- Free agency
Free agency can be:
* According to
Latter-day Saint theology , free agency is the right to choose the right, as opposed toagency (Mormonism) , which is the right to choose between 'right' and 'wrong'.In a revelation to the prophetJoseph Smith , the Lord declared, I "have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves." (Doctrine and Covenants 104:17). Free agency is often mistakenly referred to as the right by which a person is permitted to choose between 'good' and 'evil'. It isagency that is the ability to choose between 'right' and 'wrong' andagency may only be correctly referred to as "free," or "free agency" when an individual chooses the right over the wrong. Once any being has chosen that which is contrary to the will of God, or that is wrong, they become subject to the devil, having only one course that they can pursue in order to regain that which they had lost. Joseph Smith explained "for whoso cometh not unto [the Lord, or who chooses the wrong over the right] is under the bondage of sin." (Doctrine and Covenants 84:51). Therefore, by committing sin a person is no longer "free," but is a captive of the devil. 'Free Agency' is, ultimately, the right to choose the right, for by so doing an individual remains a free agent outside the punishments, or "bondage" of sin. On another occasion the Lord revealed "the power is in them, wherein they [that is humanity] are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward." (Doctrine and Covenants 58:28). Any person who is in bondage to sin as a consequence of the exercise of their agency may free him or her self from this spiritual captivity through complete and sincere repentance and reliance on theatonement ofJesus Christ .
* Asports term,free agent .
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