Let Freedom Ring

K, so I'm a day late, but better late than never, right? For the 4th of July my fiance and I finally got a date in! We've been so busy with wedding plans and school, with finals coming up and everything, that we haven't had the chance to have a real, fun date. I really wanted to visit some of my family who were going to be only a few hours away during the holiday, but circumstances wouldn't permit it, so we took advantage of the holiday and the little bit of time we had together. On Saturday we had a double date! We went to a firework show. The idea was, first of all, supposed to be a surprise, but my fiance can't seem to keep anything from me :) so I did know about it. Second of all, it didn't go exactly as planned. The idea was to watch the show from this little island that we were going to ferry out to. But the problem was, there was so much traffic, that we couldn't even get to park near the water. Traffic was the worst I have ever seen it, and I'm from the city! People were parking on the lawns, medians, you name it. The whole city seemed to be of the opinion that anything goes! I guess this is supposed to be the biggest Fourth of July show west of the Mississippi. So we ended up on some lawn and got out our little mini barbecue and made some hamburgers and hot dogs. Yum! We set up lawn chairs and blankets and got all ready. The other couple and I got caught up before the show, and the show was awesome to watch! We sorta got lost on the way home, due to congested traffic, but all in all, it was a great night.
Then, of course on the Fourth, it was a fast and testimony meeting. Many people, as expected, bore their testimonies on their gratitude for freedom and the ability to worship how they may. There seemed to be a theme of gratitude for much more than just freedom, but all the tender mercies the Lord pours out on this nation. Truly, the Lord gives us many, many blessings. I think too often we focus on everything that is going wrong in this country and forget all the blessing we have. We have it so good! I have no doubt that the founding fathers were inspired and had the right principles and ideals in mind when they set up our government, but people only abuse the law and the spirit of it. In truth, I am proud to be an American. There are many good hearts and many great blessings. We need only compare our personal circumstances to other nations to see that. They don't share the same privileges we have.
Now I am definitely off the topic I wanted to share. I have been thinking about freedom and liberty and what that means in a gospel perspective.
Agency, as defined in True to the Faith, is "the ability to choose and to act for yourself." We know that in the premortal life we had the ability to choose between our Heavenly Father's plan or Satan's plan. "[Our} presence on this earth confirms that [we] exercised [our] agency to follow Heavenly Father's plan." (True to the Faith, 12.)
I am not sure how, but in scripture it talks of agency being a gift from God. I do not understand this fully and how this would relate to our existence as intelligences before we became spirit children (Abraham 3:22). But as I have been studying this topic I have come to conclude (and this is not something I would teach in Sunday school or over the pulpit until I understood it more plainly or heard this from a general authority) that there are two types of agency. One is your basic all-encompassing agency, and the second is moral agency which is contingent on a few factors that God has given us (thus, I wonder if the gift of agency is actually the gift of moral agency, and our ability to choose isn't necessarily given to us, but allowed to continue because God is all powerful and allows us to have our agency to bring to pass his great and marvelous work [Moses 1:39]. And then again, that is why I wouldn't teach this in a church setting). In order to have moral agency, it seems as if two things have to happen: One, we need to have opposition, which started with Adam and Eve when they fell, which was in accordance with God's Plan of Salvation. There has to be right choices and wrong choices, sin and righteousness, good and evil. "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other" (2 Nephi 2:16). The second is that we must have access to intelligence and the light of truth (D&C 93: 29-32). May I submit that the means by which we have access to intelligence is the Light of Christ (for he said "I am the Spirit of truth" [D&C 93:26]), which helps us discern between right and wrong.
Because of this moral agency, we become agents unto ourselves (D&C 58:28). In essence, we choose who we become. We do not choose the consequences of our actions, but we choose what kinds of consequences we will have by our actions, weather in this life, or the life to come. "Choices of good and righteousness lead to happiness, peace, and eternal life, while choices of sin and evil eventually lead to heartache and misery" (True to the Faith, 12). Consequently, we are responsible for ourselves, or rather accountable. "That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according too the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment" (D&C 101:78).
Because of the perfect Plan of Salvation, we have the freedom to choose where we will ultimately end up. "And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Ne 2:27). If we choose righteously, then not only are we free, but we have LIBERTY. Righteous actions allow us to have more choice and more expansion of ability and growth, where unrighteous actions allow condemnation, or a limited expansion of ability and growth. But ultimately, the choice is ours.
With the Light of Christ, we are never alone in this endeavor. And in addition, as latter-day-saints we have the blessings and gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift allows us to be truly converted to Christ and the laws of heaven, and furthers our ability to reach our full potential. It expands our horizons so that we do not have to be commanded in all things, but use our agency to improve our talents. We can do things of our own free will and bring to pass much righteousness (D&C 58:27).