Book # 15

"Satan's War On Free Agency"

By Greg Wright

I saw this book in our local drug store which is owned by our recently released Stake president. It caught my eye and I wondered what else could be said about Satan and his war on our agency. It was surprising and I thoroughly appreciated this book.

The author is or was a Seminary teacher. This is an object lesson he used with his students to demonstrate the difference between choice, freedom and agency. 

He would put a penny in one of his hands, close his hand into a fist and then hold it out in front of him. Then he would ask a student to pick a hand. The student would momentarily be confused and then would pick the hand with the coin in it because it was the only one offered. They then would discuss that choice means that you have a minimum of 2 options. 2 options = Choice

Then he puts a penny in each hand and offers both fists to a student and asks them to choose. Now, the student has 2 options, but the result of both choices is the same. So they talk about how that in order to have freedom there needs to be different results in your different options. "In Nephi 2:11 we read that there must be opposition in all things, so we need not only opposite choices, but also opposite, or at least different results." 

2 options + different results = Freedom.

So then he puts a penny in only one hand and offers two closed fists to a student and tells them that they now have two options and opposite results, and the empty hand means that they go to hell and the hand with the penny means that they go to heaven. If the student picks the empty hand he tells them "sorry, you are going to hell." He then asks if this person had agency. Then they discuss how in order to have agency, one needs knowledge of the results. 

2 options + different results + knowledge of the results = Agency

He then discusses how political freedom differs from spiritual freedom. He noted that political freedom means choice without penalty. But spiritual freedom means choice without compulsion. He says, "This is a key concept that many of our youth do not understand. Some of them think that when their parents impose penalties for making bad choices, that their free agency has been taken away. What is worse is that some parents believe this as well......The philosophies of the world today fuel this falsehood by promoting the notion that freedom always means choice without penalty. Such false doctrine insists that no penalty should be administered for so-called wrong choices simply because people have the right to make choices. They believe that if anyone, (including God) threatens to impose a penalty for their choices, their rights have been violated. The truth is that the "free" in "Free agency" is not without penalty and never has been--but it is without compulsion."

He talks about how we simplify the word "agency" a lot to mean freedom to choose, when it really means so much more. The word agency is derived from the word "agent" and to be an agent means to be a steward, to be responsible for something, and in the religious sense we are agents for ourselves, for our souls. "The 1928 (Webster's dictionary) definition of the word agent is: a substitute, or deputy, one entrusted with the business of another. This refers to someone who is assigned to and responsible for certain duties...In other words, an agent is a steward, someone who is accountable to someone else for the choices he makes." We are accountable to God for our own souls. In Moses 1:39 it tells us that God's purpose is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". But he doesn't force us to obtain it. We are our own agents in making this happen. So the formula is 2 options (choice) + different results (freedom) + knowledge of results = agency, which also means accountability. 

I love this. I'm going to give a family home evening lesson using this object lesson.

Then he talks about how Lucifer, "a son of the morning"  became Satan. How we mistakenly think that Satan's plan was to force us to be good so we could qualify for heaven. How do you force someone to be good? This is something I have often wondered. You might be able to compel someone to do the right actions but how can you control their mind? The author talks about 3 plans and compares them to attending a university.

The first university is Force College "At force college, no one ever has, or ever will get into trouble on campus. No one ever breaks any rules. No one needs to worry about their safety or well being. There are security guards every where who do not allow anyone to break any rules or harm anyone else in any way. All students are forced to live the school's standards. Personal tutors force students to study and learn. As a result, everyone gets straight A's. Graduation and straight A's are absolutely guaranteed to every single person enrolled in force college."

The second university is University of Freedom. "Do as you please is the school motto. The only requirement is attendance on campus, though not necessarily in class. You may read, study, sleep, play, dance, talk, wander around, or just sit and listen to your music. There are absolutely no rules or restrictions. There are no standards of dress or conduct....If you wish to educate yourself, you are free to do so. Teachers are available if and when you need them. Books are also available in the library should you want to study. The campus entertainment center is always open, complete with everything you can imagine. The cafeteria is always open and the food is free...You are totally free to do as you please. They also guarantee you will receive straight A's, and every single student will graduate regardless of what you have or have not done."

The third university is Law School. Law School is "a place where facilities and teachers are available only at certain times, and a strict schedule of classes is maintained. There are many rules of conduct which provide a safe and orderly environment to protect the rights of everyone. Obedience to the standards is expected and disobedience is punished. Learning is the purpose of this school and efforts toward learning are expected of all. No one will be compelled in any way either to study or to attend classes, but hard work and dependability will be rewarded while laziness will not. Generally, only a few excel, though all are free to do so. You are graded against certain standards and criteria but not against other students. You are free to succeed, fail or be average. While straight A's and graduation are possible for every student, they are only given to those who meet the requirements."

He then quotes general authorities and the scriptures to persuade the reader why Satan's plan was the University of Freedom and Not Force College. First of all, Satan persuaded a third part of Heavenly Father's children to rebel. Who in their right mind would vote for going to Force College? He believes that Satan wanted to save us in our sins, not from our sins. In Moses 4:1, Lucifer says, "I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost." If he imposed the force plan and we were all sinless, then he wouldn't need to redeem us. The force plan is not logical. But allowing us to sin and then redeeming us without any effort on our part, is something that many of us would want. It is the philosophy of many in the world now. A free ride. No responsibility or accountability for our actions. I can see how Lucifer could have led away so many of God's children with that idea.

With this in mind, the reason why we say that Satan wanted to rob us of our agency, isn't because he wanted to take away our choices. He wants to take away our accountability. We would no longer be agents for ourselves. If he redeemed us of all sin, then we have no reason to repent or to modify our behavior in anyway. But the sneaky part of his plan was that when there aren't different results, then we have less freedom, not more. Pretty deep, huh?

Then he talks about modern day secret combinations and how Satan uses them to corrupt people. He said that they have many methods of operation, but he only focused on two. He said that the government convinces us to trade our freedom for security, and also through Hollywood corrupting our morals. 

The last part of the book focuses on us as parents, especially those in the gospel, who mistakenly believe that when we impose consequences for our children's bad choices, then we are stealing their agency. I have to admit I am sort of one of those parents. He talks about the different parenting methods, and then he gives several examples of good parents and bad parenting. I KNOW that I need to have consequences but I have difficulty following through. My trouble is, I have been blessed with really good children. Why get upset when they are only 5 minutes late for curfew? My son's best friend just got his cell phone taken away for 5 days for being 5 minutes late. And I know that his being late isn't a common occurrence. So why make a big deal of it? I tried to explain to my son why they might have done it and how we as parents do the best we can, but he wasn't buying it. I guess I fear causing my children to rebel if I am too strict. But the author definitely gave me some things to think about. 

I highly recommend this book.

Until next time ;o)