Free Agency
“Prayer and Promptings”, Ensign, Nov. 2009, 43-44; “We were given our agency. We must use it wisely and remain close to the Spirit; otherwise, we foolishly find ourselves yielding to the enticements of the adversary.” – Boyd K. Packer
John 14:23, 26; “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
I love this whole passage in John when Jesus is telling the disciples He wasn’t going to leave them orphaned. This particular verse with the word “abode” means to tarry, meaning He’s not going anywhere.
Mormon teachings would have you believe that if you don’t behave he’s leaving – there is apparently no room for error. Just as in the Book of Mormon, members of the Church are held to a standard God didn’t intend for anyone.
The clue in all this mayhem is that the Church doesn’t have the same Holy Spirit the Bible talks of. The Holy Ghost/Spirit of Mormonism is fickle and leaves at a moment’s notice with the idea of someone not behaving the way they should.
And what lies underneath all this is how the Mormon Holy Ghost operates. The Mormon HG doesn’t indwell the believer. He is merely a force that can influence much like the sun does and isn’t omnipresent. In D&C 130:22 he can descend upon someone and not tarry with him.
The work of the Holy Spirit reminds us of how to behave just as it says in verse 26.
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