Free To Decide

As usual, this is mostly a jumbled mess of thoughts. It started out as a story, then immediately turned into me typing things as I was thinking them. So there are a lot of disconnected thoughts and whatnot. It gets pretty bad near the end. I apologize in advance :)

Today while sitting in Sunday School, we were learning about Joseph Smith and some of his history. Over the course of the class the idea that "everything happens for a reason" came up multiple times.  It was the impression of many in the class that God watches over every action and as such that there is no such thing as a coincidence. 

It took every ounce of effort that I had to control myself from shouting out how wrong and ill-conceived that idea is.

I think it is important at this time to clarify that sometimes things do happen for a reason. Occasionally God sees fit to guide us in a direction that will help us fulfill our calling on this Earth. But God does just that: guide. He never applies force or coerces us into a decision. It is ours to make, and ours alone. An example of this is found in the life of Joseph Smith. The events and environment around Joseph Smith were there to guide him to the sacred grove. It is very unlikely that Joseph Smith would have been spiritually ready, or even care to ask God about which church to join had he not been in upstate New York at that exact time period. But at no point in time did God trespass Joseph's or any other persons agency. 

I'm going to be blunt: if you believe that everything happens for a reason and that there is no such thing as a coincidence, you have been misled. Never at any time has any prophet, scripture, or any official work of doctrine taught this concept. It is contrary to one of the very core ideas and beliefs of Mormonism. A world in which agency and destiny coexist is not possible by definition. 

So why is it that so many members do not fully understand that not everything happens for a reason? There are many reasons.  One reason is I believe it is in order to come to terms with our failures. It is much easier to accept our failures as part of Gods plan than it is to put the blame on our own actions.

"If we fail, we, and we alone, are responsible for the failure, because God endows His servants, from the President of the Church down to the humblest member, with all the ability, all the knowledge, all the power that is necessary, faithfully, diligently, and properly to discharge every duty and every obligation that rests upon them, and we, and we alone, will have to answer if we fail in this regard." - Heber J. Grant (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Heber J Grant)

Another reason many believe that there is no such thing as a coincidence, is that it becomes much easier to rationalize our trials. "This must be happening because God has a plan for me right now. It is not by chance that I'm going through this right now."  Unfortunately that is not always true. Sometimes trials happen simply because trials happen. In Matthew chapter five we learn that "For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."  We as individuals have little or no control over things such as weather, the economy, or other people actions. In all of those examples, "both the just and the unjust" may be affected for better or worse.

"When we dwelt in the presence of God our Heavenly Father, we were endowed with agency. This gave us the opportunity, the privilege, to choose what we would do—to make a free, untrammeled choice. When Father Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was given this same power, and we now possess it. We're expected to use the gifts and talents and abilities, the sense and judgment and agency with which we are endowed." - Bruce R. McConkie (BYU Devotional, 1973)

Every action has a reaction. We do not always think of all of the consequences our actions may have. We make mistakes. It can be very easy to believe that there are no coincidences. It can be easy to misunderstand true doctrines of the church and come to a false conclusion.

"Never in the history of the world have we had easier access to more information: some of it true, some of it false and much of it partially true. Consequently, never in the history of the world has it been more important to learn how to correctly discern between truth and error." - President Uchtdorf (CES Fireseide Janurary 2013)

It is not a far jump to go from the idea of foreordination and end up with the ideas of destiny and "everything happens for a reason”. If there are no coincidences, and if everything happens for a reason, then logically speaking, every time we sin it is because God wanted us to sin and had planned for us to do so. Do you not see the danger in the way of thinking this way?

I'm not sure how to wrap up my thoughts, so I guess I'll just end with a quote/scripture about agency, because that seems to me to be the topic of this post.

"Another element necessary for the proper operation of agency is unencumbered choice—the freedom to choose without external force or restriction. A revelation to Joseph Smith clarifies this point: “For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward” (D&C 58:28). As agents unto themselves, individuals have the power to make their own choices, independent of outside influences." - Donald Q. Cannon