(7/6/01)
"We have all been given a marvelous gift, even the great gift of moral agency. And through the infinite love and grace of a Heavenly Father, we also have been given many aids to help us learn how to properly use that precious gift. ...we have for our edification and guidance the influence of parents, local Church leaders, sacrament meetings, teachers, Church magazines, righteous friends, hymns and other sacred music, and even ministering angels and the Lord himself (see D&C 84:88)." — Spencer J. Condie, "Agency: The Gift of Choices," Ensign, Sept. 1995, p. 22

(5/24/03)
"Alma reminds us that 'wickedness never was happiness' (Alma 41:10), and thus it is impossible to have true joy and happiness while engaging in evildoing. Righteousness does not guarantee a life of constant sunshine devoid of rain clouds, but wickedness most assuredly robs us of joy, which joy is the design of our existence." — Spencer J. Condie, "In Perfect Balance," [Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1993]

(1/31/04)
"Another indispensable resource that assists us in using our agency wisely is holy scripture. The Apostle Paul explained, 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness' (2 Tim. 3:16). Nephi gave the additional prophetic promise that when we 'feast upon the words of Christ,... the words of Christ will tell [us] all things what [we] should do' (2 Ne. 32:3). In short, the scriptures are our life script, our instruction manual in mortality, if you will. But of course, if the universal teachings in holy writ are to benefit us, we must follow Nephi's additional counsel to 'liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning' (1 Ne. 19:23)." - Spencer J. Condie, "Agency: The Gift of Choices," Ensign, Sept. 1995, p. 22

(3/16/04)
"Through repentance we can become at one with Christ, or, as Jacob put it, we can 'be reconciled unto him' (Jacob 4:11). Amaleki invited the people of his day-and us as well-to 'come unto Christ... and partake of his salvation... and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him' (Omni 1:26). We become reconciled with him when we willingly give our souls to him as he offered his life for us." - Spencer J. Condie, "The Fall and Infinite Atonement," Ensign, Jan. 1996, p. 26

(4/18/04)
"Inspired Book of Mormon prophets repeatedly teach us that the Fall was a necessary and foreseen part of the great plan of happiness and that "the way [to salvation] is prepared from the fall of man" (2 Ne. 2:4; see also Mosiah 4:7). Far from being a great disappointment and disgrace to their Heavenly Father, Adam and Eve were his instruments to further the divine plan "which was prepared from the foundation of the world" (Mosiah 15:19). Indeed, Father Lehi taught his son Jacob that "if Adam [and Eve] had not transgressed [they] would not have fallen, but [they] would have remained in the garden of Eden...." - Spencer J. Condie, "The Fall and Infinite Atonement," Ensign, January 1996, p. 22

(5/2/04)
"A recurrent theme throughout the Book of Mormon is the constraining influence of the false 'tradition of their fathers' passed down from Laman and Lemuel through subsequent generations (see Mosiah 10:11-12; Alma 37:9; Alma 60:32; Hel. 5:51; Hel. 15:4; Hel. 16:18-20). Tradition can be a double-edged sword. When based upon the perpetuation of righteous principles, tradition can become a marvelous support system in helping us employ our moral agency wisely. On the other hand, many traditions find their origins in the false pride and foibles of mankind. In modern-day revelation, the Lord has taught: 'Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning.... [But] that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers' (D&C 93:38-39; emphasis added)." - Spencer J. Condie, "Agency: The Gift of Choices," Ensign, September 1995, p. 21

(6/17/04)
"It has been said that failure can be most often attributed to weak goals. We often strive to become worthy when we should be striving for perfection. Instead of mere renewal, we should strive for rebirth. At one of the zeniths of spirituality in the Book of Mormon, Alma proclaimed that the saints became sanctified because they 'could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence.' (Alma 13:12.) Alexander Pope poignantly explained the process whereby we stray from the light when he described the stance we take regarding sin: 'We first endure, then pity, then embrace.' The man or woman who becomes truly sanctified will not stray far from the gospel's light." - Spencer J. Condie, "1975. What Will You Do with It?" Ensign, January 1975, p. 20

(9/28/04)
"Notwithstanding the numerous New Testament witnesses of the Savior as a resurrected being following his crucifixion (see, for example, Luke 24:36-48), there still persists the fallacious doctrine formulated at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 that God the Father, his Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three personages of spirit-three personages in one. The sacred record of the Savior's appearance to the ancient Nephites is an essential, additional witness of the true nature of the Son and of his relationship to the Father and to the Holy Ghost. After introducing himself as Jesus Christ, he who had taken upon himself the sins of the world (see 3 Ne. 11:11), he warmly invited the multitude to 'come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet' (3 Ne. 11:14). The resurrected Christ had a glorified body of flesh and bone as certified by a multitude who 'did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he' (3 Ne. 11:15)." - Spencer J. Condie, "The Fall and Infinite Atonement," Ensign, January 1996, p. 25

(7/14/05)
"Alma taught that 'wickedness never was happiness' (Alma 41:10; emphasis added), a reality more powerful than gravity. Unhappiness is another price to be paid for misusing our agency. To some of the recalcitrant generation of his day, Helaman explained, 'Ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head' (Hel. 13:38). The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that happiness is the design of our existence (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 255–56). In light of the teachings of Alma and Helaman, righteousness is also the design of our existence." - Spencer J. Condie, "Agency: The Gift of Choices," Ensign, Sept. 1995, 19