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posted 6 September 2007 ***
In 2006 the official Mormon Ensign magazine launched
"A series of articles explaining basic beliefs of the restored gospel"
entitled The Fullness of the Gospel. Although they cover a lot of big
ideas these ideas are contained in the briefest of articles and there
is precious little explanation, more description than explanation in
fact, and the author assumes the reader will accept uncritically what
is written. We will look in more detail at the claims being made, compare
them with the Bible, and investigate these things for ourselves. The
series begins in the January issue with the following quote:
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
has many beliefs in common with other Christian churches," said Elder
Dallin H Oaks of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. "But we have differences,
and those differences explain why we send missionaries to other Christians,
why we build temple in addition to churches, and why our beliefs bring
us such happiness and strength to deal with the challenges of life and
death." (Ensign, January 2006, p.50)
Mormonism then does not bring what might be recognised as the traditional
Christian gospel, but a very different message. This third article (February
2006) addresses the Mormon concept of 'Agency'.
Agency
To a Mormon 'agency', or free will, means 'an unfettered power of choice'.
Everything in our lives is contingent upon the choices we make. Even
the decisions and activities of God are a response to those choices.
Building on the teaching of our pre-mortal existence, the article says
that we, like God, are eternal beings, and that we enjoy the same freedom
of choice as God himself, "Agency is an eternal attribute of all intelligent
beings". They define four conditions required for agency:
"1. Laws we can either obey or disobey.
"2. There must be opposites - good and evil, right and wrong.
"3. Knowledge of good and evil;
"4. We must possess an unfettered power of choice." - McConkie, Mormon
Doctrine, 2nd ed. (1966), p.26.
"We must also be accountable for our choices if
we are to enjoy agency fully. The laws that exist must bring consequences…[bringing]
blessings from God if we obey them and punishments if we do not."
Satan is portrayed as attacking this agency by, among other things,
encouraging disobedience that can blind and enslave us and teaching
us the popular message of 'saved by grace' which denies consequences
to our actions and accountability. When we use our agency to choose
righteousness then God rewards us with more freedoms and responsibilities.
They describe a meritocracy in which rewards and punishments follow
swiftly on obedience or sinfulness.
On this issue it is easy to fall into the trap of following what you
instinctively feel must be true. These ideas would feel right to many
people with a homespun philosophy and approach to justice. We must,
however, approach these things scripturally not intuitively. It is not
about what philosophy appeals to my limited reason but what God says
in the Bible.
Creator/Creature
"Most Christian churches believe God created his children ex nihilo
- out of nothing", they say and this would make God responsible for
our sins because he "created us with flaws and weaknesses." They then
assert that God did not create out of nothing, we already pre-existed
and God placed us in a world he made out of pre-existing matter. There
are several problems here.
Firstly, if anything coexisted with God, matter, spirit or 'intelligence',
it would be eternal like God and would challenge God's independence
and sovereignty. This is a form of dualism in which God and the material
universe eternally exist side-by-side. This would mean that there were
two ultimate forces in the universe, God and matter, that something
existed apart from God of whom Scripture declares, "In him all things
were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…" (Col.1:16)
"For you created all things, and by your will they existed" (Rev.4:11).
How could God be omnipotent if something existed apart from his will?
This challenges His lordship over creation, His ultimate will for creation
and His glory in creation. How could we know that God, and not another
eternal force, is ultimately in control? But this is exactly what Mormonism
presents us with, i.e. a 'Plan of Salvation' to which even God is subject.
Secondly, God did not create us with flaws and weaknesses. When God
finished His creation He declared everything He had made, "very good".
The fall of man, not the God who created man, brought sin into the world.
Finally, and most importantly, the Bible clearly shows in many places
that God created everything out of nothing and that nothing in creation
pre-existed or was fashioned from pre-existing materials. Before God
created the universe nothing else existed except God.
"For in him all things were created, in heaven and
on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities
or authorities - all things were created through him and for him." -
Col.1:16, c.f. Ge.1:1; Ps.33:6,9; John 1:3; Acts 17:24; Heb.11:3; Rev.4:11.
Purpose in Creation
To Mormons God's purpose in creation is that His children should progress
to become like Him. This progress is dependent on their adherence to
the 'Plan' that God has for them and that God Himself followed in order
to become God. How they use their agency is key to their progress. The
emphasis is very much on the creature.
The Bible emphasis is on God's glory and makes clear that God's purpose
in creation is for His own glory. He speaks of His sons and daughters,
"whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made" (Isaiah
43:7 c.f. Ps.19:1). We are further told that God, "created all things,
and by Your will they existed and were created" (Rev.4:11). God
did not create according to some foreordained 'Plan of Salvation' to
which He Himself was bound. He created us because it was His will and
pleasure.
Eternal Principle?
