Agency

"My beloved young sisters, you have the precious gift of agency. I plead with you to choose to obey."

-Thomas S. Monson, Believe, Obey, and Endure, May 2012

"My young friends, there is a wide variety of beliefs in this world, and there is moral agency for all, but no one is entitled to act as if God is mute on these subjects or as if commandments only matter if there is public agreement over them. In the 21st century we cannot flee any longer. We are going to have to fight for laws and circumstances and environments that allow the free exercise of religion and our franchise in it. That is one way we can tolerate being in Babylon but not of it."

-Jeffrey R. Holland, Israel, Israel, God is Calling, CES Devotional, September 2012

“Now that I can drive, I know I am supposed to stop at a red light, but do we really have to be judgmental and try to get everyone else to stop at red lights? Does everyone have to do what we do? Don’t others have their agency? Must they behave as we do?” You then have to explain why, yes, we do hope all will stop at a red light. And you have to do this without demeaning those who transgress or who believe differently than we believe because, yes, they do have their moral agency.

-Jeffrey R. Holland, Israel, Israel, God is Calling, CES Devotional, September 2012

"Many of the temptations you face, certainly the most serious ones, relate to your body. You not only have power to create bodies for a new generation, but you also have agency."

 -Boyd K. Packer, Counsel to Youth, October 2011

"Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness." 

-Robert D. Hales, To Act for Ourselves the Gift and Blessing of Agency, April 2006

"A central purpose of the mortal experience is that each spirit should receive such a body and learn to exercise moral agency in a tabernacle of flesh. A physical body is also essential for exaltation, which comes only in the perfect combination of the physical and the spiritual, as we see in our beloved, resurrected Lord. In this fallen world, some lives will be painfully brief; some bodies will be malformed, broken, or barely adequate to maintain life; yet life will be long enough for each spirit, and each body will qualify for resurrection."

-D. Todd Christofferson, Reflection on a Consecrated Life, October 2010

"As we learn in these scriptures, the fundamental purposes for the gift of agency were to love one another and to choose God. Thus we become God’s chosen and invite His tender mercies as we use our agency to choose God."
-David A. Bednar, The Tender Mercies of the Lord, February 2012 

We have implanted in our souls a desire to be free. The Lord understood this when He granted us our mortal probation. With that freedom, however, comes accountability. We are instructed not to idle away our time nor bury our talents and not use them. We are expected to make our lives better through our own initiatives and efforts." 

 —L. Tom Perry, Youth of the Noble Birthright, October 1998

  "Wise parents prepare their children to get along without them. They provide opportunities for growth as children acquire the spiritual maturity to exercise their agency properly. And yes, this means children will sometimes make mistakes and learn from them."
—Elder Larry Y. Wilson, Only Upon the Principles of Righteousness, April 2012

"Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in  danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance." 

—Richard G. Scott, To Acquire Spiritual Guidance, October 2009