The Great Plan of Liberty

Hi Sisters!

Sunday's lesson was Ezra-Taft-Benson/chapter-3-freedom-of-choice-an-eternal-principle.

We had a good discussion of cookie dough that takes 3 days to make. Delicious.

We also talked about this Freedom of choice business:

Photo courtesy of the crazy creative Karen Petitt 

The scriptures make clear that there was a great war in heaven, a struggle over the principle of freedom, the right of choice. (See Moses 4:1–4; D&C 29:36–38; 76:25–27; Rev. 12:7–9.)¹³

The war that began in heaven over this issue is not yet over. The conflict continues on the battlefield of mortality.¹⁴

Freedom of choice is a God-given eternal principle. The great plan of liberty is the plan of the gospel. There is no coercion about it; no force, no intimidation. A man is free to accept the gospel or reject it. He may accept it and then refuse to live it, or he may accept it and live it fully. But God will never force us to live the gospel. He will use persuasion through His servants. He will call us and He will direct us and He will persuade us and encourage us and He will bless us when we respond, but He will never force the human mind. (See Hymns, 1985, no. 240.)¹⁵

A few more interesting (imo) points from the lesson:
--There are boundaries beyond which Satan cannot go (p. 62)
--The fate of humanity and all civilization hinges on whether man will use his … agency to govern himself or ignore eternal laws at his own peril and reap the consequences. The real issues of today are, therefore, not economic or political. They are spiritual—meaning that man must learn to conform to the laws which God has given to mankind.²⁶
--Pray (open your heart, knock) to make Christ-like decisions (p. 64)
--That He (the Lord) allows wickedness to occur at all is proof of His having given His children their freedom to choose (p. 61)

Next week lesson is Ezra-Taft-Benson/chapter-4-living-joyfully-in-troubled-times. Hope to see you all there.