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(6.07) The Least Understood Principle of the Gospel · Filled with His Love

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Filled with His Love.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Elder David A.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Bednar has taught that there is one gospel principle that is the least understood of all gospel principles.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Can you guess what that principle is?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think if I ask this question in a gospel doctrine class, those in attendance might struggle to come up with the right answer.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So what does Elder Bednar say is the least understood doctrine?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: He says it is moral agency.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Most church members think agency means I can choose whatever I want.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Elder Bednar says that's not what agency means at all.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Elder Bednar explains his conclusion as follows.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is a direct quote.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: The principle of moral agency is the least understood of all gospel principles.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: As I listen to members of the church all over the world, this is how they define agency.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's the ability to choose and I can do what I want.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's false.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Why do we have agency?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Go find in Pearl of Great Price in the Book of Moses God's explanation for why we have agency.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is to choose Him, not to choose what we want, but to choose God and to love and serve each other.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: When we enter into that covenant and begin to have the name of Christ upon us, our agency is enlarged.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's no longer individual agency.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: It is enlarged to become representative agency, representing Christ and His name at all times and in all places and in all things becomes more important than what we want.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: The verse in the Pearl of Great Price that Elder Bednar referred to is as follows Moses seven thirty two Behold, these thy brethren, they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge in the day I created them, and in the Garden of Eden gave I unto man his agency.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: The next verse makes Elder Bednar's explanation of moral agency clear.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment that they should love one another, and that they should choose me their father.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Joseph Fielding Smith taught about moral agency in the same way Elder Bednar has taught it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is what Joseph Fielding Smith said.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard people say, and members of the church too, I have a right to do as I please.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: My answer is no, you do not.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: You haven't any right at all to do just as you please.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: There is only one right that you have, and that is to keep the commandments of Jesus Christ.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when Elder Bednar says that moral agency is representative agency, he's helping us understand that moral agency is inextricably connected to the covenants we make with God to take upon us his name.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Consider for a moment how U.S.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: citizens pride themselves as the brave and the free.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: That word free to most people means I can do what I want in this country.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: I can do just as I please.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: There is no dictator oppressing me.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I am free.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: However, when a citizen of another country takes the oath of citizenship in the U.S., that person must renounce allegiance to any other country.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: They pledge to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: So they do not have the right to break the laws of the land.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: They have pledged to keep them.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: As a citizen, they now represent the nation to which they have pledged allegiance.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: When we covenant with the Lord to keep his commandments, we exercise our moral agency every time we follow his laws or his spiritual promptings.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: We have pledged ourselves to the Lord, somewhat like someone who pledges allegiance to a country.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's the meaning of taking the Lord's name upon us.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: When we make choices, we do so as his representatives, his devoted disciples.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Missionaries are reminded of this every time they attach their plaque to their clothing.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: They are representatives of Jesus Christ.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: When I was serving as a mission president, I met with a returning missionary from the Pier, South Dakota District.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I was the one authorized to formally release him from his mission.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: He had served faithfully, and during our conversation it was obvious how deeply committed he was to the Lord.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: At the close of the interview, I told him that he could now remove his missionary tag.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: He immediately clutched it tightly with his right hand.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I will never forget this.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then tears came to his eyes, big tears.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I can't do it, President.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I can't take it off.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: I just can't do it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: He knew that he would no longer wear the tag now that his mission had ended.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: But that tag had become a powerful symbol of the covenants he had made to represent Jesus Christ, to take upon him the Lord's name.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Most residents in the U.S.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: are born in the country, and so they are naturalized citizens.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: They do not need to stand before a magistrate and take an oath to uphold the laws of the land and the Constitution.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I presume that most naturalized citizens would not be able to describe the contents of the oath that others take to become citizens.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Similarly, many members of the church are born in the covenant.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: They are born to parents who have been sealed in the temple, parents who have covenanted to obey, sacrifice, and consecrate themselves to the Lord.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: As these children mature, they learn about the covenants as they receive each of the ordinances along the covenant path.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some readers of the Book of Mormon might misunderstand 2 Nephi 2 and 27.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: It says, Wherefore men are free according to the flesh, they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Free according to the flesh sounds like someone uses moral agency to choose good or evil so the person can choose whatever he or she wants, total autonomy.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: But moral agency is not equivalent to total autonomy.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: It is literally the power to choose what God wants us to choose.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Free according to the flesh might be interpreted free to follow any impulse that we experience in mortality.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: But this is clearly not acting on the divine gift God has given us of agency.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: As it says in Moses, God gave us the gift of moral agency so that we could choose Him.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: He gave us this priceless gift so that we could love one another and love Him.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Love is the ultimate act of moral agency.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: We choose to love God and His children.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: He did not give us moral agency so that we could hate someone.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: When we intentionally turn from God, we misuse the divine gift of moral agency by employing it for a purpose opposite to the one for which God gave it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Anytime we rebel against His laws, we are acting under deception.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: We are going against ourselves, against what we believe, what we have covenanted to do.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: In the process, we often deceive others, as well as ourselves.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: The underlying purpose of moral agency is to learn to love God and others.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: That is why God gave us agency, so we could learn to keep the first and second commandments.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Love is agentic.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: We choose to love.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus extended that commandment to love our enemies as well as those who show love to us.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: We choose what we have covenanted to choose.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: We act and are not acted upon by outward forces that attempt to distract and destroy us.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So the key to finding joy in mortality is to want to do what we have covenanted to do.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: So until next time, let's draw a little closer to God and to one another.