Agency, an individual’s ability to choose for him or
herself, is the first law of Heaven and the right of every person who has lived,
is living, or will live upon this earth.
This is the conclusion I've come to as I have studied and pondered the
purpose of life. To deny a person his or
her right to choose is a serious offense.
This is a guiding principle by which I attempt to live.
I also
believe there is objective truth by which the universe is governed. God is the Supreme Being because He adheres
perfectly to all truth. This is where His
authority comes from. If He were to
violate truth, He would cease to be God.
We are literally
God’s spiritual children, He is our Heavenly Father. He created and taught us before our physical creation. His desire is to help us
progress and become like Him. Part of
this process requires us to learn truth through our own experiences. For this purpose, the earth was created.
Birth
is the means whereby we are introduced into this world. To bring order to the process, God instituted
marriage. Within this framework parents commit
themselves to each other and to the raising and teaching of any children resulting
from the marriage.
Once we
arrive on earth, the process of exercising our agency and learning truth continues. I say continues, rather than begins, because
God does not send us to mortality without our consent. In our pre-mortal existence we comprehended the
opportunities for learning and growth to be had here. As we go about our lives, we practice using
our agency according to our understanding.
The true purpose of our time here is to experience opposites and make decisions
as best we can.
God
gives us commandments to steer us toward truth.
Living according to commandments allows us to discover truth. However, simply living according to a
commandment does not necessarily bring us closer to God. We must also apply ourselves to understanding
why we do so. That is when truth is
revealed.
As we
all know, life is not simple and requires that we interact with others. God has given us commandments regarding these
interactions. The essence of these
commandments is love. The two greatest
commandments are to love God and love your neighbor. When we seek to force others to behave in
certain ways, we have violated both these commandments.
