Topic: Freedom, Loss of, Matches 54 quotes.

[A]ny system which deprives men of their free agency, which weakens the home and family, which depends on butchery for power, which denies all moral responsibility, which holds that man lives by bread alone, and which denies the existence of God, is of the devil.

This is the communist philosophy. There is no real evidence that it has been changed in the last forty years.

Knowledge of the enemy and knowledge of ourselves give us the strength to fight the good fight for freedom and world peace.

May it never come to pass that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” (Hosea 4:6).

Source: Elder Ezra Taft Benson
General Conference, April 1960

Topics: Free Agency; Freedom, Loss of

We all know the situation, at least in a general way, and we know it is rapidly becoming worse, and that the “closed shop” system is rapidly spreading. This is a system of force that places plants and institutions employing labor in the hands of selfish, irresponsible labor leaders, agitators and organizers who force owners, managements, laborers, the public and even government officials to do their unrighteous bidding. Thus freedom is crushed and the guarantees of our inspired Constitution are thrown to the winds. Where the “closed shop” comes in freedom goes out, and the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” vanishes.

Now of one thing I feel sure. The vast majority of the patriotic liberty-loving people of America want the guarantees of our inspired Constitution maintained. They want this choice land still to be and to remain the “land of the free and the home of the brave:”

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, October 1941

Topics: Freedom, Loss of; Labor; Unions

Coercion In Government Not The Lord’s Way

The Lord Himself has always favored government by the people. You will remember that in the days of Samuel the Prophet the Lord instructed him to let the people have whatever form of government they desired. They clamored for a dictator, a king, and because the Lord respected the right of free-will and human choice, because He recognized the right of men to govern themselves, and that it is better that humanity be self-governed, even though they are poorly governed, than to be compelled to obey even the divine law, He told the Prophet to let the people have a king, a dictator, since they insisted upon it. And the Bible tells us that after the decision of the Israelites to have a king, their dictatorial rulers wasted the substance of the people, they took away their personality and their freedom, and oppressed them with heavy taxes and other burdens. Instead of making a government for the people, as in a democracy, the people became the subjects of the dictators who did not rule for the good of the many but to bring power, wealth and idleness to a few.

Our government is founded on the principle laid down by the Lord Himself: that a man is capable of self-government. This is in harmony with the divine intent expressed by the Creator when He said:

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion . . . over all the earth.”

This important statement of man’s right and ability to rule is expressed in our Declaration of Independence thus: “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And no doubt those forms of government in which there is an assumption to rule without the consent of those who are to be governed are responsible for that forceful expression, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1940

Topics: Free Agency; Freedom, Loss of; Government; Government, Ideal; Taxes

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