Without Coercion

In C.S. Lewis’s book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there is an interesting scene near the end after the group has accomplished their mission of finding the seven missing lords.  They needed to decide if they were going to continue further east towards the end of the world where Aslan’s country was from the island they were at.  King Caspian wanted to make this trip into the unknown, but the sailors weren’t so sure.  After discussing it as a group for some time, many were still unconvinced of the need to continue further.  Caspian then said, “Friends, I think you have not quite understood our purpose.  You talk as if we had come to you with our hat in our hand, begging for shipmates.  It isn’t like that at all….  It is our pleasure to choose from among such of you as are willing those whom we deem worthy of so high an enterprise.  We have not said that any can come for the asking.  That is why we shall now command the Lord Drinian and Master Rhince to consider carefully what men among you are the hardest in battle, the most skilled seamen… and give their names to us.”  This changed the attitude of the men quite a bit, for the narrator continued, “A good many who had been anxious enough to get out of the voyage felt quite differently about being left out of it.”  And in the end there was only one of the sailors who ended up staying back.  Instead of using his authority to try to force the sailors to come on this last part of the journey, he was able to instill in them a desire to come and no coercion was necessary. 

               This little story highlights I believe a gospel principle that true leadership does not involve coercion.  Great leaders light a fire within others that moves them to action while others light outward fires only to control.  Satan of course was rejected by the Father because he “sought to destroy the agency of man” (Moses 4:3).  The Savior, on the other hand, uses invitations and earnest pleadings to come to Him and choose righteousness: “If ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me” (3 Nephi 9:14).  The Savior wants us to accept Him of our own choice, not be coerced or forced into the Father’s plan.  President Nelson’s wife spoke of how he feels the same way when she referred to his “passion for preserving the agency of others.  This is not a man who will say, ‘you must.’  In fact, he said to me the other day, ‘I don’t even want to use the word must in any of my talks.  I don’t like that word.’ That is Russell Marion Nelson.  He will never force the human mind.”  Elder Renlund taught us the principle this way recently, “Our Heavenly Father’s goal in parenting is not to have His children do what is right; it is to have His children choose to do what is right and ultimately become like Him.”  In one of the footnotes to his talk he also referred to this statement by President Kimball: “The very first thing before beginning our world here, the Lord said, ‘I’m going to give you your free agency. I want men and women that are strong because it is right to be strong. I don’t want weaklings who are righteous only because they have to be righteous.’” 

            This principle of course hits home the most in parenting.  How tempting it is to take the easier road of trying to force our kids into doing what we want them to do!  It is must harder to figure out how to motivate them and instill righteous desires in them.  I think this is what Jacob did so well with his son Enos.  We of course don’t know all the details, but clearly there was a point when Enos decided to let the words his father had spoken “concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, [sink] deep into [his] heart” (Enos 1:3).  It may be that growing up Enos did not do all the things that his father wanted him to as it relates to spiritual matters, but rather than try to force his son, he let his words sink into the heart of this son until he finally realized that he wanted to follow them.  It is only “without compulsory means” that the gospel and a love for its teachings can be given to another (Doctrine and Covenants 121:46).