Accepting the Principle of Free Will

For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans, dwarves, elves, and other humanoid races can choose whether to follow the paths of good or evil, law or chaos. According to myth, the good-aligned gods who created these races gave them free will to choose their moral paths, knowing that good without free will is slavery.  - D&D 5e PHB p.122

That paragraph, shamelessly copied without the copyright holder's permission, highlights a principle of the gospel that's relevant to the General Conference talk I just listened to. Even though God knows the path that leads to happiness and desperately wants us to follow it, He gives each of us the freedom to go our own way; and not He nor the devil nor anyone can prevent anyone else from acting according to their own will.

In his General Conference talk, Waiting for the Prodigal, Elder Brent H. Neilson shared the story of his sister, Susan (after having gained her permission). Susan had been raised in the church, but she became "disenchanted with the Church and some of its teachings," to use Elder Neilson's words, and she eventually left the church. Elder Neilson's family loved her and wanted desperately for her to return to the gospel and to receive the peace and joy that only the gospel can offer. But it was always her choice. For years, the Neilson family continued to love and support Susan, to invite her to family gatherings and birthday dinners, to keep in touch and to make sure that she knew that they loved her. "Although we could not embrace all of her choices," Elder Neilson wrote, "we could certainly embrace her."

After a long time away from the church, Susan eventually returned, but it wasn't because anyone forced or pressured her into doing so. She came back because, after years of being away from the church, she realized how much of a difference it had made in her life, and she made the choice to come back. The decision had always been hers to make.

To paraphrase the plagiarized paragraph above, the good-aligned god who created this universe gave us the free will to choose our moral paths, knowing that good without free will is slavery. God will not make slaves out of any of us. Satan tries, but our will can overpower his. Despite the strength of our will, we should not attempt to force our will on others. We each have to make our own choices and let others make theirs, no matter how much we wish they'd choose differently.