OBEDIENCE and FREE AGENCY
I love the John Lennon song “Imagine”. It was the
best-selling single of his solo career after The Beatles broke up. I love the
simplicity of the words, the meaning of the words and the music. I love the
melody, the optimism for a better planet and the idea of the whole world living
in peace and harmony. It was written and recorded in England in 1971. Here are
my favorite lines, “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, no need for
greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the
world. You may say, I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday
you'll join us, and the world will live as one.” Shortly before John’s
death, he said that most of the lyrics of “Imagine” came from his wife Yoko
Ono. The song has received several honors and impressive records – it’s one of
the 100 most-performed songs of the 20th century and it ranked 30th on
the Recording Industry Association of America's list of the “365 Songs of the
Century bearing the most historical significance”.
Loosely, using John and Yoko’s lyrics for the purpose of
this paper, let’s imagine a world without obedience. Here’s a few examples, but
let your own imagine go wild and come up with a list of your own! (I can hear
the music in my head already!) So, play along with me and imagine a world…
- where stoplights aren’t obedient to their programming, but independently decide their own greens, yellows and reds… maybe even chose a purple or blue at times
- where some people weren’t obedient to the warning labels on poisonous substances and independently chose to ingest them without discretion
- where commercial airline companies aren’t obedient to FAA laws and allowed any of the passengers to pilot their planes
- where your car isn’t obedient to the mechanical functions and independently decides to mix-up the brake and gas pedal functions at any time
- where your heart isn’t obedient to nature’s programming and chooses whether or not to pump from minute-to-minute depending on how it feels
- where the sun isn’t obedient to its track record of millions of years of constant sunshine, but instead, independently decides which days it wants to work and which days it wants to take a vacation
- where the rotation of the earth is disobedient, deciding to be sporadic and independently changes speeds dramatically, tilts at wild angles on a whim, changes the location of the poles without warning, forgets the pattern of it’s orbit and just flounders through space haphazardly
- where some folks reject the laws of vandalism and malicious mischief, and light fires wherever and whenever they want without accountability, without remorse, just because ‘it’s a rush’
- where building contractors don’t follow building codes, and use the cheapest and weakest materials and unskilled laborers on high-rise structures
- where doctors can practice any medicine, perform any surgery, and give any prescription with regard to testing, schooling or licensing
- where other drivers don’t at least generally obey speeding laws and decide to drive chaotically with recklessness whenever and wherever traveling up to 120 MPH or more
- where our judicial system doesn’t obey the constitution or the laws of the land, but each case is settled based on the opinion of a ‘judge’ who was appointed at random, by lottery of anyone wanting to serve as the magistrate-of-the-day
- where your home appliance (washer, dryer, stove, oven, furnace, air conditioner, freezer, refrigerator, TV, radio, garage door opener, lights, laptop, phone, etc.) chooses to work when and how it wants rather than how it was designed
- where anyone can choose to elect themselves as the country’s leader, not following a national election process, or the electoral college procedures or the constitution
It may seem like an oxymoron to exclusively have both free
agency and obedience at the same time. Isn’t strict obedience a lack of free
agency? Doesn’t free agency at it’s most foundational definition mean choice? A
choice between “A” or “B”, between up or down, black or white, left or right?
Doesn’t free agency mean that it’s totally up to each individual? If I choose
“A” and you chose “B”, it’s not about who’s right or wrong, but it’s about each
of us freely choosing what we think is best for us? Isn’t free agency about
freely making a choice and also completely taking full accountability by accepting
the consequences, good or bad, for the choice?
So, does it make sense that free agency can involve both
obedience and disobedience? Or, perhaps it’s better said that our
obedience determines whether or not we’ve used free agency correctly! So, maybe
the question to consider shouldn’t be, “Is the exercise of free agency the
ability to choose obedience or disobedience?” But rather, the question we
should be considering is, “Is the choice of obedience or disobedience the
correct use of free agency?” I believe it’s incorrect to think about it as “free
agency vs. obedience”; instead, the correct thinking should be “obedience and
free agency”. How we frame the question makes all the difference!
