Granted Men According to Their Desire

K. Douglas Bassett

D&C 137:8-9

“We are free to choose, but we are not free to alter the consequences of those choices.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Come Unto Christ, p. 40)
“Desire denotes a real longing or craving. Hence righteous desires are much more than passive preferences or fleeting feelings. Of course our genes, circumstances, and environments matter very much, and they shape us significantly. Yet there remains an inner zone in which we are sovereign, unless we abdicate. In this zone lies the essence of our individuality and our personal accountability… . Mostly, brothers and sisters, we become the victims of our own wrong desires… . Like it or not, therefore, reality requires that we acknowledge our responsibility for our desires… . Righteous desires need to be relentless, therefore, because , said President Brigham Young, ‘the men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom will find that they must battle every day’ (Journal of Discourses 11:14). Therefore, true Christian soldiers are more than weekend warriors… . Some of our present desires, therefore, need to be diminished and then finally dissolved.” (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Nov. 1996, pp. 21-22)

Latter-Day Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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