55 LDS Quotes On Agency | Page 6 of 6

I have heard people say, and members of the Church too, “I have a right to do as I please.” My answer is: No, you do not. You haven’t any right at all to do just as you please. There is only one right that you have, and that is to do just what I read to you: keep the commandments of Jesus Christ. He has a perfect right to tell us so. We have no right to refuse. I do not care who the man is; I do not care where he lives, or what he is – when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to him, he has no right to refuse to receive it. He has the privilege. He is not compelled to receive it, because our Father in heaven has given to everyone of us, in the Church and out, the gift of free agency. That free agency gives us the privilege to accept and be loyal to our Lord’s commandments, but it has never given us the right to reject them. Every man who rejects the commandments of our Father in heaven is rebellious

Joseph Fielding Smith | Conference Report, April 1967, pp. 120-21

Topics: Agency, Jesus Christ

“Our faith in God must be strong, therefore, not only in behalf of ourselves and our own trials, but also upon seeing those human conditions involving human wickedness which are truly wrenching but which are permitted by God because of God-given but morally misused agency.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Agency, Trials

“God is pervasively and lovingly in the details of things, yet does not constrict our moral agency in any way. Rather, in his perfect love and awareness, he pays perfect and strict attention to details. And his influence is felt in many ways that are quite remarkable even in what seem to be the smallest of life’s episodes. Why should we be surprised? Has he not told us that a hair shall not fall from the head unnoticed or a sparrow fall from the air? His divine attention is clearly far beyond our comprehension. But it is nevertheless a reality of which he has reassured us.”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Topics: Agency, Nature of God

“In striving for ultimate submission, our wills constitute all we really have to give God anyway. The usual gifts and their derivatives we give to him could be stamped justifiably “Return to Sender,” with a capital S. Even when God receives this one gift in return, the fully faithful will receive “all that [He] hath.” (D&C 84:38) What an exchange rate!”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell | “Consecrate Thy Performance,” Ensign, May 2002, p. 36

Topics: Agency, Sacrifice

Thus, faith in Christ leads to righteous action, which increases our spiritual capacity and power. Understanding that faith is a principle of action and of power inspires us to exercise our moral agency in compliance with gospel truth, invites the redeeming and strengthening powers of the Savior’s Atonement into our lives, and enlarges the power within us whereby we are agents unto ourselves (see D&C 58:28).

Elder David A. Bednar | “Ask in Faith,” Ensign, May 2008, p. 95

Topics: Agency, Faith, Work

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Victor Frankl | Man's Search for Meaning

Topics: Agency, Attitude