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Teaching Ideas
Article of Faith 11
The Right to Worship
Agency and the freedom to worship God as we believe and choose are God-given rights.  They were established and fought over in the pre-mortal councils of heaven.  Satan wanted to force us to live righteously and to guarantee our success, but we cannot prove ourselves and be truly righteous unless we have freely chosen it.  He continues to try to get men to take this agency away from us against God's will, but no power exercised by men alters the right God has given us to choose for ourselves.

Worship is understanding deeply and believing that God is worthy of our reverence, gratitude and trust.  In order to have this, we must understand his true character and attributes (1).  We must understand his perfection, his righteousness, his power, his wisdom, his mercy and his great love for us.  As we come to understand these through our study and experiences, our prayers, our scripture study, our hymns of praise, our participation in Church meetings and our service all take on added meaning and purpose as they come from the heart.

Agency is a two-way street.  It is not only for us, but for others also.  There is no room for persecution, hatred, arrogance or intolerance (2).  God loves all of his children and wants them all to choose to follow him, but he honors their agency and works with them as a parent works with a young child to teach him the right way.  If we are to serve God, we must serve and lift as he does, being firm in our beliefs but loving others, understanding where they are coming from and helping them grow and progress from where they are at.

1  The Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage, pages 395-396.
2  The Articles of Faith
by James E. Talmage, pages 398-403.

(For additional insights, read The Articles of Faith by James E. Talmage.)
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