffering and about God's character, as pointedly put by one commentator:
We cannot say that [God] would like to help but cannot: God is omnipotent. We cannot say that he would help if he only knew: God is omniscient. We cannot say that he is not responsible for the wickedness of others: God creates those others. Indeed an omnipotent, omniscient God [who creates all things absolutely—i.e., out of nothing] must be an accessory before (and during) the fact to every human misdeed; as well as being responsible for every non-moral defect in the universe. (Antony Flew, "Theology and Falsification," in New Essays in Philosophical Theology, ed. Antony Flew and Alasdair MacIntyre [New York: Macmillan, 1955], p. 107.)
No wonder it is so vital to understand God's soaring character and his felicitous purposes by better understanding our agency! George MacDonald observed of the contracted view of God held by so many, "I suspect a great part of our irreligion springs from our disbelief in the humanity of God" (The Miracles of Our Lord [London: Strahan and Co., 1870], p. 265). Beliefs do have consequences. Failure to understand both the character and the purposes of God can lessen the religious feelings of individuals!
In fact, while God has given us so many enabling gifts in addition to the gift of life, the only real gift we can actually give Him is to submit our will to His (Mosiah 15:7; Mosiah 3:19). Therefore, if a plan opposite to the Lord's plan had prevailed, it would not only have abrogated our agency; it would also have prevented us from giving God the one precious gift, our wills! It is the only one we can really give to Him that is not already His!
In the final judgment we will receive what we deserve; but meanwhile, God will not "force the human mind" in order for us to receive what could have been otherwise.
Hence one's misused agency can inexorably create a pattern of choices pointed towards misery instead of felicity. Even the first tiny droplets of decision suggest a direction. Then the little inflecting rivulets come, merging into small brooks, and soon into larger streams; finally one is swept along by a vast river which finally flows into the "gulf of misery and endless wo" (Hel. 5:12).
The choice of outcome is always up to us. Therein lies life's greatest and most persistent challenge: as to our pattern of choices, in which direction do we face?
If we are wise, we will use our daily mortal experience in ways in which "all these things shall give [us] experience and shall be for [our] good" (D&C 122:7).
Brigham Young spoke emphatically about how all of life's daily moments are to be wisely used, however ordinary these moments may seem to be:
It is the aggregate of the acts which I perform through life that makes up the conduct that will be exhibited in the day of judgment, and when the books are opened, there will be the life which I have lived for me to look upon, and there also will be the acts of your lives for you to look upon. Do you not know that the building up of the kingdom of God, the gathering of Israel, is to be done by little acts? You breathe one breath at a time; each moment is set apart to its act, and each act to its moment. It is the moments and the little acts that make the sum of the life of man. Let every second, minute, hour, and day we live be spent in doing that which we know to be right. (In Journal of Discourses, 3:342.)
Hence for serious disciples who would act "in a pleasing way," there are no ordinary people, but likewise there are really no ordinary moments! Moment by moment we are shaped by our choices—large and small. The daily quizzes matter along with the major exams.
Indeed, as to the daily use of our agency, we should daily plead, "Father, help us now to serve Thee in a pleasing way"—especially in the face of our "unnumbered blessings."
(Neal A. Maxwell, One More Strain of Praise [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1999], 77.)
"It must needs be"—that is, it is inherent in the very nature of life and being, it is something without which there could be neither life nor being—"that there is an opposition in all things." So say the scriptures. Then they set forth that if there were no opposites—righteousness and wickedness; good and bad; life and death; corruption and incorruption; happiness and misery; sense and insensibility—there would be nothing, and "all things must have vanished away." (2 Ne. 2:10-13.) All this is self-evident. Unless there is light there can be no darkness; unless there is vice there can be no virtue; without love there is no hate; without damnation, no salvation, for all these are opposites; they are in opposition to each other.
As it happens, and we need not reason on the whys and wherefores, but simply accept the realities as they are, Lucifer (and his followers) are in opposition to the Lord and his eternal purposes. Agency means freedom of choice. With God and his goodness pulling in one direction and Satan and his evil forces pulling in the other, man is in a position to choose. Thus it is written: "Men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation 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." (2 Ne. 2:27.)
(Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978], 218.)
When we see one devoid of respect for himself, as indicated by his conduct, his outward appearance, his speech, and his utter disregard of the basic measures of decency, then certainly we are witnessing the frightening aspect of one over whom Satan has achieved a victory, as the Lord declared he would try to do "to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will . . . to destroy the agency of man." (Moses 4:14.) This is the fate of "even as many as would not hearken unto my voice" (Moses 4:4), so declared the Lord to Moses.
(Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy Places [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974], 12.)
You apparently have forgotten the Master's great Sermon on the Mount concerning this matter. There He said this: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery" (and when He uses the word adultery, if you will read carefully His statement, He is talking about all unlicensed sexual relations), "but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). What He is trying to make plain to His hearers is that an evil act is preceded by an evil thought. One doesn't kill unless he becomes angry. One doesn't steal unless he covets. Just so, one doesn't commit sexual sin unless he has a filthy, adulterous, immoral thought.
