Free Agency

We rightfully speak often of agency, the great principle that is fundamental to the plan of salvation.  The word is actually used in only six places in the scriptures, and though often in gospel language we speak of “free” agency, that phrase is not a scriptural one.  The term “free agency” was commonly used in general conferences of the past, but it is rarely used now.  For example, I can find its use by many of the past prophets in general conference:

·         President Hinckley: “It is wonderful to feel the pulse of this generation of young people. Of course, there are some who do not measure up. That has been the case since the time of the great war in heaven described by John the Revelator. The issue then was free agency as it is today. Then, as now, choices had to be made” (see here).

·         President Hunter: “Our Heavenly Father has commanded his children, ‘Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you’ (Moses 6:33). He has counseled us to yield to his spirit and resist temptation. Free agency, of course, permits us to oppose his directions; thus, we see many who resist the truth and yield to temptation” (see here).

·         President Benson: “I thank the Lord for the eternal principle of freedom, free agency, the right choice. I cherish patriotism and love of country in all lands” (see here).

·         President Kimball: “Every person has his free agency. He may steal or curse or drink; he may defile himself with pornographic material; he may lazy away his life, fail to do his duty, commit sexual sins, or even take life. There is no force, but he must know that sin brings its proper punishment, sooner or later and in total” (see here).

·         President Lee: “Even though we have our free agency here, there are many who were foreordained before the world was, to a greater state than they have prepared themselves for here.  Even though they might have been among the noble and great, from among whom the Father declared he would make his chosen leaders, they may fail of that calling here in mortality” (see here).

Despite the frequency of use, President Packer remarked about the term in general conference in 1992: “The phrase ‘free agency’ does not appear in scripture. The only agency spoken of there is moral agency, ‘which,’ the Lord said, ‘I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment’” (see here).  Of course, the fact that the phrase does not appear in the scriptures does not mean that it is incorrect; we use plenty of gospel terms not found in the scriptures, such as “morning of the first resurrection” or “premortal existence”.  So why has the phrase fallen out of favor—at least in conference talks— and is there anything wrong with using it? 

                Here is what the scriptures do say about agency where the term may have come from: “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death” (2 Nephi 2:27).  We absolutely have the freedom to choose, and so we are free to use our agency as we desire, or, in other words, we have free agency.  What we don’t have, though, is the freedom to choose the consequences of our actions or to define right and wrong according to our pleasure.  President Lee said it this way: “Today we are constantly hearing from the unenlightened and misguided, who demand what they call free agency, by which they apparently mean, as evidenced by their conduct, that they have their agency to do as they please or to exercise their own self-will to determine what is law and order, what is right and wrong, or what is honor and virtue” (see here).  I believe the term phrase free agency as has been used historically in the Church is correct, but perhaps the tendency to no longer use the phrase comes from just what President Lee is saying: we don’t want people to think that freedom to choose means the freedom to “determine right and wrong” or escape natural God-defined consequences of the misuse of our agency. 

                Elder Christofferson probably summed up this topic best with these words: “In years past we generally used the term free agency. That is not incorrect. More recently we have taken note that free agency does not appear in the scriptures. They talk of our being ‘free to choose’ and ‘free to act’ for ourselves (2 Nephi 2:27; 10:23; see also Helaman 14:30) and of our obligation to do many things of our own ‘free will’ (D&C 58:27). But the word agency appears either by itself or with the modifier moral….  When we use the term moral agency, we are appropriately emphasizing the accountability that is an essential part of the divine gift of agency. We are moral beings and agents unto ourselves, free to choose but also responsible for our choices” (see here).  So we are indeed free to use our agency as we will, but we must understand that the way we choose will always be within a God-given moral framework of right and wrong that cannot be changed.