The following is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
This post is regarding specific doctrine from my faith, however if you love your liberty, I'm confident you will find this perspective valuable.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes in continuing revelation through a modern-day prophet, who, like Moses, Elisha and Isaiah, holds the keys of the holy priesthood and receives revelation. Some of these revelations explain our pre-earth life, the spirit world, or premortality, as we call it.
The two plans
(The following is an excerpt found at churchofjesuschrist.org)
"Premortality refers to our life before we were born on this earth. In our pre-earth life, we lived in the presence of our Heavenly Father as His spirit children. We did not have a physical body. In this premortal existence, we attended a council with Heavenly Father’s other spirit children. At that council, Heavenly Father presented His great plan of happiness."
"When the plan for our salvation was presented to us in the premortal spirit world, we were so happy that we shouted for joy. We understood that we would have to leave our heavenly home for a time. … While we were away, all of us would sin and some of us would lose our way. Our Heavenly Father knew we would need help, so He planned a way to help us.
"We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our Father said, 'Whom shall I send?' Jesus Christ, who was called Jehovah, said, 'Here am I, send me'.
"Jesus was willing to come to the earth, give His life for us, and take upon Himself our sins. He, like our Heavenly Father, wanted us to choose whether we would obey Heavenly Father’s commandments. He knew we must be free to choose in order to prove ourselves worthy of exaltation. Jesus said, 'Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever'.
"Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came, saying, 'Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor' .… Under Satan’s plan, we would not be allowed to choose. He would take away the freedom of choice that our Father had given us. Satan wanted to have all the honor for our salvation. Under his proposal, our purpose in coming to earth would have been frustrated.
"After hearing both sons speak, Heavenly Father said, 'I will send the first'."
Accountability vs coercion
Now at first, Lucifer’s plan does not seem that bad, it actually sounds pretty great. All of us would make the correct choices all of the time, suffering and pain from sin would not exist (because sin would not exist), and everyone would make it back to heaven.
But a closer examination reveals some vital differences:
So on the one hand you have Lucifer controlling our choices - for our "good" - no one is lost, he saves us and gets all the honor.
On the other hand you have freedom of choice (agency, liberty, free will), and it’s important complimentary principle - accountability.
This earth life is a trial period, a test: meant to stretch us and help us learn. But we can’t learn if we don’t make our own decisions. Freedom of choice is key!
Freedom w/out accountability is anti-Christ
Tragically since the beginning of time, taking away the freedoms of others has been a primary tactic of the adversary. Slavery is an evil stain on the human family found in practically every culture in every period of history. For millennia, man has put other humans in bondage as a form of exercising dominion.
And for millennia, man has fought back.
The desire to be free, to make our own choices and not have our every move dictated is an innate desire, I believe, instilled in us from the beginning. We chose to come to this earth and we intend to keep making our own choices. This is why it feels frustrating, infuriating and unnatural when our freedoms are taken away.
In modern times, this bondage has taken on additional forms: Addictions to substances, pornography, gambling and the likes steal our agency and "destroy the human spirit". Excessive use of social media, video games, recreation, etc. steal our time and deplete our productivity.
There are also more subtle and crafty ways our freedom can be taken away. As Elder Lynn G. Robbins explains:
"Agency [or liberty] without responsibility is one of the foremost anti-Christ doctrines—very cunning in its nature and very destructive in its results."
Here are a few examples of ways we fall into the trap of trying to escape the responsibility of our actions, which is the entire purpose of having freedom of choice in the first place:
Blaming others
Rationalizing or justifying
Making excuses
Minimalizing or trivializing sin
Abandoning responsibility
Denying or lying
Finding fault and getting angry
Making demands and entitlements
Indulging in self-pity and a victim mentality
Allowing fear to rule
Enabling
God has given us a powerful tool
Now - we know taking away man’s freedom of choice has been the goal of the adversary since before we even came to earth.
We also know that God loves us and will not leave us, especially now, in the winding-up scenes of the earth. We know He has given us resources.
But what - where can we turn? I want you to guess: what is the greatest tool Heavenly Father has given us in the fight for our freedom of choice, our agency, our liberty?
Seriously ---- I want you to guess.
77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
78 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.
79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
Answer: The Constitution of the United States of America.
We must defend the Constitution
In 1939 Church President David O. McKay said:
“Next to being one in worshiping God there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States.”
Are we doing our part? I understand the frustration when it comes to the political arena and wanting to turn the other way, block it out and move on with our lives. But politics, or the policies of our state and country, are the very avenue by which we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, are allowed to to worship.
If we do not protect the Constitution --- what will protect us?
If America is not a land of religious freedom, then where will our religious headquarters reside? "Next to being one in worshiping God there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States."
This next quote, said in 1843 by church founder and prophet Joseph Smith regarding the Constitution, gave me chills the first time I read it, and I've never forgotten:
“...the time would come when the constitution and government would hang by a brittle thread and would be ready to fall into other hands but this people the latter-day saints will step forth and save it.”
And finally, in 1987 President Ezra Taft Benson said:
"We are fast approaching that moment prophesied by Joseph Smith when he said: 'Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be on the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the verge of destruction.”
My friends - I love this gospel.
I love this country.
And I love the life I have been able to live because of both.
Might we prayerfully find ways to share the blessings these bring. And may we fight to protect them.