Immoralitya-Lee, Harold B.TP When you tell me that you have practiced an unclean habit and you find yourself powerless to refrain therefrom, you are but bearing testimony that your mind is not clean and that you have found yourself powerless to control your own habits. Could it possibly be that you are shackled as Satan set out to shackle men after he was cast out of heaven for rebellion against the plan of free agency? Read again what the scriptures declared with regard to the mission of Satan: "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" (Moses 4:4).
(Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 224.)
It is important to remember that Jesus was capable of sinning, that he could have succumbed, that the plan of life and salvation could have been foiled, but that he remained true. Had there been no possibility of his yielding to the enticement of Satan, there would have been no real test, no genuine victory in the result. If he had been stripped of the faculty to sin, he would have been stripped of his very agency. It was he who had come to safeguard and ensure the agency of man. He had to retain the capacity and ability to sin had he willed so to do. As Paul wrote, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Heb. 5:8); and he "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). He was perfect and sinless, not because he had to be, but because he clearly and determinedly wanted to be. As the Doctrine and Covenants records, "He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them." (D&C 20:22.)
What about us? We live in a world of temptation—temptation that seems more real and oppressively rampant than any since the days of Noah. Are we remaining faithful in such a world? Every individual in the Church should ask, "Am I living so that I am keeping unspotted from the evils of the world?"
In speaking of the three temptations that came to Jesus, Elder David O. McKay made this statement concerning them: "Classify them, and you will find that under one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted, ever so little maybe, comes to us as (1) a temptation of the appetite; (2) a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; or (3) a gratifying of the passion, or a desire for the riches of the world, or power among men.
"Now, when do temptations come? Why, they come to us in our social gatherings, they come to us at our weddings, they come to us in our politics, they come to us in our business relations, on the farm, in the mercantile establishment, in our dealings in all the affairs of life, we find these insidious influences working, and it is when they manifest themselves to the consciousness of each individual that the defense of truth ought to exert itself." (Conference Report, October 1911, 59.)
Is it just for an individual, or can a body of people withstand the temptations of Satan? Surely the Lord would be pleased with the Saints if they stood before the world as a light that cannot be hidden because they are willing to live the principles of the gospel and keep the commandments of the Lord.
(Howard W. Hunter, That We Might Have Joy [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994], 36.)
This mortal life is a probationary estate; one in which every accountable soul must be tried and tested; one in which every man must be subject to the wiles and enticements of Lucifer; one in which all men must choose to worship the Lord, by keeping his commandments, or to follow Satan, by living after the manner of the world. Worship God or submit to Satan—succinctly stated, that is all that life is about. The Lord is worshipped when men adhere to his standards and emulate his way of life. "Be holy, for I am holy," saith the Lord. (Lev. 11:45.) The devil is worshipped when men adhere to his standards and emulate his way of life; when they are carnal, sensual, and devilish; when they forget the Lord and live after the manner of the world; "for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Ne. 2:27.)
Men must have a choice; they must be able to choose; there must be opposites; they must have agency; they must be free to worship the Lord or to follow Satan. All this is imperative. It is inherent in the whole plan of salvation. And unless men have the agency to choose to do good and work righteousness—and, in fact, do so—they cannot be saved. There is no other way.
"It must needs be"—that is, it is mandatory; it must be; it is part of the whole system of progression and salvation, and there is no other way to bring salvation to pass—"It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." So says Lehi. "If not so," he continues, "righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad." If there were no opposites, nothing could exist. There can be no light without darkness; no life without death; no heat without cold; no virtue without vice; no sense without insensibility. There can be no righteousness without wickedness; no joy without sorrow; no reward without punishment; no salvation without damnation. If these things did not exist—that is, if there were no opposites; if there were no opposition in all things; if there were no agency; if men were not free to choose one course or another—such would, as Lehi says, "destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes," and, indeed, should such be the case, and it is impossible that it could be, then "all things must have vanished away." (2 Ne. 2:11-13.)
If there is a God, there is also a devil. It is the Lord who invites and entices men, by his Spirit—the light of Christ—to choose the right; it is the devil who invites and entices men to choose evil works rather than good. The enticements of the devil are temptation, and temptation is, and "must needs be," an essential part of the plan of salvation. Through it are provided the allurements and worldly things that men must overcome in order to progress and gain that eternal life which is the opposite of eternal damnation.
Hence, there is—and must be—a devil, and he is the father of lies and of wickedness. He and the fallen angels who followed him are spirit children of the Father. As Christ is the Firstborn of the Father in the spirit, so Lucifer is a son of the morning, one of those born in the morning of preexistence. He is a spirit man, a personage, an entity, comparable in form and appearance to any of the spirit children of the Eternal Father. He was the source of opposition among the spirit hosts before the world was made; he rebelled in preexistence against the Father and the Son, and he sought even then to destroy the agency of man. He and his followers were cast down to earth, and they are forever denied mortal bodies. And he, here on earth, along with all who follow him—both his spirit followers and the mortals who hearken to his enticements—is continuing the war that commenced in heaven.
(Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 4 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979-1981], 1: 406.)
agency satan next:75-100
cf:
choice
temptation
satan/mind
mind/control
powers/satan
satan/flesh
temptation/flesh