2 Nephi 2 10/3

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR CLASS ON 10/4: FINISH 2 NEPHI 2

Points to ponder:


  1. What is agency?
  2. Why do you consider agency a gift?
  3. What conditions must exist for us to exercise our agency?

Helpful quotes:

 4 Principles that are necessary for agency to exist:

Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“Four great principles must be in force if there is to be agency:
1. Laws must exist … which can be obeyed or disobeyed;
2. Opposites must exist—good and evil, virtue and vice, right and wrong—that is, there must be an opposition, one force pulling one way and another pulling the other;
3. A knowledge of good and evil must be had by those who are to enjoy the agency, that is, they must know the differences between the opposites; and
4. An unfettered power of choice must prevail”
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 26).

2 Nephi 2:12, 15–16
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
“God’s premortal children could not become like him and enjoy his breadth of blessings unless they obtained both a physical body and temporal experience in an arena where both good and evil were present. …

“… We wanted the chance to become like our heavenly parents, to face suffering and overcome it, to endure sorrow and still live rejoicingly, to confront good and evil and be strong enough to choose the good” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon [1997], 200, 204).

2 Nephi 2:5
“The Light of Christ is the divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things. The Light of Christ influences people for good and prepares them to receive the Holy Ghost. One manifestation of the Light of Christ is what we call a conscience” (“Light of Christ,” Gospel Topics, topics.lds.org).

2 Nephi 2:26
“You are free to choose and act, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your actions. The consequences may not be immediate, but they will always follow” (True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference [2004], 12).

Want more?

To learn more about the concept of agency, watch this video called ACT FOR THEMSELVES.