This my talk based on President Thomas S. Monson's The Three R's of Choice
http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/the-three-rs-of-choice?lang=eng
I dont remember when I gave this talk in Church lol
The power to become like God the crowning blessing of the Atonement, is integrally related to the power to be free, for in truth, the freest of all beings is God himself.
Gods are the freest of all beings because "all things are subject unto them..and they have all power" ( d&c 132:20)
Hey Im Tiffany Roper Im 18 and I was asked to give this talk about three weeks ago. I was given a choice to which I readily replied
“Sure,”
a particular brother looked at me astounded and said “We need more people like you.”
So I opened with that because my subject is choice. I could have chosen to not give this talk. I could have said...pfft no try again
But I decided to take the talk because I knew that it might not be what I want but it might be something that someone else needed.
Thomas S. Monson spoke on “The Three R’s of Choice,” In the priesthood session.
The Right choice, the responsibility of choice and the results of choice.
We know that through the light of Christ man is given the knowledge to know good and evil. Many people argue that there is no good or evil or that it is simply determined by the society but are not really in existence. Mans actions are merely actions and ergo are not labeled as good or evil. We know this to not be true. For if it were…what would the point of the plan of salvation be? We know that through the gift of the holy ghost we can decipher what is righteous and what is wrong and the great reality of the war between good and evil.
President Monson goes on to explain that we were a part of the great council of heaven. How we chose this path, knowing full well the perils that lay within. But also having the knowledge that we would have a redeemer, Christ the Lord and that through him we could become clean of sins.
President Monson then quotes Lehi
“Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”2 UAdd a Note
Brethren, within the confines of whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we will always have the right to choose.
This got me thinking. It is so very true. Even in circumstances, when we “Have no choice” we do. For example. Say you are cornered and a lion is going to eat you. You could run away or you could just stay there and get eaten. The choice is there still. Or lets have a more realistic choice. Your friend proclaims that he/she will force you into something and that if you refuse he/she will no longer be your friend. First of all that’s not a good friend. You could say “I have no choice,” and go along with the will of your “Friend” or you could say no and risk the loss of that “friend” Anyway point being you always have a choice, no one can force you to do anything.
Monson continues in his talk and introduces the responsibility of choice.
He speaks of the Lord and his great love. Heavenly father did not just kick us off the clouds of heaven and say “good luck,” while we were tumbling down to earth. We have been provided with many tools that the Lord has given us for direction, such as the Holy Ghost, prayer, the scriptures, and a living prophet.
The adversary is strong now. Within media and world standards the phrases say “Everyone is doing it,” or “Morality is old and stupid,” “It’s so little it won’t even matter,” “We have pills to prevent that,” “what they don’t know won’t hurt them,” or “We are simply animals,” The world is full of these deceptions. We know that we are God’s Children and that we were meant to live for so much more.
Although in our journey we will encounter forks and turnings in the road, we simply cannot afford the luxury of a detour from which we may never return. Lucifer, that clever pied piper, plays his lilting melody and attracts the unsuspecting away from the safety of their chosen pathway, away from the counsel of loving parents, away from the security of God’s teachings. He seeks not just the so-called refuse of humanity; he seeks all of us, including the very elect of God. King David listened, wavered, and then followed and fell. So did Cain in an earlier era and Judas Iscariot in a later one. Lucifer’s methods are cunning; his victims, numerous.
We read of him in 2 Nephi: “Others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security.”4 “Others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell … until he grasps them with his awful chains.”5 “And thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.”6
So the phrase “and leadth them away carefully down to hell,”
It struck me. Satan is not an idiot nor are his angels. They do not just throw temptations at you and hope it works. The Devil and his angels are schemers. They learn of your weaknesses and then exploit them. And if you show resilience they do not just shy away, they keep hammering away. Poking around to find a flaw in your spiritual fort. Once they find the slightest crack they can start to seep in. Exposing you little by little with the enticing of sin. So small in fact that many people do not even notice how far they have fallen till it has damaged them.
We have the responsibility to make our own choices and we know which are right and which are wrong.
Monson makes a point that I very much liked.
He mentions that in Lewis Carrols Alice’s adventure in Wonder Land. She comes to a fork in the road and wonders which way to go. The Chesire cat replies ““That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”
It is so true, if we had no knowledge of the gospel we would be pushed with the tide of life. But we do have a purpose and we know what it is.
Our prophet pleads with us to determine right here, right now, not to deviate from the path which will lead to our goal: eternal life with our Father in Heaven. Along that straight and true path there are other goals: missionary service, temple marriage, Church activity, scripture study, prayer, temple work. There are countless worthy goals to reach as we travel through life. Needed is our commitment to reach them.
As well as our hearts, if we just went through the motions the spiritual aspect would not be present. For spirituality is the sense of the heart. We must put our hearts into it if we want to get anything out of it.
Finally, he speaks of the results of choice. “All of our choices have consequences, some of which have little or nothing to do with our eternal salvation and others of which have everything to do with it.”
He speaks then on our choices, seeming so little can make such a huge difference. One drink or one click could determine a life of bondage or a life of freedom. Age, race or gender it does not matter we are all susceptible to erring from the straight and narrow.
Ok little detour I read pretty much the whole book of The Interesting Narrative if the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This book was written by a slave about himself, in the 1700s. He was taken from Africa and sold from hand to hand. He learns how to not only speak English but also to read and write. In his life he accepts the gospel of Christ. He studies the bible and expresses his great love for the words of God. Now despite all his afflictions. Being shipwrecked and nearly dying, being persecuted for being black slave and later a black freeman, being robbed, being beaten and suffering all manner of afflictions he turns his heart to god continually. He praises God and gives thanks to our loving father for his mercy. Now a lot of people say this man is lucky, but I say no. This man is righteous, from an early stage of life, before he even knew about Christ he held Virtue, honesty and purity to high value. In his afflictions he his saved, he is given to kind masters, he is protected from bullets, saved from sickness, and pits. Luck? I think not, this is the Lord’s hand. Now my point being that if anyone had the right to complain or hate god it would be a slave who suffered pains we could not understand. Yet in these dark hours this man chose God and was delivered time and time again. There was one incident where he speaks of his trials as a slave. He basically says “God gave me trials that I might humble myself before him and learn to serve him with my whole heart,”
Now back to President Monson
No temptation, no pressure, no enticing can overcome us unless we allow such. If we make the wrong choice, we have no one to blame but ourselves. President Brigham Young once expressed this truth by relating it to himself. Said he: “If Brother Brigham shall take a wrong track, and be shut out of the Kingdom of heaven, no person will be to blame but Brother Brigham. I am the only being in heaven, earth, or hell, that can be blamed.” He continued: “This will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an individual operation.”8 UAdd a Note
The Apostle Paul has assured us, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”9
I testify that Choices do matter and it is in our choices and our trials that define us as who we are. I testify that through the Holy Ghost we can avoid temptations and that through Christ we can become clean again. These choices indeed do matter and do have consequences. I testify that we can overcome all sin and that the Lord eagerly waits for us to turn our hearts to him. That if we make righteous choices we can become perfected and live in heaven as God does.
For Gods are the freest of all beings because "all things are subject unto them..and they have all power" ( d&c 132:20)
Seek righteousness and make righteous choices. Your results will be Eternal Life in the Celestial glory, among God and in a state of Eternal Happiness
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen
