What does the Mormon Church mean by “free agency”?

Question

Dear Gramps,

I am confused because some people call agency free agency and some say it is only agency. Is there anything wrong with calling it free agency, since I’ve found that many prophets and other church leaders say free agency? There is one woman in my branch that always tells everyone that it was given to us with a price so really it isn’t free, but Delbert L. Stapley said, “One of God’s most precious gifts to man is the principle of free agency.” I’m confused. Can you tell me who is right about this matter?

Vida

Answer

Dear Vida,

Either termination–agent or free agent–is not necessarily wrong. But allow me to explain further as we go along.  An agent is a person commissioned to do business for someone else, such as an insurance agent. An agent is different from an employee in that an agent has the right to bind the company to obligations that have been delegated to him.

We are agents of Jesus Christ in that at our baptism we made a covenant to take upon ourselves His name. Thus we act in His stead–for and in His behalf. The significance of this great privilege is given voice when we say or do anything in the name of Jesus Christ.

We are also free agents in light of the fact that we may act on our own volition to further the cause of the kingdom. In fact, we are commanded to do so.

Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

 

For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves (D&C 58:27-28).

When we hear that we have our free agency, it means that we are free to make whatever choice among the alternatives that are presented to us; but as agents, we are also stewards over that which the Lord has put in our possession. Thus we have a sacred responsibility for the types of decisions that we do make. It has been said that we are free to make any decision that we wish, but we are never free from the consequences of those decisions. That is because we are agents and have a responsibility to that sacred Person whose agent we are.

All of that being said, you may have noticed in more recent years that the term moral agency is replacing the term free agency.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson had this to say:

“The word agency appears [in scriptures] either by itself or with the modifier moral. When we use the term moral agency, we are appropriately emphasizing the accountability that is an essential part of the divine gift of agency.”

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf may have explained it best in a BYU devotional:

“You have agency, and you are free to choose. But there is actually no free agency. Agency has its price. You have to pay the consequences of your choices.”

Gramps