Sabbathought: The vital truth nobody knows

Hugh Nibley used to refer to the Book of Mormon as "the book nobody knows."

A prophet wrote: "There is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12).

The Lord said: "None doeth good, for all have gone out of the way" (D&C 82:6).  See also Psalms 14:1--3; 53:1--3; D&C 1:16; 84:49--53-->61.  You get the impression from holy scripture that the Lord is not as impressed with natural man as the natural man is with himself.  The Lord is very aware of the vast gulf between Him and fallen man.  That gulf can be bridged, on His terms --- through prayer . . . through the ordinances (see Luke 16 with the rich man and Lazarus), through the covenants, through obedience.  But His terms are strict and right and holy, conditional and non-negotiable.

So what of our title here today?  What is the "vital truth nobody knows"?

The vital truth nobody knows is agency.

There is a book, published eight years ago, titled "Understanding the Power God Gives Us: What Agency Really Means".  In it the author explains that agency is the power to act, NOT merely the power to choose. Most of us are under the false idea that agency is the power to choose.  That is why agency is the truth, the doctrine that nobody knows.

The author states: "Without agency, no other part of the gospel can exist.  As a gift of God it ranks with life itself, for without it, life has no meaning."

We often say that the issue of the war in heaven, the problem we fought over there, and which continues here in mortality, was agency, "free agency" we wrongly say.  Whether we would be free in this life and not forced or compelled or coerced.  There is serious error here.

The central issue of the war in heaven was, and is here in mortality, becoming like God.  The issue of agency represents the means to become like Him.  Becoming like our God can only be achieved through agency, the correct understanding of agency, and the correct application of agency.

Again, we see the importance of using "the right words," as we have said before --- the words of the scriptures.  We would save ourselves a lot of anguish, error, time and trouble if we did so.

The term "free agency" is nowhere to be found in scripture.

Free agency is a term most commonly used in sports.  When a player is no longer under contract to his team, he is free to negotiate another contract, on more favorable terms, with any team he chooses.  This is usually true for an unrestricted "free agent."

Family and friends, we are not "free agents" in anything like this sense.  We are under contract, under obligation, under covenant to our Lord and God.  Would we prefer to renegotiate the terms---the generous terms---of that covenant contract?

From the book we referred to above: "I do not remember whether it was in church or from my buddies that I learned about the principle called 'free agency,' which was explained to me as my right to choose what I would and would not do. I do remember, however, trying out this new doctrine on my father. When the next Sunday morning rolled around, I innocently asked, 'Dad, do I have agency?'

"'Certainly, son,' came the answer.

"'Then I am going to exercise my agency and stay home from church today,' I announced.

"'Son,' he said, 'in this home you have your agency. That means you can choose to go to church willingly or unwillingly, but you are going to church.' Then he added, 'Now, get your coat on, or you are going to be late.'"

In another source recounting this instructive story, Joseph McConkie---for the author is he---wrote, "I wanted to be in church.  I just didn't know at that young age that was what I wanted.  And the only way I would know I really wanted to be in church was to be in church."

The father in the story---Bruce R. McConkie---said the definition of agency is to do it willingly, or do it anyway.  This story perfectly illustrates the doctrine of agency.

I am not aware of another book anywhere that explains the scriptural doctrine of agency, with the "free-to-choose" principle taught by Lehi (see 2 Nephi 2), nearly as well as this book by Joseph McConkie.  Like his Dad, he has a remarkable gift for knowing and explaining doctrine, especially the doctrines "nobody knows."

Here is his summary of this vital truth that nobody knows:

        We have no right to do wrong.

That is the essence of the doctrine of agency.  It is all about doing, about doing right.  Doing wrong is acting in the absence of agency, action in a dark hole, as it were. When agency is in the light and keeps us in the light as we act right.  Act, action, active, actual, --- all words we get from the root word agency or agent.  All we need to do to abandon or negate our agency is not to act in righteousness, not to do right, not "to go to church," as we see from the story above.

 Through the doing, the exercising, the proper acting out of our agency we find ourselves imitating our God, and, after much practice and deliberate disciplined persistence, we'll find ourselves measurably like Him.  That is what salvation and eternal life are all about.

This is well explained, along with the consequences, in this well-known, but perhaps not fully understood, revelation from the Lord.  Let's see if the above explanation gives new life and meaning to these verses:

"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward [even if he ends up obeying the compulsion!].

"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."

We usually stop there.  But read on . . . . Next verse:--

"Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?

"Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?

"I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.

"Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above."

Did we mention strict? . . . On His terms, not our negotiated terms?

You see, He well remembers our premortal estate.  And He acts accordingly.  No renegotiation.  He is true to the agreements and covenants, and to the council that decided these things there:

"Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light."

When our friend Jack spoke with writers in the Church Curriculum Department recently about the priesthood and Relief Society manuals on the teachings of past Church Presidents (George Albert Smith currently), Jack was informed that the curriculum writers were told to leave the quotes exactly as they came from the Church President, with one exception:

President Packer gave strict and clear guidelines to remove the word "free" whenever "free agency" was encountered.

It is not free agency.  It is moral agency (see D&C 101:78), which points to our obligation, to our covenants, to the eternal plan.

We are getting better at this work.  Slowly but surely.  We stand on the shoulders of the giants of the past and we see further, and more clearly.  At least we hope we do.  That is what they wished for us.  There is still a long way to go.

God bless.

Steve