Agency is one of many 'eternal principles' in Mormonism. The idea of
eternal principles is itself problematic. The reason has already been
stated, i.e. if anything coexisted with God it would be eternal like
God and would challenge God's independence and sovereignty. The problem
is compounded by the fact that in Mormonism not only do principles coexist
eternally with God but also the God of Mormonism is himself subject
to these principles. Indeed, the Mormon God has not always been God
but these eternal principles have always been eternal principles. In
this God's sovereignty is compromised since He is a changing being (man
become God) subject to unchanging principles!
The article insists that without this principle of agency God is "a
deterministic God - that is, one who determines in advance the eventual
fate of his children." The Mormon God acts in accordance with the Plan
(a form of determinism surely?) and acts towards His children according
to His perfect foreknowledge. "[God] may use this foreknowledge to guide
us or even to warn us, but He does not use it to pre-empt our agency."
"[God] knows what each will do under given conditions,
and sees the end from the beginning…He sees the future as a state which
will naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because
He has arbitrarily willed that it shall be" - James E Talmage.
There are several problems with this view. One is that it doesn't free
us from determinism altogether or create the 'unfettered power of choice'
so beloved of Mormons. Rather it turns the tables and causes God's choices
to be determined by our actions, again robbing God of His sovereignty.
Another problem is that foreknowledge does not make our choices any
more free, it still pre-empts them. If God knows now what we will choose
in the future, that choice is already fixed and determined, otherwise
God could not foreknow it.
As I sit here writing I might consider the question of what I might
do with the rest of my day once this article is completed. Does God
know what I will do? Let us say that God 'knows' that I will visit a
friend but then I change my mind and stay at home. God's 'knowledge'
in that case is wrong. But God cannot be wrong because He is - God.
And it is not in his nature to be wrong about anything. In which case,
if I am to truly have the unfettered freedom Mormons speak of, God cannot
know until I decide. In which case God would not be omniscient; i.e.
He wouldn't know everything. But omniscience is part of God's nature
and Scripture declares that He does know the end from the beginning
(Isa.46:10) and Mormons agree. If He knows what I will do am I then
robbed of my freedom to choose? Are my choices predetermined?
Providence
We have seen that God is the all-powerful creator and that all else
exists at the word of His command (Col.1:16 c.f.) All that He has created,
the Bible says, He preserves and governs according to his perfect will.
God is said to "uphold all things by His word of power" in Christ, and
"He is before all things and in Him all things hold together" (Col.1:17)
This is called God's providence; i.e. God's continued provision of life
and order in the universe. If anything existed apart from God then God
could not be said to be "before all things" nor that all things hold
together in Him. Some things would be self-sustaining. The Bible makes
clear that if Christ ceased for a moment to uphold all things then all
things except God would cease to exist.
We enter into a world created, ordered and sustained according to God's
perfect will and purpose. Our decisions, then, are already contingent
upon the sovereign will of God for His world and for the people in it.
It is not a question of whether God "pre-empts our agency", nor does
God "arbitrarily" will our future. This is a gross misrepresentation
of the biblical message. God has a purpose in creation, does nothing
arbitrarily, and we are not in a position to pre-empt and frustrate
that purpose.
Free Will
The Bible tells us that God "accomplishes all things according to the
counsel of His will" (Eph.1:11 c.f. Ps.139:16;Jer.10:23). This does
not mean, however, that we are robbed of choices. Nor are we absolved
of responsibility for our actions.
God is said to "cause the grass to grow" (Ps.104:14); to direct the
stars in the heavens (Job:38:32); "makes His sun rise…and sends rain"
(Matt.5:45) and yet that does not mean that there are not also natural
explanations for these phenomena. God is said to direct - "accomplish
all things according to the counsel of His will" - and work through
the distinctive properties of created things so that it can be said
these things bring about the results we see. God is sovereign and nature
is 'natural'.
In the same way God achieves His perfect ends through the choices and
actions of men who make choices for which they are rightly accountable
and which can be said to have real effects on the world God made. This
is no better illustrated than in the account of the crucifixion. In
his speech at Pentecost Peter declared:
"This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands
of lawless men." - Acts 2:23.
God decreed that Christ would die but men killed him and are accountable
for their actions. There is a tension between the sovereign will of
God and the genuinely free choices of men that we see in Scripture and
that we must recognise. Both sovereignty and a degree of free choice
are compatible in God's plan but God alone can understand and perfectly
reconcile them.
We must not misunderstand 'free will' however. Our freedom to choose
is restricted by natural circumstances, where and when we are born and
in what circumstances, as well as by God's ultimate sovereignty. No
one enjoys "unfettered power of choice". But we are free to choose and
remain accountable for our choices. We might distinguish between free
will in the sense of being able to do good in one's own strength and
the ability we have to voluntarily co-operate with God's purposes -
or not. But we cannot frustrate or change those purposes.
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