Agency

Mission Statement 

Being on this earth, we have been divinely given the gift of agency. In this mortal estate we can chose to do whatever we please. We have been commanded to choose the right, obey the commandments and love our God and neighbors, but that all means nothing if we don’t choose to do those things. There are so many ways to spend our time, it is easy to get distracted and fill our time with idle things. Through reading what our modern Apostles have to say about agency, I know that I need to work on what and how I make my choices to be more divinely inspired. 

School Thy Feelings

President Thomas S. Monson

October 2009 General Conference “School Thy Feelings, O My Brother”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/school-thy-feelings-o-my-brother?lang=eng

"No one can make us angry. It is our choice."

The Challenge to Become

Elder Dallin H. Oaks 

October 2000 General Conference “The Challenge to Become”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2000/10/the-challenge-to-become?lang=eng

"It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”

Obedience to Law is Liberty

Elder L. Tom Perry 

2013 April General Conference “Obedience to Law Is Liberty”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/obedience-to-law-is-liberty?lang=eng

“Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws.”

"Each choice you and I make is a test of our agency- whether we chose to be obedient or disobedient to the commandments of God is actually a choice between "liberty and eternal life" and "captivity and death"

Answers to Life's Questions

Elder M. Russell Ballard 

1995 April General Conference “Answers to Life’s Questions”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/04/answers-to-lifes-questions?lang=eng

“We must be ever cautious about the choices of programs and the impact of media in our lives...The computer, television, satellite, microchip, and even the telephone, all can bless and enhance our lives—or can make them miserable.”

Nothing Shall Offend Them

Elder David A. Bednar

 October 2006 General Conference “And Nothing Shall Offend Them”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/and-nothing-shall-offend-them?lang=eng

“Certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.”

Becoming Strong

Elder Robert D. Hales

 2013 April General Conference “Becoming Strong in the Lord”

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/becoming-strong-in-the-lord?lang=eng

“Use your agency to develop yourself personally.”

Choose You This Day

President Thomas S. Monson 

October 2004 General Conference “Choose You This Day”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/10/choose-you-this-day?lang=eng

“It has been said that the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives. The choices we make determine our destiny.”

Things I Know

Elder Boyd K. Packer 

2013 April General Conference “These Things I Know”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/these-things-i-know?lang=eng&

“We are free to choose what we will and to pick and choose our acts, but we are not free to choose the consequences. They come as they will come.”

Personal Peace

Elder Quentin L. Cook 

2013 April General Conference “Personal Peace: The Rewards of Righteousness”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/personal-peace-the-reward-of-righteousness?lang=eng

“Agency is essential to the plan of happiness. It allows for the love, sacrifice, personal growth, and experience necessary for our eternal progression. This agency also allows for all the pain and suffering we experience in mortality, even when caused by things we do not understand and the devastating evil choices of others. The very War in Heaven was waged over our moral agency and is essential to understanding the Savior's earthly ministry.”