Agency

In the LDS gospel we believe that God created us with the ability to act for our selves but only when we have a choice between good and bad (2 Nephi 2:16). The great battle in the pre-earth life was fought because two opposing plans were presented. Satan suggested that no one would have the ability to make a wrong choice and Jesus said that he would atone for our mistakes so that we could have the ability to choose for ourselves (Moses 4:1-3). This was so important to God that he literally threw away 1/3rd of his children because they wanted the easy way back to his presence (D&C 29:36-37). Which to put that in perspective a Google search links to articles that say our best guess is that 107 billion people have lived on the planet (google). So, if the second coming happened now that would mean God cast out, never to see again, over 53.5 billion spirit children, over the issue of whether or not we should have the ability to choose for our selves. Agency, in LDS doctrine, is a big deal!

Some people argue that appending threats to a choice removes your ability to choose (when choices are disguised as threats). If I tell you that you can choose to eat a candy bar or a celery stick. But, then I add the threat that I'll kill you if you pick the candy bar, do you really have a choice? Is it a choice when God says you can keep my commandments or burn in hell? Does anyone really feel like they were able to make a choice with a threat of eternal damnation appended to the choice? Doesn't this sound like a real choice, you are free to smoke cigarettes if you want, but you risk contracting lung cancer if you do. Smoking now is an informed choice, there is no threat here, just the natural risk associated with a behavior. Here's another example, if you keep the word of wisdom you will be blessed with health, if you don't then you won't get that blessing. Now you have a real choice, you can keep the word of wisdom and get the blessing or you can ignore it and lose the blessing. By adding the threat of never seeing your family again or of going to hell, you no longer have a real choice. 

Despite how important agency is, LDS doctrine adds to every commandment the threat that you won't get to see your family after death or will suffer torment in some kind of personal hell, because you weren't obedient during this life. As members we have very little real agency about which commandments we keep or how. Even the temple recommend questions remove our agency. For example: if you don't keep the word of wisdom or the law of chastity in the way the bishop or stake president thinks you should, then you aren't allowed to go to the temple. Many members believe that if you don't have an active recommend when you die, then you won't be worthy of the celestial kingdom. Thus your entry into heaven is barred by the interpretation and scrupulosity of your respective leaders and your willingness to obey what they think. Real agency would simply ask whether or not a member felt worthy to go to the temple and would leave the interpretation of commandments between the member and God.