Dear Friends, aloha! I am happy to be with you today. President Wheelwright, thank you for this wonderful opportunity to speak to the BYU Hawaii family. Last week my daughter, who is a senior here, told me that a poster with my face on it was plastered all over the campus. I'm sorry about that. That must have been scary for you, and yet you still came today. Clearly, you are overcoming your fears, and that is critical to your success. At the conclusion of my comments, I hope you feel that you made a good decision in attending--for ye are free to choose. And you chose to be here. Thank you.
I have pondered sometime over what I might say to you. In a few words, it is simply this: Life is the sum of all your choices. I urge you to choose wisely! President David O' McKay, the prophet who dedicated this campus, said:
Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God's greatest gift to man. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift. (Conference Report, Apr. 1950, 32)
I felt that freedom of choice, God's greatest gift to man, was a worthy subject for us to review today.
It was just 23 years ago when I received my degree in this notable facility. I remember the feeling well. Looking back, I felt a sense of accomplishment, looking forward, excitement. My dear young friends, this is your time. This is your decade of choosing. You face some of the most significant decisions we make in this life, such as education, mission, marriage, career and service in the kingdom. Your choices now and over the next several years will chart much of your course in life. And if that wasn't enough to think about, consider the fact that your decisions will have eternal ramifications.
So you must be smart about this. With all your choices, think lifecycle. In other words, begin with the end in mind. Where do you want to be in 10, 15, 25 years from now? It's hard to aim without a target. Ask yourself, to which end does this choice take me? In a world filled with evil, you must be able to sift through the deception and confusion that is so pervasive in society and figure out how to remain on the Lord's side through all of it. I am confident that you can do this. Indeed, you must do it. Just consider the alternative to making right choices. There's only one alternative. Do you understand what that is? I'll tell you what it is, it's pain and suffering. Those are the consequences of bad choices. I know that from firsthand experience. I have also known and worked with people, in and out of the church, related and unrelated, who continued to make bad decisions in life. Stuck in a dreadful cycle that spirals downward, they are miserable. So I hope a few thoughts about agency and some encouragement to make good choices will be helpful to you.
The scriptural basis for my address is found in 2 Nephi 2:27: "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."
Doctrine of Agency
Where does our freedom to choose originate? I submit that understanding the doctrine of agency is essential to our righteous exercise of it.
Referring to agency, President Brigham Young taught: "This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice." (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 62)
As you may recall, the war in heaven was over agency. Two plans were proposed, and Lucifer's plan was rejected because he sought to "destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3). The battle ensued and tragically, Heavenly Father lost one-third of His children in that war. I wonder if the one-third understood that their own agency was being preserved by the very God against whom they rebelled. Father in heaven did not then, and will not ever, violate or undermine the agency of man. Rather, He has and always will protect it.
'Know this, that every soul is free To choose his life and what he'll be, For this eternal truth is given That God will force no man to heav'n.'
Freedom of choice comprises only half of the definition of agency. The other half is accountability. The one-third of the host of heaven was accountable for their choice. They were cast out with Lucifer. As agents, we are responsible and answerable to God, who granted us our freedom to choose.
While showing him the inhabitants of this world, the Lord explained to Enoch: "Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency" (Moses 7:32). Our lives are not our own. Our wills are, but nothing else.
The Lord preserved agency in mortality when he said to Adam in the garden: ". . . thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Moses 3:17), the first part making us free, the second part making us accountable. Herein is agency defined: we are made free by Him and held accountable to Him. Plainly put, agency is freedom with accountability. Separating the two is impossible.
Agency, your freedom to choose and account, is the catalyst that makes the whole plan of salvation work for you individually. Isn't it great to know that you are in-charge, you are the captain of your own ship, that you are all-powerful over you and the choices you make? In part, that is why you "sang together" and "shouted for joy" (Job 38:7) that morning when the foundations of the world were laid. Are you still "shout[ing] for joy?" Sometimes I hear shouting on campus. I trust that it is joyful.
So, now that we've reviewed our omnipotence over ourselves and our choices, let me emphasize that we have no control over the consequences of our choices. Put another way: "We are free up to the point of choice; then the choice controls the chooser." Yes, we might think we can get away with some temporary manipulation of the consequences, but with the Lord, there will always be a day of reckoning. He cannot be fooled and will not be mocked. There is no skirting the eternal consequences of our choices. In truth, we never get away with anything. Every choice we make, including how we feel, what we think and how we act, will be accounted for, ultimately through our joy, repentance or suffering. The Lord's consequences are eternal and unalterable. Our choices are the only variables in this equation. The faithful have figured that out. They are happy to be and do whatever the Lord commands. They put on the altar, the only thing that is uniquely theirs, their will. Everything else already belongs to the Lord.
Unfortunately, the unwise remain in the cycle of self-afflicted gyrations and contortions. They make bad choices and then despise the consequences that are inherent in their choices. Baffled, they keep trying to separate and change the consequences that are native to their choices. It's almost comical, and yet so sad. But there is one who laughs. Elder Hales reminds us: "It is our sins that make the devil laugh, our sorrow that brings him counterfeit joy." Can you see evidence in society of this insanity of trying to separate consequences that are intrinsic to choices? Can you see this in your own life? I've seen it in mine. Thank goodness for repentance.
Everything We Need to Return Is Provided
Well, every day, every hour, we are making choices that move us closer to the Lord, or away from Him. The good news is that our loving Heavenly Father has not left us down here alone to wander and languish. He's given us everything we need to become like Him and live again with Him. We have the Savior's atonement, the companionship of the Holy Ghost, our families, 15 living oracles in the prophets, seers and revelators, and we have the scriptures. We have the plan of happiness and redemption. We have temples. We have local leaders to help us. We have many exemplary witnesses among us, those who are making righteous choices and reaping and enjoying the rich blessings of the gospel. Heavenly Father has not left our salvation to chance, but to choice! And ye are free to choose.
Satan's Subtlety
Even with all this revealed knowledge, we still make bad choices. Why? There may be many reasons, but they all relate to the fact that Satan, lurking at the base of each temptation, is masterful at disguising and obscuring the consequences of bad choices. His tools of desensitization, deviation, discouragement and deception are, without question, effective. His most successful strategy is to deceive us one imperceptible degree at a time, as illustrated by the story of the lark.
Sitting in the high branches of a tree safe from harm, he saw a traveler walking through the forest carrying a mysterious little black box. The lark flew down and perched on the traveler's shoulder. "What do you have in the little black box?" he asked.
"Worms," the traveler replied.
"Are they for sale?"
"Yes, and very cheaply, too. The price is only one feather for a worm."
The lark thought for a moment. "I must have a million feathers. Surely, I'll never miss one of them. Here is an opportunity to get a good dinner for no work at all." So he told the man he would buy one. He searched carefully under his wing for a tiny feather. He winced a bit as he pulled it out, but the size and quality of the worm made him quickly forget the pain. High up in the tree again he began to sing as beautifully as before.
The next day he saw the same man and once again he exchanged a feather for a worm. What a wonderful, effortless way to get dinner! Each day thereafter the lark surrendered a feather, and each loss seemed to hurt less and less. In the beginning he had many feathers, but as the days passed he found it more difficult to fly. Finally, after the loss of one of his primary feathers, he could no longer reach the top of the tree, let alone fly up into the sky. In fact he could do no more than flutter a few feet in the air, and was forced to seek his food with quarrelsome, bickering sparrows. The man with the worms came no more, for there were no feathers to pay for the meals. The lark no longer sang because he was so ashamed of his fallen state. This is how unworthy habits possess us - first painfully, then more easily, until at last we find ourselves stripped of all that lets us sing and soar. This is how freedom is lost. This is how we become enmeshed in sin.
Here's how he works. We start with the Lord's standard. The adversary gets us to accept an inconspicuous deviation from the standard. This might start as a rare exception or may be hidden from view. But if not corrected, the deviation is repeated until it becomes a practice. Now it is regular with us. We do it without thinking about it. It becomes accepted. An uncorrected practice then becomes a tradition. Now it is not only accepted, but expected. It is part of who we are, part of our fabric, our culture. At that point, a new standard is established.
Here are two sobering examples of how our very language has been obscured to mask society's declining morality and behavior. Notice how the language has softened over time.
Killing a fetus, infanticide, abortion, early termination, pro-choice.
Sodomy, homosexuality, gay and lesbian, alternative lifestyle, reciprocal benefits, civil union, civil right.
I have a greater appreciation for how the Lord described Lucifer, when He said: "And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field . . ." More than ever before, brothers and sisters, we must be, as the Lord counseled, "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." We have to be completely vigilant to avoid Satan's snares.
As students of this great institution, preparing to become world class leaders and peace makers of genuine gold, as articulated by President McKay, as you are on the cusp of entering your respective professions, communities and nations, I implore you to be worthy of revelation, willing to stand for truth, unwavering in your testimony, exemplary in your outreach and humility, and immovable in your commitment and obedience to the Lord. Wise choices will enable the development of those characteristics and abilities.
Tapping the Atonement to Correct Bad Choices Now when we make bad choices, and we certainly will because we are all imperfect, we can repent and correct our ways! Through the Savior's wondrous and infinite atonement, we can be healed and cleansed and put right back on the path that leads to our heavenly home. No matter our past, as long as we have not committed the unpardonable sin, we can be cleansed and saved. If any among us are in need of returning to the path, do it. Please do not put that off. See your bishop today and get your life in order. Time is of the essence! Turning to the Savior is always the right choice. Let us always remember that we are nothing without the Him and his supernal gift of redemption.
Right Choices Change Us
And there's more good news! Righteous choices lead to more righteous choices, which fill us with light. And as scripture promises: ". . . he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." In part, that means that making good choices now makes it easier to make the same good choices later. It also increases the opportunities to make additional good choices not previously available or known to us. This opens more doors for greater blessings. This is an upward spiral leading to exaltation. Where sin limits freedom of choice, righteousness expands it exponentially. The Savior himself "received not the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness."
The Savior's choices enabled his "grace to grace" growth, which reflects spiritual and physical changes that we too can experience in our disposition and countenance when we choose to follow Him.
For example, my mother smoked cigarettes for 28 years before she returned to full activity in the Church. The night I left for my mission, I removed her cigarettes, crumpled them up in my hand and flushed them down toilet. She was aggravated. But I then pleaded with her to keep the Word of Wisdom. I explained that it would help me to know that my mother was keeping that sacred commandment as I testified of its power to the people of Korea. We shed a few tears together before I left. That night she made a life-altering choice to adhere to that law. Not only did she not pick up another cigarette, but she began to desire making other good choices, including prayer. One right choice led to another, she grew from "grace to grace," and one day, six months before my mission ended, I received a letter from home. I remember it vividly. I was heading to Seoul on a very crowded train when I opened the letter. Mom had returned to the temple after 30 years of bad decisions that kept her away from the Church and from qualifying for a temple recommend. My happy tears were quite the spectacle for the commuters.
Right choices lead us to the Savior, who enables real, positive changes to and in our beings. Interestingly, as time passed, she became increasingly intolerant of cigarette smoke. She would regularly gripe about second hand smoke when we were in public. She would say to me, "I can't believe I was so severely addicted to such a disgusting habit," which clearly suggests that there were positive physiological changes that occurred in her nature, not just spiritual.
One morning several months ago, I read Alma's counsel to his son, Corianton, who had run off with the harlot Isabel. Regarding his violation of the law of chastity, Alma said to him, "cross yourself in these things." Those words struck me. The spirit immediately confirmed to me the wisdom of that counsel. Self-denial, self-control, self-mastery, this is significant counsel for all of us.
The next morning I read a fascinating article on epigenetics. The main point of the article was that scientists were beginning to discover that lifestyle choices influence the way our genes express themselves. Evidently, choices of what we eat, how much exercise and rest we get, what we believe, stress levels, etc. release or trigger certain enzymes and chemicals that sit on top of our genome, hence the name "epigenome," "epi," meaning above or on top of, the genome. These chemical tags switch on or off certain parts of our DNA strands, or tighten and loosen those strands, affecting gene expression and behavior. Think of these chemical tags as software and the basic DNA as hardware. I was told by a good friend, who is a renown scientist, that the DNA in our toe is the same DNA in our eye. It is epigenetics, various kinds of carbon and hydrogen molecules and proteins that land on the DNA and instruct it to be a toe or an eye and how to function properly as such.
Geneticists have studied identical twins, who at birth are genetically and epigenetically identical. But over time, based on lifestyle and choices, they become completely different beings epigenetically. Further experiments with identical twin mice show how certain epigenetic treatments can make one mouse obese and blond with a short life span, while different treatments can make the other twin, slim, fit and brown with a long life span.
One group experimented with epigenetic cancer treatment of MDS, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Here, terminally ill MDS patients with less than six months to live were given epigenetic therapy. Chemotherapy kills cancerous cells, whereas epigenetic therapy tries to change the instructions in the cancerous cells. It is a diplomatic solution. The chemical tags talk to the cancerous cells and remind them that they are human cells and not cancerous and that they should stop multiplying. Amazingly, one-half of the patients have gone into remission. Last year a Dream Team Project was funded by the American Association for Cancer Research to bring to clinical practice epigenetic therapy for breast, colon and lung cancers, as well as leukemia. This science has profound implications.
Reacting to these findings, Duke University geneticist Randy Jirtle observes, "We got to get people thinking more about what they do. They have a responsibility for their epigenome. Their genome they inherit. But their epigenome they potentially can alter." And I add, "How?" By choices.
This was an enrichment lesson for one of our family home evenings a few months back. Now when someone doesn't do their chores or makes a wrong choice, we poke fun by asking, "What's up with your epigenome?" "Common, choose the right and change that epigenome!" You can do the same with your roommate when he leaves the dorm room a mess.
For me, Alma's counsel to "cross yourself" (Alma 39:9) has taken on an added dimension in light of this unfolding discovery. Certainly, good choices affect both our spiritual and physical natures. In fact, the faithful are promised that the Lord will sanctify them to the "renewing of their bodies" (D&C 84:33).
One day, I would not be surprised to learn that our DNA can be programmed to become immortal again. I wonder what kind of bodies the Three Nephites possess. Is Heavenly Father's body of flesh and bones made of DNA? Was there an epigenetic formula in the fruit Adam and Eve ate that caused them to become mortal? It's fun to mull over such questions.
One Right Decision Has Significant Impact
Lastly, do not underestimate the far-reaching impact of one right decision. The exponential, compounding effect of such is astonishing. The life of the prophet Joseph is a testament of this truth. Being taught by goodly parents, Joseph Smith was inclined religiously at a young age. His choices led him to search for the true church. His search for the true church led to the scriptures. His scripture study led him to his first vocal prayer, where he learned of the reality of the adversary and saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Multiple visits from angel Moroni followed. The Book of Mormon plates were unearthed and translated, the priesthood restored, Church established, and so on. And here are we today, one of the 13.5 million members, playing a part of the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy that a "stone...cut out of the mountain without hands" (Daniel 2:34) would "[fill] the whole earth" (D&C 65:2). You and I are linked inseparably to a few pivotal choices made by a young, obscure farm boy, who lived in a tiny town in upstate New York, circa 1820. Incredible!
I testify that one right decision can bring about a multitude of blessings. That has been my experience. Up until I was 18, good choices were hit and miss, mostly miss. At 20, while many small decisions led up to it, against all odds, I decided to serve a mission. That was the turning point for me. In His tender mercies, the Lord plucked me out of darkness and sent me on a mission to Korea. I left an entire family who was less than less active. You heard the story of my mother's return. The same happened to my entire family. They all came back to Church and entered the temple, partly because of my decision to serve a mission. Only the Lord could do that. I am eternally grateful. Now, I'm trying to keep my commitment to be and do whatever the Lord commands.
My young friends, your lives hold unlimited promise for marvelous blessings. Remember, you are free and accountable. You are in charge of you. Work hard, take no short cuts. You will reap what you sow. Keep following heavenly Father's plan! Listen to the prophets. Study it out in your mind. Seek counsel. Be humble and the Lord will lead you(D&C 112:10). Ye are free to choose the way of life, or not. Choose wisely. I know the Lord will bless you according to the choices you make. I know it.
I know these things are true by the power of the Holy Ghost. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.