-Elder Robert D. Hales, "Preserving Agency, Protecting Religious Freedom", General Conference April 2015 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/preserving-agency-protecting-religious-freedom?lang=eng
"When we came to the earth, we brought with us that great gift from God—even our agency. In thousands of ways we are privileged to choose for ourselves. Here we learn from the hard taskmaster of experience. We discern between good and evil. We differentiate as to the bitter and the sweet. We learn that decisions determine destiny."
-President Thomas S. Monson, "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet", General Conference October 2014 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/ponder-the-path-of-thy-feet?lang=eng
"We are blessed with agency, which is our ability to make decisions and to become accountable for those decisions. The Fall made possible in our lives feelings of both happiness and sadness. We are able to understand peace because we feel turmoil.
Our Father in Heaven knew this would happen to us. It is all part of His perfect plan of happiness. He prepared a way through the life of His perfectly obedient Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, for His Atonement to overcome every difficulty that we may experience in mortality."
-Elder Richard G. Scott, "Make the Exercise of Faith your First Priority", General Conference October 2014 https://www.lds.org/search?lang=eng&query=make+the+exercise+of+faith+your+first+priority
"Using our agency to obey means choosing to “do what is right [and letting] the consequence follow.” It requires self-mastery and brings confidence, eternal happiness, and a sense of fulfillment to us and, by example, to those around us; and it always includes a deep personal commitment to sustain priesthood leaders and follow their teachings and counsel."
-Elder Robert D. Hales, "If Ye Love Me, Keep My Commandments", General Conference April 2014 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/if-ye-love-me-keep-my-commandments?lang=eng
"The wise use of your freedom to make your own decisions is crucial to your spiritual growth, now and for eternity. You are never too young to learn, never too old to change. Your yearnings to learn and change come from a divinely instilled striving for eternal progression. Each day brings opportunity for decisions for eternity."
-Elder Russell M. Nelson, "Decisions for Eternity", General Conference October 2013 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/decisions-for-eternity?lang=eng
"Satan, however, was not done. His backup plan—the plan he has been executing since the time of Adam and Eve—was to tempt men and women, essentially to prove we are undeserving of the God-given gift of agency. Satan has many reasons for doing what he does. Perhaps the most powerful is the motive of revenge, but he also wants to make men and women miserable like he is miserable. None of us should ever underestimate how driven Satan is to succeed. His role in God’s eternal plan creates “opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11) and tests our agency. Each choice you and I make is a test of our agency—whether we choose to be obedient or disobedient to the commandments of God is actually a choice between “liberty and eternal life” and “captivity and death.”
-Elder L. Tom Perry, "Obedience to Law is Liberty", General Conference April 2013 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/obedience-to-law-is-liberty?lang=eng
"Our agency—our ability to choose and act for ourselves—was an essential element of this plan. Without agency we would be unable to make right choices and progress. Yet with agency we could make wrong choices, commit sin, and lose the opportunity to be with Heavenly Father again. For this reason a Savior would be provided to suffer for our sins and redeem us if we would repent. By His infinite Atonement, He brought about “the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice.”
-Elder Robert D. Hales "Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life" October 2010 General Conference https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/agency-essential-to-the-plan-of-life?lang=eng&query=agency
"President Faust recognized that we all possess the God-given gift of moral agency—the right to make choices and the obligation to account for those choices (see D&C 101:78). He also understood and demonstrated that, for positive outcomes, moral agency must be accompanied by moral discipline.
By “moral discipline,” I mean self-discipline based on moral standards. Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the right because it is right, even when it is hard. It rejects the self-absorbed life in favor of developing character worthy of respect and true greatness through Christlike service (see Mark 10:42–45). The root of the word discipline is shared by the word disciple, suggesting to the mind the fact that conformity to the example and teachings of Jesus Christ is the ideal discipline that, coupled with His grace, forms a virtuous and morally excellent person."
-Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "Moral Discipline" October 2009 General Conference https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/moral-discipline?lang=eng&query=agency
"As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation."
-Elder David A. Bednar, "And Nothing Shall Offend The" October 2006 General Conference https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/and-nothing-shall-offend-them?lang=eng&query=agency
"All of us commenced an awesome and vital journey when we left the spirit world and entered this often challenging stage called mortality. We brought with us that great gift from God—our agency. Said the prophet Wilford Woodruff: “God has given unto all of His children … individual agency. … [We] possessed it in the heaven of heavens before the world was, and the Lord maintained and defended it there against the aggression of Lucifer. … By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do.”
-President Thomas S. Monson "Choose You This Day" October 2004 General Conference https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2004/10/choose-you-this-day?lang=eng&query=agency
Position Statement
Moral agency is something I treasure greatly. Just as Elder Bednar said "As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation." We have the power to choose how we will live, how we will react in situations. We can determine our destiny.
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