Agency and Atonement

I had a brief discussion this morning with my eldest daughter while taking her to school. A few minutes earlier in her early morning seminary class, apparently what had been to that point a spiritually uplifting lesson turned into a debate between three of the young men present.

I caught the very tail end of it after most of the kids had left to go to school and one of the three was still trying to make his point in explaining his opinion to the remaining kids and one of the instructors.

After listening at the classroom door and in the car, it was clear that all three young men were incorrect and do not understand the doctrine they were trying to grasp and convince about via the debate.

The two concepts are the agency each of us is endowed with to choose freely and the nature of the Savior's Atonement. Two young men stated that there is no real "free agency" if God knows what we will do, and that even Christ's fulfilling the Atonement was not a "free" choice -- that He had to do it. The other young man stated that Christ's Atonement was universal and that he paid the price for every possible sin that could be committed, but that each of us only takes one path along the many possible paths and sins covered by the Atonement. He even drew a decision tree diagram on the white board to illustrate his point.

Now, it is my opinion that none of these young men were or are correct. I feel the words and comments I express in this posting are valid, because it is supported doctrinally in the scriptures and teachings of modern and ancient prophets, apostles, and The Savior Himself. It is also verified by personal revelation from The Holy Ghost. These young men will not understand where they are incorrect until they have the truth revealed to them by The Holy Ghost. That will require some humility, study, pondering, and prayer on their individual parts. These young brothers need to get it "down in their heart." (1)

As to the argument that we really don't have free agency, let us first explain what free agency is not. Our agency to choose is not the freedom to choose anything and be free of the related consequences of that decision. The right and freedom to choose was endowed unto us as individuals long before the foundations of this earth or any part of this sphere of God's creation was set. It can not be taken from us, and He will not do so. We are free to choose what we will. We are not free to change consequences for decisions though, be they good or bad. We are eternal beings, just as God The Father is an eternal being. But, unlike God The Father, we are not perfect beings yet. He knows and understands all things. We do not.

Here is where a pernicious misunderstanding gets introduced into true, pure doctrine. Since God The Father knows all things (meaning He knows the beginning from the end), He must therefore also know the exact decisions we each will make before hand. Sounds reasonable, right? The argument then becomes that our choices are therefore not made freely. If he knows what we individually will do, it is not really "free".

Here is the false doctrine, that easily becomes a stumbling block for those who have not understood that omniscience is something mutually exclusive from agency. The concept of "free" is being confused with the concept of "spontaneous". If something is not "spontaneous", it must therefore be something that was planned. In other words, the choice that is not 100% spontaneous is a form predestination, and simply because God The Father knows what an individual's decision and choice would be before that individual ever makes it.

That seems pretty shallow logic when the concept is exposed at the root level, doesn't it? It is. Why?

Well, in the matter of a few years, most parents know their children well enough to fairly accurately predict how each child will choose when given instructions and then left to carry them out. I can usually predict which of my children is going to make the decision to get assigned chores done and who won't. They still are free to decide to do it or not to do it, even if they know the consequence (reaction) they will get from their parents either way.

How does this apply to God The Father? Well, He is literally the Eternal Father of our spirits. He has known each of us individually and personally for countless millennia. In that time, it would be a fair assumption to say He knows each of us personally well enough to be 100% accurate in predicting how each of us will choose to carry out the instructions He gives us. Hence, He is omniscient in this matter. But, that is not predestination. We are not destined to make any choice one way or the other, just as we are not destined to fail. We are left to choose freely in all we do.

It would only be predestination if Our Father told each individual that this is the choice you will make and there is no other option and therefore you will make that decision and you don't have the power to deviate from that. He would of necessity have to be a micro-manager in the worst sense.

