Not that the diverse creeds are right, but the agency of the believers therein demands protection for them, as well as for us. 3:257.
Do you suppose that the Lord would have ever given a king to Israel, if they had not required one of his hands? No, he would have been their king and ruler, and there would have been a prophet to guide them, had it not been for their rebellion. They made choice of a king, and God gave them one in his anger.
Their rebellion against the law, the agency given to them allowing their free choice, induced them to ask for a king, and God gave them one. 3:257.
When I contemplate the endless variety in the dispositions, understandings, temperaments, countenances, and organizations of people, I am not surprised that there are those who do not understand things as I do. I expect people to have their own peculiar views, forms, principles, and notions. In consequence of this great variety, we should not be astonished if all do not believe the Gospel—do not love the truth. 8:131.
It is as much my right to differ from other men, as it is theirs to differ from me, in points of doctrine and principle, when our minds cannot at once arrive at the same conclusion. I feel it sometimes very difficult indeed to word my thoughts as they exist in my own mind, which, I presume, is the grand cause of many apparent differences in sentiment which may exist among the Saints. 2:123.
I am not going to drive a man or a woman to heaven. A great many think that they will be able to flog people into heaven, but this can never be done, for the intelligence in us is as independent as the Gods. People are not to be driven, and you can put into a gnat's eye all the souls of the children of men that are driven into heaven by preaching hell-fire. 9:124.
When misuse of power has reached a certain stage, the divinity that is within the people asserts its right and they free themselves from the power of despotism. 10:191.
When the people do all they can, the Lord is bound to do the rest. 3:154.
Many are disposed through their own wickedness "to do as I damned please," and they are damned. 11:254.
When a truth is presented to an intelligent person he ought to grasp it and receive it in his faith. 8:59.