Agency Isn't Free

We use the term “free agency” frequently to describe our exercise of choice in mortality. But nowhere in the scriptures is the word “agency” modified by the adjective “free.” The phrase “free agency” never appears. “Agency” is the Lord’s term for the right to choose. Most of the world does not understand the simple word or its eternal implications. In fact, agency is a concept and doctrine only found in the restored gospel.


The word only appears eight times in the in the scriptures: Four times in the Doctrine and Covenants, twice in Moses, and twice in the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis.
In fact, agency isn’t free. Freedom of choice is part of agency, certainly, but in the Great Plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9), choice always carries responsibility and consequences. We are accountable for our choices – we are the agents of our own salvation.

So agency then, implies an agent. An agent is defined as: One that acts or has the power or authority to act. We are our own agents – we act on our own behalf. Several scriptures reinforce this doctrine:

Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself… (2 Nephi 2:16)
Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; … (D&C 29:35)
…remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. (2 Nephi 10:23)

Elder James E. Talmage, in his book Articles of Faith, explains that agency is the key to becoming like unto God:

The Lord Almighty has organized man for the express purpose of becoming an independent being like unto Himself, and has given him his individual agency.

As far as scripture records, before the Garden of Eden, before spirits were created by Elohim and our eternal mother, agency has existed. We were given agency when we were created. We had agency in the pre-existence, we have agency today, and will continue to have it in the eternities. But as long as we have existed, agency has carried responsibility with it.

As the agents of our salvation and exaltation, we have always been accountable for our choices. We made a choice in the pre-existence with eternal consequences when we rejected Satan and his agency-robbing, evil designs. We continue to choose righteousness or sin in mortality. Elder Alvin R. Dyer, in April 1964 General Conference, said this:

The agency of man is not a power to be left dormant or itself to be moved upon solely by exterior forces for good or evil. Man, if we understand the true meaning and purpose of agency, is to be an agent unto himself, assuming the prerogative of acting as a result of his own volition. Speaking of this the Lord has said: "For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled….the same is…not a wise servant…” “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will…” “or the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves.” (D&C 58:26-28.)

It is only through righteous exercise of agency that we can become like our Father-in-Heaven. When we choose poorly, through our Savior’s atonement and the opportunity for repentance it provides, we can erase bad choices and resume the path to salvation and exaltation.

Agency is something of a paradox. If we choose to embrace the things of the earth, we lose freedom to choose because until we repent, the choices and opportunities of eternity are closed to us. But if we make righteous choices, we are indeed free – free from sin and the shackles of Satan, free to receive the guidance of the Holy Ghost, free to live a life of service, free to “find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures…: (D&C 89:19). In D&C 98:8, we read:

I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.

What we are really discussing is a basic Economics 101 principle called “opportunity cost.” Simply stated: if you choose to spend five dollars on a burger and fries, there are thousands of other (perhaps better) choices that are now closed to you. In Doctrine and Covenants 93:31, we read:

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.

Spending your agency on worldly pleasures – to the exclusion of eternal joys – wastes your potential as an eternal being and squanders your pre-existent choice. Spending your agency to enter the “large and spacious building” is a monumental mistake with eternal consequences.

But sometimes, the choices are not so cut and dried. Sometimes we must choose between two or three or four good things. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in October 2007 General Conference, said in his talk, “Good, Better, Best,” (as published in the Ensign, Nov 2007):

As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all.

Consider how we use our time in the choices we make in viewing television, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or reading books or magazines. Of course it is good to view wholesome entertainment or to obtain interesting information. But not everything of that sort is worth the portion of our life we give to obtain it. Some things are better, and others are best. When the Lord told us to seek learning, He said, “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom” (D&C 88:118; emphasis added).

Receive the light. Consider the relative goodness of choices. Remember that you often give up a portion of your mortal life in trade for a choice. Remember the cost of opportunities lost. Remember the purpose for your mortality. Exercise your agency carefully and wisely. Your Savior is joyful when you choose well and sorrowful when you do not.