But He does not do that. Micro-managing His children would frustrate The Plan of Happiness He set forth before the earth was formed. He does not force any of his children to make any decision one way or the other. We employ our agency freely, knowing or ignorant of the consequences of the decision. At the same time, He doesn't just say "Okay, here's the test kids! Have fun!" and then leave the room. Even if it could be legitimately construed as "interference" in some bizarro world, He blesses each individual born who is accountable for his or her own actions (meaning those of us who are not mentally handicapped) a tool to help us -- a conscience, or rather the Light of Christ, to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong choices. But, even then, we are still free to make our own decisions and choices. (2, 3)

God The Father did not force His Firstborn, Jehovah (Jesus Christ), to fulfill the Atonement. Christ chose to do so freely twice: first when The Plan of Happiness was presented in the Council of Heaven we all were part of, and then again as the defining moment of His mortal life and ministry. Christ exercised His own agency, knowing the consequences of that decision, even if not fully understanding the level of anguish, pain, agony, and suffering He would go through until the actual weight of atoning for all the sins of all who would enter mortality fell upon Him in Gethsemane. (4)

Though indeed related, that Jesus Christ was the only one who could actually perform the Atonement is a separate discussion. That has to do with the nature of His relationship to God The Father and the requirements necessary to fulfill the Law of Justice while providing the benefit of the Law of Mercy. God's law is eternal, and breaking of His law requires a punishment. Each of God's laws has a blessing attached to it for obedience to it as well as a punishment for lack of obedience. (5) Yet, God's omniscience saw that all but Christ would become subject to the Law of Justice and would have no chance at redemption unless someone with the power to be a proxy for the punishments merited by others chose to accept that role. (6)

I don't know how it worked or works. I just know that it does. Jesus Christ was without sin, having never transgressed God's law. He was the only one in a situation and endowed with the spiritual and physical characteristics needed to serve as your proxy and my proxy to meet the demands of Justice. Being Savior in the Plan of Happiness was not a role any of the rest of us could have fulfilled. Jehovah was the only one foreordained to that role. And, in mortality, He chose to accept that foreordination and fulfill the Atonement in order that we each individually could have redemption, if we individually so chose. (7, 8, 9)

And all that has been asked in return is for each individual who chooses redemption to repent of his or her sins, leave them behind, and to live according to God's law, chosing to subject our will to His. And that is how Mercy works. His Atonement bridges the gap for us to The Father we each make.

The Atonement is universal -- meaning it was infinite, covering every soul who has or should ever live on this earth. Perhaps even for any other earth too.

The Atonement is not just a generic blank check for all the generations of mankind. It is a blank check written out specifically to each individual. It is billions upon billions of blank checks, for Christ suffered each individual's suffering for their personal sins. He therefore became intimately acquainted with each one of us as an individual. Somehow, all done in the relatively brief period of time He suffered and bled from every pore in Gethsemane. (10, 11, 12)

We are agents to ourselves, free to choose. He is an agent to Himself, and He was free to choose to do the will of The Father or not. He chose to do The Father's will, thus redeeming us from the justice demanded for when we individually choose not to follow The Father's will. It therefore again becomes our individual choice if we accept that mercy and repent and turn back to The Father through The Savior. (13)



Notes / References / Further Reading
(1) Things Will Work Out, President Henry B. Eyring of The First Presidency, March 2008 Ensign
(2) Helaman 14:30-31
(3) Truth Restored, Elder Richard G. Scott of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, November 2005 Ensign
(4) Doctrine & Covenants 19:15-20
(5) Doctrine & Covenants 130:21, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 2 Nephi 9:25-27
(6) 2 Nephi 2:6-7
(7) Doctrine & Covenants 18:10-13
(8) 2 Nephi 2:25-29
(9) Alma 12
(10) Alma 7:12
(11) A Pattern for All, Elder Merrill J. Bateman of The Presidency of the Seventy, November 2005 Ensign
(12) Jesus Christ -- The Master Healer, Elder Russell M. Nelson of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, November 2005 Ensign
(13) The Atonement of Jesus Christ, Elder Jeffery R. Holland of The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles