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TOM - Heavenly father knows the beginning from the end. There isn't anything that he doesn't know. If he knows who is going to make it to the celestial kingdom and who isn't, then why does it matter how I use my free agency? Does my question make sense? I'm not quite sure how to ask it in the correct way. JOEL - It's hard to know how to ask that kind of question in the right way because it's one of those "If God is so all-powerful can he create a rock too heavy for himself to lift?" type of questions. First of all, how does God know our future? Time is something that only mortals occupy their minds with. To God there is no time. The scriptures tell us: "The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth; But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord." (D&C 130: 6-7) So for God He can just as easily see the past as well as the future, including where we will end up in heaven. In regards to agency, I think it does still matter how you use it because, even though God might know where you are going to end up, you don't know. Just because God knows something is going to happen it is not the same thing as making it happen. A weatherman might know that it is going to rain tomorrow, but he is not the one that makes it rain. Similarly God isn't going to force you to do the right things in order to make His knowledge of your future a reality. You still have to go through the act of living this life and, using your agency, consciously making correct choices so you can become the kind of person that can abide a celestial life. Come judgment day you can look back on your life and agree that where you end up is what you deserved based on the choices you made. In order to live this life the way we should it's best to forget about what God knows about our future and just live life as if our salvation depends on it. I know this doesn't answer the question perfectly but that's how it is with questions that are really kind of impossible to answer with our limited mortal minds. |
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DIRECTORY