Today's Maxwell Quote

From Things As They Really Are (1978), 24-25:

There have been those who have failed or who have been treasonous to their trust, such as David, Solomon, and Judas. God foresaw the fall of David, but God was not the cause of it. It was David who from the balcony both saw and sent for Bathsheba. But God was not surprised by such sad developments.

God foresaw but did not cause Martin Harris's loss of certain pages of the translated Book of Mormon; he made plans to cope with that failure over fifteen hundred years before it was to occur. (See Preface to D&C 10 and Words of Mormon 1:6-7.)

Thus foreordination is no excuse for fatalism or arrogance or the abuse of agency.