As a Brigham Young University student and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mistakenly referred to as the “Mormon” church), I am blessed to be able to take an entire university-level class about the Book of Mormon. My class has finished the first section, called the First Book of Nephi, and moved on to the second section, called the Second Book of Nephi. The beginning of this section has some really powerful doctrine that I would like to write a little about.
The beginning of the Second Book of Nephi (2 Nephi for short) is full of the teachings of Lehi, the father of a family that the Lord has led to the Americas. He is on his deathbed and is giving counsel to his sons. Included in this counsel is a beautiful sermon about agency, or the man’s ability to choose his actions for himself and let the consequences follow. Lehi first identifies the prerequisites for agency to exist.
First, man must know good from evil so he can know what exactly he is choosing. Second, there must be a law, which gives consequences for choosing good or evil. Third, there must be opposition and enticement. In other words, both options that a man can choose must have some kind of appeal, else there would be no test of his obedience to the aforementioned law.
Once these conditions are met, man has agency and can freely choose for himself. This is absolutely central to God’s Plan of Happiness. Man must be able to choose to be obedient to the laws given to him by God. If he 
chooses to obey, he can progress to return to God and become like Him. If he chooses to disobey and follow his own will, he cannot progress and is, in other words, damned.
This is empowering knowledge for me to have. It means that I have control over my own eternal fate, that I am not arbitrarily predestined for Heaven or Hell. I can choose to obey or disobey and thus reap the consequences, good or bad, of whichever action I take. This also reveals to me that God is merciful and is willing to help me should I use my agency to follow His commandments.
Another great blessing of understanding agency’s central role in my eternal destiny is the view it helps me have of trials. When I go through a hard time or have a tough choice to make, I am more grateful than I’d otherwise be because I know that it is a chance to choose God’s will over my own will and thus draw closer to Him.
In my study of the Book of Mormon this semester, I have had many wonderful learning experiences like this. I have absolute faith that it is inspired of God and contains eternal truths that can help me and anyone who will act on its teachings to return to our loving Heavenly Father.
This article was written by Matt K., a student at Brigham Young University and a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Additional Resources:
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