Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in October 2018 General Conference: “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. If He simply wanted us to be obedient, He would use immediate rewards and punishments to influence our behaviors.
But God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient “pets” who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room.3 see below No, God wants His children to grow up spiritually and join Him in the family business.
God established a plan whereby we can become heirs in His kingdom, a covenant path that leads us to become like Him, have the kind of life He has, and live forever as families in His presence.4 see below Personal choice was—and is—vital to this plan, which we learned about in our premortal existence. We accepted the plan and chose to come to earth.
To ensure that we would exercise faith and learn to use our agency properly, a veil of forgetfulness was drawn over our minds so we would not remember God’s plan. Without that veil, God’s purposes would not be achieved because we could not progress and become the trusted inheritors He wants us to be.
The prophet Lehi said: “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.”5 At a fundamental level, one option is represented by Jesus Christ, the Firstborn of the Father. The other option is represented by Satan, Lucifer, who wants to destroy agency and usurp power.6
In Jesus Christ, “we have an advocate with the Father.”7 After completing His atoning sacrifice, Jesus “ascended into heaven … to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men.” And, having claimed the rights of mercy, “he advocateth the cause of the children of men.”8
Christ’s advocacy with the Father in our behalf is not adversarial. Jesus Christ, who allowed His will to be swallowed up in the will of the Father,9 would not champion anything other than what the Father has wanted all along. Heavenly Father undoubtedly cheers for and applauds our successes.
Christ’s advocacy is, at least in part, to remind us that He has paid for our sins and that no one is excluded from the reach of God’s mercy.10 For those who believe in Jesus Christ, repent, are baptized, and endure to the end—a process that leads to reconciliation 11—the Savior forgives, heals, and advocates. He is our helper, consoler, and intercessor—attesting to and vouching for our reconciliation with God.12 below
In stark contrast, Lucifer is an accuser or prosecutor. John the Revelator described Lucifer’s ultimate defeat: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.” Why? Because “the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”13
Lucifer is this accuser. He spoke against us in the premortal existence, and he continues to denounce us in this life. He seeks to drag us down. He wants us to experience endless woe. He is the one who tells us we are not adequate, the one who tells us we are not good enough, the one who tells us there is no recovery from a mistake. He is the ultimate bully, the one who kicks us when we are down.
If Lucifer were teaching a child to walk and the child stumbled, he would scream at the child, punish him, and tell him to quit trying. Lucifer’s ways bring discouragement and despair—eventually and always. This father of lies is the ultimate purveyor of falsehood 14 and cunningly works to deceive and distract us, “for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”15
If Christ were teaching a child to walk and the child stumbled, He would help the child get up and encourage the next steps.16 see below Christ is the helper and consoler. His ways bring joy and hope—eventually and always.
God’s plan includes directions for us, referred to in the scriptures as commandments. These commandments are neither a whimsical set nor an arbitrary collection of imposed rules meant only to train us to be obedient. They are linked to our developing the attributes of godliness, returning to our Heavenly Father, and receiving enduring joy. Obedience to His commandments is not blind; we knowingly choose God and His pathway home. The pattern for us is the same as it was for Adam and Eve, wherein “God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption.”17 Though God wants us to be on the covenant path, He gives us the dignity of choosing.
Indeed, God desires, expects, and directs that each of His children choose for himself or herself. He will not force us. Through the gift of agency, God permits His children “to act for themselves and not to be acted upon.”
For Elder Renlund’s complete talk go to…‘Choose You This Day’
3.See Spencer W. Kimball, in Brisbane Area Conference 1976, 19. President Kimball conjectured: “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.’”
4.See, for instance, Russell M. Nelson, “As We Go Forward Together,”Ensign or Liahona, Apr. 2018, 7. The covenant path is also referred to as a plan of happiness (see Alma 42:8, 16) and a plan of redemption (see Alma 12:25–35).
12.The Greek word for advocate (paraklētŏs) means intercessor, helper, comforter, or consoler (see 1 John 2:1, footnote b; The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible [1984], Greek dictionary section, 55; 2 Nephi 10:23–25; Doctrine and Covenants 45:3–5).
16. See Fiona and Terryl Givens, The Christ Who Heals (2017), 29, 124. For original citation, see Anthony Zimmerman, Evolution and the Sin in Eden(1998), 160, citing Denis Minns, Irenaeus (2010), 61
