SATAN’S (SO-CALLED) “PLAN”
“Satan's
plan required one of two things: Either the compulsion of the mind, the spirit,
the intelligence of man, or else saving men in sin. I question whether the
intelligence of man can be compelled. Certainly men cannot be saved in sin… [S]alvation and exaltation are founded in righteousness…” (President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., October 1949 Conference Report, 193.)
“Without
[agency] there could be no salvation…. Under false pretenses [Satan]
offered to save all the children of our Eternal Father …. Such a salvation
would have required each individual to surrender his [agency], therefore it
could be no salvation at all.” (Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., Answers to Gospel Questions 3:46.) False pretenses: deliberate misrepresentation of facts; (for
example, that it is possible to force a person to be good)].
“When
God rejected Satan's plan . . . I believe the rejection came not only because
Satan shouldn't deliver on his
promise, but because he couldn't
deliver. His promise was … a lie…. Satan's plan to save us without agency could
not have worked. Without free inquiry and voluntary action … no personal growth
is possible.” (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, BYU Studies 25[1985]: 3:173; 32[1992]:3:17.)
“Few
concepts have more potential to mislead us than the idea that choice, or
agency, is an ultimate goal…. To secure our agency in mortality we fought a
mighty … ‘war in heaven.’ … But our war to secure agency was won. The test in
this mortal estate is not to secure choice but to use it to choose good instead
of evil so that we can achieve our eternal goals. In mortality … [we] must …
resolve many questions concerning what restrictions or consequences should be
placed upon choices…. It will not do to pretend that our agency has been taken
away when we are not free to exercise it without unwelcome consequences.”
(Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Weightier Matters,” January 2001 Ensign)
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