Chapter 12

The Tolerant Spirit

(Read the Eleventh Article of Faith)

Growth is the essential objective of the plan of salvation—constant, unending growth. The powers of man must be developed, increased with every passing day. In the terminology of the Gospel, man must ever be in a state of progression. The original degree of man’s powers matters little; their steady increase is of much concern. Final judgment will be based on the use that a man has made of the talents committed to him.

Growth, confined by its very nature to living things, is ever from within. It can never come from the outside as a soldier puts on a uniform. It is a process of unfolding. Such development of innate powers comes from self-effort. The individual must consciously set about to sharpen, increase, develop his natural gifts. One traveler through a new land sees but houses flitting by the train; another sees the spirit of a foreign civilization. One student masters the shell of a subject; another pries into its soul. It all depends upon individual self-effort.

Self-effort, in turn, is an expression of choice. Man may choose to engage in the toil and labor that lead to progression; or to stand idly by as others advance; or even to engage in practices that destroy in part his natural endowment. This right to choose his way through the ages of time is often called the free agency of man. It is the distinguishing mark of intelligent creatures. It is the dearest, most priceless possession of every individual. Indeed, every person may be measured by the use he makes of his free agency.

This principle has been recognized from the beginning of time. The battle in the Great Council of pre-existent time concerned man’s free agency. The plan of God provided that, through self-effort, aided by divine love, man should become fitted for celestial glory. Lucifer proposed that all mankind should be saved without any effort of their own. “Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man. which I, the Lord God, had given him, * * * I caused that he should be cast down; and he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will. … (Moses 4:3, 4.) On that occasion, the Lord placed the seal of His approval upon the principle of progression through self-effort, made possible by the possession of free agency.

Likewise, at the beginning of earth time Adam and Eve stood forth as free agents. “And I, the Lord God, took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it. And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee. …” (Moses 3:15- 1 7.) The commands of God, in the higher sense, are but statements of cause and effect; they never seek to abrogate the right of the human will.

In modern revelation this principle has been set forth with great lucidity: “The Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.” (2 Nephi 2:16.) “All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man.” (Doctrine and Covenants 94:30, 31.) There can be no question about the inalienable right of man to possess and to exercise the right of free agency.

In full accord with this doctrine Latter-day Saints claim the right to think and worship as they choose, so long as it is not contrary to the law of the land in which they live, and not an infringement upon the rights of others. For that matter, any attempt to coerce men in their beliefs, or in their practices under the law, is held to be of the evil one. Full freedom of thought, speech, and action, restrained only by the law of the land the rights of others, is a vital tenet of “Mormonism.” Carried to its logical conclusion, this means that in the Church every person must finally rest his membership upon his own personal conviction of the truth of the offered body of doctrine and practice.

Nevertheless, though the freedom to choose for oneself in all issues of life is a gift of indescribable worth, it must be remembered that it is as a two-edged weapon. Properly used it will move man upward; but, improperly used, it will as surely push man downward. It was by the exercise of their free agency that Lucifer and his followers became the devil and his cohorts. This was clearly expressed by the ancient prophet Nephi: “Men are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.” (2 Nephi 2:27.) And the prophet Alma warned that “Every man receiveth wages of him who he listeth to obey.” (Alma 3:27.)

In the use of free agency a certain infallible guide is available. Truth leads upward into enlightenment; falsehood, downward into darkness. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” said the Savior to His disciples. Whoever would use their free agency safely, must, first of all, be lovers of and seekers after truth. Tradition, preconceived notions, life’s practices— all must be laid aside, if need be, in the acceptance of truth. The will for truth, which is the will for righteousness, must be established. Only then can the gift of free agency be safely employed.

While every man should claim the right to believe and worship as he chooses, he must always remember that all other men have equal claim upon the same privilege. Whoever love the right of personal choice will respect the same right of their fellow men. That is, the effect of the principle of free agency is to make men tolerant of one another’s beliefs. That does not mean a surrender of any cherished truth, but, merely, the recognition of the fact that every man, in his own way, must be allowed to discover the path that leads to progression. Clearly, the possessor of truth must teach the truth to others; if they choose to listen, he must help the wanderers into light; but in no instance must compulsion of any kind be used. Truth once taught will come to life in a heart not steeled against it.

The Latter-day Saints, therefore, are a tolerant people. They know that they possess the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in its purity. At great sacrifice they teach this system of truth to all the world; but always as bearers of truth to a world that has full right to accept or reject the offering. They may grieve over the blindness of humanity, over the world’s self-made sorrows, but always with the hope that some day those who now cannot see will open their eyes to the light of truth.

The spirit of tolerance makes Latter-day Saints glad to know that a person has even a fragment of the Gospel in his possession. It is better to accept one Christian doctrine, than none at all.

In the same tolerant spirit the Church deals with lukewarm or drifting members. They have their free agencies. To them the Church offers its teachings in the hope of acceptance. Naturally, those who do not accept the Gospel truth cannot be allowed to serve as officers or teachers of the Church, for in offering false leadership and teaching, the Church would not be honest to itself or its members.

Great is the thought that man, small as he seems to be in the midst of infinite realities, yet has the right to choose his way through universal time, and thus to spell out in ceaseless acts the sentence to be imposed upon him in the great day of judgment.

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

1. How is true love manifested?

2. Why are love, tolerance and progress dependent one on the other?

3. Why must Latter-day Saints be a tolerant people?

4. In what sense is salvation a cooperative enterprise between God and man?

5. Why are intelligence and free agency always associated?

6. What is the foremost law of Gospel action?