With that in mind, let’s refer back to our list of, “Imagine
a world...” scenarios. Although we’ve used some inanimate examples, it was to
make a point that hopefully won’t be lost when applying the concept to life and
people. Let’s just take the first three here (you can complete the exercise
with the remainder of the list on your own). Accordingly, using the choice of
obedience as the correct (and only) option when exercising free agency… Imagine
a world…
·
where stoplights are always obedient to their
programming, and independently decide to correctly illuminate greens, yellows
and reds…
·
where people were always obedient to the warning
labels on poisonous substances and independently chose to never ingest them
·
where commercial airline companies obey all FAA
laws and never allow passengers or unqualified personnel to pilot their planes
When I go through this exercise I see some important
patterns emerging and some great lessons for life. I see a world that would be
a better place with more organization (less chaos), a world with more peace and
happiness (less pain and misery). I can see that in a world that has a consistency
for obedience to laws (civil, natural or eternal laws) where there are no
drawbacks, no harmful consequences. I can see a world with meaning and purpose
in the laws of the land and God’s laws. By choosing obedience, we’re not
choosing to forego free agency, but we are choosing to forgo chaos, disorder, pain,
lawlessness, anarchy, brutality, inequality, unfairness, etc.
Can we imagine a world such as this? Would we like to live
in a world like this? Are we doing our part to make the world better like this?
Are we correctly using our God-given gift of free agency? Are we using our free
agency to choose correctly? After all, it’s probably written in stone somewhere
in heaven, “The correct use of free agency is wholly (and holy) embodied in the
act of obediently choosing correctly.”
Obedience and free agency are two sides of the same coin.
There are no coins where one side reads “disobedience” and the other reads “free
agency”. Disobedience never leads to freedom or agency. Disobedience stalls or
halts, or worse reverses progression. With the laws of the land we uniformly
agree that disobedience leads to restrictions, penalties or jail. Disobedience
to natures laws will also have serious consequences or worse! Logically, couldn’t
we apply the same reasoning to God’s laws? Obedience always leads to increased
freedom and expanded agency. It just makes sense that obedience to laws (wherever
the laws come from, but especially God’s laws), and free agency are absolute partners
making for a more peaceful and happy life.
Fortunately, it’s a well-documented fact that every person
will make bad choices. Every person will chose to disobey laws (laws of the
land, laws of nature, and laws of God). It’s an integral part of human nature.
It’s an important and necessary part as well, for without error there would be
no growth, no learning, no progress. A world without choices is a world that cannot
evolve or improve into something better! Hopefully, as we get older and wiser
(learning from our mistakes), we will make fewer mistakes, smaller mistakes,
make them less frequently and ultimately learn to avoid them (aka repentance). Also,
it’s our good fortune that we have a God who completely understands human
nature. He understands the dilemma – that 1) mortals would disobey laws, and that
2) our choices and their consequences are intricately tied to learning and
growth. And because He is a God of mercy, He has provided a way to overcome all
disobedience through the laws of repentance and forgiveness).
To fulfill the eternal consequences (justice) of disobeying
His laws (eternal separation from God’s presence – commonly referred to as
hell), God mercifully provided a Savior, His Son Jesus Christ to pay the price
of mankind’s sin. The Savior’s perfect life, death and atonement satisfy the
demands of justice and when applied to our lives through sincere repentance, level
out the eternal scales of obedience vs. disobedience. When we repent of
disobedience and resolve to not repeat the error (learn from our mistakes), the
Savior ‘covers’ the sin. This is made possible from His perfect life, His
taking upon the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His
sacrifice of His mortal life on the cross at Golgotha.
I love the scripture that tells us that God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). I love that the sun rises every day
in the morning and sets every night in the evening, always! I love that
my car goes forward when I push the gas pedal and slows down when I push the
brake pedal, always! I love it when contractors follow building codes I
can feel safe in a high-rise building, always! I love that consistency
and peace and safety are products of obedience and agency – always!
And I love it when we use our free agency correctly and choose obedience to the
laws of the land, to nature’s laws or to God’s laws, the consequences are more
peace and happiness – always!
In reality, it was a simple song, simple words, simple
melody, but an eternally powerful and influential message! Imagine! Just imagine
all the people living life in peace. Just imagine no possessions, I wonder if
you can. Just imagine no need for greed or hunger, just imagine a brotherhood
of man, just imagine all the people sharing all the world. Just imagine someday
joining together, just imagine the world living as one! Just imagine the world applying
a new-found knowledge that obedience to laws by correctly exercising free agency
brings good things to everyone – always! We can be the change we imagine
the world becoming by choosing obedience with our free agency! Just imagine!
“Imagine” by John Lennon - https://www.bing.com/search?q=imagine+john+lennon&form=IENTNB&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&msnews=1&refig=e13e2b84d6504657fd9652592400e19b&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=imagine+john+lennon&sc=9-19&qs=n&sk=&cvid=e13e2b84d6504657fd9652592400e19b
____________________________
Dedicated to Fredric Dillon Hughes, my fourth son, set
apart today for full-time
missionary
service in the Colorado Springs, Colorado Mission.
______________________________
Wm.
Calvin Hughes | September 27, 2019 | Lake Elsinore, California
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