Mormonism Minute: Mormonism: Agency

Mormonism: Agency

Mormonism doctrine includes the core principle of agency. Agency is the God-given right to choose and act for oneself. Although God's commandments and Jesus Christ's teachings are clear, we are given our own will to think and decide which options we will follow.

Mormonism teaches many lessons on agency. With instruction, the choices between good and evil are often easy to recognize, but not always. Sometimes circumstances in life make it tricky in discerning between good and evil. God does not leave us alone, though. We are blessed with the spirit of Christ (our conscience), the scriptures, and prayer to help us find the right way, if that's what we choose to follow. Using these heavenly tools is yet another way we can choose to use our agency in this life... or not.

Mormonism also recognizes that we get to use our individual agency to choose things of lesser consequences, such as how we'll spend our time. We get to choose our path of study and training, how we spend our leisure time, who we will focus on and serve, and how we will respond to difficult situations. We are blessed with great freedoms during our lifetime to give us plenty of opportunity to choose.

Many times we end up with so many choices that we can't decide what is best for us. I know I can get overwhelmed with choices because I want to make the "right" choice, yet sometimes there is more than one right choice and more than one wrong choice.

Again, in these times, we can CHOOSE to use prayer, scripture, and our consciences to "listen" for direction from our God who loves us and wants us to succeed.

Mormonism provides extensive teachings from scriptural references and modern-day prophets that can help us exercise our agency to our own advantage and personal progress. There are scriptures throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants that remind us of the great and eternal gift agency is in our lives. It is our trial and test to see if we will choose things of God or things of selfishness; study of the scriptures helps us see the ways of God.

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